Clients across multiple industries frequently turn to Maria for her knowledge and experience in counseling on immigration issues. Six times named as Tampa's top immigration lawyer, Maria understands that immigration law is a way for employers to move human capital— including workers' knowledge, talent, skills, experience, and training—around the world. She has nearly two decades of experience navigating the immigration statutes, regulations, and policy of the nation's complex immigration laws.
With a deep breadth of knowledge in this area of law, Maria counsels her clients on all the immigration options available to them, including:
- Business visas (E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, H-3, L, O, P, R, and TN)
- Investment visas (E-2, EB-5, and others)
- Permanent residence status
- I-9 obligations
- Compliance audits on verification systems for employee eligibility
Maria has twice won JD Supra's Reader's Choice Award for blogging on immigration law issues. She has also served as the Chair of the Hillsborough County Bar Association's Immigration Section, a fellow of The Florida Bar Leadership Academy, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Central Florida Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In her free time, she loves spending time with her two young daughters and her husband. A native of Puerto Rico, Maria enjoyed traveling to Western Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
Education
J.D., University of Miami School of Law, 2000
B.A., Yale University, 1996
Professional Associations
- The Florida Bar Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Leadership Academy, Class III Fellow
- The Florida Bar Judicial Administration and Evaluations Committee, Member (2016-2018)
- The Florida Bar Leadership Academy Committee, Member (2018-2020)
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Member
- Business Immigration Response Team, Member (2020)
- Business Section Steering Committee, Member (2021)
- Distance Learning Committee, Member (2020, 2021)
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Central Florida Chapter, Tampa Regional Vice Chair
- Tampa Regional Vice Chair (2016-2018)
- Incoming Education Vice Chair (2018-2019)
- Education Vice Chair (2019-2020)
- Director (2020-2021)
- Tampa Bay Chamber, Minority Business Accelerator, Leadership Council, Member
- Hillsborough County Bar Association, Chair Immigration & Nationality Law Section (2014-2016)
- Professionalism Committee for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Member
- Hispanic Business Initiative Fund of Florida, Regional Council Member (2014-2017)
- Tampa Hispanic Bar Association, Director (2014-2018)
- Hispanic National Bar Association, Latina Commission Member (2017-2018)
- Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Litigation American Inn of Court, President
- Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Committee of the 13th Judicial Circuit Community Alliance, Member
- Working Women of Tampa Bay, VIP Member
- Yale Club of Tampa Bay
- Tampa Connection (Class of 2009–2010)
Honors
- AV® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
- Top Latino Lawyer by Latino Leaders Magazine, 2023
- Top Author: Immigration, JD Supra Readers’ Choice Award
- 2017, Technology, Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Telecommunications Industries
- 2016, Semiconductor, Broadcast Media, and Medical Devices Industries
- Best Lawyers in America, 2021 – 2024
- Tampa Top Lawyers, Immigration Law, Tampa Magazine, 2016-2022
- Florida Legal Elite by Florida Trend magazine, 2015-2018, 2020, 2021
- Florida Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine, 2010-2014
- Latino American Who’s Who, 2014
- President’s Award, Tampa Hispanic Bar Association, 2017
Representative Matters
- Maria was contacted on a Saturday morning by a major league baseball team that had just signed a coveted international free agent. The team needed the player in the United States immediately. Time was of the essence. On short notice, Maria helped the team obtain a visa for the player so he could come to the United States
- Maria had a dentist whose petition for an immigrant visa was denied because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) incorrectly concluded he wasn't working full time. Maria successfully appealed the denial to the Administrative Appeals Office. The client is now on his way to getting his green card.
- Maria handles a large volume of H-1B visas for a dental management group and routinely helps the dentists on H-1B visas obtain green cards
- Maria had a client whose Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) application was audited by the Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL challenged one of the job requirements: a successful application had to have traveled to Israel. Because the job was with a nonprofit religious organization, Maria was able to successfully argue that trips to Israel were normal for the occupation, leading to the PERM application being certified. She has also successfully defended against PERM audits on a variety of other issues
- Maria obtained an O-1A visa for a professional bowler. She was able to convince USCIS that the bowler's extraordinary ability was necessary to his position as a bowling research specialist for a leading manufacturer of bowling supplies. Maria has also been successful in obtaining O-1A visas (extraordinary ability) for a wide range of foreign nationals, including a professional singer, a business executive, a church music director, and others
- Maria has helped various entrepreneurs obtain business visas (L-1) and investments visas (E-2 and E-B5), so they can fulfill their goal of setting up and running a U.S. office or business
- Maria has helped large national and international manufacturers, hospitals, dental and physician management companies, and software and health care technology companies obtain immigrant and non-immigrant visas for foreign workers
- Maria helped an Iranian national who was detained at the airport because of the travel ban. The Iranian national, who had been issued a green card, was forced to return to his home country. After working for several weeks with her congressional representatives, Maria was waiting at the airport when her client re-entered the country