All You Need To Know About Form G-28
If you are looking to get into the US, chances are that you have already looked at some of the forms that you may need to fill out in order to file your application. If you did, you have probably noticed the box with the phrase “Select this box if Form G-28 is attached” on the top of almost all of these forms. Why is this so important then, and what does it do? Let’s take a look.
What does the Form G-28 do?
The formal name of the Form G-28 is “Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative”. This may have given you the same idea about what this form does, and yes, you are mostly correct. What this form does is, it allows an attorney or an accredited representative to “act on behalf” of you, the applicant, during your application process. The phrase “act on behalf” may sound too broad and vague, but what it essentially means is that filing this form gives your attorney or accredited representative the permission to help you out with your application process. The help can be anything relating to your application, petition or appeal. Without this form being submitted with your application, the Department of Homeland Security will not allow your attorney or representative to appear before them on your case.
As you can see, it is crucial to properly submit this form if you are taking help from an attorney or a representative. You may now ask, “how do I know who can use this form?”, and it will be a very astute question. So, let’s find out who can, or cannot, use the form G-28.
Form G-28 users
If you have read up to this point, you probably know to some degree about who uses the form G-28; after all, some of them are included in the name of the form itself. Still, to make things clearer, let’s now take a look at who is allowed to use this form.
Attorneys and Accredited Representatives:
Attorneys and accredited representatives working on behalf of a client are the most common users of this form. Any attorney or representative appearing on behalf of a client before the Department of Homeland Security, which includes USCIS, CBP and ICE, must file this form for each case.
Law Students and Law Graduates:
Law students or graduates can not appear by themselves on behalf of a client. In order to do so, they need to be working under the direct supervision of an attorney or accredited representative, and input their information into the G-28 filed by said attorney or accredited representative. Also, they require the permission of a DHS official in order to be able to appear.
Foreign Attorneys:
Attorneys who are not licensed to practice in the US can also appear on behalf of an applicant. In order to do so, they need to file the form G-28I, which is a variant of the G-28 form. This form is titled “Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney in Matters Outside the Geographical Confines of the United States”. Filing this form is not enough for such attorneys, because it is up to the discretion of DHS.
Dos and Don’ts of the Form G-28
The Form G-28 is a remarkably straightforward form to fill out. Unlike the other forms related to your admission or immigration process such as the Forms I-485 or I-765, there is no complex information that you need to worry about putting in this. However, even though most of the information that you will be putting in this form is basic identification information about yourself and your attorney or representative, you still need to be careful about what you are putting in this form. Making a mistake here might make you lose valuable support that you would otherwise get from your attorney. Let’s then take a look at some general issues you should be careful about when filling out this form.
Dos:
- Make sure that you sign your form with a black pen. This may seem obvious, but this is actually one of the most common causes of the form being rejected by the USCIS.
- When you are signing part 4 of the form, you must carefully input where you would like to receive all notices from the USCIS. This could be your address or the address of your attorney. If you do not do this carefully, you may miss out on important notices.
- Complete all fields carefully.
Don’ts
- Do not use highlighters or correction fluids. If you made a mistake, get a new form.
- Do not gray out any part of the form.
This is almost all there is to know about your Form G-28. Even though this looks like a very straightforward and simple form, make no mistake; this form is extremely important for you to fill out and file correctly if you are taking the help of an attorney or a representative.
Filing Costs
The form G-28 will not cost you anything to file. This form is provided free of cost by the USCIS.
If you need any assistance regarding the immigration in the US, you can hire Raju Law. Attorney Raju Mahajan, Esq. and his firm Raju Law, a U.S.-based immigration law firm, can take care of your case on your behalf. You can contact Raju Law through their email: info@rajulaw.com. You can call 24/7 over the phone at this number +1 833-725-8529.
