A lawyer is a person who has the responsibility of advising his clients on legal matters and represents them in the courts of law. Immigration lawyers are lawyers who help people deal with processes that permit them to become a citizen. They assist people who desire entry into the United States for the purpose of tourism, employment, and higher studies or to gain citizenship. An experienced immigration lawyer provides foreigners with the assistance they need to make a trip to the United States successful. US Immigration lawyers also deal with issues relating to the associated legal rights, duties, and obligations of foreigners in the United States. Immigration lawyers deal with the procedures involved with naturalization of foreign nationals. They also deal with legal issues concerning people who are refugees or asylees, people who cross U.S. borders by means of fraud or other illegal means, and those who traffick or otherwise illegally transport foreigners into the United States.

Immigration lawyers are successful in providing all types of immigration visas and petitions, including H1B visas, E treaty trader or investor visas, family residency and employment-based permanent residency visas. They also assist with visa waivers, religious visas, citizenship or naturalization, immigration court proceedings and deportation or removal hearings. Most of the lawyers and attorneys work in private firms. They also practice individually, providing legal services. Some immigration lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. The immigration lawyers employed by the government work at the county, state, or federal level, depending on their experience.

Quite a few lawyers offer "a la carte" legal work. Instead of handling an entire case, lawyers prepare only parts of a case. In certain cases, lawyers only advise their clients. Such lawyers only provide the right amount of legal help that the client absolutely needs and can afford. Usually, in these cases, the lawyer does not represent the client in court Even though this practice is still controversial in some segments of the legal fraternity; organizations like the American Bar Association have gladly accepted the concept.