Choose a corporate immigration firm on four things you can check before you sign: a written fee for every case type, a named point of contact with a response-time commitment, a live calendar of every employee’s status expiration, and real compliance help with LCA public access files and Form I-9. Approval rates are the number firms like to quote and the one you can least verify, so test the firm instead. Send a quote request with your headcount, case mix, and the next 12 months of expirations, ask the 14 questions below, and give the firm one case before you move the whole caseload. Flat fees per case, billed at milestones, are common and make budgeting predictable, but only if the quote says in writing what happens with an RFE, premium processing, and dependents. Government fees are separate and the same at every firm. And check the lead attorney’s bar license yourself; it takes two minutes.
Key takeaways
Government filing fees are identical at every firm; only attorney fees and service differ. For H-1B petitions and PERM labor certification, federal rules make most costs the employer’s, including attorney fees. A flat-fee quote is only as good as its scope: RFE responses, dependents, amendments, and premium processing are where quotes differ most. Ask for response times and a status expiration calendar in writing. Approval rates cannot be compared across firms; USCIS publishes H-1B data by employer, not by law firm.
What an HR team actually needs from its immigration firm
Legal skill is the floor, not the differentiator. Most firms can prepare an H-1B petition. What separates a firm that works for a people team from one that creates work for it is operations. Before you compare prices, write down what your team needs every week:
- A calendar of every expiration. I-94 end dates, H-1B and L-1 validity, six-year limits, EAD and advance parole expirations, PERM and I-140 milestones. The firm should own this list and warn you months ahead, not react when an employee asks.
- A response-time commitment. A stated window for replying to HR and to employees, in writing, and a named backup when your contact is out.
- One point of contact. A person who knows your company, your job titles, and your worksites, so you are not re-explaining the business to a new associate on every case.
- Reporting you can hand to leadership. Open cases by stage, upcoming filings, costs to date, and anything at risk, available without a meeting.
- Predictable cost. A fee for each case type that finance can budget against headcount plans.
- Compliance help. Public access files for every Labor Condition Application, I-9 practices, and site-visit readiness, not just petitions.
Compliance is the item most often missing from a firm’s pitch and most expensive to ignore. Under 20 CFR 655.760, an H-1B employer must make the LCA and its supporting documents, including the wage rate, the actual-wage system, and the prevailing wage source, available for public examination within one working day after filing, and keep those records for one year beyond the last date any H-1B worker is employed under that LCA. Payroll records are kept for three years. Form I-9 has its own clock: USCIS’s employer handbook requires keeping each form for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. Ask whether the firm builds and audits these files or leaves them to you; our I-9 compliance practice exists because many sponsors only discover the gaps during an inspection.
Pricing models compared
Firms in the employer market price work in a handful of ways. None is right for every company; the question is which one makes your annual cost predictable for your case mix. Our guide to flat-fee immigration lawyers goes deeper on fixed pricing, and our immigration lawyer cost guide breaks down where the money goes.
| Model | How it works | Fits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Time billed in small increments, often at different rates for partners, associates, and paralegals. | Open-ended matters: government audits, investigations, litigation. | No total until the work is done; every email and status call can become a charge. |
| Flat fee per case | One fixed attorney fee per case type, such as an H-1B extension or a PERM application. | Routine petitions and budgeting by headcount. | What the scope excludes: RFEs, amendments, dependents, withdrawals. |
| Flat fee billed at milestones | The same fixed total, paid in parts tied to stages: engagement, filing, decision. | Multi-stage cases such as PERM, I-140, and I-485. | Clear milestone definitions, and what you owe if a case stops midway. |
| Monthly retainer | A fixed monthly fee for advice, sometimes with a set number of filings included. | Large programs with a steady volume of questions. | What counts as covered, and whether unused capacity rolls over. |
| Volume or program pricing | Per-case fees agreed against an expected annual caseload. | Companies with predictable hiring and green card pipelines. | Minimum volumes and what happens to pricing if hiring slows. |
Government fees sit outside every model and are the same whichever firm files. They come from the USCIS fee schedule (edition dated October 16, 2026): for example, $780 for a paper H-1B petition ($730 online, $460 for small employers and nonprofits), a $500 fraud prevention fee on initial and change-of-employer petitions, the ACWIA training fee of $750 or $1,500 depending on U.S. headcount, and $2,965 for premium processing in most I-129 and I-140 classifications. Who pays is not fully up to you. Department of Labor rules at 20 CFR 655.731 treat attorney fees and filing costs for the LCA and H-1B petition as the employer’s business expense, and 20 CFR 656.12 bars an employer from passing its PERM labor certification costs, attorney fees included, to the worker.
