Learn How To Write An Immigration Evaluation For a U Visa

Understanding the process of conducting immigration evaluations can be complex at first. The nature of the workplaces the clinician in an interesting position. The position to provide an evaluation for the client, build a collaborative relationship with the attorney, and at the same have an educated grasp of clinical and legal knowledge pertaining to the specific evaluation.

There are different types of visas that a client may reach out to you for in the request of an evaluation.

The common ones include:

• U Visa. 
• VAWA
• Hardship Waivers
• Asylum

As a clinician that engages in the process of writing immigration evaluations as well as trains clinicians on how to provide the service. If you are interested in learning how to write immigration evaluations click here. I want to provide you with a clear idea on how to support a person that reaches out to you for a U Visa.

Let’s start with a case study to keep things simple and clear. The case study below pertains to a U Visa case and will provide guidance in learning how to write an immigration evaluation for such a case.

Maria is a 34-year-old female reaching out to your counseling practice due to her work with her attorney. Maria in the intake session shared that years back she experienced a traumatic moment that continues to impact her today and has changed her life. Maria stated that she was involved in a robbery at a local bank. Maria noted that she reached out for an evaluation because her attorney representing her immigration case recommended it for her U Visa case.

In the case above, I purposefully shared minimal information so that you as the clinician have a clear idea of how to approach the client.

Key areas to look at include:

The story behind the traumatic experience. For instance, you can ask Maria in a supportive and therapeutic manner details pertaining to the U Visa case. This helps to divulge the details of the traumatic experience.  From the perspective of writing and providing a strong and effective evaluation, it is vital to document the details.

Explore relevant data. With U Visa cases there should be some sort of document highlighting the incident. As the clinician, you can ask the client or with a release of information connect with the attorney to gain such a document.

Common documents can include a police report or medical records highlighting the incident. In the case above with Maria, considering that she was In a robbery at a local bank. Typical collateral information can include a police report.

The purpose of the collateral information is to use it as evidence when documenting the client’s traumatic experience. For instance, in the case of Maria, the client shares the incident that took place at the bank. The police report also highlights that the incident took place at the bank. Having both documents in the evaluation provides a sense of trustworthiness in the information gathered.

Gathering details for the immigration evaluation. Maria in the case study shared that the traumatic experience continues to impact her. From a clinical perspective, this potentially highlights a need for further questions or testing to identify the client’s emotional state. As such, the clinician can utilize assessments to gain an understanding of the client’s condition. Data derived from the inventory can help by providing the client’s current state in relation to the impact of the trauma.

The clinician can engage in the interview process, simply meaning the process of asking questions to identify the client’s emotional state. This process should be supportive and as long as needed in order to effectively gather a clear understanding of how the client is doing, how the trauma-impacted the client, and what the client’s life was like prior to the incident.

Using the key points above along with other points, the clinician is able to develop an effective evaluation for the U Visa case. One key variable to consider in this case and the details shared is the type of Visa. There are different types of Visas and each requires the clinician to approach the client and process of writing the immigration evaluation uniquely.

Are interested in learning how to write immigration evaluations and add this niche to your counseling practice?

FEATURED ON

My name is Juan and I help clinicians learn how to add the service of writing and conducting immigration evaluations to their practice. I want to thank you for being here.