What Does an Immigration Lawyer Do?

If you have a passion for assisting people, enjoy mastering intricate aspects of the law, are motivated to work closely with your clients, fight for their rights, and have the capacity to speak or learn a second language in addition to English, as well as having an interest in different cultures, you should consider a career as an immigration lawyer.

What Is an Immigration Lawyer?

A United States immigration lawyer uses his or her legal knowledge to help people from other countries come to, or remain in, the U.S. If you become an immigration lawyer, your clients may include people who want to live in the U.S. permanently and others who are seeking visas for temporary stays for work or for school.

As an immigration lawyer, you’ll guide people through a complicated process filled with pitfalls with slim margins for error. In addition to helping families and individuals immigrate to the U.S., you may also defend them against deportation.

Who Employs Immigration Lawyers?

Immigration lawyers have many choices for where and how they will practice. Choosing the right option that best meets your interests and goals is essential. Options include working for:

• Governmental agencies
• Private law firms
• Non-profit organizations
• Corporations

After getting experience, some immigration lawyers choose to open their own practices. Teaching, of course, is another possibility.

What Does an Immigration Lawyer Do?

Immigration law is a vast field. The one thing that all immigration lawyers have in common is that they are working with, within, or against the federal government's immigration system.

Common cases handled by immigration lawyers include assisting clients with citizenship, naturalization, green card, and visa applications, as well as providing defense against deportation. As an immigration lawyer, you will provide advice and guidance to clients and may even represent them in administrative hearings.
In addition to individual clients, immigration lawyers may also accept businesses as clients and help them to hire personnel from other countries. Alternatively, they may take on a more prosecutorial role and work for ICE or other legal programs within the Department of Homeland Security.

Due to the administrative nature of citizenship proceedings, immigration lawyers typically appear before an administrative judge instead of a civil court. However, immigration law can often incorporate other areas of law. If you have a goal to advocate for clients in court, you can pursue the opportunity as an immigration attorney to represent clients in family law proceedings or defend them in criminal proceedings.

What Do Immigration Lawyers Do on a Daily Basis?

Your day-to-day life as an immigration attorney may vary depending on the organization you are working for and the practice areas you focus on. Common activities that many immigration lawyers may partake in include:

Meeting with clients. Immigration lawyers often have a lot of client contact and get to know their clients well, which can be very satisfying. You may interview new clients, provide advice and counsel to current clients in person or on the phone, and make appearances with your clients before administrative judges.

Using verbal communication skills. Immigration lawyers need excellent verbal communication skills to communicate with clients, other lawyers, legal assistants, paralegals, and people working in government agencies and to effectively advocate for clients in formal proceedings.

Negotiating with government agencies. Negotiation skills are crucial for speaking on your clients’ behalf and helping them get past obstacles as they go through the process of applying to gain entry into the country.

Knowing, interpreting, and applying the law. Immigration policy changes frequently, especially when there is a new administration in the White House. When there are new policies, changes in laws and regulations follow. As an immigration attorney, you’ll need to stay on top of all the changes, be aware of those changes that will help your clients, and come up with strategies to deal with those that don’t.

Researching and analyzing. In addition to researching and analyzing the law, immigration lawyers must also gather information, data, and evidence, and analyze and present it in a way that will make a compelling case for their clients.

Solving problems. Clients seek the help of immigration lawyers when they have problems they are unable to solve on their own. As an immigration lawyer, you’ll need to draw on your knowledge, experience, and creative problem-solving skills every day to give your clients the help they need.

Helping clients avoid deportation. If you defend clients against deportation, you will be involved in a high-stakes and fast-paced fight to help your client remain in the U.S. This will call on many different skills, including representing your clients in immigration court.

Guiding clients through the process of applying for visas and green cards. Applicants for visas and green cards must file applications where even small errors can delay or destroy their chances. As an immigration lawyer, you will ensure that everything is completed correctly and filed on time, giving your clients a better chance at success than they would have been able to achieve on their own. Immigration attorneys also work with clients whose applications have been denied, filing appeals or reapplications when possible.

Helping DACA applicants. Immigration attorneys may help “Dreamers,” who were brought to the U.S. by their undocumented parents when they were children, remain in the U.S. by guiding them through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) process.

Working with unaccompanied minors. Some immigration lawyers work with children or youths under the age of 18 who have come to the U.S. unaccompanied by a parent or legal guardian. These children face an uphill battle to gain asylum or special immigrant juvenile status. Being represented by a lawyer significantly improves their chances.

To gain additional insights into the day-to-day responsibilities of immigration lawyers, take a look at the current openings on our career page. Each job listing contains a detailed description, including the type of cases the lawyer will be responsible for, as well as their overall duties and responsibilities. This can provide you with a glimpse of the similarities and differences among immigration lawyers who focus on different practice areas.