WHY YOU NEED AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER
Every part/question on any immigration form has an underlying law. When you check a wrong box, you are creating a legal problem for yourself, for the form has to be signed under the penalty of perjury. Once the form has been submitted/reviewed, the onus is on you to affirm/disavow your choice(s), but a reviewing officer will believe that you intended to check the box.
When a statute is created, administrative agencies have to find ways to turn the statute into rules and forms. My professor of administrative law once told me that a court usually gives deference to rules promulgated, or/and decisions, by administrative agencies (also known as the “Chevron deference,” arising from a landmark case, Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 468 U.S. 837 (1984)), meaning that administrative agencies are presumed to pass the reasonableness test. However, this is NOT a bar to challenging erroneous/adverse decisions by the USICS and other administrative agencies. And these agencies’ decisions, depending on the type of immigrant petitions and applications, may be appealable to the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Administrative Appeals Office, Executive Office for Immigration Review, and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
A lawyer understands the underlying law for each part/question. A lawyer tracks changes to these administrative rules. For instance, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), of which I am a member, tracks these changes, and members get the latest updates on most of these administrative changes. When AILA and its members see anomalies in the interpretations of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), they ask these administrative agencies (USCIS, CBP, and ICE) about their decision-making processes. In some cases, these administrative agencies willingly update AILA about certain immigration issues, and members get alerts about these changes. For instance, the USCIS recently announced that an expedited option will be allowed for applicants in the EB-2 (NIW) category, meaning that the service agency will charge you an additional $2,500 to review your case within a short (definite) period.
Moreover, a lawyer also has access to practice materials and research platforms. For instance, I subscribed to one of the best legal research platforms in the world, Lexis+, which costs around $240/month, and that gives me access to the most current laws/repository of cases/statutes, which I can use to draft briefs.
To the extent possible under the law, my strategy is to fiercely advocate for ALL my clients. Don’t blow up a good case by omission.
People, who ordinarily should not have immigration issues, are now facing serious credibility/legal questions because of the misguided responses on their immigration forms.
Sure, as a lawyer, I will evaluate your case, then formulate a legal strategy that might get you out of those messy situations, but you will end up paying more than you should have paid if you had hired me before submitting those forms (drafting briefs for relief, or/and contesting other adverse actions, is not cheap).
It pains me that people make the same avoidable mistake. For instance, the INA doesn't penalize you for prior multiple marriages insofar you legally dissolved those marriages before entering into a new one with an American citizen, or a legal permanent resident, but failure to disclose those previous marriages, or/and lying about the dissolution of those marriages, thinking that the USCIS won’t find out, might lead to a catastrophic outcome, particularly for someone whose petition is predicated on a marriage to a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. (See Matter of Nwangwu, 16 I&N Dec. 61, 62 (BIA 1976)). A marriage is not legally dissolved by simply abandoning the marriage. The question of dissolution is very important, particularly for those who entered into common law marriages in Nigeria prior to relocating to the U.S. Before filing your I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, I highly recommend talking to a lawyer.
Wherever you are in your immigration journey, my law firm will be happy to represent you.
If you have any questions, contact the attorney-in-charge of The Law Office of Akintunde F Adeyemo, PLLC:
Akintunde F. Adeyemo, Esq.
Attorney, Counselor & Solicitor
734-318-7053 (Call, Text, Including WhatsApp)
Email address: info@akinalaw.com
The information in this article is for general information purposes only. Nothing in this post should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.
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