Data & Privacy Policy

Data & Privacy Policies

Please review our privacy policies for information as to how we process personal information. We update and change our privacy policies from time to time. We most recently made changes to our privacy policies on December 1, 2019, and these included making material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share personal information, including personal information that is provided to us.

Cookie Policy

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that may be placed on your computer by websites you visit. There are several ways they may be used such as, to provide information on the use of the website, to add additional functionality and services or to help manage content.

How we use cookies

We use a third-party tool (Google Analytics) to collect and store certain information when you use, access, or interact with this website. The type of information we gather may include the location of your IP address, the number of visits made, the pages visited, the duration of the visit, the type of device used and how you interact with the site content. This information is anonymous and is only used by us to help improve our digital services and user experience.

Opting in or out

Cookies are not gathered without your consent and choosing to opt out of cookies on this site or Google Analytics will not affect the use of our site.

Consent is granted to us when you select ‘Allow Cookies’ button on the cookie notification banner. Alternatively, consent can be declined by selecting ‘Decline cookies’ on the cookie notification banner.

Cookies will not be gathered if you have chosen to opt out of Google Analytics. Further information on opting out of Google Analytics can be found on this page.

Client Privacy Policy

U.S. Immigration Law Group, LLP is committed to compliance with relevant UK and European data protection laws and will responsibly protect the information you provide to us and the information we collect in the course of operating our business. This Client Privacy Policy (Privacy Policy) describes how the businesses, as data controllers, may collect, use, and share information about you and your rights in relation to that information.

Your provision of information to us constitutes your acceptance of the terms of this Privacy Policy. Please do not send us any information which you do not want to be used in the ways described in this Privacy Policy.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to your use of our services, including when you request information from us; when you engage our legal services; and as a result of your relationship with one of our clients.

Privacy information about your use of our online services and how we market to you can be found in our Digital Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy describes:

  • The types of information we process
  • How we use the information
  • How long we retain information
  • How we share the information
  • Protection and storage of the information
  • You and your rights
  • How to contact us
  • Data controller
  • Changes to this Privacy Policy

When we use personal information about you or others in connection with providing our legal services to clients we do so as a data controller.

The types of information we process

We will process personal information we receive directly from you, on your behalf, other organizations with whom you have interactions, government agencies, publicly available records and the third parties described in ‘How we share the information’ below.

We may collect current and historical personal information including/relating to: your name, contact details, identification, ethnic origin, marital status, employment/business, finances, academic history and criminal offences/convictions (this is non-exhaustive which depends on the circumstances).

How we use the information

We may use your personal information if:

  • It is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or our client on your behalf
    (e.g., When we are providing our services to you as envisaged by our engagement letter);
  • It is necessary in connection with a legal obligation (e.g., when we are carrying out anti-money laundering and conflict checks);
  • You have provided your consent to such use (e.g., you have approved the use of a specific third party to assist on your matter);
  • We consider such use of your information as not detrimental to you, within your reasonable expectations, having a minimal impact on your privacy, and necessary to fulfil our legitimate interests (e.g., to manage and attend at home office or consular appointments on your behalf, to manage fees and invoicing, or to recover money owed to us); or
  • We are otherwise required or authorized by law.

Special categories of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using it.

Depending on the nature of our instructions, we may collect, store and use any of the following special categories of information about clients, prospective clients and/or about related parties to a matter:

  • Physical or mental health, including any medical condition or disability;
  • Race or ethnicity;
  • Political opinions;
  • Religious or philosophical beliefs;
  • Trade union membership;
  • Sexual orientation;
  • Genetic information and biometric data;

Depending on the nature of our instructions from you, we process this type of information where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend your immigration status (including legal claims), where you have made the information public, or by asking for explicit consent. If we seek your consent, you may withdraw consent at any time as described in ‘Your choices and rights’ below.

We use your information to:

• provide and improve our services to you;

• maintain and develop our relationship with you;

• facilitate our internal business operations;

• fulfil our legal requirements (including in relation to anti-money laundering) and professional obligations;

• monitor and analyze our business.

We may not be able to do these things without your personal information.

