The major advantages of employing a lawyer or
other immigration adviser are:
Relieving yourself of the paperwork and similar chores;
assistance in guiding your application through the bureaucracy of
the authorities involved;
through his expert advice being aware of the nuances of the law
that you might not recognise — or even be aware exist —
and then either exploit or overcome them;
structuring your application in such a way as to enhance its chances
of success.
Whether you need an adviser depends on the country to which you are going to apply, and the category into which your application falls.
If your case is fairly straightforward, such as one occurring through marriage, being sponsored by relatives, or using the needed skills route under an established program, where the procedures of the appropriate consular service are well-settled, you may not need an adviser. If you are applying via the business or investment route, or planning to spend a significant amount of money, you probably ought to engage an adviser.
There are two cases where in my view you should definitely be professionally advised:
Residency in Canada via investment/business.
This is because a business proposal that might be rejected in Vancouver
could well be accepted in some other part of Canada. The function of
the adviser is to identify, through his knowledge and connections, the
place in Canada where your business proposal is most likely to be accepted,
and to advise you upon the different kinds of business proposals likely
to be welcomed in the different places.
You may also need advice on whether the investment proposal is sensible.
For these reasons a law firm or similar professional firm with experience
in this kind of work and contacts in the different parts of Canada can
provide you with the essential knowledge you are unlikely to have about
your proposed country of adoption.
The same can probably be said about a business/investment proposal
for Australia, where the different states have different needs and preferences.
In any event, if you are not familiar with the country or with its
ways of doing business or the requirements of its bureaucracy, a local
adviser can make all the difference.
Dealing with the US.
A lawyer specialising in US immigration once showed me the law: six
loose-leaf volumes, each about three inches thick — with no index.
On top of that there are case law, precedent, practice, and many nuances.
No single person actually knows what the US immigration law is, or means.
So in effect, though not by design, there is an enormous amount of discretion
in the hands of the US embassy or consulate, through possible differences
of interpretation.
A lawyer can do the following on your behalf:
help you to present your case correctly;
lend some professional authority to your position in representing
you in discussions with the consular officials. A good lawyer should
know more about the immigration law than the officials he is dealing
with. He’ll be able to point out to them that under the umpteenth
sub-paragraph of the nth paragraph in Chapter X of Volume Five, there
is provision that lets you in which has not been fully considered
by the officials. He may be able to make an ambiguity in the law work
to your advantage. If you are on your own without the benefit of such
knowledge, you may be lost;
guide you in constructing the best approach; advise which visa classification
gives the best chance of eventually obtaining citizenship; and provide
a long- term plan to enable you to turn a temporary work permit into
permanent residency and citizenship.
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