Miami: 305.371.2777 Orlando: 407.425.8472 Lima, Peru: 011.51.987727855

Attorney Jacqueline Villalba

Miami phone number: (305) 371-2777  | Orlando phone number: (407) 425-8472 | Email Jacqueline Villalba

Jacqueline Villalba, an Associate with Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, P.A., focuses her practice on Immigration and Nationality Law.  She obtained her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from St. Thomas University School of Law in 2006, and received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Miami in 2002.

While attending law school, Ms. Villalba served as a Judicial Intern at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.  She also interned with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, where she was involved in handling criminal traffic and misdemeanor cases.  As a member of the International Moot Court Board, Ms. Villalba represented St. Thomas University at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, held annually in Vienna, Austria.  During the 2005 – 2006 year, she also served as the organization’s Treasurer.

Ms. Villalba has extensive experience in the areas of business and family-based immigration.  She represents clients before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with regard to non-immigrant visa applications; extraordinary ability, national interest waiver and professional worker petitions; family based immigrant visa petitions; and applications for naturalization.  Ms. Villalba also practices before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, representing clients in removal proceedings with regard to asylum requests, applications to adjust status to permanent residence, cancellation of removal, bond hearings and other forms of relief.

Ms. Villalba is a member of the Executive Council of the Florida Bar Association’s International Law Section.  She also serves as Co-Chair of the International Law Section’s Administrative/Immigration Law Committee. The Florida Bar Association is the organization that licenses and regulates all attorneys who practice law in the State of Florida.  She has served as a member of the South Florida AILA Miami CIS Liaison Committee. She has also lectured on the effects of criminal convictions on a noncitizen’s immigration status and the relief available.  In 2009, Ms. Villalba was selected as a Florida Rising Star.  A maximum of 2.5 percent of the state’s attorneys are named to the Rising Stars list.  As Co-Program Chair of the Immigration for the International Law Practitioner seminar, she coordinated an educational program for members of the Florida Bar.  The program provided an overview of nonimmigrant business visas, employment-based immigrant visas, family-based immigrant visas and removal issues. It also served as a review course for the Immigration and Nationality Law Board Certification examination.

Ms. Villalba is admitted to practice in the State of Florida as well as in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida.  She is a member of the Florida Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Dade-County Bar Association and the Cuban American Bar Association.  She is also fluent in Spanish.

Education

  • St. Thomas University School of Law, J.D., 2006
  • University of Miami, B.A., 2002

Honors and awards

  • Florida Rising Star, 2009

Bar admissions

  • Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida

Professional associations and memberships

  • The Florida Bar Association
    • International Law Section, Executive Council
    • International Law Section, Administrative/Immigration Law Committee Co-Chair
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association
  • Federal Bar Association
  • Dade-County Bar Association
  • Cuban American Bar Association

Languages

  • Spanish