PEOPLE

Sonseere Goldenberg

Senior Attorney
goldenberg.sonseere@dorsey.com

Overview

Sonseere works with individuals and employers who must navigate the U.S. immigration system for employment, family unification, or naturalization.

Sonseere began her immigration law career as a volunteer immigration attorney assisting newly-arrived families from the former Soviet Union through the green card and naturalization processes. From that point on, she began handling exclusively immigration cases that ranged from family and humanitarian matters to employment immigration.

Having a general background in immigration law allows Sonseere to evaluate a case from a broader perspective and propose creative immigration options in more complex matters. With over 20 years of experience in immigration law, she now focuses on helping employers seeking to hire foreign nationals in temporary and permanent positions. Her experience includes:

  • Assisting health care systems obtain J-1 waivers for physicians subject to the two-year home residency requirement and subsequent H-1B applications.
  • Working with farmers and ranchers to obtain permanent resident status for their loyal agricultural employees who return to the U.S. each year from abroad.
  • Obtaining permanent resident status for extraordinary individuals through self-petitions in the EB-1 category and for exceptional-ability individuals in the EB-2 National Interest Waiver category.
  • Filing successful PERM labor certification applications, employment based green cards in all categories, family-based green card applications, and naturalization cases with, and without, past immigration issues.
  • Fielding calls for help from businesses experiencing increasingly-complex I-9 issues.

Sonseere cares deeply about her clients. She knows the immense impact she can make in someone’s life as a compassionate and committed professional. She provides clear and direct information to her clients navigating the complex immigration process within the U.S. and or from abroad.

She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). 

Education & Admissions

Mitchell Hamline School of Law (J.D., 1984)

University of Minnesota (B.A., Economics, 1980)

Admissions

  • Minnesota

Experience

Sonseere has worked with health systems to secure waivers of the two-year home residency requirement for foreign medical graduates, allowing them to practice in H-1B status for medically underserved communities. She also represents small and large companies seeking to obtain temporary work visas and permanent residency for their employees. Sonseere particularly enjoys challenging cases such as obtaining green cards for hard-working agricultural workers. Recently, she worked with Volunteer Lawyers Network to obtain green cards for Liberian nationals under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act.

Industries & Practices

  • Banking & Financial Institutions
  • Development & Infrastructure
  • Energy & Natural Resources
  • Food, Beverage & Agribusiness
  • Healthcare & Life Sciences
  • Immigration
  • Technology

Accolades

    Pro Bono 50 Hours 2022

  • Contributed more than 50+ Challenge pro bono hours, 2022