Rosa Cristina Melia-Acevedo

Attorney Melia-Acevedo is admitted to practice in front of all Immigration Courts in the U.S. and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and represents clients at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) and U.S. Embassies all over the world.

Attorney Melia-Acevedo exclusively practices in the area of Immigration and Nationality law. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics from The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. and her Juris Doctorate from Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida.

She handles all types of immigration related matters including:

• EB-1: Extraordinary Ability
• EB-1: Multinational Managers/Executives
• EB-2: National Interest Waivers (NIW)
• E-2:Treaty Investor
• E-1: Treaty Trader
• H-1B: Specialty Occupations
• H-2B: Temporary Non-Agricultural Worker
• I-601A Unlawful Presence Waivers
• L-1A/ L-1B: Intracompany Transferees
• O-1: Extraordinary Ability
• P-1A: Internationally Recognized Athlete
• P-1S: Essential Support Personnel
• U and T visas
• Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
• Asylum
• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
• Adjustment of Status
• Naturalization.

Attorney Rosa Melia-Acevedo initially developed an interest in Human Rights law during college while interning with the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project. Rosa realized her desire to practice Immigration and Nationality law shortly thereafter because of the human rights component that is inherent to the practice of Immigration law. Prior to being sworn in as an attorney, Rosa’s passion in immigration law began after interning for a not-for-profit organization in Washington, D.C. called Mil Mujeres. Mil Mujeres provides low-cost, non-litigation legal services to low-income Hispanic immigrants and their families with a specialty in specific immigration benefits including U visa, VAWA and DACA. Following this internship, Rosa became a Student Clinician in Florida Coastal School of Law’s Immigrant and Human Rights Clinic (formerly the Immigrant Rights Clinic). During her time in the Immigrant and Human Rights Clinic, Rosa had the pleasure of representing clients, under the supervision of an attorney, who were applying for U visas, T visas, Prosecutorial Discretion, and Asylum. In her last year of law school, Rosa worked as a legal intern for the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation-Appellate Section in Washington, D.C. During her time with the Office of Immigration Litigation, Rosa wrote stay motions and appellate briefs for asylum cases on behalf of the Department of Justice. While in law school, Rosa devoted a lot of her time to helping those who would otherwise be unable to afford legal representation and as a result she provided over one thousand hours of legal pro bono work throughout her three years at Florida Coastal School of Law and was awarded the Pro Bono Honors Award.

Rosa has represented clients in all areas of Immigration law, including family based immigration, business immigration, asylum, and immigration litigation (deportation and removal defense), bond redetermination, and appeals.

Attorney Rosa Melia-Acevedo is licensed to practice in the state of Florida and remains actively involved with the American Immigration Lawyers Association and its Central Florida Chapter as well as other legal associations such as the American Bar Association and Orange County Bar Association Immigration Law Section.

Languages: English and Spanish