Global Immigration Partners Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 27, 2024

Global Immigration Partners, LLC (hereinafter referred to a “GIP,” “us,” “we,” “our,” or “Company”) has created this Privacy Policy to disclose how we collect, use, share, and protect information about you, as well as to inform you of privacy rights you may have and how to exercise them. GIP is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your information. This Privacy Policy applies to anyone who interacts with GIP through our offices, websites, products, and/or legal services (collectively, our “Services”).

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we may use or disclose your information. By accessing or using our Services, you consent to the use of information that is collected, submitted, used or shared as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Services. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Policy periodically for updates.

GIP Privacy Policy Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to the personal information of anyone who interacts with GIP through our Services (“Users”) except as described below.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by or provided in connection with an individual’s current, former, or future employment or independent contractor arrangement with GIP.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected from consumers or processed in GIP’s capacity as a Controller under applicable data protection laws. Data collected, used, or shared in GIP’s capacity as a Processor is generally governed by relevant contracts or Service Agreements and the Data Controller’s privacy policy, and is outside the scope of this Privacy Policy. If you make certain requests to us where we are a Processor of that data, we will forward your request to the appropriate Data Controller.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that we do not own or control (such as third-party websites that you may access from our website(s) and/or application(s) (collectively, “Website”), or to individuals that GIP does not employ or manage. We have no control over or responsibility regarding the information collected from you by others, such as third-party websites that you access through links on our Website. Instead, such information practices are governed by those entities’ privacy policies. Please review the privacy policy(ies) of any third-party websites or applications for information on how those entities collect and use your information.

Types of Personal Information We Collect

Personal information means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, or could be reasonably associated or linked with a particular person or household. It also includes other information that may be associated with you, such as your usage data, location, preferences, or interests, if that information can be used to identify you, your household, or your device, or any other information as otherwise defined under applicable law. The types of Personal information we collect about you depend on your interactions with us and are described in more detail below.

GIP may collect the following types of Personal Information from you and other Users of our Website or Services:

We also collect your communications with us, preferences, and other information you provide to us, including any messages (including via online chat feature), opinions, and feedback that you provide to us, your user preferences (such as in receiving updates or marketing information), and other information that you share with us when you contact us directly (such as for customer support services).

GIP may be required to collect or process Sensitive Personal Information from you for the purpose of providing immigration consulting and legal services, including applications for naturalization and asylum, nonimmigrant visas (H1B, H2, H3, K, L, O, and P), employment and family based immigrant visas, consular immigrant visas, and adjustment of status.

We do not collect the following categories of Sensitive Personal Information:

• Gender identity and gender expression;
• Precise geolocation data
• Union membership information
• Biometric information processed for the purpose of unique identification
• Financial account login information
• The contents of your mail, email, and text messages where GIP is not the intended recipient of the communication

How We Collect Information

We generally collect personal information and create and maintain records about individuals for our legitimate business purposes and in relation to the Services we provide to you.

• Personal Information You Provide to Us: We collect information that you decide to share with us. For example, we collect personal information directly from you when you engage with our Services through our Website, sign up for our mailing list, contact us via email or a form on our Website, engage with us on social media, or otherwise interact with us or use our Services. At times, we may require you to provide certain information, including personal information, in order to provide you with Services you request. For instance, we may require you to provide your name and email address when you use our Services. We may also require you to provide your name, email address, or other contact information when you contact us with a question or comment. In some circumstances, we will not be able to further our relationship with you (for example, to provide Services you request) without certain personal information. We will inform you at the relevant time if this is the case.

  We collect any other information or content you provide to us, such as when you provide feedback about our products or services or make other submissions to us or use other features of our Services which may be offered from time to time which may require the collection of certain personal information in order to utilize the features. Examples of user content data may include information about your opinions, feedback, preferences, and any other personal information you choose to provide in your interactions with us.

• Personal Information We Collect Automatically: We automatically collect certain personal information when you access and use our Services. The types of information we collect may include:

   

  • Internet Activity. We collect certain information about your internet activity when you use our Website and Services. Such information may include your IP address.
  • Usage Data. GIP collects information about your activity on our Services via cookies and similar technologies. Please see the “Cookies” section below for more information on cookies and your cookies choices.

