From Chicago to Dubai: How Daniel Morris is Redefining Global Immigration at Spencer West
21st October 2025
Date
Interviewee
Daniel Morris
From Chicago to Dubai and Everywhere in Between: How Spencer West’s Daniel Morris Is Simplifying Global Immigration and the World’s Most Complex Migration Systems
The call to meaningful work rarely announces itself with fanfare. For Daniel Morris, it arrived quietly during his second year as a trial attorney in Chicago, as he found himself defending insurance companies in workers' compensation and subrogation cases. The work was solid and the firm respectable, but something essential was missing.
"Defending insurance companies didn't let me go home at the end of the night thinking I changed somebody's life today," Morris recalls. "Not to say that it wasn't still good, meaningful work, but I felt an urge to do something where I could tangibly see how my advocacy and my talents and my skills were actually playing out in really affecting someone's day-to-day life."
That urge led him to the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, where his very first pro bono case involved advocating for a VAWA visa on behalf of a survivor of domestic violence. Here was work that mattered, work that changed lives in measurable ways. Within months, Morris had discovered his calling, though he couldn't yet imagine where it would take him.
Building a Global Practice: From Tampa Bay to the World
Then came a transformative moment. Morris came across a seemingly random job posting – one that would ultimately reshape his career. Pro-Link Global, based in Florida's Tampa Bay area, was seeking an entry-level attorney for something called "global immigration." Morris had never heard the term.
"I assumed it was just going to be U.S. immigration, and boy was I wrong," he says. "I soon discovered that global immigration encompasses mostly outbound work – literally anywhere in the world."
The position with Pro-Link combined Morris's passion for immigration advocacy with his previous international experience living in Prague, Amsterdam, and Cork, Ireland. It was, he realized, exactly what he'd been looking for. He relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, and spent two years with Pro-Link before the company was acquired by Newland Chase, a large immigration services provider. Morris continued to grow his practice over a number of years at Newland Chase before recently joining global law firm Spencer West as a partner in its immigration and global mobility practice.
Mastering the Middle East: Expertise in the World's Most Complex Immigration Systems
With nearly fifteen years of practice, Morris has developed a particular expertise in what he considers one of the world's most challenging regions for immigration work: the Middle East.
"I've built a regional expertise just because I find the Middle East to be very complex," Morris explains. "It's probably one of the most challenging places to do immigration work. And so I pushed myself to learn as much as I possibly could about the nuances to immigration practices in places like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and then also Northern Africa and Egypt, where I've done a lot of immigration work. While I also do a considerable amount of work in more traditional markets like Canada and France, the work in the Middle East is always particularly interesting and challenging."
Morris’s regional focus on Europe, the Middle East, and Africa keeps him constantly busy, navigating systems that often lack the standardization found in more established immigration frameworks. The complexity, rather than deterring him, has become his specialty.
The UAE and Germany: Top Destinations for Global Talent in 2025 and Beyond
When asked where entrepreneurs and companies should consider establishing operations outside the United States, Morris doesn't hesitate. His top recommendation? The United Arab Emirates.
"The UAE is just blossoming in terms of the evolution of its immigration system," Morris notes. “The country has created geographic free zones that offer streamlined immigration processing for businesses located within designated economic areas. Even more significantly, the UAE has introduced what they call the ‘golden visa’ for entrepreneurs, essentially offering permanent residency with the freedom to work for any employer or oneself. The goal is clear: encourage innovation and remove traditional bureaucratic roadblocks.”
His second recommendation surprises many in the industry: Germany. While most countries steadily increase minimum salary thresholds for highly skilled workers, Germany has recently taken the opposite approach, lowering its requirements.
"Germany’s approach is essentially unprecedented among leading economies," Morris observes. "I'm really interested to see what happens with this because if in turn it increases their net migration, I'm going to be curious to see if other countries, particularly in the EU, follow suit and lower their minimum salary thresholds as well."
The move signals Germany's serious commitment to attracting foreign talent, making the EU Blue Card and other highly skilled permits more accessible. However, Morris cautions that consular processing delays, particularly for Indian nationals, remain a significant challenge that could undermine these otherwise progressive policy changes.
Digital Nomads: The New Frontier of Global Mobility
The rise of digital nomad visas represents another major shift in global immigration that Morris watches closely. While Bali initially put digital nomads on the map, European countries have been quickest to formalize legislative frameworks that both welcome remote workers and capture tax revenue.
Italy, Portugal, and Spain now offer digital nomad visas, joining a growing list of countries recognizing this new category of global worker. Morris himself recalls spending time on Italy’s Amalfi Coast and thinking it would be an ideal location for remote work, combining stunning scenery with world-class food and culture.
"In Europe we're seeing new legislation on the books because then they are collecting the tax revenue that comes along with being a digital nomad," Morris explains. The Asia-Pacific region has been slower to legislate in this area, though the trend appears inevitable, he adds.
