How to Hire the Right Immigration Lawyer

When you are focused on beautiful touches around your office place or your home, the last thing you want to worry about is immigration paperwork. That is why hiring a good immigration lawyer can take a load off your mind. With immigration assistance you can find legal help with a wide array of issues. A London immigration lawyer for example can help you with a spouse visa application.

Which issues need a lawyer?

That said there are many situations which require an immigration lawyer. And in each of these it’s important that you know how to hire the right immigration lawyer. Not all immigration lawyers are the same.

For example, immigration is a very large area which means that some lawyers might specialize in marriage visas or spouse visas and even within that category they might specialize in spouse visa specifically for current US citizens who are trying to bring their spouse over from another country or for U.S. citizens who are trying to marry someone in the United Kingdom.

Similarly, if you are dealing with a work visa issue, or you are trying to get help with the deportation proceedings, these are all things that you need help with by way of a specialized attorney with experience in these matters specifically.

Now, not all issues require an attorney, but most immigration issues do. The few situations where you can probably handle things yourself involve countries with whom your country has very flexible visa requirements for tourism and travel. If, for example, you are trying to travel from the United States to Europe or from the UK to the United States, you can probably look up very simple visa requirements and make sure that you have all of the correct documentation when you land at Customs.

However, for pretty much anything else you should strongly consider hiring the right immigration lawyer so that you don’t make a crucial mistake that can otherwise compromise the success of your Visa or application.

Get Recommendations

 But how do you go about finding the rights lawyer? It all starts with getting recommendations. You don’t necessarily want to start with a Google search because that really won’t help you narrow down the results to find someone who is qualified in your area, with issues like yours.

So, if you know anyone who has married a foreign citizen, or who has moved to a foreign country, reach out to them first and get recommendations. Other people who have dealt with immigration matters will be able to provide you with recommendations for the firms that they use and whether they like them or not. This is also a great opportunity for you to make sure that that company probably aligns with what it is you need them to do.

Check Qualifications

 Once you have a list of potential recommendations, check out their qualifications. Make sure that they operate legally and whatever area you are located, and check to see what types of professional organizations they are a part of. Being a part of professional organizations is not a requirement but it does give them access to useful resources that might pertain to your case and as such it’s a good indicator that they are a reputable firm.

You don’t necessarily need to work with a large international company, but most of the time they do have access to better resources than a small solo lawyer running their own firm.

Availability and Languages

Availability and languages are very important factors when you are evaluating different attorneys. Finding the best attorney means finding someone who speaks your native tongue. Legal matters can be very complicated and they can be made much worse if you don’t quite understand what is being said or you can’t properly express yourself.

When it comes to overseas issues working with larger firms might mean access to translators who can, for example, translate a driver’s license or birth certificate into another language. This saves you the hassle of trying to track down a qualified and legally registered translator.

In addition to this you also want someone who is available when you need them. The Maine attorney on your case might not be available 24 hours per day, but larger firms will typically have someone on call who can feel your issues, maybe connect you with a paralegal or a secretary who can give you more updates or answers. You might even consider working with law firms that have access to large client portals where you can view document requests made of you, documents you have submitted, the timeline of what has happened, and other such information.