![5 Immigration Paralegal Resume Examples & Templates [Edit Free]](https://beamjobs.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/immigration-paralegal-elegant-resume-example.png)
César Cabal had always been inspired by his parents’ stories of immigration and assimilation into an exciting new culture. Ever since he was a kid, he’d especially looked up to his mother, who had worked hard to put him through school. So, César set his sights on a BA in paralegal studies to make the most of his mom’s efforts and help other immigrants enjoy brand-new lives, too.
But what was the most impressive way to organize his history in paralegal roles, he wondered? What kinds of skills should he spotlight for each application? After conducting some research, he learned how to make a resume and got to work.
If you have a passion for inspiring others through litigation like César, check out our immigration paralegal resume examples for yourself and prepare to find success like he did!
Why this resume works
- Yes, the secret to breezing through your immigration paralegal resume is garnishing it with the right deets. In other words, pack it with only the stuff hiring managers are itching to find. And how to nail that? Tailor your piece to the job requirements and hiring company’s needs.
- So let’s say the gig you’re after calls for being fluent in a second language (as per the job description). A shout-out to your bilingual prowess in the skills section will do (cue Spanish). Plus, if they’re seeking someone adept with immigration petitions, show how you’ve handled them in past positions.
What Matters Most: Your Immigration Paralegal Skills & Work Experience
The immigration system is tricky to navigate. It can feel like jumping through a detailed obstacle course as you work quickly to file the correct paperwork and get everything done to exact specifications. It’s critical to show you have the necessary skills to help clients in this process.
When choosing resume skills, look for the law firm’s specific needs. For instance, if the firm specializes in immigration from El Salvador to the US, your bilingual skills in English and Spanish and your knowledge of the legal systems of both countries would be invaluable.
Here are some of the best skills for immigration paralegals to include on a resume.
9 best immigration paralegal skills
- Client relations
- Legal writing
- Microsoft Office
- Case file strategies
- Bilingual or multilingual
- Immigration law
- Docketwise
- eImmigration
- LawLogix
Sample immigration paralegal work experience bullet points
Once you’ve established your top skills, you’ll want to show how you’ve used them in the legal field.
With all the detail you put into documents like visa applications, you should have no problem whipping up some awesome examples here.
The key is to make your impact clear using numbers and concise information. Think about the number of positive impacts you’ve had on clients and even the daily things you do that go unseen, like tediously gathering research to help case files go through. You’ll soon have some ideas about what to include.
Here are a few examples:
- Helped clients prepare immigrant petitions (EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3) with a 70% success rate in obtaining visa approval.
- Spent over 200 hours researching case strategies to increase petition success rates by 32% in 1 year.
- Used Spanish-speaking skills to help clients with the onboarding process, leading to a 40% increase in efficiency working in the client’s primary language.
- Integrated a new case management system using LawLogix that helped increase processing speed by 20%.
Top 5 Tips for Your Immigration Paralegal Resume
- Use action words
- In the immigration legal system, you’ll often need to take action quickly. Using action words like “created,” “drafted,” and “integrated” can all make your work on things like naturalization applications or H-1B petitions seem much more impactful.
- Combine technical and interpersonal skills for more impact
- Immigration paralegals help others through complicated processes. Including things like how you assisted over 100 clients in preparing case adjustment status provides a more significant impact showing how you work successfully using interpersonal and technical skills.
- Aim for short and impactful descriptions
- Hiring managers make a first impression on your resume within six seconds. Concise descriptions, like one sentence on how you managed client files with 99 percent accuracy over five years, can go a long way to show your abilities.
- Proofread thoroughly
- Accuracy is paramount in immigration law. Just like you wouldn’t want your L-1 form getting rejected for a simple filing error, you need to be just as precise to keep your resume template professional and precise.
- Use your cover letter to work together with your resume
- Only so much can fit on a one-page resume. Use a cover letter generator to fill in some extra details about how you’ve executed PERM processes or what makes you passionate about helping others through the immigration legal system.
Paralegals looking for one of their first jobs in the legal field may benefit from including a resume objective. Listing a few sentences about how you’re a driven paralegal with 3 years of experience with PERM processes can go a long way to help you stand out.
You can show how your education or previous work experience has equipped you to perform legal work. For instance, referencing a class project where you did an investigative report on old immigration cases and prepared motions and memos can help.
You can stand out by including experiences that are highly specific to the position. Anything from how studying abroad in college helped you learn about working with others from different cultures to knowing how to use appropriate software like eImmigration can help you build a good resume.
Stephen is the co-founder and CEO of BeamJobs. He started his career in data fulfilling the dream of little kids everywhere: working for an insurance company. He then moved on to work in edtech for a company called Chegg before venturing out to start BeamJobs. Things have come a long way after countless “learnings” (fancy word for mistakes), and BeamJobs has now helped 2.5M+ people create their perfect resume. Stephen and BeamJobs have been featured on awesome sites like Business Insider, Chicago Tribune, Dallas News, Baltimore Sun, the Daily Press, Zendesk, HubSpot, and loads more.
