This two-day course is geared towards non-lawyer legal advocates who will be or are currently working with immigrant survivors of domestic violence (DV) or sexual assault (SA). Trainers will combine a basic overview of immigration law with an introduction to legal and case management skills critical to becoming an effective immigration law advocate. This training is designed to help prepare legal advocates to become Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accredited. BIA accreditation allows non-lawyers to practice immigration law and assist survivors with obtaining lawful immigration status without the abuser's knowledge or consent. Topics covered shall include: an overview of the immigration system and laws, immigrating through marriage and other family relationships, grounds of inadmissibility and removability, immigration remedies under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA and U status), adjustment of status, BIA recognition and accreditation and ethical considerations in working with immigration cases. The training will be interactive. Participants will learn to assemble a VAWA application and learn effective interviewing and case management skills. Participants will also have the opportunity to sign up to receive an individual consultation on assembling their BIA recognition and accreditation applications. This is a two-day training, and participants will be required to attend both days of the training. Faculty members include Sarah Bronstein, Debbie Smith, and Silvana Arista of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) and Gail Pendleton of ASISTA Immigration Assistance. CLINIC and ASISTA assists DV and SA advocates with obtaining BIA recognition for their agency and BIA accreditation for themselves as staff working for those agencies. This training is open to OVW grantees and grant partners from the Legal Assistance for Victims grant program (LAV). Priority for the training will be given to LAV grantees and their grant partners. Grantees from other OVW grant programs, including OVW Technical Assistance providers, must obtain advanced consent from their Program Specialist and will be confirmed if space is available. Please note that this training is open solely to non-lawyer legal advocates.

Registration:
To register, click here. Registration is limited to 35 participants. Up to two participants from the same organization/agency are permitted to register. If there are more than two participants from the same organization/agency interested in attending, we will place them on a waiting list and contact them if additional spaces become available. If you have any questions about the training or registration form, please contact: Silvana Arista of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) at 301-565-4827 or via email at sarista@cliniclegal.org. Registration deadline is January 24th, 2014.