Sari Long, New WLG | regional Delegate and Speaker

Get to know Sari's practice: 

Sari specializes in immigration law, helping companies with immigration strategies, Form I-9 compliance, and worksite enforcement. She guides clients through U.S. employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, labor certifications, family-based immigration, and refugee/asylum issues, assisting employers across diverse industries in securing work authorization and permanent residence for their employees. Additionally, Sari provides training on immigration and I-9 compliance, including anti-discrimination provisions, and is a national speaker who advocates for creative immigration solutions to workforce challenges.

As a first-time attendee at WLG | regional New York '25, what are you looking forward to? 

I'm looking forward to meeting other WLG members, learning about the challenges they're solving in their jurisdictions and areas of expertise, and having the opportunity to learn about cutting-edge global issues directly from experts in the field.

Given your extensive experience with U.S. employment-based immigration, what are some of the most critical challenges companies face today in navigating the current immigration landscape, and how can they best prepare for future changes?

U.S. companies are struggling to comply with federal Form I-9 obligations in terms of verifying their employees’ work authorization, and shifting deadlines and abrupt cancellation of work authorization create uncertainty and significant employer time to manage. The Trump administration is abruptly revoking work authorization for hundreds of thousands of people who had been lawfully paroled into the U.S. Additionally, employers are struggling to stay fully staffed, as they face recruiting challenges for certain hard-to-fill jobs in manufacturing and agriculture in the context of this uncertain immigration landscape. To prepare, employers must invest in their HR processes and protocols related to Form I-9 compliance, they must perform self-audits of their I-9s, be aware of their workforce and the basis for any temporary work authorization, and prepare for additional time and expense in considering any immigration sponsorship of their professional workforce.