Preparing Yourself for the Immigration Process

Getting Into the Right Frame of Mind: When it comes to the actual immigration process you first have to come to terms with the fact that you will not be dealing with an English system. Every country has its own way of doing things. Some countries appear very chaotic so we immediately adjust our minds for chaos while other countries may appear very organized and therefore we expect that if we press all the right buttons or complete all the right paperwork everything will work just like clock work. Most people when they think about immigrating to America think ‘ah yes America is a highly developed country with rules and regulations and therefore all I need to do press the right buttons and complete all the right forms and everything will go smoothly’.Better still, hire an attorney and let them deal with it, either way it’s pretty much a done deal. I wouldn’t say ‘nothing is further from the truth’, but I would say, ‘with that mentality you would be half right’.

The best frame of mind to have when approaching US immigration, is that even though you might be eligible to apply for certain visas, this does not mean you will be successful. Of course from all the publicity you read from various immigration agencies, attorneys and the Embassy will paint a very simplistic picture, which is all well and good as that’s slick marketing and public relations. In reality, immigration is a very complicated business and I’ll explain why by looking at the role of the visa applicant, their attorney and the immigration officer.

The Visa Applicant: No visa applicants are the same, but all the laws and rules for immigration are, at least superficially, (and I’ll explain what I mean by ‘superficially’ later), universal or the same. This means that if ten eligible applicants apply for the same visa not all ten will necessarily be successful. Each of the ten applicants will have strong and weak points in their particular profile that will result in a decision being made either way.

The Role of Your Attorney:

Attorneys can’t guarantee you a visa. An attorney will perform several key functions:

  1. The attorney will inform you of as many immigration options as possible. The more skills, qualifications, US family connections and resources, the more options will be available to you.
  2. The attorney will discuss with you these options and help you narrow down which option will be best for you to pursue.
  3. The attorney may, as some kind of pre-qualification measure, spend time reviewing all your preliminary paperwork before making a recommendation as to whether or not to pursue a particular course of action. Typically, this will arise in more complicated matters such as business related visas.
  4. The attorney will prepare all the legal application forms and work with you in making sure you that you have as much supporting documents as possible to go with your application forms.
  5. Based on their particular experience, the attorney will do their best to make sure that when your case is presented for adjudication it looks as professional as possible.
  6. The attorney will work with the government immigration office deciding your case to ensure that any further information requested is professionally dealt with.

Even if the attorney does all of the above very well, the actual decision as to whether or not you will be granted a visa will rest with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), and them alone.

You may read marketing blurb where law firms and various independent immigration agencies talk about guaranteeing their clients a visa. This cannot be true. When you read the small print what they are actually saying is that if they are unsuccessful in your application then you may get some of your money back. In the small print these schemes are packed with exclusions, conditions and waivers and you may even find yourself paying substantially higher fees for the limited guarantee service.

In a nutshell visa applicants who hire attorneys do not buy themselves success, they buy themselves a professional who will fight their clients corner to the best of their trained legal ability with no guarantee of success.

The Immigration Officer / Adjudicator:First of all, the immigration officer is not on your side, as he or she works for the US government. You mean absolutely nothing to them, your just another potential terrorist, deviant or other threat to the US way of life. Remember, most of the men who high – jacked and flew planes into the twin towers and the Pentagon had immigration visas. In fact, some of them went to flight school in Florida. Some of the terrorists had overstayed their student visas and fell out of the system. As a result, USCIS (previously called the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)) bore a lot of the blame for the tragic events of September 11th 2001. Recently, a Brit by the name of Richard Reid was caught trying to ignite a bomb in his shoes while on a flight to America. As a result Brits are now viewed as potential terrorists too.

It is also true say that ten immigration officers looking at the same ten applications independently will, in all probability, not all make the same decisions on each case. One adjudicator may deny your case whereas another one may grant it. There is always an element of luck to these matters. Immigration officers will all hopefully have a thorough understanding of the rules and laws governing immigration. However, these rules are inevitably going to be interpreted slightly differently by each officer as they decide how to apply these rules to various bits and pieces of information in your visa application and supporting documentation. Sometimes visas will be denied that should not have been denied and some will granted when they should have been denied. When a visa application is denied there is usually a clear reason for denial. However, both the client and the attorney may appeal the decision. First, you have to consider whether the reason given was fair or accurate. If it is felt that the reason given was unreasonable then the applicant or the attorney on the applicant’s behalf may appeal the decision. The appeal is well drafted and well founded then the initial decision can be overturned and the visa granted. Therefore, firstly be prepared for a possible denial of your visa application, as nothing is guaranteed. Secondly, be prepared to appeal the decision if you feel the decision was wrong according to the reasons given.

Sometimes you can re-submit a fresh application if there was some fundamental weakness in the case that was not known to either the applicant or the client. This can result in a favorable decision second time around.

The important lesson to be drawn from this is to appreciate that applying for an immigration visa whether it be for a short term or long term visa, there will be many elements at play and it’s certainly not a straightforward process. Immigration is a very serious business. USCIS is increasingly becoming aware of the potential catastrophic consequences that can occur when they get it wrong.

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American Dream

  1. American Dream
  2. Preface
  3. Making A Fresh Start
  4. Green Cards vs. Other Types of Immigration Visas
  5. Maintaining Home Ties
  6. Finding Employment
  7. Finance
  8. Buying A Home or Renting
  9. Medical and Dental Insurance vs. A National Health Service
  10. Buying A Car and Insurance
  11. Taxes
  12. Preparing Yourself for the Immigration Process
  13. Immigration Case Studies
  14. Student Visas
  15. Starting Your Own Business
  16. Fiance(e) Visas
  17. Retirement in the USA
  18. A Visit To The American Embassy In London
  19. Entering the US With Your Visa
  20. Final Thoughts