3 Immigration Mistakes to Avoid

Many people try to handle the immigration process themselves before going to an immigration attorney. This can result in making serious mistakes that take extra time, money, and legal help to fix.

In some cases, it won’t even be possible to fix the mistakes. They may bring your case to a close, resulting in deportation. At best, they may delay your case from reaching the successful conclusion you are hoping to see.

Here are three things to avoid as you start your immigration process.

#1) Failing to read the instructions.

All the instructions for all the forms are on USCIS.gov. While they are terribly confusing some people just try to fill out the form without looking at them at all. This can result in mistakes that would have been easy to avoid had you just taken a look at the information that was already there.

For example, the forms always list all of the evidence you need to include with your application. If you miss something on that list, you’ll inevitably delay your case with a request for evidence (RFE).

Just take it slow and move through the application question by question, consulting the directions for each question.

#2) Lying or misrepresenting the facts.

Some people think they can fool USCIS. You should be aware that it’s almost impossible to do so. Immigration officials are very good at spotting lies.

You also need to make sure you really understand the question being asked. For example, there are a whole series of questions about criminal activity. Some of them ask if you’ve ever been charged with a crime. Some people put no when the answer is yes, thinking that they’re in the clear because their criminal defense attorney got the charges dismissed. Those charges may be dismissed and you may never have seen jail time, but you were still charged. You still need to disclose.

So you don’t just need to guard against intentional misrepresentation. You need to guard against unintentional misrepresentation, wherein you fail to really read and understand the question that’s been asked and then create a discrepancy that can make it look like you’re attempting to defraud the US government.

#3) Deciding you can do the whole thing without an attorney.

There was a time when immigration was far more simple than it is today. During that time it might have been possible to DIY the entire process. These days it’s even hard for full-time immigration attorneys to keep up. Some of the same issues that got spawned under President Trump continue to cause problems during these early days of the Biden presidency.

You can save some money by initially filling out the information yourself and then bringing it to an attorney for review. Bring questions about specific issues you ran into or parts of the application you weren’t sure about. This can give you a happy medium between trying to do everything yourself and worrying about the expense of an immigration lawyer.

Remember, too, that it costs far less to do it right the first time than it does to correct mistakes.

Attempting to immigrate to the United States? Get help today.

In certain cases mistakes can turn your green card application into a scramble to successfully navigate deportation defense litigation. Deportation defense can cost $5000 to $10,000 and you’ll be required to repay your filing fees, too.

If you’re not sure about something in the immigration process it’s always best to get help right away.

Reach out to Hykel Law to get started today.

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