How long we retain information

We recognize that it is important to only retain your personal information for as long as is required by law (which is currently 6 years) or we consider reasonably necessary, after which we will destroy it. Due to the nature of immigration services, a full record of information obtained from you, third parties and advice provided by us shall not be retained longer than 15 years unless you request that it be erased. This is because we consider that it is in your best interests that we retain a full history of data which may be relevant to future matters you instruct us to assist with. Such data can also be relevant to your immigration position should there be any dispute with the authorities or for us to be able to provide you with a record should you misplace important immigration documents/information. If you would like us to rectify or erase your data, please refer to the section on ‘Your choices and rights’ below.

How we share the information

We may share your information with third parties where:

  • You have consented for us to do so;
  • We are under a legal, regulatory or professional obligation to do so;
  • It is necessary for the purpose of, or in connection with, legal proceedings, or to exercise or defend legal rights;
  • It is required or will assist us in providing our services, which includes: government and related independent organizations, representatives for submission of applications to the immigration authorities, reference/qualification checking, translators, international couriers, research, archiving, professional advisory (including legal, accounting, financial and business consulting), banking, payment, debt collection, insurance, marketing, and information security services.;
  • If, in the future, we re-organize or transfer all or part of our business, we may need to transfer your information to new entities from which our business will be carried out.

In connection with any proposed incorporation, purchase, merger or acquisition of any part of our business; we inform the potential buyer (and its agents and advisers) that it must use your personal information only for the purposes disclosed in this Privacy Policy.

Where we transfer your information internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that your information is treated securely, and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards.

If you have any questions in relation to the transfer of your personal information, please contact us.

Protection and storage of the information

We take steps to hold information securely in electronic or physical form and to prevent unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Our information security practices are supported by several security safeguards, processes and procedures. We store information in access- controlled premises or in password- protected electronic form. We require our third- party IT providers to comply with appropriate information security obligations. All staff and third- party providers with access to confidential information are subject to confidentiality obligations. However, the transmission of information via the internet is at your own risk as it is not completely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to us but can offer a secure portal for the exchange of electronic information. We are regularly reviewing ways to improve our security offering as technology develops.

You and your rights

Subject to applicable laws, you may have certain rights regarding information that we have collected and that is related to you. We encourage you to contact us to update or correct your information if it changes or if you believe that any information that we have collected about you is inaccurate. You can also ask us to see what personal information we hold about you, to erase your personal information and you may tell us if you object to our use of your personal information. If you would like to discuss or exercise the rights you may have, please contact us. We should be able to resolve any matter quickly and to your satisfaction.

  • Right to know: You have the right to access (and obtain a copy of, if required) the categories of personal information that we hold about you, including the information’s source, purpose and period of processing, and the persons to whom the information is shared.
  • Right to rectification: You have the right to update the information we hold about you or to rectify any inaccuracies. Based on the purpose for which we use your information, you can instruct us to add supplemental information about you in our database.
  • Right to delete: You have the right to request that we delete your personal information in certain circumstances, such as when it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was originally collected.
  • Right to restriction of processing: You may also have the right to request to restrict the use of your information in certain circumstances, such as when you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to transfer your information to a third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, in circumstances where the information is processed with your consent or by automated means.
  • Right to object: You have the right to object to the use of your information in certain circumstances, such as the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
  • Right to opt-out: You have the right to opt-out of sale of personal information. Consumers are able to direct a business that sells personal information to stop selling that information.
  • Right to non-discrimination: You have the right to non-discrimination in terms of price or service when you exercise a privacy right under CCPA.

How to contact us

If you would like to contact us with questions about our privacy practices, please send us an email via our Contact page or contact Lisa Ramirez at lisa@usilg.net.

If you are a data controller or a data processor

If you are a data controller or a data processor in your own right, and you provide personal data to us, you confirm to us that you have a lawful basis for doing so under data protection law and all necessary consents, where required.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date of the current Privacy Policy is December 1, 2019. We encourage you to periodically review this policy. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share the personal information that you have provided, we will notify you by posting notice of the changes in a clear and conspicuous manner on the company website.

Digital Privacy Policy

U.S. Immigration Law Group, LLP is committed to compliance with relevant United Kingdom (UK) and European data protection laws and will responsibly protect the information you provide to us and the information we collect in the course of operating our business.

