Many things in business and everyday life have already moved online and a lot more are in the process of going online or digital, whether it is shopping, accessing software applications, open or online banking, entertainment, to name a few. This is true for various government services and application filing including USCIS immigration related applications.
The Millennials and Gen Z may not even consider filling in a paper application and may find it outdated if others follow the old ways. They may even have an inhibition in dealing with those who follow the traditional methods and that is the reason why agencies and departments like USCIS are upgrading their systems to allow e-filing of petitions and applications. Those who don’t follow the digital trend in any industry – manufacturing, retail, healthcare, or professional services – may struggle to survive.
Online or e-Filing with USCIS refers to the process of submitting immigration-related petitions/applications and forms electronically through their secure online filing system. USCIS already allows online application for N-400: Application for Naturalization, I-90: Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, and I-130: Petition for Alien Relative. Last month, USCIS launched online filing of Form I-129 and associated Form I-907 for non-cap and cap H-1B petitions for petitioners whose registrations have been selected. Here are some key points about e-Filing.
e-Filing is beneficial to the petitioner and more to the immigration law practitioners. Let us take on some of the important advantages of e-filing.
It allows the attorneys or their representatives to create their own account to manage the applicant’s cases, and represent on their behalf.
e-Filing provides a streamlined and efficient way to interact with USCIS for various immigration-related applications and related matters. The top-most reason for immigration law firms and attorneys to get a USCIS online account is the ease of filing forms online and tracking the case anytime from anywhere. It allows you to:
These benefits help the law practitioners to get applications processed much more quickly than the manual filing of applications, thus saving time and effort and costs to all stakeholders including practitioners, petitioners and beneficiaries.
USCIS e-filing ImmiBox is arguably the only immigration case management application available in the market that currently allows e-filing of Form I-129 (H-1B petitions) directly from the case management software. The immigration law firms and attorneys who use ImmiBox will continue to enjoy all the benefits of e-filing that we explained above when they opt for e-filing through ImmiBox application and gain more benefits. We will explore how e-filing directly through ImmiBox bring gains to the practitioners.
When immigration law practitioners e-file applications through USCIS, they must reenter all the data and information required by the system. This can take more time and cause errors resulting in delays in application processing. ImmiBox not only allows opening the relevant e-filing application form from USCIS portal with a direct click, but also prefills all the data and information already captured in ImmiBox. This helps users eliminate errors and mistakes and ensures that the application gets processed quickly. Furthermore, the facility to e-file through ImmiBox benefits the users by way of receiving instant acknowledgement and receipt of the application submission and integrating the status update in ImmiBox.
In nutshell, ImmiBox’s e-filing capability helps immigration practitioners, and their staff gets applications processed quickly and error-free, saving a lot of time and cost of operations, resulting in enhanced bottom-line. ImmiBox brings dual benefits of e-filing applications but without leaving ImmiBox and the features and functionalities of case management, with its seamlessly customizable workflows, forms and letters templates, document management, intuitive dashboards, calendar management, alerts, among others.
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Organizations have increasingly realized that digital transformation is the key to meeting the challenges of the current environment. Companies that embrace this transformation head-on find they are met with a significant competitive advantage. Workflow automation is a proven cornerstone of this transformation, providing you with the flexibility to enable rapid response and agility.
Almost everything we do during the day is part of a process, whether we realize it or not, whether it is sanctioned or not, whether it is useful or not. One thing we learned during the pandemic was that some of these processes ought to be automated and some not: we struggled with automated schooling and asynchronous learning, but discovered the benefits of grocery delivery – between the first and fourth quarter of 2020, there was a 9% increase in seniors using Instacart.
Automation can be ambiguous: there is value in the “weak ties” that we build when we buy a cup of coffee in person instead of through an app. Not all processes must be automated in order to work best.
But processes in the workplace are different. And the ones we don’t realize are processes end up taking longer, exposing more risk, and, at the end of the day, making our lives a little bit worse.
Every signed document, for example, is part of a larger story: approvals are almost always involved, and before approvals discussion, and before collaboration someone’s request. Often, these processes don’t feel like larger stories because we just see ourselves touch one part of them, usually through our email inbox.
The same is true for spreadsheets: what may seem like a single location where information is stored is more often a place where the information drifts up — ad hoc requests, shared ownership, and non-required fields make spreadsheets a huge source of error. The way to improve on a spreadsheet is to remember that, like a contract, it is the end of the process, not the process itself.
