Helping immigrants navigate the law

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She’s the resident expert on permanent residence.

In just four years since joining Grzeca Law Group, a corporate immigration law boutique, Carrie Ziegler Thomas has found her niche.

She scored a recent victory for a client, a Wisconsin-based financial business, with her response to an audit initiated by the U.S. Department of Labor. The audit sought verification that there were no U.S. workers available and willing to do the job.

The audit allows only 30 days to provide a large quantity of information, and one wrong response can result in denial.

“There were a lot of applicants,” Ziegler Thomas said. “We had to very carefully document how each applicant was not qualified. They thought my client should’ve had more applicants because of the industry they’re in and the bad economy.”

But it worked out, she said, noting the certification came through Aug. 1.

While Ziegler Thomas was at her undergraduate alma mater, Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., a friend from Romania was struggling with finding a job and staying in the U.S.

That friend, incidentally, was working with Milwaukee attorney Jerry Grzeca.

Supporting her friend through the process opened Ziegler Thomas’s mind to the possibilities of a law degree, she said.

“It got me thinking about law school being way more than what we see on ‘Law & Order,’” she said.