Matthew T. Phillips

Matthew's practice focuses on employment-based immigration, including global/outbound immigration, family-based immigration, naturalization and exclusion/deportation defense. He is a Director of the firm and a member of the Immigration and International Business Practice Groups, and is the Chair of the Global/Outbound Immigration Group.

Experience

As Chair of the Global/Outbound Immigration Group, Matthew assists employers with the process of obtaining visas for business visits, as well as short and long term work assignments abroad.

Matthew's primary areas of concentration include U.S. employment-based immigration, including temporary and permanent visas; non-immigrant business visas, particularly E, H and L visas; labor certification (PERM); and permanent resident status, not including labor certification.

He also has experience in civil litigation. One of Matthew's representative cases was Burgess v. Gateway Communications Inc., 984 F. Supp 980 (S.D.W.V. 1997), 26 F.Supp, 2d 888 (S.D.W.V. 1998).

Additional Roles

Matthew is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a past chair of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the AILA. He is also a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Honors and Achievements

Matthew received national attention in 2007 when he was interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's "Closing Bell," a program that features top business and finance stories. He discussed the lack of H-1B visas for skilled workers.

He was also quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a 2007 article called "Crush of Applicants for Visas Has Firms Fearing Staff Losses."

He is a frequent contributor to the Cohen & Grigsby Review, offering input on the latest issues pertaining to immigration. He has written "Social Security Administration Modifies Mismatch Letter Program" and "Recent Changes in U.S. Immigration Law."

In addition, Matthew has collaborated with other attorneys to write articles for the Cohen & Grigsby Review, including "Reporting Penalties and Waivers for ‘No-Match' Letters," "Changes in U.S. Immigration Law After Sept. 11, 2001," "Lobbying for H-1B Visas" and "Green Card Seekers Should Consider Consular Processing."

He is often a presenter at events sponsored by the firm and other organizations when immigration-related compliance and enforcement topics are discussed.