Immigration Checklists
Practical steps, in order, for the situations people most often face. These are about process rather than policy — which is deliberate, because process is the part that does not change every year. They apply the same way in all three states we are licensed in.
How to Make a Family Preparedness Plan
This is not a plan for something going wrong. It is the same kind of arrangement any family makes for an emergency, and the value of it is that it removes decisions from the worst possible moment. Most of it takes an afternoon.
7 steps →What to Do if a Loved One Is Detained
The first days are disproportionately important, and they are also when families are least able to think clearly. Work through this in order. Detained cases move faster than most people expect, which is the reason for the urgency.
6 steps →What to Bring to an Immigration Consultation
Bring what you have. The most common reason people delay a consultation is that they are waiting to assemble a complete file, and that delay costs more than the missing paperwork does. This is a list to work from, not a set of requirements.
6 steps →How to Keep Your Own Immigration File
Almost everyone who has been through this discovers the same thing: the government copy of your history is harder to obtain than you would expect, and the copy you kept yourself is the one that gets used. This takes an hour to set up and then almost no effort.
6 steps →How to Prepare for an Immigration Interview
An interview is mostly a verification exercise: an officer checking that what is in the file is true and that you can speak to it. Preparation is not rehearsal. It is making sure you know your own file and can answer plainly.
6 steps →General information, not legal advice. Immigration law and policy change frequently.