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Setting out on the path of legal immigration is no easy affair, and as such it makes people vulnerable to sub-par service providers, dishonest consultants promising more than they can deliver, as well as outright fraudulent actors who are out to scam prospective immigrants of their money without anything to show for it.
In the worst cases, malpractice or malicious intent may expose you to losing your money, identity theft, or it may jeopardize your future chances, rights to immigration benefits or to relief.
Needless to say, before you decide to move forward and spend a large sum of money to engage with a legal service provider, you need to educate yourself. This way, you will be better placed to decide what kind of assistance you need and who is most adequate to provide it.
Today, I want to attempt to provide some guidance to those of you who are at this preliminary stage of their journey. At GovAssist Legal, we are not aiming to “reel in” prospective clients unless we know for certain that we can appropriately represent them and support their case.
But if you aren’t ready for a one-on-one consultation with a licensed professional quite yet, read on.
There are two common categories of individuals enabled to provide legal advice and legal services on immigration matters:
In the United States, an attorney is anyone who attended a graduate program and obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. In order to practice Law in the U.S., the attorney must be a member of a state bar association in “good standing”. The best way to know that the person you are interacting with is a licensed attorney is to ask to see his/her current attorney licensing document.
They can file papers and applications and represent you before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), any immigration court, the BIA, and the state court where he/she is a member of the bar.
An accredited representative is a staff member of a BIA-accredited organization who has a certain level of experience in and knowledge of immigration law and has been accredited by the BIA to provide immigration legal services. These organizations are, of course, limited in their capacity, and will prioritize cases with high humanitarian considerations, such as asylum seekers and refugees.
Immigration Law is established at the Federal level in the U.S., so any U.S.-based attorney can represent you and defend your cases before the official instances.
This is precisely the reason why here at GovAssist Legal, we are able to serve all our clients remotely across the U.S. and even the world, from our operational base in Utah.
In the purest sense of the word, legal representation is any legal work that an attorney performs on behalf of his client. But it is different from legal aid, or legal information.
Legal information
In principle, anybody is permitted by law to provide legal information, an overview of options - but legal information stops when you ask for advice on any decision. Since an unlicensed consultant cannot provide advice, he is not bound by liability for the information given; you must therefore be sure, in those cases, that the consultant is adequately informed and overseen.
Self-representation
Self-representation is of course permitted by law, if a case is simple enough. However, I strongly discourage this, as legal practice requires certain skills, and an unschooled party representing themselves (pro-se) can find themselves at a disadvantage. Even attorneys are generally advised to hire another attorney when they need legal representation.
Duties for both parties
Legal representation always places duties on both the client and the attorney.
Attorneys are considered officers of the court, and as such they must follow the law closely and obey additional ethical constraints:
Area of expertise
Of course, all attorneys are not equally specialized in all areas of the law, so before you engage in any contractual relationship, you need of course to make sure that your provider has the required depth of knowledge to represent you. An ethical attorney will never accept a case that they cannot confidently take on and will want to get to know your case before accepting representation.
At GovAssist Legal, we facilitate this through a set on online questions (for simpler cases) that allow the attorney to review the details beforehand, or by offering a short, one-time consultation with one of our immigration lawyers in order to give you a general direction and a good sense of the feasibility of your case, without any further obligations down the road. Thanks to our unique set-up, you can have this consultation from the comfort of your own device, at a fraction of the cost of a traditional law firm.
As a hybrid U.S. law firm (working in both physical offices and remote online), we have been able to create a set-up that completely transforms the legal services delivery model people were used to.
Thus, with GovAssist Legal, you can connect with your attorney without needing to travel anywhere.
As a Utah-based law firm, we employ a limited-scope client agreement which enables us to represent you throughout your case and dealings with the authorities, but not for any in-person matters.
U.S. immigration law is federally managed, so we are able to represent you no matter where you reside. This is one of the main reasons we are able to conduct our activities also on a remote basis with such high cost-effectiveness.
As far as interviews or exams (for prospective citizens) are concerned, rest assured our team is very well equipped to make sure you are prepared for any in-person interviews or other interactions with U.S. authorities, including mock-up interview sessions and rundowns of standard test questions.
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available are for general informational purposes only.
