Attorney Isabel Machado

Like her clients, Isabel Machado is herself an immigrant. Her first language is Portuguese. She immigrated to the United States at the age of 6 as a derivative beneficiary after her U.S. citizen aunt (also Isabel) submitted a family-based petition on behalf of her brother, Ms. Machado’s father. A legal permanent resident throughout her childhood, Ms. Machado filed her application to become a naturalized U.S. citizen on her 18th birthday, the first day she became eligible to do so. She acted as interpreter for her parents throughout her childhood and even accompanied her mother to her English and citizenship classes. Later, after graduating college and spending two years in her home country, she immigrated her husband, who she had met while living abroad. In other words, Ms. Machado was exposed to the immigration process and has had first-hand experience since long before she became an immigration lawyer. Ms. Machado concentrates her practice in the areas of family- and employment-based immigration, including inadmissibility waivers and deportation defense. She has a vast family immigration practice and possesses considerable experience in preparing and defending employment-based nonimmigrant visa petitions and permanent resident applications through labor certification. She has also handled many citizenship matters, including automatic acquisition and derivation for children born outside the United States.