Immigration Tips
Immigration Tips
  1. The government will not provide you with an attorney, so you will need to hire one or represent yourself.
  2. Immigration laws are very complex. Ask your lawyer if they are a Board Certified expert in immigration law. Board Certification is currently offered by four states; California, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. If your lawyer is not Board Certified, they should not call themselves an expert or one who specializes in immigration law.
  3. Immigration law is not necessarily on the form's instructions.   When filling out forms, ask what are the applicable laws and regulations and how they apply to your case.
  4. The immigration laws and regulations are written down. You simply need to read them and know how to apply them.  An experienced attorney will know where to find the law and will know what questions to ask.
  5. Don't assume that your lawyer knows immigration law and can properly fill out a form for you. For example, a form might ask whether you have been convicted of an aggravated felony.  The term aggravated felony is a federal legal term of art that might differ from an individual states' definition of an aggravated felony and from an everyday common usage meaning. Here, an aggravated felony for immigration purposes might equate to a state misdemeanor with no aggravating factors.
  6. Another example is the term "Child".  The immigration laws and regulations have nearly 40 different definitions of the term child which might differ from the term's common everyday usage. You need to use the right definition. Generally, a child is unmarried and under the age of 21.  If the person is 17 and married, they are no longer a child but a son or daughter.
  7. Facts are generally developed outside of the immigration context and are brought into the immigration representation, You or your lawyer need to call me before the marriage, conviction, divorce, or corporate merger and acquisition are created.   Calling me after the conviction, divorce, etc. are created becomes more challenging, time consuming, and expensive.
  8. Immigration laws and regulations are written down.  They might be different from immigration policy and procedures.  You cannot argue immigration politics before an immigration judge and hope that the immigration judge agrees with your politics and changes the law.  The immigration judge has no authority to change the law and must apply the law and regulations that are in effect at the moment.
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