Congratulations! So you’ve successfully passed all the administrative hurdles and obtained a Green Card - you’ve arrived in the U.S. and started working on your new life here. Now at some point, there may come a day when you need or want to leave the U.S. to head back to your home country, go on a honeymoon, or conduct business elsewhere. While there is no formal prohibition against Green Card holders leaving the U.S. and returning, you must understand that Lawful Permanent Resident status is not granted lightly, and that immigration authorities do have certain expectations for Green Card holders.
Today, we’ll have a more detailed look into the Do’s and Don’ts for Green Card holders, what some of the reasoning behind these limitations are and how you may bypass them. In the end, I will share with you some of the general advice I usually give to my LPR clients when they are considering traveling abroad.
As a Green Card holder, you are granted the right to live and work in the U.S. The difference is, of course, that U.S. citizens enjoy unconditional constitutional rights and hold certain responsibilities that do not apply to residents.
In a way, the intention of the Green Card is to act as a “probational” stage, with the ultimate purpose for the Lawful Permanent Resident being to obtain full U.S. citizenship. If you do not comply with certain conditions, you thus risk either losing your Green Card or not getting it renewed once it expires.
Some of these conditions are formally established, but when it comes to exiting and re-entering the country, you must keep in mind that the decision to allow or deny entry always comes down, in the end, to the discretion of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer at your port of entry.
As mentioned above, you may think of the LPR status as a sort of “probation” on the way to becoming a U.S. citizen. Authorities thus expect Green Card holders to demonstrate commitment to their decision to immigrate, by building a strong foundation and solid ties to the U.S. which should outweigh the interests you have in your country of origin.
Thus, if it appears as though you spend most of your time abroad, this may raise a question mark as to how seriously committed you are on your path to becoming a citizen.
Formally, while holding a Green Card, you may not leave the U.S. for a period longer than 12 months. If you can avoid leaving U.S. territory at all, this is for the better.
Any Green Card holder who remains outside U.S. territory for 6 months can be questioned at re-entry. And any Green Card holder who remains outside U.S. territory for more than 12 months OR past the expiry date of their re-entry permit can be considered to have abandoned their LPR status.
Keep in mind that only Border Protection Officers (BPO) have the final authority to grant you access into the U.S. BPO’s need to process thousands of people on a daily basis, and need to be able to assess your case very quickly. If they have any doubt, they may estimate that you are pushing the limits of your LPR status, and they have the authority to deny you entry.
Primarily, if you are a Green Card holder, the Border Protection Officer will want to confirm that you have strong ties to the U.S. and are leading a stable life. In order to help the BPO make this assessment in the very limited time they have available, you should have at hand legalized copies of any documents which can help demonstrate such ties such as:
If there is any risk at all that you might have to remain outside the U.S. for a period longer than 12 months, it is absolutely imperative that you apply for a re-entry permit (SB-1, Returning Resident Visa) well before your planned date of departure. Do not leave without having received your SB-1 visa, and do not let it expire, or you will lose your Green Card. Typically, an SB-1 Visa has a maximum validity of 2 years.
If it is an emergency situation, and your Green Card application is in progress (for instance, after entering the U.S. on a K-1 visa and getting married), you may be permitted to leave the U.S. and re-enter if you apply for advance parole.
Advance parole is requested with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) through form I-131. You need to have your application approved before leaving the U.S., or you will have to restart your Green Card application process.
While considering whether they really need to travel abroad, I usually go through the following list with my clients before going into the specifics or moving ahead with any travel plans.
If you have had LPR status for a couple of years, consider postponing your travel plans until after you have received U.S. citizenship. Citizenship is for life, and cannot be revoked (apart for some very exceptional cases), nor can entry be refused to a U.S. citizen.
Many of my K-1 clients want to travel to exotic destinations for their honeymoons; after all, you only get to do it once and want to make it an unforgettable trip. But have you considered some of the U.S. territories around the world that offer absolutely breathtaking sceneries, lavish entertainment, and full immersion into local culture that will not feel like you are in the U.S. at all.
Think of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana’s or the U.S. Virgin Islands. You can travel freely and without ever crossing a border to any of these fantastic destinations - and you likely will be far from disappointed with the experience.
As a Green Card holder, you can considerably facilitate the process for your friends or relatives to apply for a visa to come visit you in the United States. Until you have your citizenship, this may often be the best option to meet in person with your loved ones, if at all possible.
As a final word, I would like to remind you that the above are broad general rules of thumb, designed to help you better understand the limitations and avoid simple mistakes. Green Card holders should be well aware that certain limitations and conditions still apply to them, and that they should not take the Lawful Permanent Resident status lightly.
