Calen Correll of Corporate Immigration Partners: Building an Immigration Law Career on Curiosity, Service and Adaptability
4th November 2025
Date
Interviewee
Calen Correll
From Small-Town Pennsylvania to San Francisco Immigration Law: Calen Correll's Journey at Corporate Immigration Partners
The path to immigration law isn't always linear. For some, it begins with passion. For others, it starts with a simple helping hand during H-1B cap season.
Calen Correll's journey into business immigration began the second way. Fresh from a small hometown in Pennsylvania with little exposure to immigration or the business world, he arrived in San Francisco for law school. When a classmate working at a local firm needed help scanning H-1B cap cases during the paper-filing era, Correll stepped in. That temporary assignment became the foundation of a thriving career at what would become Corporate Immigration Partners.
"I had no idea about business immigration, or really immigration in general," Correll recalls. But he was intrigued by the work, impressed by how the firm served its clients, and decided to stick around. Years later, after multiple firm mergers and significant global expansion, he remains with the organization, now focusing on extraordinary ability cases like O-1 and EB-1 visas.
Learning to Navigate the Unknown
When asked what advice he'd give his younger self, Correll doesn't hesitate: "People don't know as much as you think they know."
It's a lesson he learned gradually throughout his career. Early on, he felt pressure to have all the answers immediately. But over time, he realized that even the most experienced professionals are constantly figuring things out. Nobody has everything solved from the start.
"You can figure it out, you try, but you're not going to always know everything up front," he says. This mindset has proven especially valuable during uncertain times, particularly during both Trump administrations, when policy changes arrived without warning and precedent offered little guidance.
For those just entering the immigration field, Correll emphasizes the importance of embracing discomfort. "It might not be a fun time to be starting," he acknowledges about the current climate. "But I think it is a good time to be starting because you'll learn so much these next almost three years."
His own career began during the previous Trump administration, a period that taught him resilience and adaptability. While he's quick to note he wasn't fully prepared for the current administration's challenges, those early experiences taught him to stay nimble and find opportunities within chaos.
The Art of White-Glove Service
At Corporate Immigration Partners, success has been built on a foundation of exceptional client service. When he joined the firm, then named Pearl Law Group and much smaller than today, the focus was clear: make the jobs of corporate clients and foreign nationals as easy as possible.
Correll learned to balance two perspectives. On one hand, foreign nationals face urgent, personal challenges that demand individual attention. On the other, corporate clients need systematic solutions that can scale across their entire workforce. "Looking at it from both the micro aspect as well as the macro is really helpful," he explains.
But this level of service comes with personal costs. Correll has spent years learning where to invest effort and where to maintain boundaries. Finding balance between delivering excellence and maintaining personal wellbeing has become an ongoing practice, especially during demanding periods like the current political environment.
Building Extraordinary Ability Cases
Correll has developed particular expertise in O-1 and EB-1 cases, which require demonstrating that applicants possess extraordinary ability in their fields. His approach is methodical and grounded in understanding how USCIS adjudicates these applications.
"It's really that two-step adjudication," he explains. "We really need to look at the plain language of the requirements and then move into any other evidence that we can use."
This focus on the adjudication perspective distinguishes professional legal work from the advice foreign nationals may find online. Many applicants don't fully grasp that evidence must be framed through the lens of how USCIS will evaluate it, not just whether it demonstrates excellence in their field.
Correll often starts assessments by educating clients about this process. A common challenge is explaining that media coverage about someone's work may not actually qualify as evidence about their work under USCIS standards. "The media publication that you gave us, it is about your work, but it's not really about your work. At least that's what USCIS is going to say."
For building strong cases, he recommends working closely with experienced attorneys rather than attempting DIY approaches. He puts extra effort into assessments for individuals without corporate HR support, recognizing that they lack the infrastructure that many applicants take for granted.
The AI Revolution in Immigration Practice
Like many immigration attorneys, Correll uses artificial intelligence tools daily. His firm has access to Microsoft's Copilot, which he uses primarily for two purposes: drafting assistance and evidence research.
