Beyond H-1B Work: How Immigration Attorney Shaun Foster Found Purpose in Citizenship Cases
9th November 2025
Date
Interviewee
Shaun Foster
Shaun Foster, Immigration Attorney and Founder, on Citizenship, Small Firms, and the Future of Immigration Practice
When an eighth grader asked Shaun Foster what product his law firm creates, the immigration attorney found himself stumped. Years later, that simple question led him to perhaps the most profound realization of his 25-year career.
"We make voters," Foster now says with conviction. "That's the most meaningful thing that I do."
It's an unusual answer from an immigration lawyer, but then again, Foster has built an unusual career. From his start as a 21-year-old paralegal in 2000 to founding his own boutique immigration firm in Woburn, Massachusetts, he has charted a path guided by principles rather than profits, focusing on personalized service over scale.
The Accidental Immigration Lawyer: Shaun Foster's Entry into Immigration Law
Foster never planned to become an immigration attorney. Fresh out of college as a government major in 2000, he was exploring careers in law or politics when his mother spotted an advertisement in the Boston Sunday Globe for an immigration paralegal position.
"She said, this seems different. Why don't you check this out," Foster recalls. The suggestion changed everything. "It's of course, a lot more people focused. And I've been in the field ever since."
After three years as a paralegal, Foster attended law school with a clear purpose: to continue doing the same work, but with greater impact. When he graduated and began interviewing with local firms, he knew exactly what he was looking for.
"I was really interested in working with the people that were kind of trailblazers in the field and were doing immigration in Boston in the 80s before too many people were," he explains. He found that in Alan Pampanin, who would become his partner before eventually retiring.
Small Firms and the Magic of Personalized Immigration Practice
Today, Foster runs a seven-person firm, with plans to hire an eighth administrative team member. The size is intentional. Throughout his career, he has remained committed to the boutique model, even as larger firms might have offered more traditional markers of success.
"I fundamentally really do believe that small firms for this practice area is kind of where the magic happens," Foster says. He works on all his cases personally, writing or reviewing every eligibility support letter. "I have all my own tricks, twists, all that."
Orchestrated narrative arc spanning networking, AI, and immigration policy.
Good, I'm developing the narrative. Now I need to cover his challenge with networking and business development, then move into the AI and H1B sections, and build toward the powerful "making voters" conclusion.
This hands-on approach reflects lessons learned from his mentor. But it also reveals something Foster admits he initially resisted: the business side of running a law practice.
The Immigration Geek's Business Development Journey
When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Foster doesn't hesitate. "The first thing that comes to mind for me is that I was resistant of the parts of being a lawyer that I hated and that I didn't think I was as good at and that I didn't like doing. And that's networking, business development, all that."
For his first decade of practice, Foster prioritized the technical work over self-promotion. "I'm the immigration geek that wants to be in his office finding the best way to articulate whatever to make this man's case," he explains. "I really was not prioritizing that in the way that I should have been."
His advice to other attorneys now? "Get out there. You just got to get out there, do it, go to events, meet people, join groups, engage."
Foster credits his young paralegals, ages 21, 24, and 28, along with his teenage children, with teaching him new approaches to engagement. He has learned, for instance, that thoughtfully commenting on someone else's LinkedIn post generates more attention than his own posts, even though his firm currently has only about 350 followers.
"It's only going to get faster," he says of the pace of change in professional services. "If you're already behind, you're done."
Navigating AI Disruption in Immigration Law: Shaun Foster's Perspective
That acceleration is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into immigration practice. Foster sees it from both sides of his work: as a challenge when the government uses untested AI systems, and as an opportunity for practitioners to gain competitive advantages.
"We see instances every week where immigration's untested AI is wreaking havoc," he observes. He points to a troubling example from the summer, when H-1B workers who were laid off and in their authorized grace period suddenly received notices to appear before immigration judges. "My hunch: increased use of untested AI on the government's part."
The system failed to recognize that these individuals were in a legitimate limbo status, not violation of their visa terms. "1,800 just like issued and dropped overnight," Foster says.
For practitioners, however, AI presents different possibilities. Foster identifies his biggest bottleneck: three talented paralegals produce more work than he can review daily, yet as the attorney, his name goes on every form. "The QC element of it, me being kind of like a factor and the reliability element, that's really important to me."
When properly deployed, he believes AI could handle many of the quality control functions that currently require attorney review, allowing small firms like his to compete more effectively with larger practices.