   

• Personal Information We Collect From Other Sources: We may collect personal information about you from other sources such as publicly available sources, and/or other external agencies, but always in accordance with the authorization procedures and privacy settings you establish with the other sources.

How We Use Your Information

GIP may use the information it collects in a variety of ways for its business or commercial purposes, such as to:

• Facilitate your use of the Services;
• Confirm your eligibility to use the Services;
• Fulfill your requests and provide support;
• Facilitate your movement through the Services;
• Send you communications such as administrative or promotional emails, answers to your questions, and updates about the Services by letter, email, or other forms of communication;
• Improve the Website’s content, features, and/or services;
• Improve or develop new GIP Services, and/or marketing efforts;
• Analyze traffic to and through the Website;
• Monitor and analyze User behavior and activity on or through the Website in order to keep the Website secure and personalize your User experience;
• Protect or enforce GIP’s rights and properties;
• Protect or enforce the rights and properties of others;
• Comply with applicable laws, in response to a lawful and enforceable request by a law enforcement, judicial, or other public authority, or in connection with an applicable legal obligation;
• Where we or a third party have a legitimate interest in using your personal data, such as preventing fraud. We only rely on this legal basis when such legitimate interests are not overridden by your interests or your fundamental rights and freedoms; and
• Where you have otherwise given GIP your consent and permission to do so.

How We Disclose Your Information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties to help provide our Services to you. For instance, we may disclose information to government agencies to provide immigration consulting and legal services.   We may also disclose your personal information to our service providers to respond to your requests or to provide customer service. We may also provide your personal information to third parties who assist us in providing certain services. For example, we may provide the information we collect from you to our cloud-hosting service providers, or our payment card processing providers. We may also disclose your information to our affiliates to provide Services you request.

We may also disclose your information for the following purposes:

• To facilitate and improve the quality and marketing of our Services;
• To protect our Users and network against fraud and security threats;
• To comply with a legal obligation;
• To protect and defend our rights or property;
• To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Services;
• To protect the personal safety of individuals or the public;
• To protect against legal liability;
• When there is a good faith belief that such action is necessary to investigate or protect against harmful activities to our guests, visitors, associates, or property (including the Website), or to others. This may include disclosures to law enforcement to investigate potential criminal activity or other civil violations.

We may disclose your information to the following types of entities and third parties:

• Service Providers: GIP may engage fulfillment companies, service providers, individuals, and agents to facilitate and help us provide our Services. Such service providers perform tasks, services, or functions on our behalf, or assist us in analyzing how our Services are used or delivered. Service providers may assist us with marketing, web hosting or development, technical support, and other support services. GIP reserves the right to provide personal information to such companies to the extent it may be necessary for them to provide services to or on behalf of GIP. Such companies may also collect personal information directly from you in connection with providing their services, and they will have the right to provide that personal information to us. Such other companies may not use your private or personal information for purposes other than providing services through or on behalf of GIP.
• Law Enforcement or Other Lawful Authority: We may from time to time be required to provide information to law enforcement or other governmental authorities pursuant to a warrant, court order, or other lawful process.

Over the last 12 months, we have disclosed for a business purpose the following categories of personal information:

Categories of Personal Information Sold

We do not sell your personal information, including sensitive personal information, to third parties. Please note that “sale” of personal information does not include those instances when such information is part of a merger, acquisition, or other transaction involving all or part of our business. If we sell all or part of our business, make a sale or transfer of assets, or are otherwise involved in a merger or other business transaction, we may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of that transaction. If such transaction materially affects the manner in which your personal information is processed, we will notify you of such change prior to its implementation.

How Your Information is Stored, Transferred, and Secured

            Data Transfers

GIP’s offices are located in the United States. If you are located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or United Kingdom (UK) and you use our Services, this will involve transferring your personal information outside of the EEA or UK. Many of our external third parties are based outside of the EEA and UK, so their processing of your personal information will involve a transfer of information outside of the EEA and UK. For example, GIP hosts the information it collects at its data center in the United States. As a result, your information may be subject to access requests from governments, courts, law enforcement officials and other lawful authorities in another jurisdiction according to its laws. Subject to the applicable laws, we will use reasonable efforts to ensure that appropriate protections are in place to maintain protections on the personal information.

