Immigration Evaluation
Obtaining legal status to remain in the USA can be stressful. I want to empower families and be part of the solution. In addition to providing therapy, I conduct immigration mental health evaluations to assist individuals and families in their immigration process— Extreme Hardship, Political Asylum, Domestic Abuse and Crime victims. I have worked with individuals from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and I am experienced in conducting mental health evaluations.
Many lawyers find immigration evaluations to be an essential tool for some United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) petitions. Proceedings that involve Extreme hardship, Political asylum, Domestic violence (visa VAWA) and Crime victim (visa U) benefit greatly from a comprehensive immigration evaluation.
EXTREME HARDSHIP
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Extreme Hardship evaluations help to assess the potential impact of the
immigrant’s deportation on a United States Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident.
Different factors such as personal history, family dynamic, medical issues, psychological
issues, education and financial/social factors need to be documented through an
immigration evaluation as well as the clinical implications of these factors in relation to
the possibility of the loved one’s deportation and/or moving abroad.
POLITICAL ASYLUM
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Psycho-social evaluations for Political Asylum are important. Information is gathered
about abuse and mistreatment the immigrant may have experienced. It helps to better
understand the psychological impact the extreme deprivation,
psychological trauma, torture and/or psychological distress had on
the immigrant, due to severe social or political conflicts in
her/his country of origin. These evaluations will be important to identify potential
trauma, mental health disorders and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
DOMESTIC ABUSE – VISA VAWA
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Domestic Abuse evaluations help to determine the psychological impact of
abuse and to assess whether abuse is still present. This evaluation is important as
abuse is not always obvious. These evaluations can be critical to
demonstrate domestic violence or abuse which can include: physical, verbal and/or
sexual abuse.
CRIME VICTIM - U VISA
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Victims of crimes usually suffer from severe trauma and emotional distress. An
evaluation is important in these cases, to demonstrate the complexity of the trauma
or any other mental health disorder and therefore, increase the chances of securing
immigration status in the United States to get ongoing treatment. To be eligible for this
visa, the applicant must have suffered severe physical or mental abuse as a victim
of a qualified crime or have important information for an ongoing investigation.