Theodore (Ted) Ruthizer, Co-chair of the Business Immigration Group, advises and represents corporations; nonprofit entities; law, financial and accounting firms; and other entities in all phases of the hiring, transfer and retention of foreign national executives, managers, professionals, investors and performing artists in the United States. Mr. Ruthizer works with companies to develop their global workforce planning and mobility strategies, advising them on navigating complex immigration laws and policies. He also provides immigration counsel to corporations in the context of mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs, to strategize and structure these transactions to ensure compliance with U.S. immigration law. Mr. Ruthizer also counsels companies on compliance with employer sanctions and anti-discrimination laws.
Mr. Ruthizer’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, global brands and other organizations across a diverse range of industries, and in particular finance, technology, insurance, advertising, consumer brands, media and the arts. He also represents high-net-worth foreign national investors seeking either treaty investor or permanent residence status based on their substantial investments in their own enterprises or in special investment vehicles under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
Among his most notable recent work, Mr. Ruthizer counseled a global insurance company in its compliance with immigration requirements in connection with its acquisition of the life insurance unit of a leading competitor, and assisted a U.S.- based integrated media, education and financial information company in maintaining full business immigration law compliance in the context of the spinoff of one of its companies into an independent entity.
Mr. Ruthizer has served in a number of leadership roles with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, including president, general counsel and longtime member of its board of governors. For 20 years he was lecturer in law at Columbia Law School, where he taught an advanced seminar in immigration law and policy.