Know how to identify and avoid being scammed.
Fraud can be devastating:
- Victims lose their money, savings, and even go into debt
- Victims don’t receive the services they paid for
- Victims don’t receive immigration benefits they qualify for
- Victims’ immigration case can actually be prejudiced by the fraud, leaving them worse off than they were before
- Victims are rendered ineligible for immigration benefits and options they would have otherwise qualified for
- Victims are detained or deported because of the fraud
Table of Contents
Make sure you're working with a licensed attorney
In the US, an attorney or lawyer is a person who has received a license that allows that person to practice law. Only a person with a law license can:
- Give legal advice
- Speak on a person’s behalf in court, in front of a judge, or in front of a government agency
- Submit documents to the government on another person’s behalf
Check whether a person is really an attorney by asking them for:
- Their full name
- Their bar number
- The state where they are barred
Look them up in that state’s directory of attorneys.
Check whether the attorney you are about to hire has a good record
- Look them up in their state bar’s disciplinary database
- Look them up in the EOIR’s (Executive Office for Immigration Review) disciplinary database
- Google your attorney’s name to make sure there aren’t bad news stories about them and their firm
- Check whether the attorney you’re about to hire is who they say they are by making sure that the email address and phone number they use to communicate with you is the same contact information listed online/on their website/and in other official sources, such as the state directory of attorneys.
Do’s and Don’ts While Working With an Attorney
Always
- Make sure your attorney signs a written contract with you before you pay
- Make sure you understand the contract you sign with your attorney
- Make sure you read the written contract your attorney offers you carefully before you sign it. You might need to ask for the contract to be translated into the language you understand best.
- Make sure you understand the scope of representation the attorney is promising you.
- Make sure your attorney signs this contract before you pay them.
- Make sure your immigration attorney gives you a copy of the contract.
- Every time you make a payment to your attorney, make sure their office gives you a receipt showing:
- The date on which you made the payment
- The amount you paid
- A description of the service you paid for
- Note: Keep all these receipts for your records. Ideally take a picture of them and send them to a trusted friend so that there is an electronic version preserved even if the hard copies are lost/destroyed/inaccessible.
- Maintain communication with your attorney
- Call, email, and message your attorney to make sure you understand what work your attorney is doing for you at all times.
- If you have questions about your case, make sure your attorney answers your questions.
- Make sure your attorney gives you a copy of the documents they submit to the government in your case.
- Note: A client has a right to receive a copy of their file from their attorney for free. Even if your case is over, you have a right to receive a copy of your file for your former attorney for free. In most states, even if you haven’t paid your attorney everything you owe them, you have a right to receive a copy of your file for free. An attorney cannot charge you money for a copy of your case file.
- Make sure your attorney gives you a copy of the documents the government sends them about your case
- Note: It is especially important to keep receipts that the government sends you about your case. You will need these receipts to show proof that you have submitted an application to the government and what application you submitted. You will also need the receipt number written on this receipt to look up the status of your application using the government’s online website.
Never
- Never sign a blank document.
- Never sign any document without reviewing it first.
- Never sign any document you do not understand or have questions about. Make sure the attorney answers any questions you have about the form before you sign it.
- Never sign any document that has false information in it or mistakes in it.
- Never pay anyone who tells you they will give you a government application form for a fee. All government application forms are free and publicly available on official government websites.
- Never give your attorney the originals of your personal documents; only give copies.
“Notarios” and Notaries are NOT Attorneys
Know the difference between “notarios” and notaries—neither are attorneys.
A person who is not an attorney but pretends that they are and engages in the unlawful practice of law.
“Notarios” do not have a US law license.
It is against the law for “notarios” to practice law because, by definition, they do not have a US law license.
A professional who is licensed to serve as an official witness to signatures and officiate certain ceremonies.
Notaries do not necessarily have a US law license.
It is against the law for a notary to practice law, unless they also have a US law license.
A professional who has a license in a different country that allows them to provide a lot of the same legal services that an attorney is allowed to provide in that other country.
Foreign “notarios” do not necessarily have a US law license.
It is against the law for a foreign “notario” to practice law in the US, unless they also have a US law license.
How to tell if someone is a fraud
Here are warning signs that the person helping you with your immigration case is a fraud.
Stop and think twice if your legal service provider says the following:
- they can get you a green card because you have lived in the US for more than 10 years…
- they can get you papers because you have a child with special needs…
- they can get you asylum, even though you are not afraid to return to your country…
- they can “guarantee” results/that your application will be approved …
- they know a secret or “special” law that can help you …
- they work for a government agency or have connections with people in a government agency, so they can get you better results …
Stop and think twice if your legal service provider:
- also offers to prepare your taxes or prepare your application for food stamps or other benefits …
- charges you a fee just to give you a blank government form …
- asks you to give them the originals of your personal documents to keep …
- tells you that you must pay them with a gift card or cryptocurrency …
- doesn’t provide you with a receipt for your payments …
- tells you they are going to call ICE on you if you don’t pay them …
- tells you they will take your case or ask you to pay them before they know the facts of your case, without conducting an intake …
- tells you they will take your loved one’s case without ever having spoken to your loved one
- doesn’t offer you a written and signed retainer agreement for their services …
- tells you that you should sign a document with false information in it …
- doesn’t ask you to sign anything at all …
- tells you they do not need to fill out the “preparer” field of a form that they prepared for you …
- doesn’t explain what immigration benefits you are eligible for …
- doesn’t explain what applications they will file for you …
- doesn’t ask you for evidence to support your application for immigration benefits
- doesn’t answer your calls or questions …
- doesn’t review forms with you before filing them on your behalf …
- doesn’t give you a copy of what they supposedly filed …
Remember: Even if you have a signed agreement with an attorney, you have the right to end your agreement and find a different attorney at any time. You also always have the right to go to another attorney for a “second opinion” about your immigration case.