Sabrina Xiang Li

A Denial Is Not Always the End: Sabrina Li Built an Immigration Practice Around Finding Another Way

Immigration law is filled with decisions that sound final: denied, inadmissible, ordered removed. Sabrina Xiang Li has built her career around what comes next.

Li founded the Law Offices of Sabrina Li in 2012 as a solo practitioner. She has since expanded the practice to three offices in Pasadena, Santa Ana, and Dallas, leading a team that handles family and employment immigration, removal defense, appeals, waivers, humanitarian relief, and cases complicated by fraud allegations or criminal records.

Her expertise has earned official recognition from the State Bar of California, which certifies her as a specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law. She is also licensed in New York and Texas and admitted before two federal appellate courts. Those credentials matter because many of the clients who reach her firm are no longer dealing with straightforward applications. They are trying to recover from previous denials, old removal orders, agency errors, or mistakes made before they ever found her office.

Few results demonstrate that work more clearly than the case of a woman who had lived under a removal order for 20 years. The client had missed her hearing after receiving inadequate guidance from prior counsel while struggling with an untreated mental-health condition. Li’s firm persuaded the Immigration Court to reopen the case, rescind the decades-old order, and restore the client’s opportunity to pursue lawful status.

Another client had already spent nine years in removal proceedings after United States Citizenship and Immigration Services accused him of marriage fraud. Several attorneys and multiple filings had failed to resolve the case. Li’s team reviewed the history, discovered that residency petitions remained unresolved, filed a new hardship-based petition, and convinced the immigration judge to terminate the proceedings. The decision ended nearly a decade in court and reopened a path toward permanent residence.

Under Li’s leadership, the firm has also won cancellation of removal for two parents after their asylum application had been denied twice. The case required two individual merits hearings before both parents were permitted to remain in the United States with their American children. In another courtroom victory, an immigration judge granted asylum to a client with a criminal record in approximately 15 minutes, relying on the strength of the documentary evidence and legal presentation without requiring live testimony.

Li’s record extends beyond removal court. Her firm confronted a potential lifetime inadmissibility bar created by inaccurate information in paperwork prepared by an immigration agency. By identifying the problem before the government raised it and presenting a comprehensive I-601 waiver, the firm obtained approval in approximately two months and secured the client’s green card.

The practice has brought the same problem-solving approach to business immigration. It reopened a previously denied L-1A executive petition and obtained approval on the same day. For an accomplished Chinese writer with limited conventional evidence of public recognition, the team built an extraordinary-ability case around literary influence, professional endorsements, awards, and press coverage. The EB-1A petition was approved within 10 days.

Li’s development as a firm leader has attracted recognition of its own. She was named the Greater Irvine Chamber’s 2024 Executive of the Year and selected to the Southern California Rising Stars list for five consecutive years from 2022 through 2026. Her firm ranked No. 1,137 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 and was recognized among Inc. magazine’s Best Workplaces for 2025. She also serves as second vice president of the Asian Youth Center, extending her involvement to an organization that supports immigrant and underserved communities.

What distinguishes Sabrina Li is her willingness to look beyond the decision already entered and examine whether the underlying case can still be changed. A denial may contain an argument that was never properly answered. A removal order may rest on defective notice or ineffective representation. A damaging allegation may be overcome with stronger evidence and a more precise legal strategy. For immigrants who have been told that their options are disappearing, Li has built a practice around finding the possibilities that remain.

That combination of experience, reputation, verified professional standing, and public credibility is why Sabrina Xiang Li was included on FreddieFender.com.