Maria DeLapp

Maria is a Partner and head of BAL’s Chicago office. She is an agent of change, challenging the traditional process and paper-heavy practice of corporate immigration.

Maria has counseled clients from a wide range of industries, including IT; manufacturing, agricultural, scientific, engineering and financial services; automotive suppliers; and professional football, baseball and rugby clubs. She has represented clients on all aspects of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and consular nonimmigrant and immigrant visa processing, PERM, I-140 immigrant visa petitions of all employment-based categories and family-based green card applications.

Maria strives to add a personal touch to her interactions with clients. She opened the Chicago office in 2020, when in-person contact was restricted. She took an innovative approach to client services: In addition to leveraging BAL’s proprietary technology to improve the immigration experience, Maria organized virtual “town hall” meetings, held phone and video calls with clients, offered full transparency on the unpredictable immigration environment throughout the pandemic and successfully obtained National Interest Exceptions to U.S. travel bans for her clients.

Maria’s personalized service and willingness to go the extra mile comes from her firsthand understanding of the immigration journey. She came to the United States from Russia at 16 after her father, a scientist, obtained a temporary work visa and eventually settled his family in the country. The experience sparked Maria’s passion to help other immigrants. Throughout her career, Maria has volunteered to help local immigrant communities apply for DACA, asylum and naturalization.

Maria is a member of the Chicago and Wisconsin chapters of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.