How Can You Find The Best Immigration Attorney In The US?

Finding a good immigration attorney is the first right step towards winning your case. The field has a lot of honest and hardworking professionals wanting to help and make a difference.. Moreover, being an immigration attorney means dealing with delay-prone and difficult bureaucracy. The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in many delays due to office closures, causing even more frustration.

That said, like two sides of every coin, a bad immigration lawyer can also fail on the promised services, overcharge you and damage your case irreversibly. Irrespective of whether you seek to file a petition for a green card or a visa, are trying not to get deported, or apply for some kind of immigration benefit, you must ensure that you find the right lawyer to represent you.

In this article, we share some tips using which you can find the best immigration attorney in the US and avoid the shadier ones to give your case the best shot.

1. Do Not Hire Attorneys Who Approach You At Immigration Offices & USCIS.

You will find many immigration attorneys offering high volume and low value work prowling immigration offices to solicit business. The state bar does not consider this type of approach to be ethical behavior. Moreover, any good immigration attorney is too busy helping their clients and practicing immigration law to spend time soliciting clients in this manner.

1. Make Sure You Hire A Real Attorney, Not A “Notario,” A “Petition Preparer,” Or A “Visa Consultant.”

Would you ask your doctor to help you with your tax forms or your neighbor to place a stent in your heart? For the same reasons, you must only deal with an actual, licensed, practicing lawyer in the US to help you with your immigration matters. Unfortunately, there exist many non-lawyers today who do not understand the complexity of the law. They claim to have the ability to assist foreigners with the complex immigration process. Even if they mean well, in most cases, their service is of little value. In the worst-case scenario, they might even take your money and take off or mess up your forms and put you in a world of trouble without letting their true intentions known. In the Hispanic community, Notarios are attorneys in their home country, but they are not attorneys in the United States. These people tend to make promises too good to be true that will cause long-lasting damage.

1. Research Is Key.

A lot of good can come out of research, so it is important to do your homework. You can research your lawyer online and find out whether he/she is a member of any state bar association and the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. While joining the former is a requirement, the latter is a professional organization joined by the best attorneys. You can also check their reviews online on popular sites such as Martindale and whether he/she has any published articles. If the reviews that turn up show that your attorney has been disbarred or arrested, you might want to reconsider your choice.

1. Avoid Lawyers Who Make Illegal Offers Or Offer Unethical Advice.

Avoid any immigration attorney who asks you to lie to a USCIS officer or on your application. If he/she asks you to do something fishy like giving the lawyer extra money to bribe an immigration officer, or get a fake green card, run in the opposite direction. These cases are not the worst-case scenarios but have actually taken place. Remember that if you get caught with this kind of scheme, the person who will be in even more trouble than the shady attorney is you. No number of pleadings will get you anywhere and will smear your immigration record permanently, making you ineligible for future green cards or visas.

1. Beware Of Unrealistic Promises

When hiring an attorney or looking for one, it is important to remember that not even the best of them can guarantee success. The outcome of any case ultimately depends on an immigration judge, USCIS, and/or the Department of Homeland Security. If you come across an attorney who claims otherwise or guarantees a particular outcome, you might want to closely evaluate him/her.

1. Talk To Multiple Attorneys & Compare Their Advice.

You must set a meeting with multiple attorneys to get a sense of their impression of honesty, overall demeanor, and their commitment to the clients. Although most good attorneys tend to be busy, you should be able to set up a meeting to compare their advice on your case. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the conversations might need to be made by phone or video conferencing rather than in person. That said, lawyers are essential service providers, so they won’t be entirely closed and many are working virtually for their clients. Make meaningful interactions and understand their way of working to gauge if they fit your requirements. Talking to multiple attorneys will help you compare and choose the right one to represent you. It will also give you a chance to understand their philosophy and personality. This second opinion can sometimes make all the difference to understand if you are on the right track.

Conclusion

To get in touch with an honest and experienced immigration attorney, contact us at Reyes & Schroeder Associates, P.C. We are a professional law firm offering the best advice to our clients on all kinds of immigration matters. The immigration attorneys at Reyes & Schroeder Associates, P.C. are incredibly knowledgeable and experienced. So, they can offer you the best representation possible. Book a consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys today!