Cross to the next chapter.

A team of attorneys admitted in the United States, beside the people who decided to begin again. EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, O-1, L-1, E-1 and E-2, and family-based petitions.

The Firm

A crossing calls for someone who knows the way

Moving to another country is one of the most consequential decisions a person makes. It touches a career, a family, savings, years of a life, and in the end it rests on a petition read by an officer who will never meet you. Everything you have built has to be legible on paper. That is what we do: make the record say, with precision and evidence, who you are and what you have already accomplished.

Not everyone who offers help with immigration is allowed to represent you. Here, every petition is handled by an attorney admitted in the United States, from the first assessment through to the decision, and we are a team of lawyers devoted entirely to U.S. federal immigration. EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, O-1, L-1, E-1 and E-2, family-based petitions: each one is built as a case that has to persuade, not merely comply.

We have attorneys in Brasília, São Paulo and Miami, available for consultation in those cities by appointment. The practice is also conducted remotely, wherever you happen to be. We work in Portuguese and in English, to the same technical standard in either language.

Rigor

Evidence organized against the applicable regulatory criteria.

Counsel

Every petition handled by an attorney admitted in the United States.

Candor

An honest reading of your odds, before you commit.

Practice Areas

There is more than one path, and the hard part is knowing which one is yours

Every category has its own criteria, its own case law, its own standard of proof. Choosing well at the outset is worth more than any amount of effort later. That is what a first conversation is for: to understand your case and tell you, candidly, which path it can sustain.

Publications

What is changing, and what to do about it

Radar

The latest news, straight from the official source. Full Radar →
Birthright citizenship

Court halts the August executive order on birthright citizenship as to a defined group of children

On 6 August 2026, the President signed Executive Order 14418, published in the Federal Register on 11 August at 91 FR 51991. It lists situations in which, according to its text, a child born on U.S. soil to foreign parents would not be covered by birthright citizenship, and directs that no federal agency issue or accept documents recognizing that citizenship in those cases.

2 September 2026 · District of Maryland Read in the Radar →
Immigrant visas

The U.S. government has suspended issuance of lottery visas, with no exception and no date to resume

The visa lottery is an annual program of up to 55,000 immigrant visas, open to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The list of countries changes each year and appears in the program's official instructions. On 31 August 2026 the Department of State announced that it had stopped issuing these visas. The official page itself states that there is no exception, and gives no date for resuming.

1 September 2026 · U.S. Department of State Read in the Radar →
Federal programs and information

Justice Department broadens the reach of the states' duty to report to DHS persons they know to be unlawfully present

A 1996 federal statute, PRWORA, conditioned funding for two assistance programs, TANF and SSI, on the state furnishing the federal government with the name and address of anyone the state knows to be unlawfully present in the United States. Since 1998 the federal government itself had read that duty as falling only on the state agency that administers those programs.

1 September 2026 · Justice Department Read in the Radar →

Analysis

Commentary on rules, decisions and policy shifts. All analysis →
Federal programs · Information

When a state must report to the federal government: what the September 1 opinion changed, and what it did not

A 1996 statute conditions federal funding for two assistance programs on the state reporting to the federal government anyone it knows to be unlawfully present. Since 1998 that duty had been read as limited to the welfare agency. On September 1, 2026 the Justice Department withdrew that reading and now holds that the duty reaches every agency of the state. This text explains where the rule comes from, what the new reading changes in practice, and what stays the same.

September 2026 · 6 min read Read →
Birthright citizenship

Birthright citizenship: what the September 2 ruling protects, and what it left out

A federal judge in Maryland barred U.S. government agencies from applying Executive Order 14418, of August 2026, against a defined group of children born in the United States. The group includes children of a mother who was in the country on a temporary visa on the day of birth. The ruling is preliminary, reaches only those inside the group, and did not rule in the abstract on the order's categories. This text explains how the group is defined, what the ruling does and what it does not do.

September 2026 · 6 min read Read →
Visa · Free speech

Can a published opinion cost you your visa? A federal judge said no, and even so almost nothing changed

On 28 August 2026, a federal judge in California declared that two rules of the immigration statute violate the Constitution when used because of what a person says, writes or publishes. The decision is solid in its reasoning and limited in its effect: it is a declaration, not an order, it stands as a trial court ruling, and it may be appealed. This text explains what it reaches, what it does not, and what remains in force meanwhile.

August 2026 · 9 min read Read →

Practical guides

One topic at a time, in plain language, from start to finish. All guides →
Public charge · Form I-945

The public charge bond: when the money comes back, when it is lost, and why September 18 changes everything

A person invited to post a public charge bond hands the U.S. government a sum of money that stays tied up for years. The rule that says when that money is lost changes on September 18, 2026, and what decides which rule applies to your case is the date the bond is filed. Filing by September 17 means the narrow condition in force today. Filing on or after September 18 means a considerably broader condition, for the whole life of the bond.

September 2026 · 8 min read Read the guide →
Citizenship · N-400

An investigator may knock on your neighbour's door: how to prepare for the citizenship application

Since 25 August 2026, USCIS has resumed neighbourhood investigations for U.S. citizenship applicants. It applies even to those who have already filed. This guide shows what the investigator may look into, how to seek a waiver of the investigation, and what to gather before filing the N-400.

August 2026 · 6 min read Read the guide →
EB-1A · EB-2 NIW

EB-1A and EB-2 NIW: the two routes to a green card without depending on an employer

In most employment-based green cards, you depend on a U.S. company willing to sponsor you. In these two categories, you do not: you file on your own. This guide shows which of the two fits your story, what it costs, how long it takes, and what to gather before you start.

August 2026 · 14 min read Read the guide →
Attorney

Founder and Managing Member

Marcelo Barros da Cunha

Marcelo Barros da Cunha

Founder & Managing Member · Attorney at Law

A lawyer and engineer admitted in New York and in Brazil, Marcelo has worked for more than twenty years at the intersection of regulation, infrastructure and complex project structuring. Much of that path was built at Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts, where he served as advisor to a Justice, head of audit and General Counsel, scrutinizing privatizations and concessions and defending the Court's institutional powers before the Supreme Federal Court. At the Presidency of the Republic he led the Transport Coordination of the Investment Partnerships Program, steering port, highway and railway projects of national reach. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and is a doctoral candidate in constitutional law.

That background shapes how he practises immigration. An EB-1A or EB-2 NIW petition is a case built on documented evidence and structural argument, the same discipline he brought to constitutional and regulatory work. Every petition is assembled the same way: evidence organised against the applicable regulatory criteria, and the argument written by the lawyer who handles the case.

Qualifications
  • Doctoral candidate in Constitutional Law - IDP (2026)
  • Master of Laws (LL.M.) - Harvard Law School
  • Master in Law, State and Constitution - UnB
  • LL.B. (Law) - IESB
  • Communications Engineering - IME
Admissions
  • New York State Bar
  • Brazilian Bar - OAB/DF
Memberships
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association - AILA (member)
  • New York State Bar Association (member)
  • Regulatory Affairs Committee, OAB/DF (member)
Languages
  • Portuguese (native)
  • English (fluent)
  • Spanish (reading)
Contact

Every chapter begins with a decision

E-mailcontact@c2k.law

Phone+55 (61) 99901-7302 Brazil
+1 (857) 701-8009 United States

LanguagesConsultations in English and Portuguese.

Response timeWithin two business days.

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