A good immigration lawyer can make a huge difference in your chances of obtaining a U.S. Visa, Green Card, Citizenship, Protection from Deportation or any other U.S. Immigration Benefit. Many immigration attorneys are honest and hardworking professionals. They want to assist you in understanding your immigration options and dealing with a bureaucracy that is difficult and slow. They could make a lot more in another area of law.
There are also immigration lawyers who are incompetent, unprofessional, and just plain bad. You may be overcharged, not receive the services promised, or even have your case permanently damaged by these lawyers. Scammers pretending to represent immigration lawyers will sometimes trick immigrants into applying for benefits that don’t even exist.
Avoid the less experienced practitioners and get the best immigration lawyer for your case, no matter what you are seeking.
What can an immigration lawyer do for me?
Even though you’re not required to hire an immigration lawyer, hiring one can make a big difference from the beginning to the end. A good lawyer can:
- Analyze your situation
- You may not be aware of the many options available to you for obtaining a green card or visa
- Point out any issues that may lead to you being denied your request (or worse, deported if already in the United States) strategize your best plan going forward
- Help you organize and prepare the mountain of paperwork including government forms and supporting documentation. This includes using software to fill out the forms.
- Monitor your case’s progress (which will be slow) through the immigration process. Contact the relevant offices if you notice that your file has been lost or is unusually delayed.
- You can hire a lawyer to represent you at interviews with immigration authorities, or if you’re in removal proceedings before an immigration judge.
- Help guide your case towards a successful outcome. This could include filing an appeal or other requests to have U.S. Immigration authorities re-examine your case.
Immigration lawyers can help you avoid making mistakes. This is an example of marriage-based immigration: many people read about the procedures for applying for green cards as the spouses of U.S. citizens, were disturbed by how long it took to apply from abroad, and thought “Well, since I already have a visa for the U.S. I’ll use that to get into the country, and then I’ll apply locally!” This is visa fraud. An attorney could have prevented them from falling victim to this visa fraud.
This post was written by Okoye Morgan Jr., a lawyer with extensive knowledge as a personal injury lawyer in Tampa, FL. Okoye is one of the founding partners of The Black Law Company, the best immigration lawyer in Miami.
The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This website contains links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser; the ABA and its members do not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.
LEGAL EXAMINER 