Things you have to do to stay in the US

I was trained several years ago to provide psychological evaluations to immigrants.

I have a special place in my heart for immigrants. I spent 2 years living in the Dominican Republic while I was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  For those of you that have not been to the Dominican Republic, you are missing out. Dominicans are generally very happy, fun, positive people.  They were also EXTREMELY patient when I was learning Spanish. Thankfully I speak Spanish fluently now thanks to their dedication and patience with all of the mistakes I made. I developed a lot of empathy for how immigrants must feel in the United States, when they come over in hopes of a better life. I thought a lot about how hard it must be to come to another country and not know the language or the way that things work.  I had a lot of help between the Peace Corps and my loving host families. Immigrants’ experience here can be much harder than mine.

I like to work with immigrants in their process to try to stay in the US. I decided to use my license as an LCSW to evaluate immigrants for various applications, petitions, and waivers they may need to file in order to reside lawfully in the United States. I am thankful that my experience with struggles that immigrants face as well as knowledge of trauma can sometimes help people be able to make a case for them to be able to stay.

If you’ve been in touch with an immigration attorney or are in process of applying to adjust your immigration status, I may be able to help. Feel free to reach out if I might be of service.