Should you use immigration lawyers for your EB-1A petition?

This website is mainly focused on those petitioners interested on a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) green card preparation for their EB-1A application. However, it is important to put all options on the table, including the possibility of hiring an immigration attorney. If you are interested on this option, you should also be prepared to make the best choice because it is a very expensive investment. 

Hiring of immigration lawyers is not mandatory for this green card category in which you can self petition, but it is still an option many consider. In this blog post I will go over the services that an immigration attorney may include and those that are typically not offered. We’ll also discuss the cost of lawyer fees, and how to identify good attorney offices. Finally, we will cover alternatives to using legal services for your green card petition if you do not want to hire a lawyer or you simply can´t afford one.

EB-1A: a green card category in which you can self petition

Since this Extraordinary Ability EB-1 green card does not require a job offer, you do not need to have a company sponsoring your petition. This means you can also choose not to use the services of a legal counsel, and you can directly represent yourself before USCIS. 

Essentially, this also means you will cut down the timeline because you do not need to wait to obtain a labor certification before filing the I-140 petition. In EB-1A, you can start the pocess by directly filing the I-140 with a petition package that addresses the requirements for this green card category. In this other blog post I discussed in detail what those requirements are, and here I explained how your petition cover letter helps you establishing you fulfill those requirements.

Working with immigration lawyers: services included

When considering using attorneys to file our EB-1 petition, it is important to understand what services are usually included and which ones are often left out of the service agreement. Keep in mind that this will depend on which office you choose to work with, and make sure you understand what services they include before you sign and pay them their fees.

Services that are often included

• Feedback on petitioner’s profile.  This is often offered as a free service by many legal offices to attract the attention of green card petitioners. In this consultantion call, the immigration attorneys review your CV and ask you questions to understand if you can qualify for the EB-1 green card.
• Preparation of cover letter. The cover letter is one of the documents that are part of the I-140 petition. This is the letter that summarizes all the documentation submitted to USCIS to demonstrate you meet all the requirements to obtain the permanent residency. For example, for EB-1A, this includes establishing how you are a person of extraordinary ability. All lawyers should include drafting the cover letter as part of their services.
• Response to questions you may have. We all have questions during the green card process and a unique advantage of hiring attorneys is to have a legal team to whom you can direct all your doubts and concernts. Make sure they will respond your emails in a timely manner before hiring them!
• Help design the strategy for your case. As part of preparing your I-140 package and your cover letter, they will play an important role in deciding how to argue your case to ensure your qualifications and professional achievements shine and the USCIS officer is impressed with your credentials. The immigrations lawyers should be very well versed in putting together winning strategies for EB-1.
• Assembling the I-140 petition package. Although you will have to provide the lawyers with all the documentation required to substatiate your credentials, they are often responsible for structuring the petition package and physically assembling the final file to be submitted to USCIS. Typically, they will also mail the package and represent you before this government agency.

Services that are sometimes included by attorneys

• Preparation of recommendation letters. Some lawyers include drafting the letters and some may only help select the recommenders and will only provide templates for you to draft the letters. This is an area where I have observed a lot of variability across legal offices. If you want to know more about EB-1A recommendation letters you can read this other post.
• Support during Request for Evidence (RFE). Most lawyers will charge extra if you receive an RFE and want to respond to it. In my view this is abusive, since RFEs are often not the petitioner’s fault. It is important to udnerstand if they include or not RFE response as part of the fees they charge, and if not, how much extra it will cost you if you want to retain their services.

Services that are most likely not included

• Preparation of business plans. Typically, legal fees will not include preparation of business plans or professional plans. In some cases, the immigration lawyer will recommend third party offices if you want to hire someone to write your plan, or they may outsource this work to someone else for additional payments.

What you still need to do even if you have a lawyer

Many petitioners think they can sit back and relax if they hire a lawyer, partially because they think that after paying so much money (we will get to that in a moment) their effort should be minimized. Unfortunately, that is far from true. Having a lawyer may have advantages but it does not eliminate your work. There is a lot of writing you will still need to do!

• Provide the lawyer with all the information they need. The lawyer is not an expert in you or your field, so you need to give them all the information about your background, including:
  
  
  • Comprehensive CV. You should re-write your CV or resume to make it complete so it reflects all your achievements and credentials.
  • Professional achievements. You will need to describe all the relevant projects you worked on and the significance of the outcomes. Everything will need to be explained in laymans terms, avoiding technical jargon, so the legal team can understand it all and craft the best petition for you.
  • List of awards
  • Certifications
  • Memberships and the requirements needed to be part of those associations
  • Publications and citations you have, and the significance of each one of them. Sometimes they will want to know about who cited your work and with what purpose, to demonstrate the relevance of your work.
  • Names of your proposed recommenders and their background information, so they can at the very least help your decide who you should tap for recommendation letters.
    
    
• Depending on the lawyer you choose, you may need to draft the recommendation letters too! Some lawyers may provide templates to guide you, some of them will review and edit your drafts. In some cases they will go all the way and provide drafts for you. This variability in what different offices offer makes it really important for you to understand what is included before signing any agreement!