Privacy Policy
PRIVACY NOTICE
InterlinkLaw LLP, and our related affiliates and (collectively, “InterlinkLaw” or “we”) strive to ensure that our clients, and any affected data subjects (“you”) are informed about the use and security of the personal information that we receive and process on your behalf.
This Privacy Notice (“Privacy Notice”) is meant to provide you with information about the manner in which we collect and use your personal information. The Privacy Notice describes what personal information we collect, how we may use it, how and with whom we may share it and the security measures designed to protect it.
The Privacy Notice also provides information on how to contact us to: (1) exercise your right to object to the processing of certain aspects of your personal information in accordance with applicable laws; (2) access, correct, or delete your personal information; (3) ask any questions you may have about our privacy practices.
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
InterlinkLaw collects certain personal information about you and, if necessary, your family members, your petitioner, your employer and other persons or entities for the purposes of providing legal services and non-legal services. We collect relevant personal information in order to be able to provide the services requested by you, your petitioner or your employer. Listed below are the types of information that may be required and the purposes for which it is used. If, through the course of our representation or your use of our non-legal services, for example, self-service visa application packets, you and/or your family require additional services, such as another type of visa, an extension or change of status, we may need to collect additional types of personal information.
CLIENT SERVICES
In order to provide our services, including legal services and non-legal services you and/or your family members, your petitioner or your employer request, InterlinkLaw may collect, processes, and share personal information such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, marital status, passport numbers, employment history, educational background, tax status, job title, travel history, criminal history, and citizenship. We may also collect personal documents such as passport copies, degree certificates and transcripts, resumes and CVs, birth and marriage certificates, and other documents. We may collect your personal information from our online portals, our website or applications, online or paper questionnaires, forms you complete, and other sources. We may also collect information provided by you or on your behalf directly to us, including in conversations with our attorneys and staff or our consultants, partners or other third parties, by mail, email, fax, or other modes of transmission. We use this information to provide legal and non-legal services, including analyzing legal issues and completing immigration-related filings, interacting with government agencies on your behalf, and providing legal and other advice. We may use the information we have collected previously to provide additional related services for which we have been engaged. We also use your personal information in other ways when there is legitimate interest to do so that does not conflict with your data protection rights as required by laws and regulations. For example, we use personal information in order to track your visa, passport, travel documents, and immigration status expiration dates, to provide access to your online account and tools, and similar tasks. Where we are engaged by your family member, petitioner or employer, we process your personal information because it is in our legitimate interest to use your information to fulfil our contractual obligations with your employer, petitioner or family member.
Additionally, we collect and process your personal information to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations including record-keeping requirements, “know your customer”, anti-money laundering regulations, anti-bribery regulations, sanctions regulations, and professional rules of conduct.
REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION
We use the personal information you provide whilst inquiring about our services to respond to your request. For example, email address, telephone number, address or personal identifier in various messaging or social media platforms may be used to respond to your inquiries.
OTHER WAYS WE MAY USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We use the personal information we collect and process for the purposes of administering our practice and in order to comply with laws and regulations requiring retention of certain client information by lawyers and law firms.
SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION
In order to obtain immigration benefits and complete the required application process and in order for us to provide immigration law and related legal and non-legal services to you, your family, your petitioner, or your employer, we may collect and process information that can be used to uniquely identify you. This information can include race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, membership in various organizations, sexual orientation, political affiliations and opinions, health, criminal history, financial data, and biometric data. Such information may be considered “sensitive” and is subject to higher levels of data protection. Where applicable, we process sensitive personal information as permitted by the relevant regulations, for example, where required by EU laws and regulations, we will collect and process sensitive personal information to the extent permitted by the GDPR. In other situations, we will require explicit consent from you to process your personal sensitive information.
LEGAL SERVICES
We may represent you, your family member and/or your employer in legal matters that necessitate collection and processing of sensitive personal information. For example, representing you in immigration and visa matters may require us to collect and process sensitive personal information, such as your biographical data, immigration and travel history, your marriages and divorces, your family composition, educational background, criminal history, finances, associations and memberships, race, religion, tax filings in the United States and abroad, may be required to prepare and file your visa applications and petitions. If we collect and process sensitive personal information in the course of the legal services or similar client services we provide, we do so in order to assist you, your family members, your petitioner and/or your employer to establish eligibility for an immigration benefit or to respond to government inquiries and requests for information on your behalf.
AUTOMATED COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND USE OF COOKIES
We employ various technologies to understand and analyze traffic to our website and other internet-based platforms, landing pages, social media accounts, mobile applications, etc. We do so with the goal of providing the best experience to our visitors and to adjust our content and services to fit our visitors’ needs and preferences.
COOKIES
When you visit our website, we collect certain information by automated means to help us improve our web presence and offer customized services and relevant information to our visitors. We collect this information through the use of “cookies” and other tracking technologies. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive when you visit certain websites that help collect data. There are cookies that are automatically deleted when you close out your web browser or after a short period (“temporary cookies”). Other cookies can be stored longer on your computer and may require you to delete them manually (“persistent cookies”). We utilize both technologies: temporary and persistent cookies to tell us, for example, whether you have you are a new or returning visitor to our website and to help us understand what content or features are of interest and importance to you. Cookies may enhance user online experience by saving preferences while visiting a website.
Most browsers allow you to control cookies and will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to be notified when you receive a new cookie, and how to disable existing cookies. Please note that without cookies, some feature of our website may not be fully functional.
OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES, LOG FILES, USAGE DATA AND IP ADDRESSES
Other tracking technologies record information such as IP addresses, browser and operating system type, URL, device type, geographic data, and dates and times when you accessed our website. An IP address is a number that your Internet service provider automatically assigns to the computer or device you are using. When you visit our website, your IP address is automatically logged. This information helps us understand which region of the world our visitors come from and what is of interest to them. This data is also used to improve and/or maintain our website and identify potential issues, such as service disruptions. Our Site does not respond to “do not track” signals.
We reserve the right to use cookies and other tracking technologies to identify a visitor. For example, we may use tracking technologies to identify a visitor when it is necessary to protect our website, our visitors, clients or other affected parties. We may also do so to protect our rights or defend against a claim relating to us, or when we believe the law requires it.
INFORMATION WE SHARE
We will not sell, share, transfer, rent, use, or distribute your information for purposes other than those disclosed in this Privacy Notice unless required by law or as authorized by you, your family member, your petitioner or your employer. We share the information you provide among our entities and affiliates as appropriate or necessary in connection with our legal and non-legal services, and for any other purpose as permitted by applicable laws and regulations. In addition, as part of the legal and non-legal services we provide, InterlinkLaw discloses personal information to government agencies, your petitioner, beneficiary of a visa petition or application, or former, current, or prospective employer and its related entities. In order to obtain immigration benefits on behalf of your petitioner or employer, we will disclose personal information to government agencies and immigration authorities.
We may also share the information with service providers we retain in order to and in connection with our legal and non-legal services, such as translators and interpreters, couriers, or other necessary entities and individuals. We take steps to require that service providers protect the information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Notice. These service providers are authorized to use the information only as necessary to perform services on our behalf or to comply with law or legal process. Where we have knowledge that a service provider processes your personal information in a manner contrary to this Privacy Notice, we will take reasonable steps to prevent or stop the processing. In addition, we will disclose information about you: (1) if we are required to do so by law or legal process, (2) to law enforcement authorities or other government officials, (3) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity; or (4) if necessary to protect the vital interests of any person.
HOW WE PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION
We work to ensure that any personal information that we hold about you is accurate, complete, current and otherwise reliable based on data you, your petitioner or your employer provide in order to enable delivery of legal services and non-legal services. We seek to collect personal information only to the extent required for these purposes.
We maintain appropriate administrative, technical, organizational, and physical safeguards to protect against unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction of personal information. We train our employees and work to maintain appropriate standards with regard to the protection of personal information.
We take necessary steps to require that third parties assisting in our provision of legal and non-legal services adhere to all applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations and prohibit them from using your information other than in connection with the services they have been engaged to provide.
We retain personal information for only as long as we need it to provide legal and non-legal services you, your petitioner or your employer has requested, for our internal administration and purposes, and for any periods of time mandated by law, regulations, or applicable rules of professional conduct or otherwise agreed to with our clients, after which, we take steps to delete or anonymize the information.
INFORMATION WE TRANSFER
Transfers required for the services
We may transfer personal information to third countries where it is necessary to provide you the service you (or your petitioner or employer) requested. For example, government agencies, such as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or United States Department of State require certain personal information in order to adjudicate applications, issue visas and other immigration benefits, etc. We also provide your personal information to translators and other service providers we engage in order to provide you with the service requested. When we transfer your information to other countries, we will use, share and safeguard that information as described in this Privacy Notice. Transfers to other service providers
We may share your personal information with third parties providing services under contract to us for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, some of which may be located outside the EEA. If you reside in the EEA, we may use standard contractual data protection clauses approved by the European Commission. For inquiries, including how to obtain a copy of the documents used to protect your information, please refer to How to Contact Us section below.
YOUR CHOICES AND RIGHTS
As described above, InterlinkLaw may collect certain information about you in connection with provision of legal and non-legal services. If you inform us that you wish to opt-out of personal information, we will respect your decision. If sensitive personal information is involved for the delivery of services in the future, we will only use your information if you or your employer actively communicate your consent to this processing to us, as applicable, when it is necessary to deliver requested service, or in accordance with the requirements of applicable laws and regulations. We will apply the same policy and procedure where we disclose personal information to third parties that are required to process the personal information for their own independent purposes. We will provide you with access to your personal information and, where appropriate, with access to review and correct inaccurate data, delete personal information, and receive a copy of your personal information in a structured machine-readable format. We may, where appropriate, use reasonable efforts to assist your employer or petitioner in responding to a request to access, correct, delete or restrict processing of your personal information or, where required by law, to respond directly to such a request within a reasonable period of time. If you, your petitioner or your employer inform us in writing that you wish to opt-out of future processing of personal information we will honor such request.
We will take all reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access to information. Where we rely solely on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. You may also object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests alone. In such instances, we will continue to process personal information only where our business interests are found to be compelling and where your individual rights are not jeopardized. To exercise these rights, please contact us or your employer or petitioner, as appropriate. If concerns are not resolved through the policies and procedures described in this Privacy Notice, and, where provided by local law, you may have the right to complain to a data protection authority where you live, work or where you believe there has been an infringement upon data protection laws.
UPDATES TO OUR PRIVACY NOTICE
This Privacy Notice may be updated periodically without prior notice to you. We will advise via our websites and other means of any significant changes to our Privacy Notice and provide the date it was most recently updated. In some countries, we may implement additional or different procedures not to comply with local requirements.
INTERLINKLAW’S DATA PRIVACY OFFICER
InterlinkLaw’s Data Privacy Officer is Manvel Vasilyev.
He can be reached at manvel.vasilyev@interlinklaw.com