Origin
From the very beginning, Passage Immigration was intended to be a different kind of law firm. Our founder’s wife is from Hungary and when they were married in 2001, Erick handled all of the necessary immigration paperwork to secure her green card. It was a surprisingly convoluted, exasperating experience.
Erick realized that getting a visa or permanent residence in the U.S. is a major source of unnecessary pain for thousands of people. He decided to found a law firm to help relieve this pain in others’ lives and replace it with clarity, confidence, and actual joy.
Now, Passage Immigration is one of the highest ranked law firms in the country with client reviews and satisfaction levels that are very difficult to surpass. This is the direct result of our commitment to our mission and core values.
Mission
Our mission (or “why”) is to enable people to achieve their full potential by living globally. On the one hand, “living globally” means to live in the country that provides them the best platform to make the biggest possible contribution to the world. For many, this means being able to work and live in the U.S., the largest, and most innovative economy in the world. In addition, we also believe that to “live globally” means to constantly think about the rest of the world and consider its needs and unique strengths. We are all better off when we live as one international community.
Core Values
Deliver Extraordinary Service
Every day our job is to serve others with enthusiasm and an intense commitment. It means that we are treating others the way we want to be treated and anticipating what our clients need before they ask. We staff our team with the best people available so that our clients have the best experience possible.
Bring the Joy
We have discovered over the years that people want not only world-class legal advice, they also want world-class empathy, communication, and commitment. Basically, the information we provide is just as important as the emotions we produce in our clients. We are dedicated to doing our best to bring about joy in ourselves, to our clients, and to our co-workers when we show up to work.
Act with Kindness
There are always opportunities to fight in this world. Negativity is the default position many people take and few give others the benefit of the doubt. However, a better approach in business and life is to respond to anger or frustration with grace and patience. Our team is so confident and qualified that we can act with kindness even if others do not.
Think Big
The U.S. immigration system is a huge mess. Thousands of people are deeply suffering due to the mean-spirited and incompetent actions of our government. Our law firm needs to constantly think big for solutions to solve these challenging problems. We need to use the latest technology and the best management practices available to help our clients.
Communicate Brilliantly
Our law firm is in the knowledge management business. We need to provide the best, most up-to-date and applicable legal information and advice available. Lives and livelihoods depend on how well we manage this knowledge and communicate it to our clients. We need to transfer the necessary information proactively, regularly, and reliably to the people who are depending upon us.
Improve Constantly
The only way to grow is to keep pushing beyond what is currently comfortable. Our systems, knowledge, and staff are all committed to growth so that we can constantly improve the way we serve our clients.
Erick grew up in northern California and now lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and three kids.
He attended UCLA and the University of California, Davis for law school. Prior to starting his own law practice in 2007, Erick was in-house counsel at Philips corporation in California for over three years where he handled various international and immigration legal issues. He spent a year teaching international law at the Budapest College of Economics and interned with a Superior Court judge.
Erick has practiced law since 2004 and is a member of both the Oregon and California state bars. Because immigration law is a federal practice area, Erick is able to serve clients in any state in the U.S. and around the world. Erick is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).
Erick and his wife lived in Budapest, Hungary for three years and love to travel whenever possible. He has experienced the daunting immigration and naturalization process firsthand with the marriage of his wife, who is Hungarian. The challenges can seem overwhelming at first but persevering is definitely worth it.
Erin was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, and attended the University of Arizona. During college, she studied abroad in Alcala de Henares, Spain, and gained proficiency in Spanish and a love of travel and immersion in different cultures.
Erin obtained undergraduate degrees in Spanish and Political Science, magna cum laude, and then went on to study law at the University of Arizona College of Law. During law school, Erin argued an employment discrimination case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2008.
Prior to joining Passage, Erin managed her own family law office in Vancouver, Washington. Erin is thrilled to focus upon family immigration because she truly enjoys bring families and couples together.
Erin has practiced law for ten years. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Washington State Bar Association, Oregon Bar Association, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Erin lives in Portland, and enjoys traveling around the world with her husband.
Amanda was born in Southern California, and raised Seattle, WA. She attended Seattle University, graduating magna cum laude with a Business Administration degree with specialization in International Business and a minor in International Studies. She returned to Southern California for law school, attending the University of San Diego School of Law.
Upon graduating law school, Amanda was selected to be a part of the US Attorney General Honors Attorney Program. She began her immigration law career as a trial attorney with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles. Returning to the Pacific NW to start her family meant a move to private practice and the chance to help family and business clients navigate the immigration system. Amanda has particular experience and interest in working with businesses and entrepreneurs to help them reach their goals and obtain their dreams.
Amanda is also a professional mediator, facilitator and arbitrator on state and national panels. She is committed to helping individuals, businesses and community groups navigate through conflict and solve their problems.
Amanda enjoys getting outside and exploring the great NW with her family.
Lindsay is from Baltimore, Maryland and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Baltimore, School of Law. During law school, she interned for the Baltimore Immigration Court where she drafted legal opinions for the judges and was able to observe various types of removal proceedings. For her last year of law school, Lindsay moved to New York City as a visiting student at City University of New York Law School, where she worked part time at a small immigration firm in Manhattan and interned for Families for Freedom, a New York-based multi-ethnic human rights organization by and for families facing and fighting deportation.
