Hello, my name is Zlata Berman and I’m a partner in Spektor, Spektor & Berman. Today, I would like to discuss with you the age old question, do you need immigration attorney? And why?

How I came to this, as I recently had a conversation with other immigration lawyers, and they were kind of complaining about how upset they get when a client in a consultation asks for the names of the forms that they need to fill out and says, I don’t need a lawyer, just tell me the names of the forms. 

And these immigration lawyers are kind of making jokes and saying that they become offended when they’re asked this. And I thought about it. And I realized, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s a perfectly normal thing to ask for. I tell clients in the consultation which forms they need. 

Why do you need an attorney for immigration?

As lawyers, we assess your case, we tell you, not just the names of the forms. But whether or not these one will work for you ,whether or not this case will be denied ,whether or not they’re disability issues. 

I cannot tell you how many times we see clients that come to us from notarios or paralegals or wealth intention relatives who tried to help them file documents, and their cases denied because they didn’t know that the client had the protection order. Nobody knew; the client didn’t know and no one thought to check. You lose money that way and you lose time. And it’s just very, very unprofessional.

This is why you need a lawyer. As a lawyer. We tell you what documents you need to bring and what documents you need to send. What are the questions that you ask in your interview, we go with you to the interview, make sure everything’s handled smoothly and represent you on the off chance. 

Again, that is not to tell horror story. But some of the worst ones are clients who come to us thinking that they’re going to do everything themselves, because they have nothing to hide. We fill out the forms because they might enter a few questions wrong. 

And what is supposed to have been a quick straight through Adjustment of Status turns into a nightmare in front of an immigration judge with 1000s of dollars in views worth of litigation because they answered some questions wrong. 

We see this all the time, which is why I strongly suggest that you get the best immigration attorney to represent you in your case.