Why You Can't Just Fill Out Forms Yourself And Wing It

24 November 2020
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Immigration is a complicated business, no matter how simple a government department tries to make it -- and most government departments don't make it that simple. From convoluted language to sudden shifts in immigration policy, the journey from living in one country to another is not really one you can totally do on your own, at least in terms of the paperwork. However, it can be tempting to try to do everything yourself to save on legal fees. This isn't the best idea, and it could result in you being denied a visa or other immigration permissions that you wanted.

You Might Concentrate on the Wrong Thing

First, you might concentrate on the wrong things. Maybe you're thinking that if you have lived here a certain amount of time and have verified job history and residential history, along with adequate savings, that your paperwork will go through easily. Meanwhile, what you really might need to concentrate on are things like how many months you spent outside the country in the past 10 years. You never know what small thing could trip you up -- and that includes immigration officers being baffled at your lack of legal representation. If you work with an immigration lawyer, you can avoid issues like these.

Sudden Law Changes Might Pass You By

Sometimes immigration law changes very quickly, and you need to be on top of those changes to ensure your paperwork doesn't get lost in the shuffle. It's part of an immigration lawyer's job to track changes to the law so that you don't have to, and so that you don't get caught unawares. You may hear about a vague change and not realize that it applies to you, or you could worry that something new will affect your situation, when it really doesn't. You don't need that type of worry; let a lawyer take care of it.

Immigration Legalese Isn't Always the Easiest to Decipher

Government departments have tried to make their web pages a lot easier to understand. Still, immigration requires a lot of legal language that is not easy to figure out. Again, a lawyer is going to be able to handle this a lot easier than you might. Even if you study and look up all terms to be sure you know what the text or other information means, you might not get everything.

Really, immigration is not an area where you want to cut corners because the wrong outcome could mean having to start over and spend several years trying to get back on track. Hire an immigration attorney to handle the legal side of things so that you do not have to worry about any of this.