What Makes a Good Immigration Attorney
- The attorney practices immigration law exclusively. Immigration Law is highly specialized and the laws are constantly changing. If your lawyer practices in multiple areas like criminal, family, estate planning AND immigration, chances are that lawyer will not be as well educated as one who practices immigration law exclusively.
- Membership in a State Bar Association (because immigration matters are under federal jurisdiction, attorneys can practice anywhere in the U.S. with membership to any State Bar Association). The State Bar Association Directory of Lawyers will tell you how many years the attorney has been practicing and whether or not he or she is in good standing.
- Membership in the American Immigration Lawyers Association
- The attorney actually prepares your immigration papers. Bargain basement pricing is usually an indicator that the attorney’s role is to simply check a paralegal and/or assistant’s preparation of your papers. In these cases, try to find out what the turnover rate is of the paralegals and/or assistants. If it is high, the quality and consistency of care can be wildly variable.
- Your attorney promptly returns calls and responds to emails. Watch out for visa mills where non-attorneys do much of the work under the attorney’s name.
- Your attorney has a successful track record of approved visas and RFEs.
- Your attorney has handled complex, novel or otherwise unusual issues and prevailed on his or her client’s behalf. Ask for examples.
- Your attorney is technologically savvy so he or she can efficiently serve you from anywhere in the world.
- Your attorney subscribes to AILA Link (the comprehensive online immigration library of the American Immigration Lawyers Association). Your attorney subscribes to Lexis or Westlaw to keep abreast of the latest developments in law. Your attorney reads USCIS Policy Memos and other materials DAILY. If your attorney heavily relies on paralegals and assistants, what kind of training have they had? How high is the turnover? What is the ratio of attorneys to assistants?
- Your attorney does not know everything. Avoid any attorney (or person, for that matter) who purports to know everything. Good attorneys will be honest with you and will research issues even if they know how matters were handled in the past because immigration laws and policies change frequently.
- Your attorney does not take all cases. A good attorney will not take on a client who wants to bend the rules or whose case does not otherwise have merit.
- For HR Professionals, your immigration attorney’s services go well beyond just obtaining visas. Services should include all phases of employment: recruitment, employment, termination, and post-termination. Your immigration attorney should be immediately available to conduct reviews of a foreign candidate’s current status and visa suitability. He or she should quickly and efficiently apply for the visa ameliorating delays and potential RFEs. Your attorney should keep you apprised of the status of visa processing and provide continuous monitoring. He or she should ensure continuing compliance and be able to provide you with realtime dashboards outlining the current status of each foreign worker and relevant documentation.Your immigration attorney should timely advise you of any changes in the law or policy that may impact the hiring, maintaining, or terminating of a foreign worker. A recent case involved an H-1B employee who was laid off. The company failed to timely notify the government. As a result, the former employee successfully sued the company for back wages (from the time of the layoff to expiration of the H-1B).
Your attorney should prepare you to know exactly what to do if ICE or other immigration officials show up on your doorstep demanding examination of records and interviews of employees. Your immigration attorney should facilitate an audit of your processes and documentation if needed.
In short, your immigration attorney should help you plan in the long and short term and should do so in the most cost effective manner by leveraging your company’s own resources alongside the specialized knowledge and assets of the immigration attorney.
- For the individual, the most important question is, “Does your attorney have respect for the law, morals, ethics and does he or she believe in your case 100%?” Does your attorney tell you the truth even if it’s not what you want to hear? Does your attorney outline what may or may not happen? If your attorney guarantees any results, run as fast as you can. No one can guarantee results.
No one can guarantee that USCIS won’t make a mistake or even go against their own rules (as they did in processing H2Bs in 2008). Does your attorney continue to counsel you even after the visa is issued? Is your attorney willing to bend the rules to get your visa? Besides the obvious legal and morality issues, an attorney who is willing to venture into “gray areas” of fact in order to obtain your visa is putting you and your employer at great risk.
“Gray areas” often lead to problems, for example, when you later apply for citizenship. “Gray areas” may lead to your early layoff. “Gray areas” may lead to ICE showing up at your house at 6 a.m. “Gray areas” may lead to your deportation. In the short term, a Rule Bender may get your visa but in the long run, it will likely hurt you and your employer or family. Additionally, such practices only fuel malcontent in the U.S. about immigration in general.
Your attorney should have ethics, morals, and fully abide by the law. Your attorney should tell you the truth even if it’s something you don’t want to hear. Your attorney should believe in the facts of your case 100% so he or she can be the best advocate for you.
Remember, in most cases, your relationship with your immigration attorney lasts for many, many years. Your attorney should ensure all your filings are unquestionable in order to safeguard both your immediate and longterm interests.
“A lawyer’s either a social engineer or he’s a parasite on society.”
-Charles Hamilton Houston