Navigating AI: Promise and Peril in Immigration Practice
As artificial intelligence reshapes legal practice, Morris observes both benefits and significant risks in immigration work. He encounters clients regularly who cite ChatGPT findings when exploring their options, sometimes accurately, sometimes dangerously wrong.
"I don't think it's a perfect technology yet, and I certainly don't think it's a substitute for immigration legal experts," Morris cautions. He points to the now-infamous case of an attorney who used AI to write a brief, only to discover that the cases cited didn't exist, resulting in substantial fines and public professional humiliation.
The fundamental problem, Morris explains, is that AI cannot account for the full complexity of immigration cases. Immigration doesn't exist in isolation but intersects with tax law, employment law, and relocation issues. "Just because you might be eligible from an immigration standpoint doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be qualified to do this from an employment or a tax standpoint," he notes.
While AI can serve as a starting point for background research, Morris insists it cannot replace expert immigration counsel. The stakes are simply too high. Small administrative errors can carry the same malpractice liability as substantive legal mistakes, and immigration officials at all levels exercise broad discretion that can result in denials with limited recourse.
Strategic Advice: Looking Beyond the Obvious Path
For those beginning their immigration journey, whether as professionals seeking new opportunities or as attorneys entering the field, Morris emphasizes the importance of strategic thinking. Immigration law changes constantly, more than perhaps any other legal subspecialty, requiring practitioners to stay vigilant and adaptable.
"There's always strategies available," Morris says. "I think there's a lot of things that are overlooked from a strategic standpoint."
For example, if French consular processing times are lengthy, applicants might consider applying for a Schengen visa at a German or Belgian consulate if they're willing to adjust their travel plans to enter through that country first. “Ask to take a look at after-sales service agreements or purchase orders,” he says. “They facilitate the navigation process when assessing whether a work permit is required.”
Morris also stresses the importance of anticipating unexpected delays and understanding that immigration officials possess significant discretion at every level, from in-country work permit processing to consular visa issuance to border entry decisions. Even U.S. Customs and Border Protection can deny entry at their discretion with minimal explanation and limited appeals process.
"Immigration officials have discretion and we see this too, with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to just deny entry at their discretion with really no information given as to why they've decided to do so," Morris explains. "That could take petitioners by surprise because they always think there has to be some reason or there has to be an appeals process, and it's not always the case."
The Future of Global Mobility: Adapting to Shifting Landscapes
Recent U.S. immigration policy changes, including controversial H-1B visa fees introduced in September 2025, have accelerated trends Morris has been observing for years. Immigration into the United States is declining, but talent needs haven't diminished. The result is a strategic pivot by multinational corporations.
"I expect that we’re going to see a lot of people asking the recruiters to pivot to other countries in terms of inbound work," Morris predicts. Companies that planned to sponsor H-1B workers are now recruiting talent in countries like Germany and keeping them there for a year, creating eligibility for L-1 intracompany transfer visas if and when the political environment stabilizes.
Morris notes that one major client recently instructed all H-1B holders to stay in the U.S. if already present, postpone departures if travel was planned, and remain abroad if already overseas until clarity emerges around the new fee structure and who bears responsibility for payment.
The uncertainty has sparked increased interest in alternative destinations. Morris fields daily inquiries about working outside the U.S., including from employers without legal entities in foreign countries. These conversations often shift toward digital nomad visas and other creative solutions for parking talent internationally.
A Career Defined by Meaningful Impact
Now three months into his position as a partner at Spencer West, Morris finds himself in a unique position. Spencer West historically maintained a UK-centric immigration practice, but Morris is currently the firm’s only partner focusing on global immigration. The firm is expanding rapidly in the U.S., having recently opened offices in New York and San Francisco, with additional plans to expand via office openings.
Looking at his current work and client support, Morris notes that the learning curve remains steep, even fifteen years into his career. "After all this time, I am still learning all kinds of new things just about the way to practice immigration and not just the substantive part of it as well," he says.
Morris found meaningful work in immigration law, then expanded his impact globally, mastering some of the world's most complex immigration systems and helping individuals and companies navigate an increasingly interconnected but challenging global mobility landscape.
For someone who once read The Economist "like a nerd" and lived across Europe, chasing his curiosity about how the world works, Morris has built a career that perfectly marries his intellectual interests with his desire for tangible impact. Every visa approved, every family reunited, every entrepreneur enabled to build in a new country represents the kind of impactful work he sought from the beginning.
As global mobility continues evolving in response to political shifts, technological advances, and changing economic realities, practitioners like Morris who understand not just U.S. immigration but the entire global landscape become increasingly essential. His advice to those entering the field echoes his own journey: embrace complexity, stay curious, think strategically, and never lose sight of the human impact behind every case.
Daniel Morris is a Partner in the Immigration and Global Mobility practice at global law firm Spencer West, where he specializes in complex immigration matters across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. With nearly 15 years of experience in global immigration law, Morris advises multinational corporations and individuals on strategic mobility solutions worldwide.
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