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Article Directory :: Legal Articles
The field of Immigration law can be a very complex and complicated area of legal practice. Some categories of US Visas have extremely specific requirements that mandate a legal practitioner with both a solid grounding in general black letter law as well as specific experience in certain areas of the immigration code.
Those without the proper background or training in the field of immigration law can detrimentally affect the outcome of a client's visa petition. Also, those without proper licensure are not bound by the strict code of ethics placed upon US attorneys. For this reason, especially in byzantine immigration matter, a competent licensed American Immigration Lawyer should be consulted.
In Thailand a major concern for Thai-American couples wishing to obtain Family based Visas (K1, K3, Cr-1, IR-1) is finding legal representation that can assist both with compiling the petition and submitting it to the proper USCIS service center and the dealing with US Embassy matters in Bangkok, Thailand. Unfortunately, a great many translation services, self appointed visa agents, and unlicensed laymen presenting themselves as lawyers lead prospective immigrants into difficult legal situations because these people do not know what they are doing.
With regard to US Immigration, only a duly licensed attorney licensed to practice law in at least one US State (or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, or Guam) is allowed to provide legal counsel and advice regarding visa matters. According to United States Citizen and Immigration Services internal memos, as well as federal law, even advising clients about which documents they should use constitutes the practice of law. At such a low threshold in order to meet the definition of legal practice, basically anyone operating a visa preparation service is "practicing law," according to USCIS. That being said, there are accredited representatives who are not lawyers, but they are entitled (in limited circumstances) to represent people before USCIS. However, these "representatives," are generally charities and refugee services. In fact USCIS has made it clear that anyone who is not an attorney and is acting in any capacity as a representative is only allowed to take "nominal fees," for representation in order to be characterized as another type of non-lawyer representative.
The best way to determine if a US Visa Lawyer is trustworthy is to simply ask the attorney to produce his or her credentials. The state or federal bar card they produce should have a license number that can be used to check the lawyers' database to ensure that the attorney in question is in good standing in their jurisdiction.
It is always prudent to make immigration decisions only after consulting with a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.
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