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Camiel Becker
Camiel has over 20 years of experience working with immigrants. He has experience in all areas of immigration law and has spoken on over 40 legal education panels teaching immigration law to lawyers, law students and nonprofit attorneys across the country. He helped write and grade the immigration law specialization exam for the State Bar of California and is himself certified as a specialist in immigration law by the California Board of Legal Specialization. A graduate of Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Camiel also holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology from the University of Montana-Missoula. Mr. Becker previously worked with four immigration law firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, including an immigration law firm he founded and managed for over a decade.
Camiel represents companies and individuals in the employment-based immigration context, including mid- and small-sized businesses, researchers and scientists and IT professionals. He also has litigated numerous cases before Immigration Courts and has successfully argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has experience in all areas of immigration law, including removal defense, employment-based immigration, investor visas, PERM labor certifications, waivers, asylum, adjustment of status and naturalization. Camiel particularly enjoys working with investors, companies, artists, and scientists.
Camiel is fluent in Spanish and has family in Colombia. Although he represents individuals from all over the world, he has a strong background in issues particularly relevant to individuals from Latin America. As a U.S. Fulbright scholar, he conducted post-graduate research on gangs and street children in El Salvador. He has studied and/or worked in Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Spain and Mexico. He also owns an immigration law staffing firm with operations in Bogota, Colombia.
Camiel was appointed from 2015 to 2019 to serve on the Immigration and Nationality Law Advisory Commission, which is responsible for writing and grading the State Bar of California’s legal specialization examination for immigration law. He has volunteered as a mentor on numerous asylum cases for the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and has offered pro bono services to the National Center of Lesbian Rights, the Asian Law Caucus, El Centro Legal de La Raza and other non-profit organizations.
Honors, Awards and Positions
- Super Lawyers – Northern California Super Lawyers (2019 – 2024)
- Rising Star – Northern California Super Lawyers (2015 – 2018)
- Immigration and Nationality Law Advisory Commission, State Bar of California (2015 – 2019)
- Executive Committee Member, Immigration Section, Alameda County Bar Association (2018 – 2020)
- Co-Chair of the Immigration Section of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Barristers Club (2013 – 2015)
- LGBT Coordinator for the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association of Northern California (“AILA NorCal”) (2013)
Speaking Engagements
- “Best Practices and Tips for 212(d)(3) Waivers for DACA Beneficiaries and More.” Latin American and Caribbean Chapter, Online Webinar, September 10, 2024.
- “Assessing Employment-Based Options for Those Who Have DACA, TPS, and Humanitarian Parole.” AILA National Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June, 2024.
- “Creative Humanitarian Options: Using All the Tools in the Toolbox”, (Presenting specifically on the special parole programs for nationals of Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Ecuador), AILA National Web Seminar, Washington, DC, November 29, 2023.
- “EB-3 Green Cards for Skilled and Unskilled Workers & Addressing Their Unique Challenges”, AILA Chicago Chapter’s Virtual 2023-2024 Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 15, 2023.
- “Explorando la Maternidad Subrogada en la Sociedad Contemporánea (Exploring Surrogacy and Maternity in Contemporary Society)” Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Universidad Externada de Colombia, Bogotá Colombia, October 4, 2023.
- “Unraveling the Findream Nightmare: Representing Former F-1 Students Who Relied on Time Spent at Findream/Sinnocontech, Integra Technologies”, AILA NorCal, virtual presentation from Bogota, Colombia, October 2022.
- “Employment-based Immigration for Non-profit Immigration Attorneys: Identifying Eligibility for Work Visas and Green Cards”, Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, online webinar from Bogota, Colombia, April 27, 2022
- “Waivers . . . Your Client Did What?!!! Inadmissibility Issues for O’s and P’s” 2020 AILA Athletics, Culture, Entertainment, and Science (ACES) Virtual Conference, Washington, D.C., October 2020.
- “DACA and TPS Under Attack: Using Employment-Based Strategies to Obtain a More Secure Status” AILA National Webinar, Washington, D.C., September 2020.
- “The Supreme Court’s DACA Decision Is In: Practical Tips & Strategies for Short and Long Term Solutions” Alameda Bar Association Immigration section and AILA NorCal, Oakland, California, August 2020.
- “Not Your Typical NIV: Employment-Based Strategies for Employees with Unique Immigration Status,” 2020 AILA Annual Conference, San Diego, California, June 2020.
