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Orientation · 8 min of reading and practice
Federal law does not define this trade by what you do, but by three things you refrain from doing. Break one and what you are doing already has another name.
You don't have clients yet. When you do, this scene will repeat itself: someone sits down across from you with some papers and asks whether you can "handle the filing" for them. Before you read on, write down which part of that you think you can do and which part you can't. There is no right answer yet.
By the end you will be able to
Federal law does not define your trade by what you do. It defines it by what you refrain from doing. There is a paragraph, in 8 CFR 1.2, that describes a regulated activity and then carves a gap out of it. That gap is the trade. And it has three edges.
…does not include the lawful functions of a notary public or service consisting solely of assistance in the completion of blank spaces on printed DHS forms, by one whose remuneration, if any, is nominal and who does not hold himself or herself out as qualified in legal matters or in immigration and naturalization procedure.The three edges, in plain English. The first: the service consists solely of assistance in filling the blank spaces on printed DHS forms. The second: the remuneration, if any, is nominal. The third: you do not hold yourself out as qualified in legal matters or in immigration procedure.
What this lesson does NOT qualify you to do
And here is the sentence that sums up the trade. If you break any one of the three edges, what you do is no longer inside the gap: it is "preparation". The same rule says that representation before DHS includes "preparation". And 8 CFR 292.1 closes its list of six categories like this: "Except as set forth in this section, no other person or persons shall represent others in any case". None of the six is yours.
In 8 CFR 1.2 it does not mean "filling in the form". It means studying the facts and the law of the case, giving advice and preparing papers along the way. It is regulated activity.
The rule says "remuneration, if any, is nominal" and puts no figure on it. Charging the way a legal service is charged breaks this edge.
It is the edge that a sign, a business card or an ad breaks. You don't have to say "I am a lawyer".
We are going to read a scene and find the broken edge. Marta charges 400 dollars for a "residency packet". On her door there is a sign: "Immigration filings consultant". When someone comes in, she reviews their documents, decides that adjustment of status is what works for them, and fills out the form.
What everyone repeats
As long as I don't say I'm a lawyer, I can charge whatever I want for filling out forms.
The source says the opposite
8 CFR 1.2 sets three conditions at once, not one, and breaking a single one is enough. The second says literally that remuneration "if any, is nominal". The rule fixes no figure, so nobody can tell you how much "nominal" is. What is clear is something else: charging the way a legal service is charged takes you out of the gap. And the states put their rules on top, where there are figures.
In your state · NY
New York turned the third edge into state law. The general business law, 460-d(2), forbids certain titles to an immigration assistance service provider. Such a provider may not assume them, use them or advertise them: "notary public", "notario public", "notario", "immigration specialist" and "immigration consultant".
The lesson reads in full without an account. What gets saved — and what marks your answers — needs one, and it is free.