7 Tips to Find and Choose the Right Immigration Lawyer
Rachel Aaron Are you thinking about immigration? Are you aware of the entire process? If you know any lawyer, do you have confidence that your application will be approved? Well, people have to deal with quite a few things, wait for years to get approval, and sometimes, they get the visa when they’ve changed their minds.
Following information is based on real events and it should not be taken as legal advice. This is kind of a help to those who have been going through immigration and visa process, or they’re about to go for it.
Tip 1: Don’t bargain hunt
Choosing blindly might result in you working with mediocre or terrible immigration attorneys. Some might be handling too many cases at the same time, thus making them unable to dedicate enough time for each client. Some don’t have enough experience in certain areas of immigration law. Some are just trying to charge the heck of their clients.
Tip 2: Get a referral from another founder
First of all, use your own network and try to find other founders who dealt with attorneys and obtained a long-term visa. The old fashion advice remains true: Word-of-mouth advertisement is powerful.
Tip 3: Ask for references
Once you get a referral (or two) to a good attorney, have initial consultation. During the consultation, a good attorney will suggest visa options you should consider.At the end, ask for references. A lawyer’s business is built on trust. A good immigration law firm, such as LiveinCanada, should have no problem introducing you to a couple of his or her former happy clients.
Tip 4: Negotiate fixed fees ahead of time
Immigration lawyers Toronto, just like any other attorneys, charge for their time. However, some attorneys have fixed set of fees for standard procedures, such as preparing and filing your case, and responding to requests for evidence.
Tip 5: Run the process in the cloud
Usually lawyers are very conservative when it comes to adopting new technologies. For security reasons, they stay away from cloud file storages.However, dealing with mail and paper-based documents is the last thing you want to do. This length process will require you to submit a bunch of documents and sign many forms.
Make it clear with your lawyer that you want to sign documents electronically, use cloud storage and a project management system to handle your case.
Tip 6: Hire a lawyer that reads and speaks your language
For many founders, language can be the barrier. Find a Toronto immigration lawyer that reads and speaks your language fluently – after all, an immigration process involves a lot of legalese and research.
Tip 7: Build a relationship with your lawyer
Your visa is the first step to building a business in US. It is also the first, but, more likely, not the last time you’re dealing with USCIS office.
If all goes well, more than likely you’ll have to move other co-founders or team members to the states. Furthermore, you may want to get a green card. This is why it is important that you build a good relationship with your attorney. You need to be comfortable with her work style and you absolutely need to build trust.