This Privacy Policy describes how the company, as data controllers, may collect, use, and share information, particularly in association with the operation of our website (www.usilg.net) and all of our HTML-formatted email communications that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, “Digital Services”).

This Privacy Policy describes:

  • The types of information we collect
  • How we use the information
  • How we share the information
  • Third-party services and content
  • Protection and storage of the information
  • Your choices and rights
  • How to contact us
  • Changes to this Privacy Policy

The types of information we collect

We collect your personal information when you provide it to us. Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you or that we can link to you. We may automatically collect certain information when you use, access, or interact with our Digital Services. And we may collect information from other sources, such as social media platforms that may share information about how you interact with our social media content.

Information you provide to us

You generally can use our Digital Services without providing us with personal information.

We collect information that you voluntarily provide to us, including when you communicate with us via email or other channels; when you request a consultation through our website or sign up for or request that we send you newsletters, alerts, or other materials; when you submit an application for a position with us; when you sign up for a webinar or event; and when you respond to our communications or requests for information. The information you provide may include your name, contact information, title, and information about your immigration matter.

Information we may collect automatically

We use a third-party service, Google Analytics, and similar technologies (collectively, ‘Cookies’) to collect and store certain information when you use, access, or interact with our Digital Services. We may, for example, collect information about the type of device you use to access the Digital Services, the operating system and version, your IP address, your general geographic location as indicated by your IP address, your browser type, the content you view and features you access on the Digital Services, the web pages you view immediately before and after you access the Digital Services, whether and how you interact with content available on the Digital Services, and the search terms you enter on the Digital Services. For information about how we use Cookies and the choices you may have, please see our Cookie Policy.

To opt-out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

Please note that we do not currently respond to web browser “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that may allow you to opt out of the collection of information across networks of websites and online services as there is no standard for how online services should respond to such signals. As standards develop, we may develop policies for responding to do-not-track signals that we will describe in this Privacy Policy.

Information we collect from other sources

We may receive information about you from third-party sources, including but not limited to, employers or schools, that help us: update, expand, and analyze our records; identify new clients; or prevent or detect fraud. We may also receive information about you from social media platforms, including but not limited to, when you interact with us on those platforms or access our social media content. The information we may receive is governed by the privacy settings, policies, and/or procedures of the applicable social media platform, and we encourage you to review them.

How we use the information

We may use the information we collect:

  • To respond to your inquiries;
  • To provide you with legal and other services that you request;
  • To operate, troubleshoot, and improve the Digital Services;
  • To send you newsletters, legal news, marketing communications, and other information or materials that may interest you;
  • To maintain our database;
  • To understand how people use our Digital Services, including by generating and analyzing statistics;
  • For the company’s business purposes, including data analysis; submitting invoices, preparing immigration documents, detecting, preventing, and responding to actual or potential fraud, illegal activities, or intellectual property infringement;
  • To assess the effectiveness of our events, promotional campaigns, and publications;
  • To evaluate, recruit, and hire personnel; and
  • As we believe reasonably necessary or appropriate to: (1) comply with our legal obligations; (2) respond to legal process or requests for information issued by government authorities or other third parties; or (3) protect your, our, or others’ rights.

How we share the information

The company is a provider of legal services. Our offices share information with each other for business purposes such as internal administration, billing, promoting our events and services, and providing you or your organization with services.

We do not sell, rent, or otherwise share information that reasonably identifies you or your organization with unaffiliated entities for their independent use except as expressly described in this Privacy Policy or with your prior permission. We may share information that does not reasonably identify you or your organization as permitted by applicable law.

We may also disclose information we collect through the following applications:

  • Calendar/Acuity: Contains name, phone numbers and email address. Information is shared with our appointment reminder system which alerts clients and potential clients of their appointment times scheduled with our office.

  • Intake Sheet (electronic and physical): Collects biographic information including name, aliases, address, date and place of birth, marital status, spouse information, place and date of marriage, children names, place and date of children’s birth, entry and departure dates to the United States, immigration status, immigration and criminal history, and parents’ immigration status in order to assess eligibility and risks in applying for an immigration benefit. Also collects phone numbers, email addresses, and social media accounts.

