The Immigrant Who Chose The Harder Road

How Guilherme Zaia is urging clients to prepare early, fight smart, and use AI with care

On a Thursday he calls Friday Junior, Guilherme Zaia logs in from Maryland with a quick apology for the lighting and a calm that suggests he has seen turbulence before. He grew up in Brazil, arrived in the United States as a teenager, and did the uncommon thing when the easiest option was to start over. Instead, he picked the hard path. He finished law school in Brazil in 2018, then pursued a JD at Penn State, graduating in 2022. After clerking for a family court judge, he moved into immigration practice in 2023 and never looked back.

“I did not want to throw my law degree in the trash,” he says. “The JD was harder and more expensive, but it gave me the most opportunity.”

That refusal to accept the simple route runs through his advice to clients and peers. It shows up in how he explains trends, how he uses AI, and how he thinks about the next decade of global mobility.

Zaia’s first message is blunt: the system does not run on your schedule. Processing standards shift. Policies change. Adjudication trends tighten. “Prepare ahead of time,” he says. “The immigration system does not work in your timeline.” He has watched requests for evidence tick upward, especially in NIW and EB-1 filings, and he has seen approval rates react to both stricter review and a wider pool of applicants, including many self-filers.

The counsel that follows is practical and unvarnished. Stay on top of your file. Keep close contact with your attorney. Invest in professional guidance and do not fall for shortcuts. “If you are looking for a discretionary benefit, you may face tough RFEs or even a denial. Be ready for that,” he says. “You have to fight back. Now is not the time to wait and see.”

He describes a recent wave of clients worried about tourist visa revocations after large-scale automated vetting and data mismatches in I-94 travel histories. The point is not panic. It is process. Confirm the facts. Escalate where appropriate. Use counsel to correct the record.

Zaia lights up when he talks about a kayak entrepreneur from Brazil who competed in kayak fishing. On paper, the applicant’s achievements might not have screamed world-class. But they were real. He had wins as an athlete and, more importantly, he had built a significant business in kayaking. “A lot of attorneys told him no,” Zaia recalls. “I wanted to think outside the box.” The case strategy matched the evidence to the right criteria, and the client won an O-1. The lesson is not that every niche can fit an extraordinary ability category. It is that categories are frameworks, and strong strategy can surface the merit that is already there.

Among attorneys, Zaia’s plea is for unity and information discipline. “If you sleep eight hours nowadays, you miss news,” he jokes, only half kidding. He has seen colleagues fracture over political differences, including in his Brazilian community. He is not interested in score-settling. “We have to focus on what is important and help immigrant communities stay afloat amid constant changes,” he says. Network, share notes, compare adjudication outcomes, and pass along early signals. Clients depend on it.

Zaia is clear on AI: it is here to stay and it can be a powerful accelerator. His team uses it for research, first-pass drafting, and routine analysis. “If it can take 70 to 80 percent of the work, you can focus your energy on the remaining 20 to 30 percent that matters most.” But the warning label is large. “Do not rely 100 percent on it,” he says. He has seen fabricated citations and confident errors. The fix is human judgment. Check the cases. Verify the facts. Edit with a lawyer’s eye. Used well, AI handles the transactional grind. Used carelessly, it erodes critical thinking and invites professional risk.

Asked about the future, Zaia sees a simple supply and demand curve. AI will expand across sectors, from data centers to healthcare. The United States will need specialists who are not all homegrown. Existing categories like H-1B, O-1, and NIW will stay central, but he would not be surprised to see new visa designs tailored to emerging technical needs. The takeaway for candidates is straightforward: skills first, story second, documentation always.

If he could rewrite one structural feature of the system, Zaia would dilute the executive branch’s sway over immigration policy. Shifting priorities create real-world whiplash for families and employers. Greater insulation would bring steadier expectations for everyone who must plan around them.

Zaia ends where he began, with a steady message for people who want to build a life in the United States. Expect setbacks. Assemble the right team. Prepare early. “Do not let the current state of immigration stop you from investing in your plan,” he says. “Trust the process. With the right support, you can achieve it.”

It sounds like an echo from his own path. Choose the harder route when it gives you real opportunity. Use the tools, but own the judgment. Collaborate. Check the facts. And keep moving.