Nevertheless, every case is unique, and we advise you to review your case with an immigration attorney to analyze your specific situation.
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available are for general informational purposes only.
This is one of the most common questions I get during online calls, so I thought it would be useful to lots of applicants to put the answer into writing.
Whether you are a prospective immigrant whose case is still pending with authorities for processing, or an established Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card holder), foreign nationals are required by law to notify the USCIS of any address changes while they are in the U.S.
If you fail to inform the USCIS about changing your address in due time, you may expose yourself to fines, legal action and even deportation from U.S. territory, in some particularly (severe) cases. Simply put, you don’t want to forget to keep them in the loop - even if the USCIS is generally forgiving when the failure or delay was clearly an honest mistake.
Let’s take a better look at why, when, and how to update your address and contact information with the USCIS.
Well, presuming you are waiting for a response from them on an application you submit, it makes sense that you want them to always have up-to-date contact details through which they can reach you if and when necessary. If you fail to do this, you are likely to miss important correspondence and face significant delays in your case. The same would be applicable to U.S. citizens who have filed an affidavit of support to sponsor someone else.
If you already have an immigrant visa or if you are a Green Card holder, you have a legal obligation to advise the USCIS of any change of address while you are in the U.S. - Section 256 of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires you by law to inform authorities of any change of address whether you are in the U.S. or not. Failure to do so can lead to fines, imprisonment and even deportation if it is determined that you willfully attempted to confuse or lie to authorities regarding your place of residence.
In either case, it is in your own best interest to be diligent in filing the appropriate forms on time and correctly, or you may face unpleasant consequences further down the road.
You only need to inform authorities of an address change if you are moving to a new place of residence, where you will be spending most of your time and receiving mail going forward. That is, if you are leaving on a 2-week holiday to Hawaii, for instance, you don’t need to let the USCIS know about that.
In case you failed to report a move in the past and want to file an address change now, you likely will not face consequences when you do, as long as your attempt to comply is in good faith. If you have any doubts about your situation, it is strongly recommended to talk directly to a licensed immigration lawyer for advice.
If you do have a request in progress, you should keep your USCIS case receipt number at hand if you didn’t file your case online. If you filed online, you can only update your address through the USCIS account you filed with.
The standard form for reporting a change of address is Form AR-11 (Alien’s Change of Address Card), and filing it online will update your address on all pending applications, petitions, or requests that you include on the form. You do not need to mail Form AR-11 physically if you use the change of address webpage.
There are certain exceptions to the above, for the following cases:
You would fall under this category if you filed one of the following forms previously: I-360; I-485; I-765; I-765V; I-914; I-918; I-929.
If any of these apply to you, you will not be able to file your address change online, nor do you need to reach out to the USCIS contact center. Instead, you will need to print and physically mail your AR-11 Form to the below address:
U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services
Attn: Humanitarian Division
Vermont Service Center
38 River Road
Essex Junction, VT 05479-0001
In this case as well, you will need to send your AR-11 Form physically to one of the USCIS Service Centres, depending on your location. You can find out the specific address on the USCIS website.
U.S. Citizens who have submitted an affidavit of support to sponsor someone else’s application with the USCIS will have to send a different form (Form I-865, Sponsor’s Notice of Change of Address) to their nearest USCIS Service Center no more than 30 days after moving.
To find out which Service Centre is responsible for your area of residence, you can check this link.
Requesting/reporting an address change with immigration authorities in the U.S. is typically a rather straightforward administrative task. Nevertheless, it should not be neglected or forgotten, as the enforcement policy of the USCIS can vary in its severity over time. In general, if you are unsure in any way of how your case fits in the above criteria, it is very recommendable to speak with a licensed immigration attorney beforehand, and make sure that you are taking the right approach.
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available are for general informational purposes only.
GovAssist Legal, LLC is a non-traditional legal services provider employing Utah-licensed lawyers to practice law. GovAssist Legal has been authorized to the practice of Immigration Law by the UT Supreme Court's Office of Legal Services Innovation. GovAssist Legal works with individuals and private organizations in family-based immigration matters, permanent residency, United States citizenship and also travel visas. This law firm is owned by nonlawyers. Some of the people who own/manage this company are not lawyers. For more information regarding the UT Supreme Court's Innovation Office's Sandbox Program, please visit: utahinnovationoffice.org. To contact GovAssist Legal administration email legal@govassistlegal.com. To contact Client Support please email support@govassistlegal.com.
