3 Tips to Working with an Immigration Attorney
The results of your immigration case are incredibly important. Your case may determine whether you or a loved one is allowed to enter, stay, or work in the United States. It may determine whether you are together with your loved ones, or split apart. Or, it may determine whether you go to jail or are deported, or not. This is why it’s important to work with a qualified immigration attorney and to do it well; here are 3 tips to working with an immigration attorney.
1. Disclose All Information to Your Immigration Attorney.
It’s imperative that you disclose all requested information to your attorney, even if you think the information may make you look bad or hurt your case. Just like your doctor can only help you if he or she knows all about your symptoms, your immigration attorney can only give you good legal advice if he fully understands your situation. All conversations with your attorney are kept strictly confidential.
2. Tell Your Attorney Whenever You Receive Paperwork from the Citizenship & Immigration Service (CIS) or Department of Homeland Security.
The CIS has a new procedure (as of September 12, 2011) and they are now sending original approval notices to petitioners and applicants directly, instead of to the attorneys of record. Attorneys of record, with properly filed Forms G-28, now receive unofficial “Courtesy Copy” approval notices, not all notices.
The problem with this is that your attorney is best able to evaluate to determine that the documentation is legitimate and error-free. You may receive documents from a scam artist or they may contain an error or be sent to the wrong address. In addition, your attorney needs to evaluate if you need to provide further documentation or appeal. If the documentation isn’t provided or the appeal isn’t made within the required time period, your immigration status may be affected.
3. Follow Your Attorney’s Advice
You pay your attorney for his or her good advice, so be sure to take it. For example, if your attorney tells you that you have a meeting with a CIS representative, be sure to be there on time and bring whatever documentation is required. Or, if you’re attorney asks you to provide certain documentation, do so in a timely manner. This helps your attorney help you.
Importantly, only take advice from your immigration attorney. Your friends, family, social workers, or, even, a general practice attorney may all mean well; but, they don’t know all the facts about your case and they don’t concentrate on immigration law every day.
Where to Get Help with Immigration Issues
We focus our practice on immigration law and help people just like you every day. We will listen to your concerns and answer your questions; you are not alone.
Your next step is to contact our office: 513-791-1673 or Thomasjr@geygan.com. We will gently walk you through your immigration issues, guiding you and your family, and even aggressively representing you in court and before the Department of State.
Thomas J. Geygan, Jr. has been a member of AILA since 1998, and has been a speaker at National Conference as well as many other professional and community organizations. Geygan & Geygan, Ltd. represents clients around the world for immigration, but we enjoy the cases where we can sit down face to face with our clients the most.