Although immigration may seem simple on its face, it is more complicated than meets the eye! The wrong information filled in or the wrong boxed checked could COST you your life and future in the United States.
Whether you are filing for a marriage-based green card, employment-based green card, asylum, temporary protected status, a student visa or even a tourist visa, not correctly and accurately filling out your information could be the reason your case gets DENIED, or worse, it could be the reason why you face DEPORTATION.
Whether you are in the United States or outside, there are various agencies, notaries or notaries, or even attorneys who advertise their services that they can assist in preparing your immigration forms. The problem is that immigration law goes beyond the four-corners of the form itself, immigration is very fact intensive, and involves a thorough analysis of your personal, criminal, and immigration history, as well as various other factors that clients may oversee when filling out immigration forms.
From a financial perspective, an agency, notary or some high-volume attorneys (especially ones who do not handle immigration cases on a regular basis) might cost less, from offering “free consultations” to charging a few hundred dollars to help in preparing your case. However, this can be very dangerous and your life and future in the United States can be jeopardized because of innocent or careless mistakes. It is very important that you do your due diligence and research when choosing the right person to help with your immigration case.
Given the current immigration climate and the constant changes in immigration laws, there is no room for mistakes; hence why you should apply for highly-qualified legal assistance. You can avoid many issues and pitfalls associated with obtaining a positive outcome on your immigration case if you turn to an experienced Houston immigration attorney.
The Rahgozar Law Firm is here to represent you every step of the way in helping you obtain a successful outcome to stay in the United States. Ms. Pegah Rahgozar is a Houston immigration lawyer (832) 792-3636 who can assist you with your immigration case, and provide a thorough analysis and options based on each individual case. Ms. Pegah Rahgozar and her team will find the best solution that works for you and your family.
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Hiring a Notary Could Cost You More Than Just Your Money, It Could Cost You Your Life and Future in the United States
It seems easy and cheap to just hiring a notary or an agency who helps prepare documents and immigration forms that can quickly prepare your documents and send it off, but remember, immigration isn’t easy and has actually gotten more complicated over the years. It is crucial to remember that these agencies and notaries are NOT attorneys, and therefore they cannot represent you or give you legal advice because it is against the law. In fact, the government has been trying to crack down on individuals who hold themselves out as attorneys or who practice law and give legal advice when they are not licensed attorneys. When hiring these agencies or notaries, keep in mind what you DO NOT get as part of their services:
- Notaries And Form Filler Agencies DO NOT Get Copies Of Notices From USCIS And Don’t Receive Calls Or Faxes For You, So If Something Is Sent To You And You Don’t Receive It, Your Case Can Be DENIED.
Because these agencies and notaries are NOT licensed attorneys, they CAN’T claim to be your legal representative and CAN’T designate themselves as your representatives on the forms they fill out. In fact, they usually just fill in the form, hand it to you to mail off or will mail it off to you, and they do not accept any sort of liability for filling out the form. That liability and the repercussions of incorrect forms and information falls on you. Since these agencies and notaries are NOT legal representatives, they CAN NOT and DO NOT receive notices or correspondence sent to you about your case. If you have an attorney representing you, the attorney gets copies of notices issued in your case with each agency that have filed your case, including USCIS, Border Patrol, ICE, Immigration Court, the National Visa Center (NVC), and any other agency related to your case.
So if you move, and you don’t change your address online with USCIS, and your mail isn’t forwarded to you, your attorney should also get a copy of any notices issued in your case and can reach out to you. If you used a notary or form filler, they won’t get your notice and you may miss something important, and many times that one important notice you should have received needs a time-sensitive response, and lack of timely responding could not only cause delays in your case but could be the reason your case is denied.
This might not seem like a big deal since USCIS has a page where you can check the online status of your case. However, the online case status isn’t always updated, sometimes the receipt number can’t be found online, and even when it is updated, if it tells you a Request for Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) has been issued in your case, you still need the paper notice which gives you the reasons why you are receiving the notice, gives you the date the response is due, and where to send in your response to, whereas the online status does not provide such detailed information about your case.
