Attorney Profile — Jonathan Willmoth

Jonathan Willmoth, Owner and Attorney, is a proud and active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), having presented as a panelist at the 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021 AILA national conferences. He is a past Chair of the Missouri-Kansas Chapter of AILA, and has served on the AILA national Student and Scholars Committee as well as the EOIR national liasion committee. He has also served as the Missouri-Kansas chapter liaison to the Kansas City Immigration Court.

Jonathan has broad experience in most areas of immigration law, having practiced exclusively in this field since graduation from law school in 2002. His experience is nation-wide having practiced in Kansas City, Missouri and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jonathan has represented large corporate clients, small businesses, families and individuals seeking relief from removal (deportation), as well as immigration-related litigation before District Courts, Circuit Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals and Immigration Courts.

 In 2015, Jonathan began teaching Immigration Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City as an adjunct professor, a position he continued for four years. He was chosen for this role due in large part on his wide knowledge of most areas of immigration law.

Recent Representative Matters:

• Has won a number of non-traditional J-1 waivers for physicians and their families, as well as representing physicians in the more typical Conrad 30 waiver process.
• Successfully appealed a faulty naturalization denial, leading the way for the reunification of the client’s family.
• Won permanent residence including a waiver of the grounds of inadmissibility for a small-business owner and now up-standing community member who had prior criminal convictions from many years ago and spent several months in immigration detention awaiting his court date.t;/li>
• Obtained labor certification and approved I-140 immigrant visa petitions for employers with unique or difficult circumstances, including arguments to the Board of Alien Labor Certifications, and Administrative Appeals Unit.
• Obtained Outstanding Researcher, National Interest Waivers, and Alien of Extraordinary Ability approvals for universities, research organizations, and individual researchers across the country.
• Regularly works with clients on difficult Consular Visa Processing cases, including multiple waivers, and the new I-601A Provisional (stateside) waiver process.
• Fought back against unjustified visa denials by US Embassies, successfully arguing to the US CIS that the visa approvals should be reaffirmed and sent back to the Embassy for issuance.
• Successfully litigated some of the first Writ of Mandamus cases in the District of Kansas and Western District of Missouri courts.
• Obtained political asylum for several Somali families with new and inventive arguments.

Education:

A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Pennsylvania and Missouri Bar Associations, Jonathan received his undergraduate (B.A. German, 1998) and law (J.D., 2002) degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Jonathan participated in a summer law program at Peking University Law School in Beijing, China, and spent one semester during his undergraduate program studying at the Universität Klagenfurt in Austria.

Presentations:

