# 10 Questions to Ask Your Immigration Legal Professional, Attorney, Paralegal, Accredited Representative

- Link: https://www.lumlawgroup.com/10-questions-to-ask-your-immigration-legal-professional/
- Published: 2019-02-15T10:10:40-08:00
- Author: Albert J Lum

Whether you’re hiring an attorney, a law firm, or a paralegal to assist in preparing
and filing your immigration applications and petitions, you’ll want them to take
responsibility of your case. At Lum Law Group, many of our clients rely on referrals
to find us. Our clients trust their cases are in good hands.  Many were burned by
other attorneys, law firms, or paralegals pretending to be attorneys.

We know that not everyone can, or wants to, rely on a friend or family member’s 
recommendation for important legal matters.  We know the outcome of your immigration
case can change the direction of your life.  We also know that not everyone can 
afford our services, and while we offer various payment plans for our trusted clients,
even that can be too much for some.  As such, we have prepared a list of items to
consider when choosing a legal representative for your immigration case. Consider
the following even when only hiring an attorney to accompany you to an interview,
a paralegal to fill out forms for you, or a law firm to handle your entire case 
processing.

### 1. Certifications

Certifications prove that a professional has met certain education requirements,
passed tests, and maintained a certain level of knowledge to upkeep their certification.
Always check the professional’s certification online to ensure they are still valid.
An attorney should have valid bar membership in the United States.  A certified 
paralegal should have a paralegal certification or L.L.M degree.

### 2. Legal specialty

You wouldn’t hire a history teacher to teach your child math, would you? Similarly,
you wouldn’t hire a tax attorney to file your immigration paperwork.  Every legal
professional, even paralegal, has a specialty, or a slew of specialties that they
are proficient in.  Don’t assume or expect them to be good at practicing every aspect
of law.  Find a professional who specializes in immigration, preferably in the country
you are immigrating from, with the situation (forms) you need to file.

### 3. Experience

Certifications are useful for determining a professional’s skill, but experience
can trump titles.  Find a legal professional who is experienced and confident in
what they do.  The difference in hiring someone who has filed over a hundred similar
applications to a newcomer who’s only handled three cases like yours could be the
denial of your case.

### 4. In-touch and Updated

The law is ever-changing, and so are the forms and requirements for each form. Ask
the legal professional what they think about a recent change in immigration law.
Ask them about how a change might affect your situation. Ask them about cases they’ve
done where new legal developments changed the course of their case.  Ask them how
they have been preparing for upcoming legal changes.  You want a legal professional
who is not only certified and experienced, but who also remains up-to-date on the
latest immigration law developments.

### 5. Document Requirements

At the initial visit, your legal professional should be able to tell you what information
and documents are required to process your case.  After a strategy session, the 
legal professional should provide you a list of items you need and follow up to 
promptly receive said documents and information.

### 6. Fee determination

In immigration, it’s common to have flat rates for various forms and appearances.
However, that doesn’t have to stop you from asking _how_ the legal professional 
arrived at the fee estimation.  Are they charging more because they include other
fees? Are they charging less because they will bill you for costs? Do you have to
assist in the preparation of evidence?  Do you have to mail/file the forms yourself?
Are there additional fees they recommend?

### 7. Preparer signature

Much like tax forms, immigration forms also have a “preparer” section at the end,
where a form filler can disclose their name, address, phone and fax numbers.  This
is the section a paralegal or “accredited representative” would fill out.  An attorney
will fill both that section and require you to sign a [Form G-28, Notice of Appearance of Attorney](https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-your-form-g-28).
An attorney or paralegal who does not fill out this information is avoiding responsibility.

### 8. Accessibility

Does your legal professional have an office? Or are they meeting you in a public
space? A borrowed office? A friend’s home? The reason this matters is because you
need your legal professional to be available to you.  If you prefer email, do they
respond to emails? If you prefer phone calls or text messages, are they responsive?
If you prefer a messenger, do they offer this service as well?  Filing immigration
paperwork can be a long and difficult process and it is important that your legal
representative is available to assist you.

### 9. E-file with USCIS

Several immigration forms can now be filed online.  [The benefits of filing online include automatic status checks, credit card payments, and in-app notices](https://lumlawgroup.com/Staging/should-i-file-my-uscis-immigration-application-online/).
Attorneys and accredited legal representatives should have an online [USCIS](http://www.uscis.gov)
account for “representatives”.  The difference between you creating your own account
and filing by yourself and a legal representative using their account to file on
your behalf is that their account shows multiple cases/filings while yours will 
only show your case status.  Ask the legal professional whether they have an existing
[online USCIS representative account](https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/online-filing-information-attorneys-and-accredited-representatives),
and whether they are willing to e-file your application for you.

### 10. Post-filing Service

Sometimes we’re so relieved to get something done that we forget that just because
it’s “done” doesn’t mean it’s _over_. After you file your petition or application,
you’ll need to follow up.  It’s important to ask your legal professional how often
they check the status of your case, how do they check it, and how often they will
follow up with you.  Is there a designated case manager whom you can easily contact?
Is there a portal you can login to and view notes on your case?

Most importantly, what happens if things don’t go well for your case?  What happens
if there’s a [Request for Evidence](https://lumlawgroup.com/Staging/what-immigrations-new-policy-on-requests-for-evidence-and-notice-of-intent-to-deny-mean-for-you/)(
RFE)? Do they charge extra? Will it be the same case manager, or does your case 
get reassigned? What happens if there’s a [Notice of Intent to Deny](https://lumlawgroup.com/Staging/what-immigrations-new-policy-on-requests-for-evidence-and-notice-of-intent-to-deny-mean-for-you/)(
NOID)? Will the legal representative need to refer you to someone else? Can it be
handled in-house? How often does this happen? What are your chances? And what if
your case is denied? What will be your options then?

 

These are all factors to consider when deciding on a legal representative to prepare
or process your immigration case.  While there isn’t necessarily anything wrong 
with your aunt’s best friend’s brother’s recommended attorney, don’t blindly rely
on someone else’s opinion. Keep in mind that just because they paid for a billboard
ad, doesn’t mean they’re the best fit for your situation. Last, but not least, don’t
be fooled by a cheap sticker price only to be saddled by hidden fees!

Do you want to ask us these questions? We welcome them! [Contact us any time](https://lumlawgroup.com/Staging/contact-us/)
and we’ll be happy to [go through this list with you in-person](https://lumlawgroup.com/Staging/schedule-an-initial-consultation-with-albert-lum-esq/)!