  • Credit Card Authorization Form: Collects name, address, phone number, credit card number, expiration date and CVV code in order to process a credit card payment authorized in person or telephonically. Information is used to process payment through a third-party credit card processing merchant.

  • LawPay: Online payment technology that is used to process payment. This credit card processing merchant collects name, address, phone number, credit card number, expiration date, CVV code in order to process a credit card payment.

  • Microsoft Outlook/Email: Contains electronic communication pertaining to incorrect or incomplete biographic information and/or pdfs of draft forms and documents sent for review. Emails are saved in electronic file folder for reference during the preparation, filing and history of an immigration related matter.

  • Electronic Server: Stores intake sheets, new matter memos, draft forms and biographic documents, including but not limited to, birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, school and military records, medical records, employment records, resumes, certificates, transcripts, criminal records, immigration records, government issued identification, physical presence documents, paycheck stubs, green cards, naturalization certificates and tax returns.

  • Telephone/Voicemail System: Records and/or transcribes voice messages left by callers wishing to have their telephone calls returned. Records, name, telephone number and any other pertinent and biographic information left by the caller. Phone bill and online account log will also record the date, time and duration of the phone call.

  • Simple Texting: Text marketing software used to communicate with clients about general immigration updates. Software collects cell phone number and contact name.

  • New Matter Memo: Documents internal file information for new client and related matters. Contains name, address(es), alien number, phone numbers, email addresses, billing information, cost of the case, scope of work and application fees associated with the immigration process. Also includes employer’s name and contact information, if applicable.

  • Soluno: Documents internal file information for billing clients. Contains New Matter Memo, name, address(es), phone numbers, email addresses, billing information, cost of the case, scope of work, application fees associated with the immigration process, invoices and payments made held in trust and dates payments made, earned and applied to invoice.

  • Electronic & Paper Questionnaires: Used to collect and populate requisite forms with all personal and biographic information relevant to a particular immigration process. May include name, addresses, phone numbers, residential and employment history, parent information and children, social security number, alien number, gross income, marriage history, education history, criminal history, immigration violations, height, weight, eye color, hair color, race, and ethnicity. Questionnaires and database where information is saved or entered is password protected.

  • INSZOOM: Master case management system used to collect and populate requisite forms with all personal and biographic information relevant to a particular immigration process. May include name, aliases, address(es), phone numbers, residential and employment history, parent information and children, social security number, alien number, adjusted gross income, marriage history, education history, criminal history, immigration violations. All information collected is used for the sole purpose of applying for an immigration benefit.

  • Mailchimp: Contact database collects name and email address(es) of clients and potential clients for the purpose of disseminating valuable and important content pertaining to news and information on U.S. immigration laws and policies.

  • Website/Cookies: Collects and stores cookies related to content searched, time spent on firm’s website. IP addresses are also collected, and demographic information associated with user is stored for SEO optimization and analytics.

  • USCIS Online Application and Case Management Portal: Collects name, date and country of birth, alien number, dates of entry, place of entry, dates of apprehension, parents’ names, dates and place of birth for purposes of obtaining documents or information contained in an individual’s immigration file with a particular federal agency.

  • U.S. Department of State Consular Electronic Application Center: Collects name, aliases, address(es), phone numbers, residential and employment history, parent information and children, social security number, alien number, gross income, marriage history, education history, criminal history, immigration violations.

  • U.S. Department of Labor Foreign Labor Certification Data Center Employment Training & Administration: Collects job title, job duties and wages, information regarding job offers by your employer, as well as work experience and education information.

  • U.S. Department of Homeland Security Freedom of Information Act portals for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration Customs Enforcement: Collects name, date and country of birth, alien number, dates of entry, place of entry, dates of apprehension, parents’ names, dates and place of birth for purposes of obtaining documents or information contained in an individual’s immigration file with a particular federal agency.

  • U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review Online Filing Portal: Collects the name, alien number, court hearing date, history and uploads any relevant personal documentation necessary for the court to consider in support of a filing for immigration relief in immigration court.

  • U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement Online Court Filing System: Collects the name, alien number, court hearing date, history and uploads any relevant personal documentation necessary for the government to consider in support of a filing for immigration relief in immigration court.