Whenever we transfer your personal data outside of the EEA or UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

Where we share personal data with GIP sites or use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts which give personal data the same protection it has within the EEA or UK, under applicable law. Where we use service providers based in the United States, we may transfer data to them pursuant to a Data Processing Agreement with requirements at least as strict as those within this Privacy Policy.

            Retention and Deletion of Personal Information

We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our Services, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies.

Retention periods will be determined taking into account the type of information that is collected and the purpose for which it is collected. Under applicable regulations, we will keep records containing client personal information, account opening documents, communications and anything else as required by applicable laws and regulations. We will not retain your personal information or sensitive personal information longer than reasonably necessary for the purposes for which the information was collected.

We may rectify or remove incomplete or inaccurate information, at any time and at our own discretion.

            Securing Your Information

GIP takes the privacy and security of your information seriously, and uses reasonable, appropriate and customary procedures and technologies to help protect the confidentiality of any personal information we collect. GIP employs reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the information we collect, process, and store. However, no website, network, or system can be absolutely protected against intentional or malicious intrusion attempts despite taking appropriate and reasonable precautions. Furthermore, GIP does not control the devices, computer, or network through which you access the Website or over which you may choose to send personal information or other information to us, and therefore cannot prevent potential interceptions or compromises to your information while in transit. GIP makes no guarantee as to the security, integrity or confidentiality of any information transmitted to or from the Website. GIP is committed to safeguarding your information to the best of its ability but cannot guarantee the security of electronic communications of transmission made over the Internet.

Cookies

The Website uses cookies – small data files stored by your web browser on your computer’s hard drive – to track which areas of our Website are used the most and to help us make our Website more informative and user-friendly, and other purposes as described in this Policy.

GIP may receive, store and use the information you enter on our Website or which is collected during your visit to our Services. Such information will generally not personally identify you and may include the date and time of your visit, pages accessed, the web browser you use, the internet address of any website from which you linked directly to our Website and related information.

Our Website uses the following types of cookies:

• “Session cookies” which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed;
• “Persistent cookies” which are read only by the Website, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example, to allow us to store your preference for the next sign-in;
• “Third party cookies,” which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third party analytics companies who monitor and analyze our web access.

            Your Cookie Choices

You are in control of how you want to allow cookies to be used on your devices. Most internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. You may set your browser to block or otherwise control what cookies your browser or device accepts via your settings. Additionally, you can choose to modify your settings and delete cookies that are otherwise stored on your device. Please note that, if you choose not to accept cookies, some Website features and the personalization of our Services may no longer work for you. You will continue to receive advertising material, but it will not be tailored to your interests. Please consult the instructions provided by your browser or your mobile device manufacturer to determine how you can limit the placement of and/or remove cookies or other similarly used technologies.

            “Do Not Track” Signals

Our Website is/is not currently designed to respond to “Do Not Track” signals. “Do Not Track” is a preference you can set in your web browser to inform websites that you do not want to be tracked. You can enable or disable “Do Not Track” by visiting the “Preferences” or “Settings” page of your web browser. “Do Not Track” is different from Global Privacy Controls (“GPC”), which may notify websites of consumers’ privacy preferences regarding the sale or sharing of Personal Information, or the use of Sensitive Personal Information.

Third parties may collect data that relates to you. We cannot control third parties’ responses to “Do Not Track” signals or other such mechanisms. Third parties’ use of data relating to you and responsiveness to “Do Not Track” signals is governed by their respective privacy policies.

Children’s Privacy

All of our Services, including our Website, is intended for adult audiences, and is not directed to or meant for individuals under the age of 16 (“Children”). As such, we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 16, and Children under 16 may not use our Website or any other Services. If you are under 16, do not attempt to register for or use any of our Services, including our Website, and do not provide us any personal information about yourself. We may collect information pertaining to Children under 16 only if provided by a parent or guardian in the course of adding the Child as a dependent with regard to the Services.

