PRINCIPAL ATTORNEY

Vugar Jafarov, Esq., LL.M. 
[Commercial Law], LL.M. [Insurance Law]; 
Bar Admission: NEW YORK, 2010
Attorney Vugar Jafarov, a native of Azerbaijan, emigrated to America in 2003 and is now a Naturalized Citizen of the United States.  This first-hand experience with the immigration process, enabled him to develop insight and expertise that is invaluable to the success of his clients.  
 
A dual LLM, Attorney Jafarov has obtained a master’s degree in Corporate Law from Ankara University and a master’s degree in Insurance Law from the University of Connecticut. Attorney Jafarov worked extensively in the compliance arena for a top multinational corporation for over 10 years.  As a compliance manager, Jafarov gained additional insight into compliance and operational needs for financial services firms across the globe.  

​Conducting a successful practice for the past 12 years, Attorney Jafarov has dedicated his expertise and experience to the application of immigration law.  Specializing in removal defense, employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant petitions, labor certification, waivers, and family-based immigration, Attorney Jafarov and his firm [LAW OFFICE OF VUGAR JAFAROV, LLC.] has a tremendous success rate in enabling their clients to obtain, change, and/or extend their non-immigrant visa status in the United States.
 
With coverage of all 50 states, as well as globally, the areas of expertise offered through Attorney Jafarov’s firm include technology, medical, scientific research, banking and finance, education, manufacturing and service industries including restaurants.  In addition, Attorney Jafarov assists corporate clients with H1-B visa applications for non-immigrants, professional workers, and intra-company transferees.
 
Attorney Jafarov’s rate of success in achieving desirable outcomes for his clients is amplified by his ability to provide practice immigration and legal services in 6 languages.  This specialized level of catering to the specific needs of his client base, combined with his experience, expertise,
knowledge, and empathetic approach, renders Attorney Jafarov’s legal practice a top-rate legal service firm.

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Associate Attorney

Syeda Hamdani, Esq.
​Syeda has more than 20 years of experience in Immigration Law. This includes expertise in Deportation Removal Immigration including Asylum, Cancellation, Protection Under the CAT and successful Appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals as well as Application for Bonds and applying for removal from Detention. 

She has also worked for Multi-National Corporations and has extensive knowledge in Temporary and Permanent Business Employment Visas, Including: EB1 EB2 NIW, H1B, H2, L1A B, E,O, Dependents, PERM, J, J waiver, F visas, I-9 Compliance EADs. Syeda also has extensive knowledge in Family Immigration, with experience in Family petitions Consular Processing of Visas, Adjustment of Status, and Naturalization. She enjoys working through complicated cases to find solutions for her clients. She also has experience in the outlier programs such as DACA, SIVS for Special Immigrants, and U and VAWA Visas. Syeda speaks Urdu/Hindi fluently. 

Thinking outside of the box to protect her clients is something Syeda prides herself on.

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Junior Associate Attorney

​Victor Carlo, Esq.
Victor is a Puerto Rico-born lawyer who double majored in Economics and Mathematics at the College of William and Mary and proceeded to complete his master's degree in Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University. After working as an analyst at PCAOB for a year and a half, Victor decided to pursue a J.D. at the George Washington University Law School. 

Having interned for both the Federal Public Defender's Office and U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office, Victor has unique insights into federal government offices and practices. Victor is currently licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and speaks Spanish fluently.

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Lead Paralegal/ Case Manager

Edineia Bettencourt
​Edineia joined our law firm in December of 2019. She started working at our firm as a Legal Assistant and quickly moved through the ranks into her current position.
Here in the US, Edineia holds a certificate from Boston University in Paralegal Studies and she is a notary licensed in the State of Massachusetts.
 
As an immigrant herself, Edineia knows how important it is for immigrants to understand their immigration process and she takes pride in making sure the communication between clients, paralegals and Attorney is clear, and that clients are updated on their process from start to finish. She is extremely passionate for helping people and will always go an extra mile to get the best outcome in our clients' cases. 
 
Edineia is a native Portuguese speaker born in Brazil, fluent in English and beginner level in Spanish. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her family and being outdoors.