For O-1B cases in the arts and entertainment industries, AI has proven particularly valuable for gathering information about media organizations and publications that have featured his clients' work. "Finding that independent evidence of those media organizations has been really helpful," he notes.
However, he's cautious about over-reliance on AI for drafting. While it provides useful starting points, he emphasizes that AI-generated content should never be used as a final product without substantial attorney review and editing. The goal is efficiency without sacrificing the personalized, strategic approach that makes cases successful.
He is excited with many recent AI-powered implementations, including updates to messaging features, helping to facilitate client communications. Still, Correll sees significant potential for improvement, particularly around drafting. Data privacy and security are top priorities that impact how the firm can leverage AI capabilities, a tension many practices face as they balance innovation with client protection.
Navigating Uncertain Times
The current political environment has created extraordinary challenges for immigration practitioners and their clients. Correll describes the period since recent policy announcements as a whirlwind. Within days of new proclamations, corporate clients were asking whether they should stop interviewing H-1B holders.
"It's difficult to give guidance there because we don't know," he says frankly. The uncertainty has become perhaps the most challenging aspect, as clients understandably seek clear answers that simply don't exist yet.
Corporate Immigration Partners has responded by leaning heavily on its expanded network. With offices around the globe and across the United States, plus active participation in the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Northern California chapter, the firm can share intelligence about what strategies are working in different jurisdictions.
Clients are increasingly asking about alternatives to traditional H-1B pathways. O-1 visas, TN status for Canadian and Mexican nationals, and L-1 intracompany transfers are seeing renewed interest. Perhaps most significantly, companies are seriously exploring global immigration options, particularly in Canada and Europe, as they look to relocate talent rather than face mounting uncertainty in the United States.
The increased enforcement climate has also created widespread anxiety among foreign nationals, even when actual enforcement actions haven't directly affected them. "I think the anxiety is really what's driving that," Correll observes. "Not really the actions or the policies, it's just the fear that they cause."
Finding What You Love
One of Correll's most memorable cases came early in his career working on O-1 visas. The firm didn't handle many at the time, so when a yacht sailing coach arrived as a client preparing to train for the Olympics, it opened his eyes to new possibilities.
"I had never done a case for anything other than an engineer or someone in the tech industry," he recalls. "But that was a great first case like that because I got to see it's not just engineers that can qualify."
That case sparked his interest in extraordinary ability work and taught him to think beyond standard categories. It's a mindset that will become increasingly important as H-1B challenges potentially push more applicants toward alternative visa categories.
For those exploring which practice areas suit them, Correll recommends starting with Request for Evidence responses. Analyzing why USCIS challenged particular cases and developing response strategies provides invaluable insight into both legal requirements and practical adjudication patterns. This foundation helps attorneys develop better initial case strategies and avoid common pitfalls.
Advice for the Next Generation
Throughout the interview, Correll returns repeatedly to themes of learning, adaptation, and finding your own path within the immigration field. The breadth of the practice area means there's room for many different approaches and specializations.
"There's so many different things within this industry that you wouldn't know if you didn't try it," he points out.
His core message to those entering the field is simple but powerful: learn to be uncomfortable, and keep looking for what resonates with you professionally. The challenges are real, the work is demanding, and the political environment adds extraordinary complexity. But for those willing to embrace uncertainty and continuously learn, immigration law offers meaningful work that directly impacts people's lives and futures.
As Corporate Immigration Partners continues expanding globally and adapting to rapid policy changes, Correll remains focused on delivering the white-glove service that initially impressed him as a law student. The tools may change, the political winds may shift, but the fundamental commitment to helping clients navigate complex systems remains constant.
For Correll, that's more than enough reason to have never looked back from that first H-1B cap season all those years ago.
About Corporate Immigration Partners
Corporate Immigration Partners serves businesses and individuals navigating complex immigration matters, with offices across the globe. The firm specializes in business immigration, including employment-based visas, extraordinary ability cases, and comprehensive global mobility solutions.
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