Immigration records and background checks

Getting your immigration file

Under the Freedom of Information Act you can request the government's records about you. For immigration purposes this usually means files held by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, or the immigration courts.

A file can hold an entry you do not remember. An application someone filed for you. An order nobody told you about. A note that will come up at your next interview.

We regularly find that a client's actual history differs from what they believed it was, sometimes because a notario or a relative filed something years ago without explaining it. It is far better to learn this before an interview than during one.

We recommend a FOIA request before filing anything significant if there is any uncertainty about your history.

Background checks and fingerprinting

We provide fingerprinting in our Seattle office for FBI identity history summaries and Washington State Patrol background checks. You do not have to be a client to use this service.

These are commonly needed for immigration applications, and also for licensing, adoption, employment, and foreign residency applications.

Because we do it here, you can finish in one visit. That matters if you are travelling in from outside Seattle.