April Padilla is the Founder & Principal Consultant at Global River Consulting LLC.  She has over 28 years of experience at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  She brings unmatched insight into the inner workings of the U.S. immigration system.  She possesses a deep understanding of adjudication along with a strong operational and policy background.

Her philosophy is simple: clarity builds confidence. Through personalized guidance, structured process mapping, and strategic preparation, April empowers clients to approach each immigration step with readiness and understanding.

April began her career at the Immigration Naturalization Service (now USCIS) where she served as an Adjudications Officer, specializing in immigrant and non-immigrant petition adjudication.  In 2008, a promotion led her to Service Center Operations (SCOPS) Headquarters where she served as a Policy Officer in the Threat Assessment Branch.  She was named the Branch Chief of the SCOPS Fraud Detection Operations Branch in 2013.  April introduced streamlined workflows that increased efficiency and reduced redundancy, delivering measurable results for complex national programs. She also played a leading role in fraud prevention, fraud detection, and compliance coordination with the Department of State and Department of Labor.

April last served as Division Chief for the Security Fraud Division at SCOPS, leading a portfolio focused on fraud prevention, fraud detection, risk assessment, and compliance. Her leadership improved operational consistency, efficiency, and cross-departmental collaboration across multiple USCIS divisions.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Secondary English Education and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Phillips University.  In 2024 she earned a master’s degree in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense) from the Naval Postgraduate School.