After graduating law school in 2012, Lindsay spent her summer in Quito, Ecuador taking Spanish language courses and exploring the incredible cities and cloud forests of Ecuador. In 2013, she returned to the United States to work as an immigration attorney in Philadelphia at a firm specializing in “crimmigration” issues. At this firm, Lindsay represented clients with complicated cases due to criminal convictions before immigration courts and USCIS field offices in multiple states.
In 2015, Lindsay joined another Philadelphia immigration law firm that handled a wider variety of immigration cases including removal defense, family-based petitions and employment-based petitions. This allowed her to broaden her practice and handle a wide-array of immigration cases. She is now able to advise clients on a variety of matters including L-1A visas, L-1B visas, I-140 petitions, EB-1/EB-2 petitions, PERM applications, TN visas, naturalization applications, I-601A provisional waivers, adjustment with hardship waivers, SIJS, and the consequences of issues such as criminal charges or convictions, past fraud, previous denials, issuance of a RFE or NOID, among other issues.
Lindsay has been through the immigration process with her husband, a native of Italy. She understands how frustrating and confusing many of these immigration processes can be and works to help her clients to understand each step and feel in control of their case.
Outside of work, she enjoys hiking with her husband and dog Hazelnut, cooking curries and soups, and writing short stories.
Lindsay is a member of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association.
Ahmed moved to Portland from Southern California. Prior to joining Passage, he managed casework for an international immigration firm in East Africa.
Ahmed holds a master’s in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where he managed projects commissioned by the United States Special Operations Command, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Monterey Terrorism Research and Education Program. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in Religious Studies and Middle East Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara. Ahmed is Curator of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers hub in Portland and speaks Arabic.
Ahmed likes to cook, skateboard, and play backgammon.
Alison grew up in Bend, Oregon and moved across the country to upstate New York to attend Bard College. While in school, she studied Human Rights and Latin American studies and worked as an English tutor for migrant farm workers in the community. She also had the opportunity to study abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico and work with a non-profit teaching English to children in Teotitlan del Valle, a rural rug-weaving village outside of the city. She recently spent a few weeks exploring Mexico City and would love to live there someday.
Alison is passionate about travel and has also spent time in Western and Eastern Europe. She finds cultural exchange to be extremely important and rewarding and believes that families and loved ones should not have to be separated by borders. Before working at Passage, Alison worked at a local non-profit immigration law firm, where she gained experience helping immigrants, refugees, and asylees gain legal status. She is excited to be helping bring families together at Passage and hopes to eventually attend law school to become an immigration lawyer.
When she’s not working, Alison enjoys making and drinking coffee, reading, seeing live music, planning trips, and taking photos of dogs she sees on the street.
Francisco grew up in Seaside, California, and moved to Oregon in 2012. Prior to joining Passage, he worked with several immigration attorneys in the Portland area and has extensive experience with U visas, removal defense, asylum, VAWA, and family-based petitions. Francisco is a native Spanish speaker.
Francisco holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Portland State University, where he graduated with honors. Francisco is an active charter member of Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society and looks forward to attending law school in the future.
Outside the office, Francisco enjoys tinkering with appliances, playing soccer, and joining his wife and two daughters on various adventures.
Adriana was born and raised in a small, rural town in North Carolina. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Political Science and Peace, War and Defense double major, she moved to Oregon – the state she had always dreamed of living in. At UNC, she dedicated her time to developing and exploring her interest in the U.S. immigration system as well as studied the social and political implications that the issue carries today. She also conducted research focused on the growing immigrant community in North Carolina. She specifically examined the effects of dual-language education on the academic outcomes of children, and the parental well-being of immigrant communities in North Carolina. In her free time, she mentored high school ‘DREAMers’ and volunteered at her local community center that offered citizenship and English courses.
In addition to Adriana’s academic interest in immigration and international issues, her parents are both Latin immigrants and agricultural workers. Immigration has always been a big part of her life and has inspired her to dedicate her professional career to helping immigrants achieve their dreams. Adriana hopes to attend law school in the future in order to become an immigration lawyer to help others navigate the increasingly complex U.S. immigration system.
In her free time, Adriana enjoys hiking, exploring Oregon’s natural beauty, thrift-shopping in Portland, and traveling to Mexico to visit her family.
Sonja grew up in Eastern Oregon before moving to Tacoma, Washington to attend Pacific Lutheran University. During college, Sonja had the opportunity to study in Mexico, Guatemala, and Denmark, where she developed passions for immigration advocacy and human rights defense. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies in 2014.
Prior to working at Passage, Sonja spent one year as a program assistant for The Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis. She conducted daily interviews and provided individual case management services for families seeking legal support for their asylum cases. This work furthered her commitment to work toward justice for the immigrant community through a lense of equity and care. She was heartened by the opportunity to continue her advocacy with Passage upon her return to Oregon.
Outside the office, Sonja enjoys teaching English with the Beaverton Literacy Council, singing choral music, exploring the Portland farmer’s market scene, and cooking for her family.