In this write-up, we have discussed a few challenges faced by immigration law firms that have to be addressed to drive growth and lead ahead in this competitive era.
Managing time has always been challenging for immigration attorneys as apart from handling legal obligations, they need to perform numerous paperwork and administrative tasks. While the transition to remote working platforms is beneficial in many ways, it has also opened access to numerous modes of distractions that might waste a lawyer’s time and energy. Moreover, some intricate immigration cases may require extensive research that might waste enough time.
Due to all these reasons, it can be tough to deliver timely service to clients. But using these modern tools can help in automatically handling workflow management in immigration process including data management, research, customer service, and numerous administrative tasks. Therefore, the staff members will get enough time to focus on legal intricacies.
Unlike yesteryears, today clients demand a higher level of transparency and timely updates from the immigration law firm handling their case. As the internet has already provided abundant information on legal matters, customers want to ensure whether their case is going in the right direction. Moreover, before paying their bills, they cross-check whether their money will be spent judiciously. Therefore, immigration law firms have to present transparent bills to their clients and they are required to explain all aspects of legal procedures in simple language.
While maintaining transparency with clients, they also need to ensure that important files are not sent through insecure networks and complete confidentiality is maintained.
Data is one of the most valuable assets for immigration law firms or practitioners where clients place their trust to protect their personal information. But enabling work from home has opened more channels for data theft and cyber-attacks. A seamlessly harmless download, email, or click can often give entry to viruses, and malware that can leave vital data and files inaccessible. Plus, if not stored and organized well, they can easily be lost in the myriad of files.
As immigration firms continue to evolve, staff members are accessing their office data through various mobile devices. This provides a good opportunity for hackers who might steal important data and misuse it. A secured, trusted, robust and technically advanced Case Management Software for Immigration Law Firms / Practitioners will eliminate cyber-attacks and minimize the risk of losing immigrants’ confidential information.
Like any other business, the primary concern of an immigration law firm is to maintain an ever-increasing stream of clients and revenue in order to meet their operating costs and liabilities. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, bringing new clients has become a challenging task for immigration law firms. Now, many prospective clients and employees are worried about their health, safety, and economic prospects related to migration. Therefore, they may be avoiding any legal proceeding that might pose a risk of infection.
While informing the prospects about the safety measures that have been taken to prevent the spread of the disease, it is important engaging the clients and employees online by solving their problems and helping them with proper legal assistance can go a long way in building a strong online reputation.
An immigration law firm cannot maximize the benefits of digital technology unless its staff does not reinvent its skills accordingly. As companies are compelled to adopt cloud-based, digitally-empowered applications, the workforce needs to learn about accessing it for improving the client service experience, USA immigration process management, document automation, and streamlining business processes.
With so many software, tools, and applications available to immigration law firms, it can be easy to get drifted. But instead of investing in any random technology, it’s important to evaluate its benefits. Well, embracing new technology can consume a lot of energy and money; but will cut significant costs in the future.
Apart from requiring a close collaboration between technology and legal staff, legal firms’ technological deployment process should also emphasize risk mitigation associated with cybercrime and threats to data transparency.
It can be challenging for immigration law firms to manage their caseload, especially when they are operating remotely. Whether they are working to extend the tenure of a student’s visa or seeking a visa for a professional worker, each case may involve a wide range of procedures that comprises counseling the clients about their rights, data collection, documentation, and representing the case in administrative courts. Regardless of the number of cases that an immigration firm is handling, it’s mandatory to delight every client with excellent service.
For lawyers, managing multiple cases at a time can be stressful. To manage each case efficiently, it is important to split the caseload into groups.
Deploying a workflow based and well-defined visa processing software can be instrumental in managing each case efficiently by automating numerous arduous, repetitive, and time-intensive tasks.
Overall, these are some of the most compelling challenges that the immigration law firms are facing and need to be addressed comprehensively for productivity boost and consistent business growth. Besides that, understanding the evolving needs of clients, diagnosing their issues, and developing a pathway to achieve the best solution is key for delivering high-end immigration service.
Today, as immigration law professionals have enough growth opportunities, technological and logistic adoption can be vital in turning their challenges into opportunities. If however, you still find it difficult to move forward by preventing the various hurdles, contact us to find effective software solutions.
