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.

    • English, proficient

    • Tagalog, proficient

  • 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

    • State Bar of California

    • American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

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