A working through of how immigration representation is authorized, priced, and documented in the United States, put together by one person who got tired of guessing. Every claim here points back to the rule or roster it came from, so check the date before you rely on it.
Three business cards, three offers of help, three prices. The first belongs to an attorney with an office above a check-cashing storefront. The second belongs to a nonprofit worker who says she is accredited and can appear in immigration court. The third belongs to a man who prepares forms, charges a third of what the others do, and answers questions about your chances with real confidence. Only two of those three people can legally represent you before the immigration agencies, and the difference is not a matter of degree. It is a matter of authority, and it is checkable in about fifteen minutes.
The attorney, and the record that proves it
A licensed attorney is admitted to the bar of at least one state, the District of Columbia, or a US territory, and that admission is what permits appearance before US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the immigration courts, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. There is no separate federal immigration license to look for and no specialty certificate that matters more than the underlying license. What a careful reader checks is the state bar directory of whichever state the attorney claims, searching by name rather than firm, and confirming that the status field reads active rather than suspended, inactive, resigned, or disbarred. Bar numbers are public. So is discipline history, in most states, on the same page as the listing.
Two further checks cost nothing. The Executive Office for Immigration Review maintains a list of practitioners who have been disciplined and are currently expelled or suspended from practice before the immigration agencies, which is a separate proceeding from state bar discipline and can catch someone whose state license still reads active. And the office address on the card should match the address in the bar listing, or the difference should have an explanation. An attorney practicing under a name that does not appear in any state directory is not a licensed attorney with an unusual practice. That is the whole finding.
The accredited representative, and the organization behind her
The second category is real, useful, and widely misunderstood. Under the recognition and accreditation program administered by EOIR, a nonprofit organization can be recognized, and named individuals working for it can be accredited to represent people before the immigration agencies without being attorneys. Partial accreditation covers practice before the Department of Homeland Security, meaning USCIS filings. Full accreditation adds the immigration courts and the Board. These people are not paralegals with a nicer title; they hold delegated federal authority, they sign Form G-28 like an attorney, and at many nonprofits they carry the heaviest asylum and adjustment caseloads in the building.
Verification here has two halves, because accreditation attaches to a person and to an employer at once. EOIR publishes the roster of recognized organizations and accredited representatives, and the entry should show the individual's name, the organization, the accreditation type, and an expiration date, since accreditation runs in terms and must be renewed. An accredited representative who has moved to a different employer does not carry the accreditation across. Fees are capped at nominal amounts for recognized organizations, which is why a nonprofit quoting a few hundred dollars for an adjustment packet is behaving normally rather than suspiciously.
The third person, and what the low price is buying
Everyone else is a form preparer. That includes immigration consultants, notarios, travel agencies that also do paperwork, and tax offices with a second desk in the back. A preparer may type what you dictate and charge for the typing. A preparer may not select the form, advise which relief you qualify for, appear at an interview, respond to a request for evidence in your name, or sign a G-28, because none of those are clerical acts. The tell is not the price. It is the answer to a legal question. When someone without a license or accreditation tells you which application to file, the transaction has already crossed a line, and the Federal Trade Commission is among the federal bodies responsible for enforcement against deceptive practices in the market for immigration services.
The practical safeguard is the signature page. Whoever represents you appears on the G-28 in the case file, which means the question of who is accountable is answered in writing at the moment of filing rather than reconstructed later. Ask to see the completed form before it goes out. A licensed attorney or an accredited representative will hand it over without a pause, because it is the ordinary paperwork of their authority, and its presence in your copy of the packet is the cleanest proof you will get that the help you paid for is help the government recognizes.