In the age of social media, influencers such as Valeria Lipovetsky have become household names, captivating millions with their content and lifestyles. Yet, while we often see their glamorous lives unfold on our screens, one aspect remains largely unspoken: how do these influencers make their way to the USA?
Securing a green card or visa is a complex and often arduous process, filled with legal hurdles and bureaucratic red tape. Despite their public personas, the behind-the-scenes struggles and triumphs of influencers navigating the U.S. immigration system are rarely discussed.
The journey isn’t so straightforward.
About Valeria Lipovetsky:
Valeria Lipovetsky, a mother of three, has masterfully transformed her lifestyle into a global empire, amassing over 6.5 million followers across social platforms. Her journey from model to business mogul is nothing short of inspiring.
Valeria has collaborated with over 40 premium brands, including industry giants like CHANEL, SKIMS, DYSON, H&M, and Lincoln.
Many might not know that this Russian-born influencer once called Canada home and in 2021, she embarked on her immigration journey with her family to the United States. Here is how Berardi Immigration Law successfully secured permanent residency for her and her family.
Case Information
Gary and Valeria run their empire together, along with a team, despite Valeria being the main face of the business. This means that from the beginning, we needed to engineer an immigration strategy that allowed them BOTH to work and live in the U.S., along with their three young sons.
We settled on getting an L-1 for Gary, as he ran the couple’s Canadian company and would be doing the same thing in the U.S. However, since the company had not yet been operating one full year in the U.S. and didn’t yet have U.S. employees, we were only able to secure a “New Office” L-1 for him that was valid for a one year period.
Additionally, at the time that we received Gary’s L-1 status, Valeria would have had to apply for a physical document allowing her to work in the U.S. if she wanted to work as an L-2 spouse, which was taking at least 9 months at that time. Instead, we opted to obtain work authorization for her through an O-1 visa as an Influencer of extraordinary ability, which we received within 15 calendar days of filing. We then flipped her children to O-3 status as her dependents because they would receive a three year extension of stay in the U.S., instead of getting only the 1st year with their dad.
We knew that filing Gary’s first L-1 extension was going to be a challenge because he only had one year to build the U.S. operations before we would have to demonstrate to USCIS that the company was actively “doing business” and he was employed in a “managerial capacity” position after 12 months of operation in the U.S. This meant that the company had to be able to very quickly show that it had hired several US employees and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenues in just the first few months of operations – a tough feat for most businesses expanding into the U.S. Upon our submission, the government issued a Request for Evidence – asking for even greater materials than those already submitted – to document that the company was indeed doing business and Gary was employed in a managerial capacity. After working very closely with Gary and Valeria Lipovetsky and their amazing team, we were able to generate the required documents and obtain an approval for him.
The Biggest Setback for Valeria Lipovetsky
As a world-famous influencer, Valeria has a very busy travel schedule. She also has a husband and three children who often needed to travel with her. We needed to make sure that whatever status they were holding in the U.S. had few, if any, international travel restrictions. Given the sheer amount of statuses and petitions filed on their behalf in a relatively short period of time, we needed constant communication with the family to ensure they were carrying the appropriate materials at each subsequent entry to the U.S..
Complete Timeline:
The journey started in July 2021. Valeria Lipovetsky and her family were living in Canada. They knew if they wanted to build their businesses and take advantage of their industry, they would need to move to the U.S.A.
This is the step-by-step process of how we made that happen:
- July 2021: Obtained one-year L-1 work visa for Gary as CEO of Valeria’s new U.S. company as an intracompany transferee from their Canadian operations.
- September 2021: Obtained O-1 work visa for Valeria as Influencer of extraordinary ability; filed application to change children’s status to O-3 so they fall under her status for a three year period.
- July 2022: Filed Gary’s L-1A extension through USCIS to get a two year extension of his L-1A status; Valeria and children thereafter changed status to L-2 so they could work/travel internationally through the entire green card process.
- June 2023: Filed an EB-1A Extraordinary Ability Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Valeria on the basis of her success in her field. This is the first step of her green card processing.
- March 2024: Filed Adjustment of Status filings with interim work and travel authorization for entire family (final step of green card process).
- June 2024: Filed Gary’s second L-1A extension and family’s L-2 extensions through USCIS to keep his and family’s L-1/L-2 status valid while green card applications pend.
Summary
It’s not easy for influencers to move to the U.S. – but it is possible. It was amazing to work with Valeria and Gary throughout their immigration journey. If you need personalized assistance, schedule a consultation with us to find out more!
Ready to have Berardi on your side?
Whether you’re a business looking to hire or a professional hoping to relocate, immigration law can be complicated. But you don’t have to do it alone. Put our experience to work for you.