Colorado Supreme Court
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
Promoting Professionalism. Protecting the Public.
Comments sought on change to immigrant
representatives rule
A federal proposal seeks to expand the
number of non-attorneys who can appear in immigration matters.
By E. JAMES WILDER
Fall
2015
A
federal office wants to know what you think about a new proposal to change how
non-attorney immigrant representatives are accredited.
The
Executive Office for Immigration Review wants to amend its Recognition and
Accreditation program in an effort to expand the number of non-attorneys who
can handle immigration cases filed with EOIR and the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services.
The
EOIR said it’s responding to a “critical and ongoing shortage of qualified
legal representatives.” Currently, less than 20 percent of the 1,600 representatives
are fully accredited to appear before the USCIS, the immigration courts and the
Board of Immigration Appeals. The vast majority are only partially accredited,
meaning they can appear solely before USCIS.
The
proposed amendment seeks to change that.
For
more information on how the change would achieve that goal and how you can
comment on the proposal, go to the Federal Register’s website.
E. James Wilder is Assistant Regulation
Counsel in the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. He is a member of the
Colorado Bar Association’s Spanish Speaking Lawyers Committee and regularly
speaks on issues related to the unauthorized practice of law.