H-1B Policy Changes and the Misinformation Crisis
Recent months have tested Foster's commitment to providing accurate guidance amid chaos. The proposed changes to H-1B regulations have generated unprecedented confusion among his nearly 100 corporate clients.
"I personally have never seen more of a problem created by misinformation, disinformation," Foster says. He attributes some of this to servicers whose business models depend on steering clients toward specific visa types or strategies. The challenge intensifies when clients forward screenshots from other attorneys' social media posts that contradict his advice.
"This guy in Silicon Valley has the answers that nobody else in the world does," he says, characterizing the dynamic. "But somebody on my side reads what they want to hear."
The frustration is palpable when he describes clients who want immediate certainty about policy changes that remain in flux. "We need time for the dust to settle. We need time for litigation to play its role," he counsels. Yet many clients struggle with patience, comparing his guidance against other voices in an increasingly saturated market.
"I don't think our market's ever been more saturated with misinformation and disinformation," Foster concludes. "That's been in the last month and a half."
Shaun Foster on Immigration Reform: The Case for 245(i)
If Foster could change one thing about the current immigration system, he wouldn't create a new visa category or adjust existing caps. Instead, he would resurrect an obscure provision that most people outside immigration law have never heard of: Section 245(i).
Active from December 2000 to April 2001, this provision allowed people who had entered the United States without inspection or accumulated unlawful presence to adjust their status to permanent residence if they had a qualifying labor certification or visa petition filed during that window. For those eligible, it essentially wiped away prior immigration violations.
"I've always kind of wondered, like, you know, it was only like four months, I guess, but like, what's so bad about 245(i)?" Foster asks. "Isn't the answer already there?"
He points to a current case that illustrates the provision's lasting impact. His firm is helping someone apply for citizenship whose green card they obtained through 245(i). They began working on the case 20 years ago, but the individual had fallen out of status 20 years before that. "How can you do that? 245(i) applies."
While comprehensive immigration reform remains politically elusive, Foster wonders whether this more targeted solution might offer a path forward for millions of long-term undocumented residents.
Advice for Immigrants and Immigration Attorneys
For immigrants currently navigating uncertainty around H-1B policies and broader political volatility, Foster's counsel is straightforward: "Stay in the United States."
He explains that when problems occur at consular posts abroad, attorneys have fewer tools to contest them. Within the United States, "there's a lot more we can do to advocate for them and to try to protect them both litigation, systemically, congressional offices."
His broader message combines realism with hope. "Immigration, for better or for worse, is highly politicized, and that's what you're seeing playing out right now," he acknowledges. But he urges people not to give up. "We've been through eras like this before. I'm sure they'll recur again. Circle the wagon, so to speak. This too shall pass."
For those considering immigrating to the United States despite recent headlines, Foster encourages them to think strategically and globally. He advises corporate clients to consider how international offices or global mobility strategies might provide flexibility. "Is that soon to no longer be part of the landscape?" he asks of various visa options. "What we try to do with our corporate clients is we try to talk to them weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly so that we can review whatever work we have in process but look at things broadly."
Making Voters: Shaun Foster's Vision for Immigration Practice
It all comes back to that eighth grader's question about what Foster's firm produces. The answer crystallized for him amid the political turmoil of 2025.
"Morning meeting, we meet every Monday at 11:30 and I think we had about five cases that we're still working on, citizenship cases where we haven't filed them yet," he explains. With citizenship tests getting longer and more complex, he is pushing to complete these applications.
The stakes feel personal. "Do you like the face of America today? I'm confident the majority of the people will say no, they don't," Foster says. "What's the solution? It's really voting, right?"
He sees his naturalization work as directly addressing democratic deficits. "I have citizenship interviews between now and Thanksgiving. I would be up to about 11 new voters this year myself alone. Not a huge number. But then when you magnify that there are 18,000 immigration lawyers all over the country and there are 3.8 million permanent residents eligible to vote, but they just haven't filed. Who are they? Where are they? You can see out there, the system needs you right now."
Foster has taken his naturalization practice on the road, filing cases in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and California. "Wherever people want to vote, that's where I want to help," he says.
The motivation extends beyond partisan politics to civic participation itself. People worry about Social Security benefits, want stronger protections for their families, and desire full participation in their local communities. "Your voice isn't as strong in your local community. You can't participate openly in town meeting the same way," Foster notes of permanent residents' limitations.
For some clients from countries like India, giving up their original citizenship is a significant sacrifice, but they choose naturalization because "those greater protections are more important."
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