- “Student Visa Changes Under the Trump Administration,” Alameda County Bar Association, Oakland, California, March, 2020.
- “After TPS Ends: Strategies to Keep Beneficiaries in the United States,” 2020 AILA Webinar, Washington, D.C., January 14, 2019.
- “Dealing with Employment Gaps,” 32st Annual AILA California Chapters Conference, Monterey, California, November 9, 2019.
- “Counseling Employers on the DACA Workforce,” 2019 AILA Annual Conference, Orlando, Florida, June 20, 2019.
- “Start-ups and Entrepreneurship Visa Considerations for International Students,” Haas School of Business, UC-Berkeley, Berkeley, California, April 14, 2019.
- “Pre-filing Strategies for H-1B Cap Season”, Alameda County Bar Association, Oakland, California, February 5, 2019.
- “Relief for the Undocumented in the Workforce,” 31st Annual AILA California Chapters Conference, San Diego, California, November 2, 2018.
- “Exploring Alternative Options For Salvadorans Before TPS is Terminated in 2019,” Consulate of El Salvador in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, February 24, 2018.
- “Screening TPS Recipients For Eligibility For Employment-Based Cases,” Becker & Lee LLP, CARECEN of Northern CA, & AILA NorCal, San Francisco, California, December 11, 2017.
- “Screening DACA recipients for Eligibility for Employment-Based Cases,” AILA NorCal, San Francisco, California, October 12, 2017.
- “Employment-Based Options for DACA recipients,” Festival of Undoculnnovation, Sausalito, California, September 23, 2017
- “Immigration Law in the Employment Context,” San Francisco Small Business Week, San Francisco, California, May 17, 2017.
- “Overview of Employment-Based Immigration,” guest lecturer, Immigration Law, JFK Law School, Pleasanton, California, February 18, 2017.
- “Practice Management CLE: Managing for Success,” AILA NorCal, San Francisco, California, February, 17 2017.
- “New Year, New Rule: the DHS Final Regulations for High-Skilled Workers,” Bar Association of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, January 9, 2017.
- “Obama’s Executive Action: How it Impacts Undocumented Immigrants, Employers and Foreign Employees,” Bar Association of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, May 7, 2015.
- “Immigration Options for Entrepreneurs and Investors: A Substantive two hour MCLE dedicated to both (E-1/E-2) non-immigrant and (EB-5) immigrant visa options for entrepreneurs and investors,” Moderator for both sessions, co-sponsored by the Bar Association of San Francisco and AILA Nor Cal, San Francisco, California, September 29, 2014.
- “Immigration Options for Start-ups,” Event hosted by Hattery, a co-working space for entrepreneurs and start-ups, San Francisco, California, September 2014.
- “Foreign National Scientists Obtaining Work in the United States,” American Chemical Society’s National Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, California, August 10, 2014.
- “Alternatives to the H-1B,” American Immigration Lawyers Association, Northern California Chapter, San Francisco, California, April 15, 2014.
“Green Cards for Same Sex Couples,” Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, San Francisco, California, November 15, 2013. - “Overview of Asylum Law from Asylum Office to Immigration Court,” Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, San Francisco, California, September 16, 2013.
- “I-864 Affidavit of Support: Intersection of Immigration and Family Law,” The Bar Association of San Francisco; The Barristers Immigration Section and the Barristers Family Law Section, San Francisco, California, July 23, 2013.
- “I-601A Waivers,” AILA Nor Cal, San Francisco, California, May, 2013.
“Advocacy: Prosecutorial Discretion,” American Immigration Lawyer’s Association’s California Conference, San Francisco, California, November 10, 2011. - “Hot Topics in Prosecutorial Discretion and the Defense of Marriage Act,” All Star American Immigration Council CLE, San Francisco, California, October 21, 2011
- “Immigration Law: Political Asylum for HIV+ LGBTQ-Identified Persons in El Salvador,” AIDS Legal Referral Panel and AILA Nor Cal, San Francisco, California, October 18, 2011
- “Overview of US Immigration Law,” Catholic Charities event provided to Social Workers, San Francisco, California, August 16, 2011.
- “Practice Tips on Preparing and Strengthening Waiver Applications,” Bar Association of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, April 12, 2011.
- “Same-Sex Couples and Asylum,” Lavender Law Conference, Miami, Florida, August 2010.