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection I-94 electronic system: Name, date of birth, passport number and country of issuance is entered to obtain an individuals I-94 entry record and travel history relevant to an immigration benefit being sought or an immigration application being submitted.

  • U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement Detainee Locator: Personal data such as name, date and country of birth and alien number are entered into federal government system to ascertain where an adult may be detained if in the custody of Department of Homeland Security.

We may also disclose information we collect:

  • To our third-party service providers that perform services on our behalf, such as web-hosting companies, mailing vendors, analytics providers, event hosting services, and information technology providers.
  • To law enforcement, other government authorities or third parties (within or outside the jurisdiction in which you reside) as may be permitted or required by the laws of any jurisdiction that may apply to us; as provided for under contract; for immigration requirements or as we deem reasonably necessary to provide legal services. In these circumstances, we take reasonable efforts to notify you before we disclose information that may reasonably identify you or your organization unless prior notice is prohibited by applicable law or is not possible or reasonable in the circumstances.
  • To service providers, advisors, potential transactional partners, or other third parties in connection with the consideration, negotiation, or completion of a transaction in which we are acquired by or merged with another company or we sell, liquidate, or transfer all or a portion of our assets.

In connection with any proposed incorporation, purchase, merger or acquisition of any part of our business; we inform the potential buyer (and its agents and advisers) that it must use your personal information only for the purposes disclosed in this Privacy Policy.

Grounds for using your personal information

We rely on the following legal grounds to process your personal information, namely:

  • Performance of a contract – We may need to collect and use your personal information to enter into a contract with you or to perform a contract that you have with us. For example, when you use our Digital Services we will use your personal information to respond to your requests and provide you with such services.
  • Consent – Where required by applicable laws, we will rely on your consent for direct marketing and to collect information from your device or computer.
  • Legitimate interests – We may use your personal information for our legitimate interests to improve our products and services and the content on our Digital Services. Consistent with our legitimate interests and any choices that we offer or consents that may be required under applicable laws, we may use technical information as described in this Privacy Policy and use personal information for our marketing purposes.

Third-party services and content

Our Digital Services may include integrated content or links to content provided by third parties (such as video materials). This Privacy Policy does not address the privacy, security, or other practices of the third parties that provide such content.

We engage third parties that support the operation of our Digital Services, such as our web-hosting, public relations and analytics providers. These third parties may use technologies to track your online activities over time and across different websites and online platforms. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information.

Protection and storage of the information

We deploy administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to comply with applicable legal requirements and safeguard the information that we collect. This includes, when required or appropriate and feasible, obtaining written assurances from third parties that may access your data that they will protect the data with safeguards designed to provide a level of protection equivalent to that adopted by the company.

No information system can be 100% secure, therefore we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your information. Moreover, we are not responsible for the security of information you transmit to us over networks that we do not control, including the Internet and wireless networks.

Your choices and rights

If you no longer wish to receive marketing communications from us, you can opt-out or unsubscribe. The electronic marketing communications we send you will contain opt-out mechanisms that allow you to register your marketing preferences.

Subject to applicable laws, you may have certain rights regarding information that we have collected and that is related to you. We encourage you to contact us to update or correct your information if it changes or if you believe that any information that we have collected about you is inaccurate. You can also ask us to see what personal information we hold about you, to erase your personal information and you may tell us if you object to our use of your personal information.

For more information about the choices you may have in regard to our use of Cookies, please see our Cookie Policy.

How to contact us

If you would like to contact us with questions about our privacy or data protection practices, please send us an email via our Contact page.

We welcome inquiries and comments. But please note that if you are not a client, we may not be able to treat the information you send us as confidential or privileged.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date of the current Privacy Policy is December 1, 2019. We encourage you to periodically review this page. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share the personal information that you have provided, we will notify you by posting notice of the changes in a clear and conspicuous manner on the company website.

Rectification Procedure

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to our clients. We will work to resolve inaccurate personal data brought to our attention as soon as possible.

Please contact Lisa D. Ramirez, at 714-543-5185 or by email at lisa@usilg.net to update or correct your personal data.

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