If your file is at your local USCIS Office and you’ve been interviewed, and a USCIS officer wants to reach out about your case, it’s much easier for them to call an attorney during their business hours and talk to them about what they need or questions they have. Attorneys also have access to special designated email addresses for USCIS offices where they can ask about updates or provide more information about their client’s case, whereas a normal person, or notary does not have access to these email addresses or special contact info that is only made available to attorneys. The only information made public is the general 1-800 customer service hotline which does not provide much help or updates besides what is already published online on the USCIS website, and this can be frustrating for client’s who have no idea what is going on in their case and have no other means to receive prompt and accurate information about their case.
If you used a form filler agency or notary, they won’t be able to take calls on your behalf, and if you speak directly to an officer without representation, you run the risk of misunderstanding what they’re asking for or not being able to determine whether they are requesting something that is legally required.
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- Notaries And Form Filler Agencies Rarely Put Their Names As The “Preparer” Of The Application And Therefore DO NOT Accept Responsibility For Helping You Fill Out Your Forms.
If after you have filed your case and you discover a typo or misstatement on your application, USCIS can actually take this to mean that you purposely put incorrect information to mislead or misrepresent yourself and your case, which could be to your determinant and could complicate you case that could have been simple to begin with. For example, a person putting an address where they receive mail versus the address where they actually stay with their spouse can cast doubt on whether they actually live with their spouse. Doubt about whether the couple really lives together often leads to difficult interviews at the local immigration office, and might cause USCIS to issue a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) your marriage-based green card.
- Notaries And Form Filler Agencies CAN NOT Represent You Before The Immigration Agencies Such As USCIS, Border Patrol, ICE, Or Immigration Court.
Often times people feel that their case is so simple that they do not need legal representation on their case, especially when they are married to a US citizen and feel that their case will be smooth and easy.
You might think, well, I don’t see a reason why I need an attorney when these forms look basic to me? The problem can start with simple errors, sending in the wrong forms or filing fee, sending the forms to the wrong address, inputting in the wrong personal information because you feel that it is not important to the government or the government has no business knowing what you did in your past life in your home country, etc. . . . But if anything happens in your case that presents a problem, or if the processing of your case is delayed, the notary or form filler agency can’t contact USCIS on your behalf, and likely won’t know how to respond and address the issues that develop on your case. And when it’s time for you and your spouse to go to your interview, the notary or form filler agency can’t go in with you and can’t be there during the interview to address any issues that come up during the immigration officer’s line of questioning.
If the officer conducting your interview is mistaken about a provision of law, or thinks that a mistake in your forms means that one of you is lying, no one is there to advocate for you and your spouse, and no one but you two and the officer know what happened. If any inappropriate questions were asked, you don’t have an advocate in the room to point this out and request a supervisor’s review of the situation.
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Only attorneys specialized in immigration law can truly represent your interests in making sure that the officer does not step out of line by asking questions that are not relevant to your case, or help clarify information or responses by you that could be misinterpreted or misconstrued by the immigration officer, all which can negatively impact your case and result in a denial.
- Notaries And Form Filler Agencies DO NOT Know The Immigration And Nationality Act And The Regulations That Govern Marriage-Based Green Card Cases, Employment-Based Green Card Cases, and Various Other Immigration Applications and Petitions.
For example, if you have filed for a marriage-based green card case, and you receive a Request for Evidence on your application asking for proof that you have an affidavit of support showing sufficient income in your household, a notary won’t look at the Code of Federal Regulations to find the provisions that apply to your case.
A notary or form filler agency won’t be able to check the Immigration and Nationality Act to confirm whether hardship to your U.S. citizen children can be considered for your waiver, or whether your case even requires a waiver.
- If A Notary Or Form Filler Agency Files An Application For Your Case, But Your Case Is DENIED, You Lose The Money You Paid To The Notary/Form Filler Agency And The Filing Fees You Paid For Your Case. Then You Have To Start Over (If That Is Even An Option).
