Immigration & Citizenship

NAFA provides a network of resources and attorneys for its registered members seeking inquiries regarding residency, employment authorization, visas or sponsorship within the United States. NAFA does not represent or provide immigration services for its members live. NAFA trains and teaches its members how to become immigration specialists. Throughout its 28 years of service, NAFA has been proud to serve the community and has long remained an institution that has helped members navigate the path of residency in the United States, while that enriches their careers as foreign professionals.

Foreign Professionals

In the case of foreign professionals who want to pursue a career within the United States, for example, in education, they would need to undergo the revalidation process as required by their respective State and the State agency or licensing body, dependent on the state.

If you have not read any Immigration guides, feel free to consult the USCIS Immigration Guides: M-618 Guide for New Immigrants and M-476 A Guide to Naturalization (in English). (Read more, redirects to uscis.gov.)

Foreign Educators & Professors

An applicant who is not a United States citizen [or permanent resident] may apply for the Statement of Status of Eligibility (SOE) for teachers. However, appropriate immigration status must be established through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) prior to employment with the State School Education system. The Educator Certification Office cannot provide visa assistance as this is strictly an employment issue. Consequently, issues related to immigration status or visas should be discussed with your potential employer. Upon employment at an approved Florida school, the employer must submit appropriate documentation of immigration status to the Office of Educator Certification as a requirement for issuance of a Florida Educator Certificate.

The credential evaluation report includes a breakdown of the graduate's academic history, course by course. A profile is developed for the graduate based on his or her foreign academic transcripts, which must include descriptive course titles and semester-hour credits. The following is an excerpt that the credential evaluation report is required for foreign-trained graduates, according to the Florida Department of Education. UNPAM services our members through an entire advanced foreign credential evaluation process, known as the homologation process. Please review our Homologation section for more details.

Foreign Attorneys

The California Bar includes lawyers who have been educated abroad. You do not have to be a United States citizen to be an attorney licensed in California to practice general practice, but you must complete some additional paperwork. Consult our Purposes page, designed for our Foreign Lawyers, with the options available to them for a career as immigration specialists or legal consultants foreigners, and/or prepare them for the Bar Exam to become general practice attorneys by the California Bar.

NAFA offers numerous seminars and courses in immigration law, either as an introduction for foreign professionals who are interested in learning more about how to apply for permanent residency in the US. Or advanced courses, offered to our foreign attorneys, who have the right to represent non-citizens as part of the provisions and exceptions of federal law. Review Code 8 CFR 292.1-3. “Foreign lawyers may practice immigration law as a lawyer.”

As part of our immigration law course series, we teach two (2) areas of specialization, in the subject course at a minimum: (1) Waivers: Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers, and (2) Labor Certification.