Moreover, the global COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in some radical and positive changes in the workplace, social distancing and remote working being the most common ones. In these unprecedented times, cloud-based, technically advanced case management software has come to the rescue. It enables legal firms to manage tasks, client intake and communication, document creation and collaboration, invoicing and payments in a more systematic manner.
With these benefits, immigration case management software encourages law firms to adapt their working strategies to a new digital era. Keep on reading to know how it has brought an opportunity to transform operational efficiency and customer experiences.
Using immigration case management software enables the law firm to collect clients’ data and store it properly. By allowing the users to log in to the system and fill their forms online, they help in initiating and processing cases.
Apart from saving time on the data entry process, this software also assists in organizing and retrieving clients’ documents. Another benefit of a visa processing software is that it prevents data loss and misplacement. As they mostly use high-end access management protocols, the user need not worry about security factors.
In this era, every law firm promises to offer 24/7 support to its clients. But proving immediate response with respect to their pending immigration matters is a cumbersome task that requires looking through government-provided data and checking information regarding the backlog in immigrants’ visa processing. While managing these inquiries can be difficult when done manually, an immigration case management software can automatically handle them.
By allowing the immigration attorneys to communicate directly with their clients, they prevent miscommunication and improve litigation management. Moreover, communicating through a case management client portal also helps in keeping track of history of communication like Chat.
With immigration management software in place, attorneys need not perform repetitive tasks, such as data entry, form filling, document tracking, and vetting. They usually comprise an intelligent process automation that can take care of tedious administrative processes, with accuracy. Being cloud-based, they can store and retrieve a vast repository of client data on demand. Moreover, they can readily generate forms and documents based on the client’s information dynamically (Dynamic Forms). If the case demands any additional information, the software will have provision to request for more from the client.
As this software automatically handles and streamlines workflow management in immigration process, the staff gets valuable time to focus on more challenging tasks that require legal expertise.
Modern immigration case management software connects front office and back-office to serve as a fully functional platform. Therefore, it eliminates the time spent on jumping from one tool to another. As it comprises a wide range of administrative features, the firm can manage its day-to-day work in an intuitive fashion, all within the same platform.
As this software enables USA immigration processing from any location, it assists in a smooth transition to a fully remote team. After all, organizing and storing the firm’s data at one central location enables staff to access it from anywhere.
Whether operating online or offline, communication among the team members can be a challenging task, especially in large legal organizations. But with an immigration case management software, it can be done in an easy manner. With the internal case specific chat feature available in the platform, updating the status is instant. Requesting more information from the team or an individual is straight forward. Moreover, it is preserved for future reference forever. Be it a Immigration Law Practitioner, Client/Petitioner, Beneficiary, the communication is all transparent, instant and accurate with no scope of missing details.
Having the entire case history displayed in a single view, steps performed at various levels by every user involved gives the complete progress at a quick glance.
Customizable workflow will help the Immigration Law Practitioners configure the mandatory or optional steps at various levels and enforce them.
Tasks and Reminders will help the Immigration Law Practitioners to manage their time efficiently and avoid missing deadlines. Immigration Case Management software like ImmiBox can help the Practitioners by highlighting pending tasks in the Dashboard with easy access in a single screen. With instant review and actions, you never miss a thing.
Pre-defined and customized role based activities and content display help the Law Firm manage their operations and team more efficiently and effectively like never before. Case Management Software also provides much needed peace of mind to the users with increased transparency.
For immigration law firms, the ability to comb through thousands of documents helps in making informed decisions based on previous trends. Technically advanced immigration case management software helps in understanding patterns and planning strategies around routine functions as well as more complex legal processes.
A repository of information at one central location provides a comprehensive view of current and future immigration needs. Moreover, it provides the legal team with a suitable course of action to obtain immigration benefits for a particular client or to the entire industry.
In Conclusion, while once a slow adopter of digital technology, law firms have come a long way by adopting cloud-based case management software to transform their legal operations. The technological transition has served as a catalyst in increasing productivity and greater profitability.
ImmiBox, as a comprehensive all-in-one Immigration Case Management solution enables automation across various aspects of legal operations, besides ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. ImmiBox aims to transform Immigration Legal Practices through healthy workflows, robust quality mechanisms, dynamic forms, and critical insights to operational efficiency. Contact us for more details.
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