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Senior Paralegal

Ikhtiyar Huseynov
Ikhtiyar is a Senior Paralegal who joined our company in 2021, bringing his vast expertise of about 20 years in the legal field. He closely collaborates with our attorneys and clients on multiple immigration matters that include nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications and petitions, as well as permanent residency-based applications. His primary areas of practice include affirmative asylum, visa applications for professionals of extraordinary ability, business visa applications for entrepreneurs, and family-based visa applications, among others.

Ikhtiyar holds the distinction of double master’s degrees in Law, including an LLM degree obtained in General US Law from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2021, the license of attorney in Azerbaijan Republic, and trilingual fluency to serve an extensive community of clients. He completed his bachelor’s and first master’s degrees in Law with honors distinction overseas. 

Prior to joining our team, he held his legal practice as the principal attorney and the founder of a private law firm in Azerbaijan for ten years, representing his clients in a wide array of legal matters, such as civil law, family law, and torts, to name a few. His experience is amplified by his academic and pro-bono service both in domestic and international settings, all of which have been instrumental in ensuring the success of our applications. Ikhtiyar is working intensely on his bar admission application in the United States and aims at taking the exam in 2024.​

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Senior Paralegal

Mariia Persiianova
​Mariia Persiianova is a senior legal assistant at the Law Office of Vugar Jafarov. She is a Ukrainian and loves her culture. She graduated and received her Master’s Degree in International Law from one of the top Law Schools in Ukraine – Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Mariia then passed the Bar to become a private notary and opened her practice in the heart of Kiev. In 2016 Mariia moved to the United States, got accepted by the Suffolk University Law School, and graduated with Master of Laws degree. Simultaneously, she graduated with a Certificate in Paralegal Studies from the Boston University Metropolitan College with her grades being in the top 5%. 

​Mariia worked for the Probate and Family Law Firm and joined our firm at the end of 2020. Currently, Mariia works at the business immigration wing of our practice and concentrates on E-2, EB-1, EB-2, L-1, O-1, H1B and PERM applications.
Mariia plans to sit for the MA Bar Exam in the nearest future. 
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Paralegal

Polina Zvereva
​Polina joined our team in April 2022. She is currently a graduate student at Suffolk University Law School pursuing a Master’s degree in Law. Polina has PhD in Philosophy of Law, master in Law, master in Linguistics, and associated degree in Forensic Linguistics. Polina did a lot of research in philosophy of law, social philosophy, and legal anthropology. Polina also published the results of research in scientific journals, and presented them at scientific conferences. Polina’s extensive legal experience as a head of legal department and teaching of legal disciplines (Civil Law, bankruptcy, insolvency, commercial trial) successfully applies in the main direction of work – employment and business immigration for persons with extraordinary abilities. Her personal professional interests are focused on EB-1 and EB-2 cases. Apart of this Polina also does family immigration cases. Polina speaks English and Polish, her native language is Russian

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Paralegal

Evan Driscoll
​Evan Driscoll is an office local, having grown up in Sudbury and graduated from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. Continuing his education at the University of Delaware, Evan double majored in Political Science and Environmental Studies, with a minor in Spanish. He speaks Spanish and is learning Portuguese.
 
Prior to joining the firm, Evan worked in the nonprofit sector. He has experience assisting immigrants and refugees with their employment needs and preparing citizenship applications for green card holders. Evan brings an organized and thorough approach to the firm, with the objective of doing right by his clients and adhering to global citizenship

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Legal Receptionist/Paralegal

Anitta Thomas
​Anitta immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 5 and grew up locally in Wayland. She went on the attend the University of Connecticut and completed her bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Sciences with a minor in Political Science. 

With her experience in sales and web development she has contributed to processes in both the legal aspect of immigration and administrative support in our client-lawyer relations. She is currently preparing her applications for law school.

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See Open Positions

Interested in joining our team? Send your resume and cover letter to info@vj-legal.com.

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Experienced Staff

Our wide-ranging expertise and international background allows us to serve our clients in a very unique way. 

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