If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has violated this Privacy Policy and provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from Children without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Privacy Information for California Residents

GIP has in place policies and procedures to facilitate the exercise of privacy rights available to California residents. If you are a California resident, California law requires us to disclose the following information with respect to our collection, use, and disclosure of personal information.

Your Privacy Rights. Subject to certain limitations, if you are a California resident, you have the following rights under California law.

• Right to Access. You have the right to have access to your personal information upon verifiable request. You may receive a copy of such information upon receipt of a verifiable request, along with other information related to the collection or processing.
• Right to Correct. You have the right to correct inaccuracies in the personal information that GIP holds about you upon receipt of a verifiable request.
• Right to Disclosure of Direct Marketers. You have the right to have access upon simple request, and free of charge, the categories and names/addresses of third parties that have received personal information for their direct marketing purposes.
• Right to Information About Collecting, Selling, Sharing, or Disclosing Personal Information. Upon receipt of a verifiable request, you may obtain a list of:
  • The specific pieces of your personal information that GIP holds;
  • The categories of personal information collected about you, sold to or shared with third parties, or disclosed to third parties for business purposes;
  • The categories of personal information sold or shared within the last 12 months;
  • The categories of sources from which personal information is collected;
  • The business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information; and
  • The categories of third parties with whom personal information is shared, sold, or disclosed for a business purpose.
• Right to Opt-Out of the Sale or Sharing of Personal Information. California residents have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of their personal information under certain circumstances. As noted elsewhere, we do not sell your personal information.
• Right to Deletion. You have the right to obtain the deletion of your personal information in the situations set forth by applicable data protection law and upon receipt of a verifiable request.
• Right to Limit. You have the right to limit certain uses or disclosures of sensitive personal information. Our uses of sensitive personal information are described in the Sensitive Personal Information section above.
• Right to Non-Discrimination. As defined under relevant law, you have a right to non-discrimination in the Services or quality of Services you receive from us for exercising your rights.

Please contact us utilizing the methods listed in the Contact Us Section below in relation to exercising these rights. We may ask you to provide information about yourself so that we can verify your identity as part of this process. This information may include your name, email address, and any other information necessary to reasonably verify your identity, to ensure that your information is not shared with anyone impersonating you. We may ask for additional information if we have difficulty confirming your identity. Once we have verified your identity, we will work to fulfill your request in a timely manner. Please note there may be some situations in which we are unable to fulfill your request, such as if we cannot find any information about you within our systems. Additionally, we may not be able to honor a deletion request in some situations, such as if your information is necessary to fulfill the Services you requested or meet a legal obligation. We will inform you whether we can fulfill your rights request. We will not share information or otherwise honor requests unless we can confirm the request is a “verifiable request.”

Under California law a consumer can appoint an “authorized agent” to make certain verifiable requests upon their behalf, such as the right to know what information we collect about the consumer or to request deletion of the consumer’s information. An “authorized agent” may submit a request on behalf of a California resident who has authorized the agent to act on their behalf. Because the security and privacy of your information is paramount, we will ask that you identify such persons and directly confirm that such persons are authorized to act as your agent and exercise your applicable rights under California law in such situations. This may require us to contact you directly and alert you that an individual has claimed to be your agent and is attempting to access or delete your information. We will also independently verify your identity to ensure that an unauthorized person is not attempting to impersonate you and exercise your rights without authorization. We will not share your information or honor any other requests in those situations where you cannot or do not grant permission in writing for an identified authorized agent to act on your behalf, or where we cannot independently verify your identity.

Please also note that, in many circumstances, GIP is a “service provider” under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and its customers are the “businesses.” Therefore, GIP customers, and not GIP, determine how and why personal data submitted to the GIP Service is used, either by or at the direction of such customers.

As businesses, GIP’s customers are responsible for disclosing and responding to the rights of individuals and with respect to their personal data and other information regarding the collection and use of that personal data in accordance with the CCPA. If we are a service provider and receive  your request, we will forward your request to the appropriate business.

If you are a California resident and have any questions about the Privacy Policy, our practices, your personal information, or your rights and choices under applicable laws, please contact us at the information below.

