Afrikaner Refugee Green Card - NO Attorney Needed

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-30

[00:00:07]Now if you're new to the channel, please remember to like and subscribe. If you're already a subscriber, consider becoming a channel member. It really helps the work that I'm trying to do here, which to help Afrikaners in South Africa navigate the refugee program, as well as help Afrikaners here in the United States navigate the asylum process. And what I think has become one of the most important points of this channel is to educate Americans as to the ongoing persecution of Afrikaners and other ethnic minorities in South Africa. So that's important to you, consider becoming a channel member. As well, if you would like, there's a link in the description to buy me a coffee and you could support the channel that way. Now, I've received a ton of emails about this and I want to clear something up because I want to make sure that all of you refugees who are already here coming up on your one-year mark where you can apply to become a lawful permanent resident, LPR, or in other words, get your green card. And for all of you in South Africa who are planning on coming over as refugees and will have to apply for LPR status upon your mark, of course, to get your green card. And it's not a a a a choice, you must apply after a year of physical presence in the United States as a refugee. You must apply to become a lawful permanent resident.

[00:01:16]But I've gotten a lot of emails asking if I'll help people do the application because I'm an attorney. And at first I was like, well, yeah, you know, of course, attorneys will do it, but let's let's be clear about something. They're going to charge you for it. And they could charge you upwards of a thousand to two thousand to more dollars for it.

[00:01:36]And I've been clear, I said you don't need an attorney to go through any parts of this process. If you'd like one, they're they're more than happy to take your money. The firm I work for will happily take all of your money and do something that you could do on your own.

[00:01:52]So I wanted to make sure that this was clear to many people, you don't need an attorney. And then I got a ton of emails saying, "Well, the my case worker or the attorney here, they won't do it and I need an attorney to do the the the application." And I I I want it to stop because I've gotten a lot of these emails and I want to be clear. You do not need an attorney to file your I-485 application, which is the application that you file as a refugee to adjust your status to become a lawful permanent resident or get your green card. And a ton of people jump in and say, "No, you need an attorney. The form says you need an attorney."

[00:02:30]No, it doesn't. And I want to make sure this is clear because like I said, and not and especially for myself, the people who have asked me if the firm I work for will do it, I've been clear.

[00:02:41]You can do this yourself. You don't need an attorney to do it. It's going to cost you a lot of money. And only after all of that, me being the worst salesman in the world and trying to dissuade people from hiring the firm that I work for, some people still decided to hire because it it it might just be easier for them. It's it's a service and that's perfectly fine, okay?

[00:03:01]But if you call random immigration attorney's office, they may not tell you that you don't need an attorney. They might take advantage of this and I want to make sure that that refugees are aware of this. Where the confusion is coming is a lot of forms in the immigration world, whether that's the 485, the 589s, all these, you know, myriad of number forms, the 730, some of you've heard about to adjust that as a you know, through a refugee. All these forms you've heard of, you can all do them by yourself. But you can also have either a representative do it for you. There are some people who are not attorneys who are qualified and this is an area I'm very familiar with because I would never trust these people. I would go attorney or nobody.

[00:03:44]But there are qualified representatives within the immigration world, within the Executive Office of Immigration Review, who technically can do some forms for you, but also attorneys can as well. If attorneys do these forms for you, there are parts on the application that then must be filled out by the attorneys. And for example, I've had up in the background the whole time, I've had up the I the application to register for permanent residence or adjust status, the I-485 form from USCIS. And one of the things you're going to see is the second big box down with the grayed off title. It says "To be completed by an attorney or accredited representative, if any." Well, the if any is the key. You don't need one.

[00:04:29]There may not be any attorney who helped you out or accredited representative who helped you out with this. This box includes, you know, select this box for form if form G-28 is attached. A G-28 is the form that we as attorneys uh file with all these forms to tell USCIS that this person is represented by an attorney. You don't have You don't need an attorney to do this. And then at the end of the form, there's another spot that says, you know, if a preparer did this for you, they fill out this part.

[00:04:59]But nowhere in there does it say you need to have an attorney or an accredited representative fill this out or sign this for you. You don't. And again, this all goes back to what makes the most sense. Would we require someone who is a refugee, who potentially might still be struggling in the United States after only a year of being here with whatever job they can find, where their refugee assistance is running low, or the myriad of problems that can happen to someone who had to uproot and flee persecution, would we then expect them to it be required of them to find an attorney, to be able to pay an attorney with the obscene fees that attorneys charge? And I'm I'm one of these obscene people, you know, but yeah, I'm going to be honest with people. And as you know, I'm not a partner at the firm. I don't own the law firm I work for. I'm merely an associate attorney. So, I'm okay throwing out, you know, the numbers and saying this is kind of obscene sort of thing. But, you might find some that that are reasonably priced. But, you're talking a couple of thousand dollars for most of these. Would we expect the refugee to have to do that? To have to find someone and find the money to be able to do that? No, it doesn't make sense. So, I just wanted to clear this up. It's a quick video. But, for all of you know, when you get to that year mark, when you've had your your year of physical presence in the United States and you qualify to file the I-485 to become a lawful permanent resident to get your green card, you do not need an attorney. Do not let yourself be scammed. You can do it yourself. And as always, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments.

[00:06:29]Please remember to like, subscribe, share, and I will see you for the next video.