Grace Shie

The immigration and mobility services Grace provides include:

• Design and management of global mobility programs to achieve talent management goals;
• Strategic use of the full array of temporary work authorization (e.g., H-1B, L-1, and O-1 in the United States) and permanent residency options to support organizational staffing needs, with focus on senior executives and high skilled workers;
• Preparing employers for immigration audits, worksite enforcement actions, and other immigration compliance challenges;
• Advising on the intersection of immigration, employment, and tax considerations when planning cross-border staffing, remote work arrangements, and new market entry; and
• Facilitating employee transitions in the context of M&A transactions and other major corporate change, including minimizing the impact to in-scope visa holders while maintaining employer compliance.

Grace's background includes five years in Hong Kong, where she led a top-ranked immigration practice covering Greater China and managed engagements for clients in Asia. This experience provides her with unique perspective on the advisory needs of businesses expanding into new or different markets, the operational challenges of different models of mobility management, and the risk spectrum for employer-based immigration sponsorship in different jurisdictions.

In 2025, Grace was again named to the “Top Lawyer” list for Immigration by Washingtonian magazine (a recognition she has received since 2017). In 2017, she was selected by Law360 as a "Rising Star" (Top 40 Under 40) in the Immigration practice area. Grace has also been recognized by multiple legal directories for her work in immigration, including Chambers USA, Legal 500, Human Resource Executive, Who’s Who Legal, and The Best Lawyers in America. Grace is editor of The Mobile Workforce, the firm's blog to provide employers with a direct line of sight into immigration policy-making and practices across the globe.

• Advise financial services firm on growth of Middle East presence, including compliance with Saudization requirements for KSA, employee transfers between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and new market entry needs for Kuwait and Qatar.
• Advise clients on enterprise-level accreditation and similar licensing requirements to engage in employment-based visa sponsorship, including petitioning for Blanket L certification to expedite intracompany transfers to the United States, obtaining a Sponsor License in the United Kingdom to facilitate the employment of foreign workers, and applying to become an accredited sponsor in Australia to support certain work visa categories.
• Advise US government contractors on visa requirements or exemptions available under applicable Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) and other bilateral agreements covering civilian contractors.
• Advise clients in responding to government inspections, investigations, and audits, including FDNS audits in the United States, IRCC inspections in Canada, UK Home Office audits, and suspected breaches of the Immigration Ordinance in Hong Kong; and provide post-audit support for remediation of program or process defects to improve compliance position.
• Advising multiple US employers on recruitment and compliance protocols to meet the requirements of PERM, the US labor certification process required for employment-based permanent residency, including addressing the impact of layoffs and responding to PERM audits by the Department of Labor.
• Advising multiple clients on succession issues in the M&A context, including the multi-jurisdictional impact to visa holders arising from global reorganizations, spin-offs, and acquisitions; managing government filings and notifications across jurisdictions to maintain employer compliance and secure seamless work authorization for in-scope employees.
• Advise private banking clients on US visa options for investors and entrepreneurs (from E-2 to EB-5), as well as residency-by-investment and citizenship-by-investment options in multiple jurisdictions.

• Who’s Who Legal for Corporate Immigration (2019-2024)
• Legal 500’s Next Generation Lawyer (“Very Talented”) (2018-2024)
• Human Resource Executive’s List of 40 “Up-and-Comers” for “The Nation’s Most Powerful Employment Attorneys” (2019)
• Law360’s Rising Star for 40 Under 40 for Immigration (2017)
• “She takes the worry out of everything and you just know you’re in caring hands from the onset of the experience.” –Chambers USA
• “She is wonderful to work with and so impressive.” –Chambers USA