American Visa Thailand: The G28 Form

Recently the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service has issued a notice that the form G28 Notice of Appearance will be updated and the updated form will be the only one accepted in the future. The following article will briefly describe what the form G28 is and the effect its change will have upon United States Immigration for foreign loved ones.

United States Citizens meet, form relationships with, and sometimes marry people from all over the world. Therefore, a significant number of American Immigration applications are presented to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Oftentimes, the beneficiary and petitioner decide to handle the immigration matter by themselves, in that case the G28 will not need to be presented as there is no attorney involved. A G-28 is a method of informing the United States government that an accredited representative is entering an appearance in the case, it is generally presented by a United States attorney.

A significant difference between the old and new version of the G28 form is that the new form requires one to indicate in which agency the case is pending. For example, if the matter involves the Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP), then the attorney will check the box which states that the attorney is representing the client in a matter before CBP. If the attorney is representing a client who has had been apprehended by the agency known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), then he or she will be required to indicate that the G28 is submitted in connection with a pending matter before ICE.

When a G28 is submitted in conjunction with a US visa application it is general practice for USCIS to send a copy of all pertinent correspondence to both the petitioner and the petitioner's attorney. Also, if the US Embassy sends correspondence to the non-citizen beneficiary, then the American attorney will generally be provided with a copy of the relevant correspondence.

As mentioned in previous articles, submission of a G28 form is one way of making certain that one is dealing with an attorney because only an attorney may be paid to appear before the government in immigration matters. Further, the current G28 form requires the attorney to disclose their state of license and bar number. One should not feel embarrassed to ask for a copy of an attorney's credentials. Any United States Immigration practitioner who is unable to produce some sort of license (state bar license, state Supreme Court license, Federal Court license, etc.) should be viewed with caution.


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