Green cards
What to bring to a green card interview
The documents, copies and photos an officer expects to see, and the ones families forget most often.
Eulalia Benavente6 min read
Immigration lawyer · Santa Ana
Your family’s papers, in plain words
I’m Eulalia Benavente. I handle family green cards, deportation defense and asylum from an office on North Broadway, and I write down every step so the whole family can follow it.
Watch first
The green card interview, before you sit down for it
Twelve minutes on what an officer asks a married couple, which papers to bring, and what happens when the honest answer is “I don’t remember.”
Recorded in English and in Spanish. The written checklist covers the same ground, so you can print it and mark each line off.
The green card interview, step by step
Guides
Read it at the kitchen table
Short guides I give my clients, written so a parent, a teenager and a grandparent can each follow them.
Deportation defenseIf someone in your family is detained
What to write down, who to call first and what not to sign in the first two days.
Eulalia Benavente5 min read
Cases
Three kinds of cases, each from first letter to last
I keep the practice narrow so every file gets read closely, by me.
Family green cards
Petitions for spouses, parents and children, adjustment of status here or an interview at a consulate abroad, and the waivers some families need first.
Read about family green cards
Deportation defense
Bond hearings, cancellation of removal and motions to reopen old orders, in immigration court and on appeal.
Read about deportation defense
Asylum
Asylum on your own or in court, withholding of removal, and the work permit that can follow while the case waits.
Read about asylum
Clients
What families wrote back afterward
“She sent a checklist in Spanish for my mother and one in English for me. At the interview, nothing surprised us.”
Odilia M.Family green card
“My brother was picked up on a Friday. She called us back that night and told us exactly what to gather for the bond hearing.”
Floriberto C.Deportation defense
“The asylum file took months. Every week we knew what was still missing and why it mattered.”
Clemente R.Asylum
Every case is different. What one family went through doesn’t predict the result in another case.
First meeting
Bring the envelope. We’ll open it together.
A first consultation takes about an hour, at the office or by video. Bring every letter immigration has sent you, even the ones that look routine.