If a case is denied, the filing fees you pay don’t get returned to you. The notary or form filler agency you hired to help you is probably not going to return the money you paid for their help. The notary or form filler agency might not even be there anymore or answer your calls when you want to complain about your case. Our law office has seen too many cases of notary fraud where they take people’s money, file incorrect or wrong forms, and then disappear.
At that point, with a denial in hand, you now have to hire an immigration attorney and pay the fees all over again to re-file the case and fix all the mistakes and errors that the notary or form filler agency made. This is no easy task and you now have anxiety and stress having to deal with an uphill battle of one denial on your case, and the time and money you have already spent. Most immigration cases take many years to reach a conclusion, so not only have you lost the money you spent, but the valuable time you have devoted to waiting patiently in receiving the decision on your case.
Aside from the time, you now end up spending even more money to hire an attorney to fix all those mistakes
- Notaries And Form Fillers Don’t Follow USCIS Policy Changes And Don’t Read Proposed Changes To Regulations, Regularly Updated Memos To USCIS On How To Process Cases, Or Case Decisions From Courts On Immigration Cases Which Could Be Helpful To Winning Your Case.
Attorneys who specialize in immigration read regular updates about USCIS policy changes and trends in how the Immigration Service decides its cases. A Houston Immigration attorney can help you obtain a better solution for your immigration case in Houston.
Ms. Pegah Rahgozar is ready to lend a helping hand to any individual or family on their immigration journey. She assists individuals in the Greater Houston area such as the Energy Corridor, Greenway Plaza, The Woodlands, the Galleria Area, Clear Lake, Sugar Land, and other locations. She also takes cases and represents individuals from all over the United States and across the world.
Houston Immigration Attorney Pegah Rahgozar regularly keeps up with the latest in published court decisions and often participates in professional groups in which they share their experiences and learn from each other. Immigration attorneys have access to a variety of resources made available to them as attorneys that notaries and form filler agencies don’t have. Furthermore, notaries and form filler agencies don’t read case decisions and often don’t change their practices based on policy changes because many policy changes aren’t clearly announced in public.
Immigration law changes are often made through private memos between government agencies. So if you work with a notary or a form filler agency, you run the risk of preparing a case that would’ve worked last year, but is going to be heavily scrutinized or rejected this year. And right now, we’re in a time in which changes happen frequently, sometimes overnight, and often without warning.
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Our current administration has restricted many immigration benefits, increased scrutiny of immigration cases, and made a visible effort to stop people from parts of Latin America, Africa and other areas of the world from obtaining or renewing immigration benefits.
A Better Image for your Immigration Forms in Houston
Now is NOT time to try to save money, and it’s NOT a time to take risks in order to do something quickly and without being careful. Houston Immigration Attorney Pegah Rahgozar routinely keeps up to date with the latest changes in immigration laws and policies, and knows the proper procedures in filing each type of immigration case with the appropriate agency.
Your attorney can receive notices in your case so that you don’t miss a notice to provide documents or appear at an interview. Ms. Pegah Rahgozar is the advocate you need on your side and she can help determine what your best options are to stay in the United States.
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Hire a Houston Immigration Attorney to Handle Your Case From Start to Finish
With profound knowledge of immigration law and years of experience in the field, Pegah Rahgozar is able to provide top-notch aid on your immigration case. Don’t hesitate to call Pegah Rahgozar Houston Immigration Attorney at (832) 792-3636 and talk to the best immigration attorney in town. Don’t just take our word for it, but read about her recent awards and accomplishments, as well as what other clients have to say who have worked with her and have obtained successful results by hiring a competent Houston immigration attorney.
Houston Immigration Attorney Pegah Rahgozar has handled hundreds of immigration matters, including marriage-based green card cases, employment-based green card cases, applications for citizenship and naturalization, temporary work visas and employment visas, work permits and work authorizations, immigration court cases and deportation defense, violence against women act (VAWA) cases, and visas for victims of crimes and trafficking. If you need help with your immigration case, we are here to help you every step of the way. Please call our office to schedule a consultation so we can discuss your options (832) 792-3636.