Business Immigration Is 55.1% of Immigration Hiring in 2026

Sartori & Partners data show that business immigration lawyers account for 55.1% of the lateral moves in the immigration practice. In the 12 months to October 2026, most of the lawyers who changed firms within immigration had employer visas, work permits and corporate mobility as their own focus.

That single share frames the rest of this report. For most firms an immigration search is, in practice, a business immigration search, so what holds for this speciality holds for the larger part of the bench a firm can recruit from. Two features set it apart from the wider market: how long its lawyers wait to make partner, and the size of the firms that take them on. The sections below set each one against the immigration practice and against all practices.

The share counts the immigration moves made by lawyers whose own work today is business immigration. The immigration practice recorded 118 lateral moves in the 12 months, and business immigration lawyers made 55.1% of them.

The level mix of the speciality is almost a copy of its practice. Partners were 23.1% of business immigration moves, against 22.0% in immigration, and counsel 24.6%, against 24.6%. Against the market the picture changes: the market's partner share is 27.7%, and its counsel share of 12.7% is a fraction of the speciality's, which runs 1.9 times higher.

For a hiring partner, the practical reading is simple. A search that screens out employer-side immigration work leaves out most of the candidates who move in this practice, and a search that offers only partner or associate titles ignores a counsel tier that is far larger here than in the market.

In the Sartori & Partners promotion records over 5 years, the median business immigration partner had practiced for 12.0 years before promotion, against 10.0 years across all practices, a gap of 2 years. Only 12.3% made partner within 8 years, against 23.2% in the market, and 54.3% had made it within 12 years, against 75.4%.

The spread confirms the median. The central range for business immigration runs from 10.0 years to 15.0 years, while the market's runs from 9.0 years to 12.0 years. The slow track is not peculiar to the speciality: the immigration practice shows the same median of 12.0 years, with 14.8% promoted within 8 years.

In the 12 months from June 2025 to May 2026, 21 business immigration lawyers were promoted to partner. Over the same window the immigration practice recorded 1.00 promotions to partner for each lateral partner hire, against 0.79 across the market.

A firm that needs a business immigration partner soon should not count on its own associates arriving early. Home-grown partners in this field come later than in most practices, so a lateral partner, or a senior counsel hire with a stated route to partnership, is the faster way to put a name on the door.

Across the market, firms of 1,000+ lawyers absorb 53.6% of lateral moves and firms of 400-999 lawyers 23.4%. Business immigration inverts that order, and goes further than its own practice. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 49.2% of business immigration moves in the 12 months, against 42.1% for immigration overall, while firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 33.8%, against 32.7%.

The tilt is not a one-year reading. Over three years, firms of 400-999 lawyers took 57.4% of business immigration moves, against 47.8% for the immigration practice over the same three years. Firms of 150-399 lawyers took 13.8% of business immigration moves in the past 12 months, close to the market's 13.3%.

For a firm of 400-999 lawyers, business immigration hiring is a contest among peers of its own size, and it is the natural home of the work. A firm of 1,000+ lawyers can still win these candidates, but it hires against the pattern of the record and should be ready to show where the practice sits on a larger platform.

Sartori & Partners counted 65 business immigration moves in the latest settled 12-month window, against 75 in the year before: hiring held flat (-13.3%). On counts this small the gap cannot be told apart from chance. The immigration practice held flat (+6.4%) over the same windows, and the market rose 9.0% on thousands of moves.

The yearly record gives no trend to project. Business immigration logged 57 moves in 2023, 67 in 2024 and 69 in 2025, with 61 so far in 2026. What does stand out is how often a move comes with a better title: 23.1% of business immigration movers joined at a higher title than the one they left, against 18.6% in immigration and 12.9% in the market.

Mobility across cities is also above average. Among moves with both cities known, 28.1% of business immigration lawyers also changed city, against 24.2% for immigration and 20.5% for all practices. A flat supply line means no new wave of candidates is on the way; a firm should budget for a title step and widen the search beyond its own office.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, 36 firms hired at least one business immigration lawyer in the 12 months, and the top 10 of them took 60.0% of individual hires. Ogletree Deakins ranks first, in the 6-10 band, and the same name heads the immigration practice list, where Ogletree Deakins sits in the 11-20 band.

The order shifts with the window. Over three years Fragomen ranked first, in the 21-40 band of hires, ahead of Ogletree Deakins. A firm entering this market will meet the same handful of buyers on most searches, and should know them before the first approach to a candidate.

First, treat business immigration as the core of any immigration hiring plan: it holds 55.1% of the practice's lateral moves. Second, plan partner succession early. With a median of 12.0 years to promotion and only 12.3% promoted within 8 years, a firm that waits for its own associates waits longer than in most practices, and a lateral partner or a counsel with a defined path closes the gap faster.

Third, expect firms of 400-999 lawyers to be the main rivals: they took 49.2% of business immigration moves. Fourth, build the offer around title and place, since 23.1% of movers stepped up in title and 28.1% changed city. Fifth, do not wait for the pool to grow: hiring held flat (-13.3%) while the market expanded.