Adding Immigration Evaluations to Your Practice
I have a four-step formula that will allow you to add the niche of writing expert level immigration evaluations to your counseling practice while increasing income by $2,000 per month. How? Well, there is a higher fee that comes with providing this service.
Why should you think about adding immigration evaluations to your practice?
If you are a licensed mental health professional and want to increase your practice revenue, you are in the right place. You may also want to add immigration evaluations because you are looking for a niche, or you want to be an advocate for others. You can write immigration evaluations as long as you are licensed, have liability, and are educated and trained in the matter. More than likely, you hit on some of these courses in your master’s degree program.
Step 1: Understanding The Immigration Evaluation
Licensed mental health professionals conduct immigration evaluations. These evaluations are lengthily and neutral. We are looking to serve our clients through the immigration process, as our clients are looking for a change of legal status. For instance, a client could have arrived in the United States with a work visa, yet stayed past their visa. Did you know there are 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States? This means there is such a large number of individuals who require this service.
Step 2: Knowing The Types of Cases
Extreme Hardship: This is a term used to represent the standard that must be proven when working with a case. The client needs to provide evidence connected to an extreme hardship that may exist. From the counseling end, we are looking at emotional hardship.
VAWA: It stands for Violence Against Women’s Act. VAWA supports the battered individual to file and adjust their status to that of a lawful permanent resident. The victim must prove that suffering or extreme cruelty by the abuser.
U VISA: This is for victims of a qualifying criminal activity. For instance, it could be someone who is a victim of a bank robbery. The client needs to provide evidence that the qualifying crime took place, and they need to document their story.
Step 3: Writing The Evaluation
Four areas that make up the evaluation: testing, observation, client information, attorney. Some key components to include in the evaluation include demographic information, clinician background, summary, the reason for referral, evaluation objectives, client background, significant items, medical history, testing, diagnosis, recommendations, and research. The counselor needs to write a professional and neutral evaluation. Make sure to back up your findings. Also, we need to work closely with the client and with the attorney.
Step 4: Marketing Your Service
You can build a fantastic practice, but you need to find a way to let the community know that you provide it. Set up your practice for success by building relationships with people to create change. You can utilize marketing with the very clients that you serve by providing excellent service that will eventually lead to referrals. The most common person that will refer you is an immigration attorney. You can pitch your service to these attorneys by using an elevator speech or speaking with them online.
I’m a Professional Counselor and consultant. I specialize in helping counselors learn how to build a private practice in the niche, immigration evaluations. Are you ready to write expert-level immigration evaluations? Enroll in my training courses HERE.
CLICK HERE to join clinicians just like who are interested or are currently working in immigration evaluations.
Learn how to build a successful counseling practice, establish marketing funnels, and create ways to build passive income, and more by connecting with me HERE.
