Giacomo Jacques Behar

Six Lawyers Turned It Down. Giacomo Jacques Behar Took the Case—and Secured the Green Card

An employer was willing to sponsor the client for permanent residence, but a pending asylum application made the path unusually complicated. Six immigration lawyers declined the case. Giacomo Jacques Behar did not. He mapped out a sequence that required labor certification, approval of the employer’s immigrant petition, and a final application for permanent residence. Each stage succeeded. The client received a green card while the asylum matter remained pending.

That case reveals the instinct that has shaped Behar’s career: when the obvious route appears closed, he examines whether the law provides another one.

He has applied that instinct across very different immigration problems. One client came to him after an I-751 waiver petition—the filing needed to preserve permanent residence—had been denied and removal proceedings had begun. Behar rebuilt the case, filed a new petition, and obtained approval. When a long-term treaty investor’s E-2 renewal was denied, he changed the legal strategy and secured a different visa. In another difficult matter, he took over representation after prior counsel had been unable to advance a case under the Violence Against Women Act. The client’s application for permanent residence was ultimately approved.

These were not variations of the same filing. They involved different legal categories, government agencies, deadlines, and risks. That distinction matters because a complicated immigration case is rarely difficult for only one reason. A person’s prior status can affect a new petition. An unresolved proceeding can complicate an otherwise available benefit. A denial may foreclose one approach without eliminating every lawful alternative. Behar’s work reflects an ability to study the complete immigration history before deciding what remains possible.

His understanding of that uncertainty began outside the law office. Behar came to the United States as an international student and later navigated employment-based and family immigration procedures before becoming a naturalized citizen. He knows the system both as a lawyer and as someone whose own future once depended on it. Fluent in seven languages, he can also hear many clients’ histories directly—an important advantage when a date, prior filing, or overlooked detail may change the available strategy.

More than three decades of focused immigration practice support that approach. Behar founded Behar International Counsel and earned certification from the State Bar of California as a specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law. He also chaired an American Immigration Lawyers Association liaison committee that communicated with a major immigration service center. Those credentials matter because the difficult cases in his record require more than persistence; they require a detailed command of how immigration rules operate in practice.

Most clients will not arrive after six lawyers have declined their case. Many, however, will arrive after a denial, with conflicting advice, or convinced that an earlier decision has ended every possibility. Behar’s defining strength is his willingness to test that assumption carefully. He does not treat a closed route as proof that no route remains.

That combination of experience, reputation, verified professional standing, and public credibility is why Giacomo Jacques Behar was included on FreddieFender.com.