Immigration Evaluation
What is an immigration evaluation?
Immigration Evaluation is a shorter way to describe a mental health evaluation that is completed by a mental health practitioner to create a report by assessing your historical and current mental health symptoms that you experience due to being victim of a crime in United States. There are different types of immigration evaluations based on client’s individual needs and their immigration case.
Types of immigration evaluations
In cases of Asylum, the individual is unable to return to their home country because of danger to their life in the home country. During psychological evaluation, we will ask you the events that led you to flee your country. Everything you share, will be kept in the strictest of confidence. We document what you say and assess the psychological and emotional impact of these events on you.
Asylum
In VAWA cases, battered immigrants (men and women) are allowed to “self-petition” for legal status, without relying on the abusive US citizen relative (spouse, child, or parent). The psychological evaluation can evaluate the extent of the abuse and the emotional and psychological impact that the abuse had on you.
VAWA
U- Visa
In U Visa cases, victims of a crime committed in the US can apply for legal status in US. The psychological evaluation assesses the psychological effects of the crime on the victim.
In T visa cases, immigrant survivors of human trafficking are allowed to stay in US. The psychological evaluation assesses the psychological and emotional effects of being a victim of human trafficking.
T - Visa
In Hardship waiver cases, individuals may apply to become US citizen but are not always qualified to do it. In those cases, an individual can file a waiver – 601 or 601 A form – also known as extreme hardship waiver. The psychological evaluation can be strong evidence to show how a relative would suffer extreme hardship if separated from the applicant (individual applying for the waiver) or if the relative leaves US and relocate to another country to be with their relative.
Hardship
Waiver
What all an immigration evaluation includes?
The immigration evaluation includes,
The clinical interviews
Reviewing the additional documentation
Full Evaluation Report
Communicating with you and your lawyer
What does the process look like?
I receive the referral either through an attorney or the client themselves.
Once I have an initial 15-minute consultation, we move on to scheduling your appointments with me.
I schedule 2 appointments of 50-minutes each, with a gap of a week in between each appointment.
It takes me 2 weeks, from our very last clinical interview, to provide you the full evaluation report.
Why me?
Language: I can conduct evaluations in 3 languages - English, Punjabi, and Hindi.
Safe Space: It is a scary process, as an immigrant, to reveal every single detail of their life to a stranger. I assure you that I will take the time to walk you through this process before we begin the evaluation.
Experienced in working with survivors of domestic violence: I have witnessed that the impact of enduring domestic violence does not stop when the survivors gets to safety, the trauma symptoms from the domestic violence continues to stay with them years after escaping the abuse.
Cultural Understanding: Being an immigrant myself, born and raised in India, I’m completely aware of the family dynamics, the gender roles, the pressures of keeping your family together and meeting their needs.
