Jul 21, 2023
Being an immigration lawyer is an ongoing learning process. As you become more knowledgeable and gain experience, being part of a community of immigration lawyers that share ideas can be very helpful, especially as you encounter nuances you may have never seen before, as regulations and policies change, or when you have other questions about your immigration practice.
And while formal immigration law organizations and bar associations are fantastic for CLEs, networking events and conferences, and staying connected, immigration law-specific Facebook Groups can be a great supplement to these formal institutions and organizations.
Facebook, as a platform, has over a billion users, and many immigration lawyers already use it for personal as well as business purposes, so it’s no surprise that there are a number of immigration law-specific Facebook groups, with thousands of members. These groups can be an excellent opportunity to leverage the time you may already be spending on social media to learn, share what you know, and build your network.
Here are five popular Facebook groups for immigration lawyers and their focus areas.
“Facebook Groups” is an incredibly active part of the Facebook platform, with over 1.8 billion people using Groups each month and over 10 million groups across Facebook, according to 2022 statistics from the Influencer Marketing Hub. From these vast numbers, below are five popular immigration-law-focused groups for you to check out. And of course if you know of others, please reach out to us and let us know!
With approximately 1,600 members, the main focus at “TIPS (Technology for Immigration Practitioners)” is to help immigration lawyers make the most of the technology they work with, whether it’s tech tools made for the general public, like email, cloud storage, or virtual assistants, or made specifically with immigration law in mind. Members post questions about everything from how they use a specific type of technology or how a new tool they’ve purchased works with the ones they already have to asking for referrals for technology consultants or tech-savvy staff. Members also share updates they hear about from conferences or events and the commentary tends to range from discussion to advice and everything in between.
“Nerdy Immigration Lawyers” has over 7,000 members and opens the conversation to all topics of immigration law. Topics discussed range from family-based immigration questions to asylum petitions to dealing with USCIS communication issues, client payment issues and exceptional circumstances. Responses and feedback are as broad as the type of questions the group asks and members seem to be happy to help with questions about specifics, providing recommendations or insight on specific US consulates abroad, and giving referrals.
So if you’re interested in an online community where you can bounce ideas across the whole spectrum of immigration (all areas, all locations, all topics), this may be a worthwhile group to join.
With over 1700 members, “Crimmigration” is a more niche Facebook group focusing on immigration law involving a criminal issue. Crimmigration members work with clients dealing with charges and convictions at different levels that have or may have immigration implications. Group admins also routinely share legal opinions concerning immigration law that have a criminal law component, sometimes even with short summaries, so you can get an idea of the precedent.
When your clients have a criminal history, you may have to think outside the box - running those options by the Crimmigration Facebook group community and gaining some additional insight through other lawyers’ feedback can help you take your client in a more positive direction. Of course any substantive recommendations, whether from Facebook or elsewhere, should always be double-checked, but if this is your area of focus, consider joining the Crimmigration Facebook group.
Open to “attorneys licensed in any state, interested in immigration” and with over 2,800 members, “Immigration Attorneys” is another general immigration law group to keep in mind. Questions and discussions here often cover more fundamental topics such as trading samples for various immigration case types, referral requests, and even law firm recruitment posts and announcements, but there is also a wide variety of members and so there’s a broad spectrum of discussion. If you join this group, especially if you’re earlier in your career, search the group’s discussions, see what questions others have asked in the past, and leverage this community to help get your firm off the ground!
“Business Immigration Attorneys,” as the name indicates, covers business immigration questions and topics. Questions about H-1B visas, labor certifications, waivers, and other employment-based visas are relatively common. Conversations cover how to help businesses or organizations such as schools get certified to accept international exchange students, discussion and analysis of new regulations, and specific case nuances from attorneys who are seeing something for the first time and looking for insight or advice from other group members.
Since this is EB immigration-focused, there doesn’t seem to be a question too broad or narrow to ask in the group, so members are encouraged to join the discussion and contribute.
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