• Chair of the AILA 2022 Midwinter Conference - Advanced Family/Removal Track (Feb. 2022 - Virtual)
• Discussion leader: "INA §237(a)(1)(H) Works Like Magic: Fraud Waivers" AILA Annual Conference (June 2021 - Virtual)
• Discussion leader: "Hot Topics in Removal," AILA Midwinter Conference (March 2021)
• Panelist: "Discovery and Subpoenas in Immigration Court,"  Missouri/Kansas AILA Chapter CLE (July 2020)
• Presenter: "Immigration Bond Hearing Training," Deportation Defense Legal Network, Kansas City, MO (June 2018)
• Panelist: "E1/E2 Visas," MO?KAN AILA Chapter Conference, Kansas City, MO (Feb. 2018)
• Panelist: Federal Immigration Litigation, MO/KAN AILA Chapter Conference, St. Louis, MO (April 2017)
• Panelist: "Before Taking your First Removal Case," AILA National Conference, New Orleans, LA (June 2017)
• Panelist: "Advanced Removal Issues: Strategies for Backlogged Court Dockets," AILA 2016 Midwinter CLE, Bahamas (January 2016)
• Panel Discussion Leader: "Removal 101 - Through the Looking Glass," AILA National Fundamentals of Immigration Law Conference, Miami, FL (August 2015)
• Presenter: "Shifting Removal Defense Options: Big-Picture Strategy and In-the-Trenches Tactics to Get There," AILA National Conference, Washington, DC (June 2015)
• Presenter: Immigration Court Update, Missouri-Kansas AILA Chapter Conference, St. Louis, MO (April 2015).
• Presenter: "Corporate Immigration Issues: What your U.S. Business Clients Need to Know About Immigration Compliance and International Personnel," Kansas City 15-hour Review of the Law 2014, KCMBA (June 2014)
• Presenter: "Adjustment of Status Rules for Preference Applicants," Missouri/Kansas AILA Chapter, North Kansas City, MO (October 2013)
• Panelist: "What do I do if? Removal Roundtable," AILA National Conference, San Francisco, CA (June 2013)
• Presenter: "What We Think We Know May Not Be So!" Missouri/Kansas AILA Chapter, Kansas City, MO (January 2013).
• Panelist: "Preserving and Maintaining U.S. Permanent Residence," AILA national webinar (March 2013)
• Panelist: “INA 204(l) and the Posthumous Petitioner,” Missouri/Kansas AILA Chapter, Parkville, MO (December 2011).
• Discussion Leader: “204(l) and the Posthumous Petitioner: It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over,” AILA National web seminar (November 2011).
• Panelist: “Is your client still an LPR? - Issues in the abandonment of permanent residency,” South Florida AILA Chapter meeting, Miami, FL (October 2011).
• Discussion Leader: “Issues in Abandonment of Residence,” AILA Annual Conference, San Diego, CA (June 2011).
• Panelist: “Crossroads of Culture Film Series” a Jewish Vocational Center showing of "Sin Nombre," with a panel discussion following about immigration issues, including Honduran and Central American Asylum claims based on gang violence (March 2011).
• Presenter: "Ethical Issues in Removal & Asylum Proceedings," Missouri-Kansas AILA Chapter, Kansas City, MO (February 2011).
• Panelist: “Intersection of criminal and immigration law, what criminal lawyers and judges need to know when they have a foreign-born defendant,” Johnson County, Kansas Bar Association, 2010 Herbert W. Walton Bench/Bar Conference, Overland Park, KS (March 2010).
• Co-Presenter: "Keeping Ethical in Tough Times," Missouri-Kansas AILA Chapter meeting, Kansas City, MO (January 2010).
• Panelist and Mock-Interview Participant: “First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes the N-400 Application,” AILA 2009 National Conference, Las Vegas, NV, (June 2009).
• International Students and Judicial Affairs: "How you can prepare for a contact from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)," Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, (March 2009).
• Immigration: "Issues in Liberty," CLE, Missouri/Kansas Chapter ACLU, Kansas City, MO (May 2008).
• Refugee and Asylum: Human Rights Symposium — University of Kansas, School of Law, Lawrence, KS (April 2008).
• Refugee and Asylum: Summit on Immigration and Racism: Defending our Rights, Kansas City, MO (February 2008).
• Removal Proceedings and Asylum: AILA Missouri-Kansas Chapter, Immigration Law Basics Conference CLE, Kansas City, MO (January 2008).
• Employment-Based Immigration: “Setting the Record Straight,” Kansas City, MO (December 2007).

 Publications:

• Co-Author: "“We Must Keep Our Eyes Open”:  Recent Changes in Attorney General and BIA Decisions," 2022 Midwinter Conference Handbook
• Co-Author: "INA §237(a)(1)(H) Works Like Magic: Fraud Waivers," Immigration Practice Pointers, 2021-22 
  
• Co-Author: "Removal Proceedings for Family-Based Practitioners," Immigration Practice Pointers, 2020-21 
• Co-Author: "Advanced Removal Issues: Strategies for Backlogged Court Dockets, "AILA 2016 Midyear Conference Handbook.
• Co-Author: "Shifting Removal Defense Options: Big-Picture Strategy and In-the-Trenches Tactics to Get There," AILA Immigration Practice Pointes (2015-2016 Edition).
• Weekly author on immigration topics for Dos Mundos, Kansas City's Bilingual Newspaper from July 2013 to August 2014. 
• Co-Author: "Maintaining Residence for Naturalization Purposes," AILA's Guide to U.S. Citizenship & Naturalization Law (2014)
• Co-Author: "Issues in Abandonment of LPR Status," AILA Immigration Practice Pointers (2011-2012 Edition).
• “DON’T JUST SIT THERE! The Attorney’s Role in USCIS Interviews,” Bender’s Immigration Bulletin, (June 2009).
• Co-Author: “‘Greencard.’ It’s Not Like in the Movies, How to Really Prepare Your Client for USCIS Permanent Residence and Naturalization Interviews Based on Marriage,” AILA Navigation the Fundamentals of Immigration Law, (2009-2010 Edition).
• “Obama Administration Inherits Defense of Bush Immigration Policies,” Legal Intelligencer, (January 2009).
• “Litigating in the Gray: Finding Room for FGM Relief,” Immigration Law Today, (May/June 2008).