Privacy Notice

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 25, 2018 (updated January 2023)

WEAVER SCHLENGER LLP PRIVACY NOTICE

Weaver Schlenger LLP is an immigration law firm. We are engaged by employers to advise and assist in obtaining work authorization and permanent resident status (in addition to other immigration- or travel-related documentation) on behalf of employees and potential employees (“legal services”).  We also may work directly with individuals seeking our advice and assistance on immigration matters.  In the course of performing legal services, our firm collects certain company personal data and personal information about the employees and/or potential employees (“you”) and, if required, family members.  We will not be able to provide the services requested if we are not provided with all relevant personal information.

To perform legal services at your or your employer’s request, we collect personal information such as name, addresses, email address, telephone number, date of birth, marital status, passport number, employment history, educational background, social security number, job title and duties, salary information, and family information. To provide the legal services, we also collect copies of personal documents such as passport pages, educational documents, CVs, visa stamps, birth certificates, and other documents.

In addition, we may collect personal information which is considered “sensitive” and subject to a higher level of data protection. This may include political affiliations, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health status, data relating to criminal offenses and/or convictions, and biometric data, such as fingerprints. We will only collect sensitive personal information when the submission of such data is necessary to comply with the legal requirements to obtain the immigration benefit you or your employer has asked us to assist with.

We obtain the personal information via online questionnaires using a commercially available case management system, as well as directly from you via email, facsimile or via telephone or in-person conversation with our legal staff. In addition, your prospective or current employer may provide information to us.  We use this information to provide immigration legal services, including analysis of eligibility for visa categories, and preparing visa filings and submissions to relevant government agencies.

We will not sell, share, transfer, rent, use, or distribute your information for purposes other than those disclosed here unless required by law or as authorized by you or your employer. We share the information you provide with your prospective or current employer, and we may share the information with service providers such as translation services and education evaluators.  These service providers are authorized to use the information only as necessary to perform services on our behalf or to comply with legal requirements. If we receive knowledge that a service provider processes your personal information in a manner contrary to this Privacy Notice, we will take reasonable steps to prevent or stop the processing. We assume you grant permission for us to share the information with these service providers as part of your request for legal advice and services.

We also disclose personal information to government agencies as part of the application process to receive the immigration benefits you or your employer has asked us to assist with, or if required by law.

In certain circumstances, we may also share information with co-counsel (for example, if an interview in connection with an application for adjustment of status is held in a separate city and it is most cost-effective to retain local counsel) only with your and your employer’s consent.  Likewise, in matters relating to non-U.S. visa acquisition, we may share information with co-counsel only with your and your employer’s consent.

We maintain appropriate administrative, technical, organizational, and physical safeguards to protect against loss, misuse or unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction of personal information.

We constantly train our employees to follow processes to ensure data protection and strive to maintain appropriate standards of conduct with regard to the protection of personal information. We may communicate with you (including personal information) using the means of communication listed above. We strive to use commercially acceptable means of protecting data but understand that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

We take steps to ensure that third parties who assist in our provision of services abide by all applicable privacy and data protection laws and prohibit them from using your information other than in connection with the services they have been engaged to provide.

We retain personal information for only as long as we need it to provide the services you or your employer has requested and for any periods that are mandated by law, government agencies or State Bars or otherwise agreed to with our clients, after which, we take steps to delete the information.

If requested, we will work with you and/or your employer to provide you with access to your personal information and, as applicable, with the ability to review and correct inaccuracies, delete unnecessary personal information, and receive a copy of your personal information in a structured machine-readable format. You or your employer may inform us in writing at any time that you wish to opt-out of future processing of personal data.  To exercise these rights, please contact your employer or Weaver Schlenger LLP. If you have unresolved concerns, where provided by law, you may have the right to complain to a data protection authority where you reside, where you work or where you believe there has been an infringement of data protection laws.

Our Website

We collect information when you visit our website that your browser sends to us that is called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser version, pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other statistics.

Our website uses “cookies” to collection information and to improve website content based on the pages most frequently visited and other details. Cookies are files with a small amount of data that is commonly used an anonymous unique identifier. These are sent to your browser from the website that you visit and are stored on your computer’s hard drive. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies, and know when a cookie is being sent to your computer. Most browsers will instruct you on how to disable cookies.

Our website may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

If you communicate with us via our website, either by requesting a consultation or adding yourself to receive our email alerts and updates, you will be providing us with personal information: name and email.  We will use that information to answer your questions.

Email Updates

We collect and process your name and email address when you inquire about our services, sign up for webinars and/or client alerts, or ask us to provide legal services.  We use that information to send periodic email updates to you regarding legal updates and firm news.  You may opt out of these emails at any time by using the “unsubscribe” link contained at the bottom of each email update or by contacting us at news@wsmimmigration.com.

Updates to Our Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice may be updated periodically on our website without prior notice. We will list the date of the most recent update, and we encourage you to visit this page periodically to review updates.

How to Contact Us

The controllers for your personal information are Weaver Schlenger LLP.  If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice, please contact us by email at news@wsmimmigration.com. You also may write to us at:

Attn: Office Manager
Weaver Schlenger LLP
550 Montgomery Street, Suite 650
San Francisco, CA 94111