The US immigration process can seem intimidating to those who are new to the country. For this reason, many people who need to fill out an immigration form turn to online forums and special services for help. While some of these services are legitimate and do help people with their immigration form issues, other services are scams and deprive thousands of people of their US immigration dreams and their money. Some common scams include:
1) Old INS forms or outdated forms. Some fraudsters purposely use old INS forms (which have not been used since 2003) or older versions of forms which are no longer current. Applications on these forms are rejected and after paying money to have these forms filled out, immigrants must begin the application process again.
2) Pay for free US immigration forms. Some fraudsters ask immigrants to pay for US immigration forms which are available for free. The USCIS makes all applications free online, so no one should pay for an application form. Some fraudsters also ask victims to pay inflated filing fees. You can check the USCIS to check how much the application fee for each immigration form really is so that you will not be defrauded of your money.
3) Pay for poor service forms. Some fraudsters purposely fill out forms sloppily or incorrectly, causing a form to be rejected or delayed. The victim must then pay even more money to have the form filed again.
4) Pay for guaranteed US immigration status forms. Some companies charge a lot of money – sometimes tens of thousands of dollars – for “guaranteed” immigration status. This is almost always a scam. No one can really guarantee that an immigration application will be guaranteed. Plus, some immigrant applications have a high chance of success and do not need to pay large sums of money to apply. If you do not qualify for immigration, it is best to improve your chances of success by speaking with a qualified immigration attorney and working on your qualifications until you qualify. If you do qualify for immigration, apply using a reasonably-priced legitimate service.
5) Hidden charges. Some services charge many extra charges for “administrative costs” and other fake “costs.” This increases the cost of the service considerably and makes victims pay more than they want to and sometimes more than they can afford.
You can avoid these scams by dealing with legitimate services only. Speak with immigration groups and multicultural associations to get recommendations for legitimate services that can help you. If you need more advanced help, find a qualified immigration attorney.