People who love to work for human rights and are ready to fight to ensure that everyone gets justice can surely flourish as an immigration lawyer. From criminal law, civil rights law, constitutional law, sports law, education law to compliance or business law, and entertainment law there is an array of options that you can pick up as your expertise. An immigration lawyer can also litigate in the federal court or serve as a transactional lawyer.
A study in immigration law offers you basic education for representing people who have immigration issues to be solved.
As An Immigration Lawyer, You Have Lots Of Options
With the world coming closer due to digital media, going abroad for education, travel and even relocating to different countries is the new normal. But this new normal has also given rise to many controversies as well as issues that have led to intense political debates. Contrarily, it has also led to many changes in the immigration laws of various nations who according to their experiences keep on introducing amendments. That is why the responsibilities of an immigration lawyer are much more as compared to those working in domestic or civil courts.
It is the duty of the immigration lawyer to ensure that families, individuals, or even businesses receive proper navigation wherever needed so that they can smoothly come out of the complex pathways of immigration. Since the immigration status of a person can make a direct impact on his legal status, business, family, and tax, attorneys practicing immigration law must have a thorough knowledge of all these areas.
You may have to represent your client in administrative courts or give him advice related to his immigration obligations and rights. More often you will also have to suggest the client a course of action so that his immigration issues are resolved quickly. You can also help citizens gain legal status in another country by completing or guiding them on how to complete the necessary formalities and submitting documents for visa application.
You can get employment in large law firms or even in small offices that especially practice immigration law. Even nonprofit organizations and government offices have vacancies for immigration lawyers. You may have to prepare correspondence for your client or make presentations, meet government officials, or even offers service to athletes or world-class performers regarding necessary visas. For those with good experience and scores at the academic level teaching immigration law at law schools can be a good option.
How To Become An Immigration Lawyer?
A bachelor’s degree is a must for starting as an immigration attorney. If your law school offers specialization in immigration then it will surely help your career. However, it is not always necessary. More often clients look out for lawyers who have achieved experience through clerkships, legal internships, pro bono activities, and of course through law school course work.
Certain capabilities like above average understanding and communication skills, and aptitude to understand and resolve even complex issues, especially during adversarial settings go a long way in helping you succeed in this field. Strong interpersonal skills, a high level of reading, and writing capabilities also are useful in understanding traumatic situations and approaching them in a professional way. Apart from addressing visa-related issues an immigration lawyer also has to handle some exceptionally traumatic situations like human trafficking, torture, and persecution.
In the case, you are yet to enter law school but want to become a lawyer then as an undergraduate, you should include subjects like history, philosophy, social sciences, economics, business, political science, and language studies for your majors. But no specific major is required as even engineering or nursing at a high school level can be considered as pre-law majors.