A practice built for borders
Nordfara advises companies and individuals whose futures cross them — holding its work to one standard: filings an adjudicator credits, plans a client can operate, and counsel that answers for the outcome.
An attorney's rigor, a navigator's delivery
Nordfara was founded by Patrick Smith, a U.S.-licensed attorney (State of Texas) who works at the intersection American immigration law was written for: people and enterprises whose futures cross borders. The practice covers employment-based immigration — from treaty investment to permanent residence — family-based petitions and naturalization, and pathway consulting for Americans relocating to Europe alongside the U.S. core.
In practice since 2017, Smith has worked in the courtroom and at the negotiating table for individuals and for international and corporate clients. A U.S. Navy Reserve veteran, he earned his law degree from Texas A&M University School of Law, holds a Badge in International Negotiation from the University of Padova, Italy — earned through a United Nations human-rights negotiation program — and is a member of the International Bar Association. He is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E), a fluency that matters when workforces and their data cross borders together.
The model is deliberate. Engagements are fixed-scope and plain-language, built to be operated by the client — the HR team running an assignment calendar, the family preparing for an interview — rather than parked in a legal file. The legal training shows in the rigor: the statute, the regulations, and adjudication practice, read at the source, and filings drafted against the questions officers actually ask.
Where a matter crosses into another country's law, the firm is candid about that line and brings in qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction — coordinated, not abandoned.
Senior-led, deliberately selective
Nordfara maintains a deliberately selective docket, so every engagement carries principal-level attention from scoping through decision. The counsel who maps your route on day one is the counsel who stands behind the filing at the end — a continuity the largest practices cannot offer at any price.
Deliverables are written for the people who will actually use them — your mobility lead, your family, the officer reading the file — and documented so the reasoning can be followed without a translator.
Licensed
Admitted in Texas. US immigration is federal law — the practice serves clients nationwide and abroad.
Selective
A docket sized for principal-level attention on every matter, from strategy through decision.
Candid
Honest assessments before engagement, written scopes and fees, and clear lines where other jurisdictions' law begins.