Attorney
About Melissa Sayoc
Immigration is legal and personal. I believe this because I am an immigrant too. I was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and raised in Manila, the Philippines, before returning to the Bay Area to begin my legal career.
As an immigration practitioner, I have handled a broad spectrum of cases while working at law offices of different sizes. My experience spans family-based immigrant petitions to employment-based nonimmigrant visas; naturalization applications to petitions for survivors of crimes and human trafficking; green card applications, and some removal defense. At a global immigration law firm, I managed a high-volume of cases, including a nonimmigrant visa program for highly skilled workers and labor certification applications for prominent technology companies.
I am a licensed California attorney, but I work with clients from all over the world.
Outside of work I enjoy drinking coffee, reading fantasy novels, and visiting new places and old favorites with my husband, son, and our sassy Shiba Inu.
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English, proficient
Tagalog, proficient
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Juris Doctor, Santa Clara University School of Law
Articles Editor, Volume 53, Santa Clara Law Review
Public Interest and Social Justice Certificate with emphasis in Environmental Law
UC Hastings Legislation Clinic - California State Assembly Natural Resources Committee, Spring 2013
Bachelor of Science in Business Economics, University of the Philippines, Diliman
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State Bar of California
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit