Biography
Jeff is an immigration attorney representing clients in employment-based permanent residency cases, consular processing, nonimmigrant visa applications, naturalizations, family-based filings, administrative appeals to the AAO and BIA, employer sanctions, petitions for review with U.S. Circuit Courts, mandamus and APA causes of action filings with U.S. District Courts. Jeff also has a wealth of experience in representing clients with removal defense. He has been recognized as a Board-Certified Immigration Specialist in Immigration Law by the North Carolina State Bar since 2012.
Prior to entering private practice Jeff worked for the US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review where he supported Immigration Judges of the Denver, Salt Lake City, and Newark Immigration Courts in adjudicating removal proceedings and deciding the merits of claims of relief from removal such as asylum and adjustment of status.
Jeff frequently speaks both nationally and at local events on subjects of immigration law.
- New Hanover County Bar Association
- American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
- North Carolina State Bar Immigration Specialization Committee 2014 – 2020
- Criminal Grounds of Removability: Categorical, Modified Categorical & Circumstance-Specific Approaches, 2021 AILA Annual Conference
- Adjustment of Status and Criminal Grounds of Removability, 2010 Immigration Series, Mecklenburg County Bar, Charlotte, NC, February 24, 2010
- Immigrant Information Day, ACORN, Charlotte, NC, June 20, 2009
- Stays of Removal – Who Can Issue and Effect of a Stay, Immigration Workshop for the Bench and Bar, Mecklenburg County Bar, Charlotte, NC, March 13, 2009
- Current Reality of Immigration Law, Construction Financial Management Association, Charlotte, NC, November 11, 2008
- Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude: Changing Definitions and Strategies, AILA Immigration Practice Pointers, 2020-21 Edition
- Modifying Immigration Policies Does Not Equal Amnesty, Wilmington Star-News, February 7, 2012
- Cutting Undocumented Alien Employment Using the Spine of a Knife, How The Fourth Circuit Court Failed to Adequately Use Title VII to Strengthen IRCA in Egbuna v. Time Life Libraries Inc., 28 NC CENT L.J. 87 (2005)
Jeffrey Widdison
Senior Counsel
Credentials
Admissions
- North Carolina
Education
North Carolina Central University, J.D., Magna Cum Laude, 2006
University of Utah, BA, Psychology, 2002
University of Utah, BS, Exercise & Sports Science, 2002
Prior Law Firm Experience
Womble, Bond, Dickinson (US) LLP
McKinney Immigration Law
Alan Gordon Immigration Law
U.S. DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review