Line items to pin down in every quote
Two quotes with the same headline price can produce very different invoices. These are the items where the difference usually hides:
| Item | Why it matters | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Request for Evidence | RFEs are common in H-1B and employment-based cases, and responses take real work. | Is the response included, discounted, or billed separately? Does the answer change if the RFE follows a firm error? |
| Premium processing | The $2,965 government fee is fixed; some firms add an attorney fee for the I-907. | Is there any attorney charge beyond the government fee? |
| Dependents | Spouses and children need their own filings, such as I-539 extensions and work permits. | Is each dependent priced separately? |
| Amendments | A new worksite or material job change can require a new LCA and petition. | Is an amendment priced as a new case? |
| PERM recruitment | Required advertising is a real cost outside the attorney fee. | Who places and pays for the ads, and is the estimate in the quote? |
| Third-party costs | Translations, credential evaluations, and courier fees add up across a caseload. | Are they passed through at cost, and listed? |
14 questions to ask in an RFP or first call
Send these in writing, so the answers can be compared side by side and become part of the engagement terms:
- Who will be our day-to-day contact, and who covers when that person is out?
- What response time do you commit to for HR, and for our employees?
- Which attorney reviews and signs each filing, and in which state is that attorney licensed?
- How will we see case status between updates: a portal, a report, or email only?
- Do you maintain a calendar of every employee’s expiration dates, and how far ahead do you warn us?
- What is your written fee for each case type in our mix, and what does each fee exclude?
- How do you bill: at filing, at milestones, monthly, or by the hour?
- How are RFEs, NOIDs, and PERM audits priced?
- How many H-1B petitions did your office file last year, and how many were cap-exempt versus cap-subject?
- What share of your work is for employers rather than individuals?
- Do you prepare and audit LCA public access files, and do you review our I-9 process?
- How do you handle a USCIS site visit at our office or a client worksite?
- What happens if an employee asks you a question the company has not authorized you to answer?
- If we leave, how quickly do we get complete case files, and in what format?
Want a written quote for your caseload?
Send us your headcount, case mix, and upcoming expirations. We reply with a flat fee for each case type in writing, including what happens with an RFE.
Red flags
- No written fee. A price given only on a call, or a quote that says "estimate" with no scope.
- A vague RFE policy. "We’ll see when it comes" means you will see it on the invoice.
- No case-status visibility. Status only by asking, and asking takes days.
- Deadlines learned from employees. If your staff hear about an expiration before HR does, the calendar is not working.
- Missed or near-missed deadlines. One late filing can end an employee’s status; there is no grace for a firm’s scheduling.
- Guaranteed outcomes. No lawyer can promise an approval, and a promise in a sales call is a reason to look elsewhere.
A cheap quote can be the expensive one
The lowest per-case fee often excludes the work that actually varies: RFE responses, amendments, and dependents. Price your real last 12 months of cases under each quote, including the RFEs you received, before you call one firm cheaper than another.
How to request a quote
A firm can only quote accurately what it can see. A one-page summary gets a better answer than a phone call, and you do not need to share names or passports at this stage:
- Total U.S. headcount and the number of employees in sponsored status (this sets the ACWIA fee and whether the Public Law 114-113 fee can apply).
- Your case mix over the last 12 months: H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, PERM, I-140, I-485, and any RFEs or audits.
- Expirations and planned filings over the next 12 months, by month.
- Worksites, remote employees, and any employees placed at client sites.
- Whether you are a nonprofit, university-affiliated, or otherwise possibly cap-exempt.
- Your green card policy: who is eligible, and when sponsorship starts.
Ask every firm to price the same summary in the same format. That turns a sales conversation into a comparison.
Test a firm with one case
A quote shows price; one live case shows everything else. Pick a real but contained matter, such as an H-1B extension or a new TN, and watch the process: how long the intake takes, whether the questions are specific to your company, how fast HR and the employee get answers, whether the draft arrives before the date promised, and whether the invoice matches the quote. Four to eight weeks of one case tells you more than any reference call. If it goes well, move the next tranche of cases; if not, you have lost little.
Why approval rates are hard to compare
Firms sometimes advertise approval rates. Treat them with care. A firm’s rate depends on which cases it accepts, its mix of cap-exempt and cap-subject work, the occupations it files for, and the year, since RFE and denial patterns shift with USCIS policy. There is no public database of results by law firm. The USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub reports first decisions by employer, not by attorney, so the most useful check is your own company’s record there, which shows how your past filings fared. To test a lawyer’s experience with your kind of case, ask for counts rather than percentages: how many cap-subject and cap-exempt H-1B petitions the office filed last year, how many RFEs it answered, and what types.