Your California Privacy Rights Regarding Direct Marketing Information

California residents have the right to request information from a company regarding the manner in which it shares certain categories of personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, in addition to the rights set forth above.  

Under California law, you have the right to send us a request at the designated address listed below in the Contact Us section to receive the following information:

• The categories of information we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year;
• The names and addresses of the third parties that received the information; and
• If the nature of the third party’s business cannot be determined from their name, examples of the products or services marketed.

To make such a request, please provide sufficient information for us to determine if this applies to you, and attest to the fact that you are a California resident.  Please also provide a current California address for our response. You may make this request in writing to us at the address provided in the Contact Us Section.  Any such request must include “California Privacy Rights Direct Marketing Information Request” in the first line of the description, and include your name, street address, city, state and ZIP code.  Please note that we are only required to respond to one request per customer each year, and we are not required to respond to requests made by means other than through the address provided for this purpose below.

Note that responsive information may be provided in a standardized format that is not specific to you.

Privacy Rights Information for European Data Subjects

As provided under applicable law and subject to any limitations in such law, you may have the following rights:

• Cookies. Opt out of non-necessary cookies.
• Access. You may ask us to provide you with a copy of the personal data we maintain about you, including a machine-readable copy of the personal data that you have directly provided to us, and request certain information about its processing.
• Rectification. You may ask us to update and correct inaccuracies in your personal data. You also may ask us to complete information you believe is incomplete.
• Erasure. You may ask to have your personal data anonymized or deleted, under certain conditions.
• Restrict Processing. You may request that GIP restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• Object to Processing. You may object to GIP’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• Data Portability. You may transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
• Consent Withdrawal. You may withdraw any consent you previously provided to us regarding the processing of your personal data at any time and free of charge. We will apply your preferences going forward. This will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before you withdrew your consent.
• Right Not to Be Subject to Automated Individual Decision-Making. You have the right not to be subject do a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please submit your request by contacting us.

Please provide enough information to identify yourself, including your full name and address and any additional identity information we may reasonably request from you and let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates. We reserve the right to verify your identity in connection with any requests regarding personal data to help ensure that we provide the information we maintain to the individuals to whom it pertains and allow only those individuals or their authorized representatives to exercise rights with respect to that information.

If you make a request, we will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable. Note that applicable laws contain certain exceptions and limitations to each of these rights. We may reject your request, as permitted to applicable law.

Please also note that, in many circumstances, GIP is a Data Processor under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) and similar, applicable law, and its customers are the Data Controllers. Therefore, GIP customers, and not GIP, determine how and why personal data submitted to the GIP Service is used, either by or at the direction of such customers.

As Data Controllers, GIP’s customers are responsible for disclosing and responding to the rights of individuals with respect to their personal data and other information regarding the collection and use of that personal data in accordance with the GDPR and similar applicable law. If we are a Data Processor and we receive your request, we will forward your request to the appropriate Data Controller.

How to Contact the Appropriate Authority

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your personal data. If you are an EU data subject and wish to report a complaint or if you feel that GIP has not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you have the right under the GDPR to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, including in your country of residence, place of work, or where you believe an incident took place.

The EU Commission has a list of supervisory authorities here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm.

Privacy Rights Information for Residents of Other U.S. States

Residents of other states may also be guaranteed certain privacy rights depending on where they live. To learn more about whether you are guaranteed certain rights, or to submit a request to exercise your rights, please contact us using any of the methods in the Contact Us Section. Any request to exercise your rights must include your name, state of residence, the right(s) you would like to exercise, and a means of contacting you.

Contact Us

Please direct any questions you may have about this Privacy Policy to any one of the following:

Updates to this Privacy Policy

GIP reserves the right to revise this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion. Our Website will link to our current Privacy Policy and any changes we make will be reflected in an update to our Privacy Policy and by revising the “last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to check back to this page periodically to learn of any changes made to our policies. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Difficulty Accessing Our Privacy Policy

Individuals with disabilities who are unable to usefully access our Privacy Policy online may contact us to inquire how they can obtain a copy of our policy in another, more easily readable format.