What does an immigration attorney do?
Dealing with immigration requirements can be a daunting task. An immigration attorney helps those who are struggling with these requirements. Functioning in this role means that they serve in an advisory capacity to foreign citizens and immigrants who are required to work with the country's immigration authorities. They are the go-to guy for immigrants in matters such as Visa applications, naturalization, employment, and deportation.
Immigration attorney responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real immigration attorney resumes:
- Achieve a high success rate for full caseload, including after submission of complex RFE responses.
- Manage highly demanding and detail-orient immigration litigation process as both a leader and member of legal team
- Track LCA and maintain DOL public access files.
- Prepare immigrant employment-base petitions under preference categories EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3.
- Draft motions, waivers, applications, requests for evidence, and appeals to USCIS, EOIR and BIA.
- Represent clients in employment and family-base petitions, including: H-1B, asylum, adjustment of status, and citizenship applications.
- Advise clients and prepare applications for citizenship, permanent residence and employment authorization documents.
- Represent and advise clients in immigration matters, including family-basedimmigration petitions, waivers, naturalizations, removal defense, and appeals.
- Draft all NIV matters for the sector.
- Register schools to use the SEVIS batch interfaces.
- Work directly with clients to prepare their DACA applications.
- Prepare package for H-1B visa stamping in non-immigrant employee s home country.
- Post LCA's for employment base petitions, also keeping track of LCA's.
- Create successful support letter and RFE response templates used by team members for major client.
- Work on company s propriety software for mapping LCA, employee visa tracking software and few others.
Immigration attorney skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Immigration Attorneys are proficient in Immigration Law, Business Immigration, and USCIS. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Interpersonal skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Immigration Attorneys that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Immigration Law, 14%
Represent and advise domestic and multinational employers in all areas of U.S. immigration law including employment-based, family-based and naturalization proceedings.
- Business Immigration, 8%
Manage complex business immigration matters for small, mid- size, and large clients.
- USCIS, 8%
Represent clients before local District USCIS offices in connection with adjustment of status and naturalization applications.
- Waiver, 7%
Filed I-601 Waivers, U-Visas, Adjustment of Status, and Naturalization Applications.
- Legal Research, 6%
Prepared legal research for substantive and procedural matters via LexisNexis, West Law and office library.
- Litigation, 5%
Managed highly demanding and detail-oriented immigration litigation process as both a leader and member of legal team
Most immigration attorneys use their skills in "immigration law," "business immigration," and "uscis" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential immigration attorney responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an immigration attorney to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "lawyers interpret the law as it applies to their client’s case." Immigration attorneys often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "conducted legal research and analysis of laws. "
Interpersonal skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling immigration attorney duties is interpersonal skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "lawyers must build relationships with current and prospective clients, as well as with their colleagues and other members of the legal community." According to an immigration attorney resume, here's how immigration attorneys can utilize interpersonal skills in their job responsibilities: "demonstrated effective interpersonal skills through working closely with office of general counsel and administrative appeals judges. "
Problem-solving skills. immigration attorneys are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to immigration attorney responsibilities, because "lawyers must evaluate information to propose viable solutions, mediate disputes, and reach agreements or settlements for their clients." An immigration attorney resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "provide strategic solutions for complex cases for foreign nationals of approximately 7000 employees. "
Research skills. A big part of what immigration attorneys do relies on "research skills." You can see how essential it is to immigration attorney responsibilities because "lawyers need to find laws and regulations that apply to a specific matter in order to provide appropriate legal advice for their clients." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical immigration attorney tasks: "conduct legal research and prepare legal motions, appeals and memoranda to eoir, bia and uscis. "
The three companies that hire the most immigration attorneys are:
- Catholic Charities3 immigration attorneys jobs
- Robert Half2 immigration attorneys jobs
- Catholic Charities of Baltimore2 immigration attorneys jobs
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Immigration attorney vs. Lawyer
A lawyer is a legal practitioner who specializes in understanding and interpreting laws and other legal matters. Their responsibilities revolve around providing legal counseling and advice, representing clients in different kinds of court proceedings, conducting research, collecting evidence, and coordinating with various experts. A lawyer must also manage and oversee the performance of assistants, paralegals, and other team members. Furthermore, there are instances when a lawyer must draft or manage documents such as contracts, trusts, deeds, and wills, assisting clients as needed.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, immigration attorney responsibilities require skills like "immigration law," "business immigration," "uscis," and "waiver." Meanwhile a typical lawyer has skills in areas such as "law firm," "legal issues," "real estate," and "civil law." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that lawyers earn slightly differ from immigration attorneys. In particular, lawyers are 3.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an immigration attorney. Additionally, they're 20.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Immigration attorney vs. Council member
The bankruptcy specialist is responsible for filing and documentation loan bankruptcy materials with the appropriate attorneys. They ensure full compliance with loan bankruptcy regulations and monitor accounts throughout the loan bankruptcy process to contact the appropriate party when necessary. A bankruptcy specialist might be an administrator or lawyer in a bankruptcy office and supports bankruptcy law. They are likely to evaluate state declaration and affidavits for legal progression, interact with customers and outside counsel about bankruptcy proceedings through written and verbal communication, and work with local counsel and upper management in effectively reviewing client's files.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real immigration attorney resumes. While immigration attorney responsibilities can utilize skills like "immigration law," "business immigration," "uscis," and "waiver," council members use skills like "public policy," "finance committee," "community outreach," and "alumni."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Council members tend to reach similar levels of education than immigration attorneys. In fact, they're 2.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 20.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Immigration attorney vs. Bankruptcy specialist
A general counsel, also called a chief legal officer, is the chief lawyer in the legal department of an organization. The counsel represents an enterprise for any pending legal matters. They work proactively to lessen possible problems associated with legalities and potential risks. They have to monitor practices and the people within the law firm for misconduct. They also perform dominant roles in regulation, ethics, public affairs, and legislation. It is common for them to serve as the public spokesperson of the company during the publicity of legal matters.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an immigration attorney is likely to be skilled in "immigration law," "business immigration," "uscis," and "waiver," while a typical bankruptcy specialist is skilled in "relief," "pacer," "foreclosure," and "msp."
Bankruptcy specialists earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $47,222. Comparatively, immigration attorneys have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $78,647.bankruptcy specialists typically earn lower educational levels compared to immigration attorneys. Specifically, they're 6.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 45.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Immigration attorney vs. General counsel
Types of immigration attorney
Updated January 8, 2025