How to check a lawyer’s license and discipline record
Immigration is federal law, so a lawyer licensed in any state may represent employers nationwide, but the lawyer must be licensed and in good standing somewhere. Ask which state, then look it up on that state bar’s website. In Texas, the State Bar’s Find a Lawyer directory shows whether an attorney is eligible to practice and lists any public disciplinary history. For immigration specifically, the Executive Office for Immigration Review publishes a list of currently disciplined practitioners who are suspended or disbarred from practice before the immigration courts and DHS. Both checks take minutes, and they apply to whoever signs your filings, not only the person who sold you the engagement.
Moving cases when you switch
Changing firms does not require waiting for open cases to finish. The new firm files a new G-28 on each pending matter, and the old firm hands over the files. What does not move is any deadline: an RFE response date stays fixed regardless of who represents you. Start with one inventory of every sponsored employee, their status expiry, and every pending filing, then transfer the urgent matters first. Our guide to switching immigration firms mid-case walks through the handover step by step.
How Atlas Immigration Law helps
We work as outside immigration counsel for HR and people teams, from a first H-1B to a caseload of green cards, and we answer RFPs and quote requests in the format above. Every case runs on a flat fee agreed in writing and billed at milestones, with the RFE policy stated up front. Each company has a dedicated paralegal reachable by call, email, or text, with same-business-day responses, and attorney Jordan Weinberg reviews every filing. Employers follow each case, document request, and upcoming expiration in the Atlas Vision client portal. Atlas is based in Dallas and represents employers in all 50 states. See our business immigration practice and employer sponsorship services, or request a free consultation and send us your caseload for a written quote.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a law firm that does flat-fee immigration for employers?
Yes. Many firms that serve employers quote a fixed attorney fee per case type, sometimes billed in parts at milestones such as filing and decision. Atlas Immigration Law quotes every employer case as a flat fee in writing. When comparing flat fees, check what each excludes, especially RFE responses, amendments, dependents, and premium processing, because those are where quotes differ.
How do I get a quote from an immigration firm for a large caseload?
Send a one-page summary: total U.S. headcount, the number of employees in sponsored status, your case mix over the last 12 months, expirations and planned filings over the next 12 months, worksites, and your green card policy. Ask every firm to price the same summary in the same format, with each fee’s exclusions listed, so the quotes can be compared side by side.
What is the cheapest way to handle corporate visa sponsorship?
The cheapest headline fee is not always the cheapest year. Government fees are identical at every firm, so savings come only from attorney fees and avoided problems. Price your real last 12 months of cases, including RFEs, amendments, and dependents, under each quote. A fixed fee with a clear RFE policy is usually easier to budget than a low fee with many exclusions.
Who pays government fees for employer-sponsored cases?
For H-1B petitions, Department of Labor rules treat filing costs and attorney fees for the LCA and petition as the employer’s business expense, and the ACWIA training fee may not be paid by the worker. For PERM labor certification, the employer may not pass its costs, including attorney fees, to the worker. Later green card stages are often governed by company policy.
How can I verify an H-1B attorney’s track record?
There is no public database of results by law firm. USCIS’s H-1B Employer Data Hub reports decisions by employer, not attorney. Ask the firm for counts rather than percentages: how many cap-subject and cap-exempt H-1B petitions it filed last year and how many RFEs it answered. Then check the attorney’s state bar license and the EOIR list of disciplined practitioners.
What compliance work should our immigration firm handle?
At a minimum, LCA public access files, which must be available within one working day after filing an LCA and kept for a year after the last H-1B worker under it, and support with Form I-9, which must be kept three years after hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. A firm should also prepare you for USCIS site visits.
Can we switch immigration firms while cases are pending?
Yes. The new firm files a new Form G-28 on each pending matter and requests the files from the old firm. Deadlines do not move: an RFE response date stays fixed regardless of who represents you. Start with an inventory of every sponsored employee’s status expiry and pending filing, and transfer the most urgent matters first.
This guide is part of our business immigration services — the service page covers eligibility, fees, and how we handle these cases.
Founder & Managing Attorney, Atlas Immigration Law
Member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the Dallas Bar Association. Licensed to practice in Texas; fluent in English and Spanish.
Legally reviewed by a licensed immigration attorney
Talk to an immigration attorney about your case
Free consultation on request, flat fees, and a dedicated paralegal who knows your case — serving clients in all 50 states.
This guide is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration law and procedures change, and how they apply depends on your specific facts — consult a licensed immigration attorney about your situation.