Philadelphia city hall from broad street John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Legal Services

The Legal Team at Nationalities Service Center works to support the agency's mission to welcome and empower immigrants to thrive in our community by providing legal consultations and representation in the field of immigration law. Our attorneys, accredited representatives, and support staff work as a team to help our clients obtain or maintain lawful immigration status or, in other words, the legal right to live and work in the United States. Lawful immigration status is more important than ever now for our clients. Without lawful immigration status, individuals live in fear of immigration detention, removal, and family separation.  Our Legal Team is currently comprised of our Survivor Services Legal Program and our Within REACH: Accessible Legal Services for Immigrant Families Program. We are currently working on over 700 open immigration cases. 

Survivor Services Legal Program

  • Our Survivor Services Legal Staff work with individuals who are survivors of criminal activity, domestic violence, trafficking, and/or torture.

     

  • Our goal is the provision of comprehensive services. Depending on the specific program and eligibility criteria, our Survivor Services staff also work to connect Client to other supportive services that are offered through Nationalities Service Center, such as case management and mental health support. In this way, Clients are able to address multiple, important needs with the convenience of doing so all through Nationalities Service Center.  

 

  • Our Survivor Services Legal Staff work with Clients to apply for immigration benefits they may be eligible for and work to reunify families. Our Team works on many case types, including but not limited to: 
    • U Visa Petitions: applications for lawful immigration status for survivors of certain qualifying criminal activity who meet certain eligibility criteria. 
    • T Visa Petitions: applications for lawful immigration status for survivors of sex and/or labor trafficking who meet certain eligibility criteria. 

    • Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA") Self-Petitions: applications for lawful immigration status for survivors of domestic violence and/or abuse, perpetrated by a spouse or child who is a United States citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident, who meet certain eligibility criteria. 

      Thanks to external funding sources, our Survivor Services Legal Staff provide pro bono (free!) representation to Clients who qualify for the program. 

Within REACH: Accessible Legal Services for Immigrant Families 

  • Through our Within REACH program, our team provides low-cost representation in immigration legal matters with fees determined on a sliding scale. 

     

  • Our Within REACH program attempts to fill the gap in legal representation of individuals who do not meet the criteria to qualify for an externally funded program (such as our Survivor Services Legal Program) and who cannot afford the services of a private immigration attorney. The need for low-cost and, therefore, more accessible legal representation is great.   

     

  • Our Within REACH team works on essential immigration benefit applications such as but not limited to applications for lawful permanent residency (green cards), applications for US citizenship and family reunification services. 

     

  • Our mission is to make legal representation in immigration matters Within REACH of more people. We're only able to do this thanks to the support and generosity of our supporters. Through your continued support, we're hoping to continue to reach even more people and work towards reducing our fees even further.