How to Become Immigration Lawyer?

A Career in Law comes with various specializations giving students multiple pathways to select the one that matches their interests. While Criminal Law, Civil Law, Environmental Law, Cyber Law, and Labour Law courses are some of the choicest options of the candidates, a lesser-known profession that has the potential to provide a great career to candidates is – Immigration law. Just like other law practitioners, Immigration lawyers deal with the issues of people pertaining to meeting the requirements of the migration process. Through this blog, let us explore the job profile of these professionals. 

Who is an Immigration Lawyer?

An immigration lawyer is a legal personnel specialising in resolving issues related to citizenship denials, appealing citizenship denials and obtaining visas. In order to become successful in the arena, one needs to stay well-informed about the migration laws of different countries and the process to apply for the same. The major job responsibility also includes assisting clients with immigration paperwork, advising clients on the process of becoming permanent residents or citizens of the country, and relocating businesses outside the country.

Required Skills

To become an Immigration lawyer, one must possess certain skills in order to do justice to the field. Even though most of the skills can be developed over a period of time, after completing a degree in the field. Some skills need to be built by the candidates who aspire to become successful Immigration lawyers. Given below are some of them:

• An Eye for Detail: An Immigration lawyer often goes through a large amount of paperwork along with the application and mistakes can often set the process back and lead to more time being taken. So, it is a must that they have a superb eye for detail, which allows them to highlight any issue with the paperwork before it is sent away.
• Strong Communication Skills: While dealing with such complex work, intense paperwork is something which cannot be ignored. Explaining these laws and justifying all the documentation is not an easy task to do. So the immigration lawyer either has to convey the client or have to work with a strong communicator who is able to explain what the client needs to know in terms that they can easily understand.
• Problem-Solving Skills: These lawyers must have problem-solving skills and try to offer potential solutions when clients face a problem.
• A Thirst of Knowledge: The legal profession keeps changing, and so does immigration law. So lawyers must update their knowledge in Law and Government.
• Active Listening: The student must possess the skill of Active Listening to treat people in the right way!
• Perseverance: These lawyers must show perseverance, and help in completing all the work that is required by the client in order to achieve the desired outcome.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility conditions for law courses usually vary as per the program and university you have chosen. Most students opt for BA LLB or LLB programs to become a lawyer. Later, students can go for LLM specializations after finishing their bachelor’s.

Educational Qualifications

• For Law courses like BA LLB or BBA LLB: You must have completed 10+2 in any stream or its equivalent from a recognized board with the minimum marks specified by your chosen university.
• For LLB: You must have completed a bachelor’s degree with a duration of 3-4 years in any field from a recognized university.
• For LLM: You must have an LLB degree from a recognized law university and many universities also prefer candidates with prior experience in Law.
• For LLD: You must have attained a PhD degree in a relevant field with 6-10 years of work experience in the industry.

Popular Courses for Immigration 

The path toward becoming a successful Immigration lawyer requires a lot of effort, but it is a rewarding career option. Given below is a list of programs that will provide a base to meet your licensing requirements:

• Graduate Diploma in Migration Law
• LLM in Immigration Law
• BA LL.B
• Juris Degree (J.D.)
• LL.M. in International Human Right Law
• LL.M. International Migration and Refugee Law
• M.A. Migration, Society and Policy
• Certificate in Immigration Studies

The curriculum of the diploma, bachelor’s and master’s law program include Immigration Law, International Human Rights Law, Refugee and Asylum Law, Labor Law, and Racial and Justice law. Once the law degree has been obtained, the aspirant must give the BAR exam in order to legally practice law in the country.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility conditions for law courses usually vary as per the program and university you have chosen. Most students opt for BA LLB or LLB programs to become a lawyer. Later, students can go for LLM specializations after finishing their bachelor’s.

Educational Qualifications

• For Law courses like BA LLB or BBA LLB: You must have completed 10+2 in any stream or its equivalent from a recognized board with the minimum marks specified by your chosen university.
• For LLB: You must have completed a bachelor’s degree with a duration of 3-4 years in any field from a recognized university.
• For LLM: You must have an LLB degree from a recognized law university and many universities also prefer candidates with prior experience in Law.
• For LLD: You must have attained a PhD degree in a relevant field with 6-10 years of work experience in the industry.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility conditions for law courses usually vary as per the program and university you have chosen. Most students opt for BA LLB or LLB programs to become a lawyer. Later, students can go for LLM specializations after finishing their bachelor’s.

Educational Qualifications

• For Law courses like BA LLB or BBA LLB: You must have completed 10+2 in any stream or its equivalent from a recognized board with the minimum marks specified by your chosen university.
• For LLB: You must have completed a bachelor’s degree with a duration of 3-4 years in any field from a recognized university.
• For LLM: You must have an LLB degree from a recognized law university and many universities also prefer candidates with prior experience in Law.
• For LLD: You must have attained a PhD degree in a relevant field with 6-10 years of work experience in the industry.

Certificate and Online Courses for Immigration Law

Colleges	Courses
Washington Online Learning Institute	Immigration Law Specialist Certificate Program
New England Law | Boston	Immigration Law Certificate Programme
CUNY School of Professional Studies	Advanced Certificate in Immigration Law Studies
The University of Texas at Austin	Immigration Law Specialist Certificate Program
Centennial College, Canada	Immigration Law
UC Davis School of Law	Immigration Law Certificate
Humber College, Canada	Immigration Consultant Certificate

Also Read: LLM Courses

Top University to Become an Immigration Lawyer

There are various educational institutions that offer diplomas, bachelor’s and master’s programs in Immigration law and its related courses. Given below is a list of one of the top law colleges across the world:

• University of Virginia, United States
• Harvard University, United States
• Yale University, United States
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• University of Oxford, UK
• Victoria University, Australia
• Griffith University, Australia

Top Colleges in India for Law

Ranking	University
#1	National Law School of India University
#2	National Law University, Delhi
#3	Nalsar University of Law
#4	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
#5	National Law University, Jodhpur
#6	The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
#7	Gujarat National Law University
#8	Symbiosis Law School
#9	Jamia Millia Islamia
#10	The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law

Job Prospects

The demand for Immigration lawyers in every corner of the world has increased the career opportunities for students pursuing a course in the very field. Studying a course in the very field from renowned universities abroad has various benefits. Let’s look at some of the job profiles, which students can pursue after completion of the course:

• Immigration Lawyers
• Paralegal
• Law Professor
• Barrister
• Consultant
• Immigration Officer

Average Salary

The average salary of an immigration lawyer is INR 70,000 to 80,000 per month in India. The salary can be more for experienced lawyers and may differ based on the country of practice.

Top Recruiters

• Davies & Associates
• Ajmera Law
• Jaypee Associates
• Amazon
• Flipkart
• Citi

We hope this blog convinced you to become an Immigration lawyer. If you are planning to study an LLB degree or any other course in Law from top universities, sign up for a 30-minute free career counselling session with our Leverage Edu and let our experts help you find a suitable program and university that fits your interests!