Fabienne Chatain

Fabienne Chatain is an associate attorney with the immigration law firm of Elliot & Mayock LLP, which has offices in San Francisco and Washington, DC. The firm practices the full range of immigration law and specializes in employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant visas.

Ms. Chatain is a native of France, admitted to both the Bar of France and the State Bar of New York in the United States. She received her Master in Law at the University Lyon III, France, in 1988, and a L.L.M. from Georgetown University in 1990; both degrees were awarded with honors. She is fluent in French and English.

For the past nine years, Ms. Chatain has assisted her corporate clients in the efficient processing of professional business visas for their international personnel. She is thoroughly knowledgeable in H-1 (specialty professional workers), L-1 (intracompany transferees), and E-1/E-2 (treaty traders/investors) visa statuses. She is able to offer unique solutions to overcome common business problems, such as providing alternatives to the exhaustion of H-1B visas. She assists our clients in obtaining extraordinary ability visas, (O-1 and EB-1), for nationally and internationally acclaimed professional athletes, musicians and scientists, as well as general labor certifications and national interest waivers.

Ms. Chatain's other responsibilities include handling complex immigration issues before immigration courts and federal trial and appellate courts. She regularly represents clients in removal proceedings before the immigration courts in Baltimore, Maryland and Arlington, Virginia, as well as before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Her federal court appearances include the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Ms. Chatain has a strong background in asylum law, having successfully represented clients from 40 countries from Asia, Africa, Central and South America. In addition, she was chosen and served in 1995 as an official observer on behalf of the International Organization for Human Rights to monitor the treatment of civilian prisoners appearing in military tribunals in Egypt.