FAQs

If you are an immigrant in need of immigration legal services, live in the northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. area, and your total family income is 200% or less of the federal poverty guidelines, you may be eligible for services with Just Neighbors. First, you need to either fill out the online questionnaire on the Request to Meet with a Lawyer page, or call us at 703-979-1240 during our intake hours for a short (approximately five-minute) phone interview. A staff attorney will review the information you provided by Internet or telephone, and we will contact you within a week to give you further information. If we can help you, we will make an appointment to meet for an initial consultation. If we cannot help you, we will give you information about other organizations or attorneys that may be better suited to your needs.

Our regular hours are Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm, and we perform intakes Tuesday–Friday, 9am–5pm. Just Neighbors does not provide legal services to walk-ins. To get immigration legal help, you must go through our intake process by Internet or phone. See the Request to Meet with a Lawyer page for more information about the intake process and how to request legal help. If you are a client of Just Neighbors and need to drop off or pick up documents, you may do so Tuesday–Friday, 9am–5pm. If you are not a client of Just Neighbors and you stop by during intake hours, we will meet with you for a brief, five-minute intake interview, but you will not be able to speak with a lawyer at that time.

Just Neighbors charges a flat fee of $100 per case. There are no additional fees for Just Neighbors, although USCIS may require an application fee. USCIS may also require a medical exam. If you have a large family all in need of services, you will not necessarily be charged $100 per person. When we call to make your appointment, please ask how much the fee will be if there is more than one individual in your family who needs help.

Please read the What to Expect At Your Appointment section of the Get Help page to find out which documents you need to bring to your first appointment with Just Neighbors.

Many of our clients qualify for a fee waiver when filing applications with USCIS. When we meet with you, we will review the requirements and evidence needed to waive any applicable fees for USCIS.

Please visit our contact page for a map of our office location.

Yes, because Just Neighbors focuses on helping the most vulnerable among the immigrant population, we tend to focus on humanitarian-based immigration.  We do not take cases where an employer petitions for a worker since the employer is the client.

That depends. Unfortunately, due to limited resources, Just Neighbors cannot help everyone who comes through our doors. Some immigrants do not qualify for any benefit with USCIS. If, after doing a consultation with you, we learn that this is the case for you, we will let you know and will explain what your rights and responsibilities are in the U.S. Many people want a work permit, but only those who qualify for certain immigration benefits may be eligible to receive one.

Because Just Neighbors is a nonprofit and has limited resources, unfortunately, we cannot help everyone who calls us. We get many phone calls every day from immigrants needing assistance. While it is difficult to say no to people in need, it is impossible for our attorneys to assist every immigrant who contacts us. We do our best to steer those we cannot help toward other organizations and lawyers who may be able to provide assistance.

Just Neighbors only provides immigration legal services. If you need legal help with custody, divorce, child support, or other family issues, try contacting Legal Services of Northern Virginia. If you need legal help with back wages or other employment issues, try contacting the Legal Aid Justice Center.

If you have a friend or family member who has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and needs an attorney, try contacting Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), Ayuda, Hogar Immigrant Services, or Catholic Charities. If you need to find out where your friend or family member is being detained, try checking the Online Detainee Locator System.

No. Just Neighbors does not review forms, nor can we give advice over the phone or to walk-ins. You must go through our regular intake process and have an appointment with us to receive legal assistance. If Just Neighbors is able to take your case, we will fill out the forms for you. If you have questions about filling out immigration forms, you may wish to visit the official U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

No. Just Neighbors is not able to give legal advice to non-clients. You must go through the regular intake process and pay the $100 fee if you would like to receive assistance. If you have questions regarding immigration, you may wish to visit the official U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

Just Neighbors does not rely on client funds to keep us going. Instead, we are dependent on donations and grants from individuals, churches, foundations, and other types of organizations. Rest assured that if you donate to Just Neighbors, your money will directly assist an immigrant in receiving immigration legal services. We are an efficient, streamlined organization with eight paid staff members, five attorneys, one part-time volunteer coordinator, an executive director and operations director. In addition, Just Neighbors magnifies the value of every donation by using volunteers to help at every stage of case preparation and submission. In fact, more than 50 percent of the time spent by Just Neighbors personnel on cases is unpaid due to the dedicated service of our volunteers. This helps keep overhead costs low, so we can stretch your donation dollar. More information on donating to Just Neighbors is available on our Donate page.

Please see visit the Volunteer page to learn about volunteering with Just Neighbors. Finally, fill in the form on the Volunteer Questionnaire page to tell us about yourself. Thank you for your interest. We could not survive without our wonderful volunteers!

We offer legal internships for law school students and non-legal internships for undergraduate and graduate students. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. To learn about interning with Just Neighbors, please visit the Volunteer page. To apply for an internship, please fill in the form on the Volunteer Questionnaire page.