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Immigration client intake form

A free intake form for immigration firms. Part 1 is the form a new client fills in: post it on your website, send it as a PDF, or hand it over in the office. Part 2 is the questions your intake staff should ask next, because a form's answers often point to something the form can't ask about.

Print this page, or save it as a PDF from your browser's print dialog. Change it to fit your firm.

This is a template, not legal advice. Many people answer status questions more fully in a private conversation than on a form, so Part 1 asks only for what a client can safely write down, and Part 2 covers the rest.

Part 1: The client form

About you

  • Full name, and any other names you have used: ____________________
  • Phone: ____________________ Email: ____________________
  • Best way and time to reach you: ____________________
  • Mailing address: ____________________
  • Date of birth: ____________________
  • Country of citizenship: ____________________
  • Language you're most comfortable in: ____________________
  • Are you filling this in for someone else? ☐ No ☐ Yes. Your name and your relationship to them: ____________________

What you need help with

☐ A green card ☐ Renewing or replacing a card ☐ A work permit ☐ A visa ☐ Citizenship ☐ Asylum or protection ☐ Bringing a family member to the U.S. ☐ An immigration court case ☐ A family member who was detained ☐ Something else: ____________________

Your status now

  • What do you hold now? ☐ A green card ☐ A visa. Its type: ____________ ☐ A work permit ☐ An application that is pending ☐ Nothing right now ☐ Not sure ☐ I'd rather talk about it
  • Expiration date on your card, visa, or permit: ____________________
  • Date you last entered the U.S.: ____________________

Applications and notices

  • Has anyone filed an application or petition for you? ☐ No ☐ Yes ☐ Not sure. Who filed it, and when: ____________________
  • Have you received a notice from immigration or an immigration court? ☐ No ☐ Yes. Date of the notice: ____________________
  • Do you have an interview, a hearing, or a court date? ☐ No ☐ Yes. Date: ____________________
  • Has a lawyer or preparer filed anything for you before? ☐ No ☐ Yes. Who: ____________________

Your documents

  • Do you have your passport, card, and immigration papers with you? ☐ Yes ☐ No. Who has them: ____________________

Anything else

  • Is there anything else we should know? ____________________
  • How did you hear about us? ____________________

Sending this form does not make this firm your lawyer. The firm will contact you to talk about whether it can help.

Part 2: The questions to ask next

A form takes the answer it gets. These are the questions to ask when an answer is thin, or when it points to something the form didn't ask. Each one starts from an answer on the form. Ask the sensitive ones in a private conversation.

Deadlines

  • A card, visa, or permit expires soon. Get the exact date, and flag it to an attorney the same day.
  • There is an interview, a hearing, or a court date. Get the date, the office or court, and ask the client to bring the notice.
  • A filing is due. Get the date it is due, and whether it needs another person's signature.

How the client got here

  • The client gave a date of last entry. Ask how they entered, on what visa or document, and whether they have left and come back since.
  • The client holds a green card. Ask whether it is the two-year kind or the ten-year kind.

What the status rests on

  • A filing rests on a marriage, a parent, a child, or a job. Ask who filed, that person's status, and whether that person still supports the filing.
  • The marriage a filing rests on has ended or is ending. Get the dates of the marriage, the separation, and any divorce.
  • The client fears returning to their country. Record it, and ask when they arrived.

The client's own part

The government will look at the client's history. Ask about it plainly now, in private, so the attorney hears it first:

  • Any arrest, charge, or conviction, in any country.
  • Any time spent in the U.S. after a visa or permit ran out.
  • Any past denial, removal, or order to leave.
  • Anything the client told immigration that the government may say was false.

Situations to handle with care

  • Someone else holds the client's passport, card, or papers. Ask who, and whether that person will give them back.
  • Someone has threatened to report the client, withdraw support for a filing, or keep their documents. Ask who, and when.
  • The threat comes from a partner, or there is violence at home. Ask whether the client is safe now, before you ask for details.
  • A family member is detained. Get the person's full name, date of birth, country of citizenship, and where they are held, if known.

When the matter may be another area of law

  • A divorce, a custody case, or a protective order: the client may also need a family lawyer.
  • An arrest or a criminal charge: the client may also need a criminal defense lawyer.
  • A worker threatened over their status, or a work visa at risk: the client may also have an employment claim.
  • Harm by immigration officers, or in detention: possibly a civil rights matter.

Ask these questions without a form

Verantel asks these questions as an interview, in a private conversation, in plain language and in the client's own language. It asks the next question when an answer points to an expiring card, a hearing date, or a filing that depends on someone else. Then it hands your firm a structured record, with the interview line each fact came from. Verantel is not a lawyer and gives no legal advice.

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