Austin, Texas, is lucky to have a lot of nonprofits and legal service providers which can assist with certain types of cases. Unfortunately, the demand for services still often exceeds the available resources, and many nonprofits can only accept clients below a certain level of income. Many attorneys help with cases on a volunteer capacity as well, but those can be harder to find.
Here are some of the best immigration law offices and nonprofits available in Austin, as well as some other general notes and contact information for non-immigration legal services and other helpful organizations. Information may go out of date from time to time, but most of these organizations have been in operation for a long time and can be found with a quick search.
Austin has a number of nonprofits that provide direct legal representation by attorneys or accredited representatives. Most have their own guidelines, income thresholds, and sometimes waitlists. Some only accept a narrow range of cases, for example they may not accept immigration court cases or work visa applications. The best strategy is to contact all of them to assess whether they can take a case, and to be persistent in calling or inquiring if the first attempt does not yield results.
Catholic Charities (CCCTX) offers low-cost immigration services in a variety of case types. Contact the office for current intake and consultation procedures.
American Gateways provides a range of immigration legal services for free or low cost, depending on the benefit type.
RAICES offers free or low cost legal services and is located in South Austin, among other locations.
The Bernardo-Kohler Center offers limited immigration services including Special Immigrant Juvenile cases and applications for victims of criminal activities.
Casa Marianella offers housing, ESL, and immigration representation in certain cases.
The Equal Justice Center provides limited immigration assistance in requesting DACA, as well as legal assistance in workplace and employee rights cases.
The Lone Star Victims Advocacy Project focuses on cases involving victims of domestic violence and other crime, as well as associated immigration benefit applications.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid has several locations and offers some immigration legal services.
The UT Austin immigration law clinic accepts limited clients for direct legal representation. The clinic accepts referrals from other legal service providers and may be contacted directly to see if it will be able to assist in other cases at (512) 232-1292.
These organizations offer specific services for refugees and asylum seekers: