David Alejandro Calles Smith

David Alejandro Calles Smith is an associate in the Omaha, Nebraska, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. His practice focuses on representing employers in workplace law matters, including preventive advice and counseling. 

David has been involved with the United States immigration system since he was nine years old, when he arrived from Ecuador. Having originally come to the U.S. as the dependent child of a foreign diplomat, David has first-hand experience of the process involved in maintaining one’s immigration status current and the additional hurdles faced by nonimmigrants in ensuring compliance with all U.S. immigration laws and regulations. To finish his studies in the U.S., David processed his own change to student status (and eventual permanent residency), allowing him to graduate with his J.D. from the University of Miami.

All of David’s personal immigration experience allows him to provide a different perspective on immigration cases as he can analyze a company’s business needs while also empathizing with the foreign national seeking to navigate the U.S. immigration system as smoothly as possible. David decided to practice immigration law because of his own experience navigating an intricate government bureaucracy and gravitated toward business immigration because he liked solving the complex problems U.S. companies face when transferring talent internationally.

After graduating law school and sitting for the District of Columbia Bar exam in 2018, David began his immigration career in Miami, Florida. He worked primarily in the areas of business immigration while also representing clients in family-based, international investor, and humanitarian matters. His business immigration work ranged from helping two-person start-ups to large, established multinational companies.  David has experience with most non-immigrant and immigrant processed including: Diplomatic visas, treaty trader and treaty investor visas, I-140 petitions, EB-5 investor visas, student visas and practical training work permits, J-1 visas, and multinational executive and manager visas.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, David worked in Miami for two years at a prominent boutique immigration firm, and one year at an immigration nonprofit firm.

Pro Bono and Community Involvement

• Office of New Americans of Miami-Dade County, Volunteer Immigration Attorney for TPS clinics

Published Works

• “Diversity in Immigration Law Firms,” American Immigration Lawyers Association’s ThinkImmigration Blog (February 7, 2020) [Co-Author]