Our goal is to help people find a volunteer lawyer for their immigration case. We work with people seeking asylum, survivors of human trafficking (T Visas), children who came to the U.S. alone, and people who are being held by immigration.
We cannot help people who walk in without an appointment, review asylum applications, or give advice to people who are not our clients.
Please know that our process takes time. If we accept your case, it could take several months to find a volunteer lawyer for you.
We need to learn about your case to see if we can help. Everything you tell us is private and will not be shared without your permission.
If you are an Afghan evacuee, instead of following the steps below, please visit our web page here for specific instructions on how to get connected to legal services.
STEP 1: Contact us to start our intake process.
New clients can either call or complete our online intake:
Call our intake phone line at 612-341-9845 or complete the online intake form during intake hours, Tuesdays 10am to 12pm or Thursdays 12 to 2pm.
The online form will become available during specified intake hours. Links to the form are found in the side bar.
This intake includes questions about your basic demographic information (where you live, where you are from, your income, and more), and questions about your immigration case and history (including questions about asylum and trafficking).
Please provide as much detail as possible so we can understand your case.
STEP 2: Case evaluation.
After your intake, The Advocates' legal staff decides if we can help with your case. This process may take a few weeks or more, so please be patient.
During this process, our staff may contact you to ask follow-up questions. We typically ask about your case and review your documents. If you have them, it helps us to see your passport, any papers that Border Patrol, ICE, or the Immigration Court gave you, copies of any papers you filed with immigration, and any other evidence you think will help us understand why you cannot safely return to your home country. To protect your privacy, we prefer to meet with only you (and an independent interpreter, if needed).
STEP 3: Intake decision.
We will contact you by letter, email, or phone with our decision. You can look for help elsewhere while we are evaluating your case. Please tell us if you hire a lawyer.
If we can help you, we will send you a letter saying that we will find a volunteer lawyer to represent you. If we cannot help you, we will send you a list of other lawyers and organizations, as well as general information about the asylum process.
Whether or not we are able to take your case, we wish you well. Additional legal resources can be found on our self-help page. Additional non-legal resources can be found on the Minnesota Asylum Network website.
