How Can I Start to Prepare for A Legalization Program?

The federal government makes immigration laws.  Federal immigration regulations specify who can represent foreign nationals before the United States Department of Homeland Security and before the immigration courts.  The laws and regulations of a state or local government cannot authorize a person or agency to provide immigration legal services. 

In general, if a person is not a licensed immigration attorney and he or she wishes to represent a foreign national before the immigration authorities, then he or she must work for a non-profit religious, charitable, social service organization.  The organization must be established in the United States and recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) as having adequate information, knowledge and experience in immigration law.  

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is the administrative appellate court for immigration law in the United States. It is located in Falls Church, Virginia. 

The staff of a BIA-recognized agency must have a certain level of experience in and knowledge of immigration law to be accredited by the BIA to provide immigration legal services. A BIA-Accredited Representative can represent foreign nationals before the United States Department of Homeland Security and the immigration courts.  

Generally, notarios and immigration consultants, such as travel agents, are for-profit enterprises.  They are in the business of providing immigration legal services primarily to make money. They are not authorized to provide legal services.  They are not required to have adequate information, knowledge, and experience in immigration law.  They are generally not “non-profit” organizations and therefore cannot obtain recognition and accreditation by the BIA. 

BEWARE OF NOTARIOS AND IMMIGRATION CONSULTANTS who offer help filing applications with the government.  Many of these consultants have taken advantage of undocumented immigrants by filing applications on behalf of undocumented foreign nationals without verifying whether the individual is actually eligible for the immigration benefit.  Congress has not yet passed any law that authorizes the legalization of undocumented people!!   If a person offers to file an application for legalization on behalf of an undocumented foreign national, they may be putting that foreign national in danger of deportation!! 

We strongly suggest foreign nationals seek legal assistance only from a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognized non-profit organization such as Catholic Charities or from a licensed attorney. 

DISCLAIMER: This handout is not legal advice.  It is for educational and informational purposes only.  If you know of someone who needs legal advice, advise him or her to consult either a licensed immigration attorney or an accredited representative from a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognized agency.  An undocumented foreign national should not seek legal advice from a notario or an “immigration consultant” who is not accredited by the BIA.

If a notario or immigration consultant advertises himself or herself as providing immigration legal services, then request proof of their authorization under federal law to practice immigration law and verify whether the consultant’s organization is recognized by the BIA.

To verify whether the BIA recognizes an organization and to verify whether the BIA accredited the staff of an organization to practice immigration law, view the rosters of BIA-recognized agencies and accredited staff.  The BIA updates these rosters periodically.

If an individual or an organization is not listed on the BIA roster of recognized agencies and accredited staff, then the foreign national should take caution in seeking their legal services.

August 3, 2005