Ioan Florin Cristea

I became a lawyer in Romania in 1999, and for the next 16 years I built my practice one client at a time — from small claims courts in  to the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. By the time I left Europe, I had negotiated over 800+ contracts, written hundreds of motions and appeals, supervised a team of attorneys, and successfully argued before courts that required me to master not just Romanian law, but European Union  law, international treaty interpretation, and cross-border legal frameworks that most lawyers never encounter.

Then I came to the United States — and I started over.
That experience of learning a new legal system, and a new set of rules while building credibility from scratch is something I carry into every immigration case I handle. I know what is at stake when paperwork is wrong, when deadlines are missed, or when a government official gives you the wrong information. I have lived, professionally, on both sides of that experience.
Since 2020, I have focused exclusively on U.S. immigration law — representing clients before USCIS, Immigration Judges, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits. I have handled family petitions, adjustment of status, removal defense, asylum, and federal appellate litigation. In 2024, I became a founding partner of the Law Office of Cristea & Tatti, LLP in Hauppauge, New York.

I am admitted to practice in Washington, D.C., Missouri, and Romania (European Union). I am a native Romanian speaker and I also speak Spanish.

Twenty-six years of legal work across two continents has taught me one thing above all else: the law is only as good as the person applying it on your behalf. I work every case as if it is the only case that matters — because for the family in front of me, it is.