How an Immigration Lawyer Can Help You Through The Immigration Process
Immigration is a serious topic that has people taking sides all over the world. More and more people are looking to migrate to other countries to make a better life for themselves. Going through the immigration process can be a long one and often confusing, you are in a new country and you want to make that country your home but do not know the first thing about doing so, this is where an good lawyer can help you through the process. What can an immigration lawyer do for you?
The very first thing an immigration lawyer will do for you is to explore all of your options. There are many different ways that someone can get a legal permanent residence or at least a temporary stay to work in the United States. An immigration lawyer can explore what those options are and help you decide which way is the best way for you and your situation. The next thing they can do is they can file the paperwork for you. Once you hire an experienced immigration lawyer they can prepare and file applications as well as petitions that you need to help you stay in the country.
An immigration lawyer is essential here since they understand the paperwork and they can guide you through it and make sure that everything is answered correctly. This is why it is important to have an experienced immigration lawyer and not someone who just graduated from law school. You want someone with more than 5 years experience. The lawyer can appear with you in court or at any INS hearings that you may need to attend. You do not need to understand the government's instruction that is why you have a lawyer to help avoid any loopholes or pitfalls in the process.
The best way to choose an immigration lawyer is:
- Make sure that the immigration lawyer is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association or AILA
- Inquire how many years they have been dealing with immigration, you want to choose someone who specializes in immigration
- Inquire how many immigration cases they have handled over the years
Never hire an immigration lawyer if:
- They are a non attorney consultant, only members of AILA are qualified to help you with immigration
- They say they can guarantee a successful outcome, an attorney never knows how the government is going to rule so anyone who promises you a win is lying.
- They say they have a special contact in the government and can call in a favor, this is never true and most people who offer that are scammers.
- You might end up needing money for the lawer. So you need quick short term loans.
An immigration attorney cannot promise that you are going to win, the INS takes on each case one at a time and they review every case based on the merits. There is never any special considerations given it is always based on the situation and on the law.