Legal Practitioner Resources


IRAP helps legal practitioners better represent refugees and displaced persons through a variety of resources. IRAP’s resources collect knowledge and best practices developed from over a decade of representing clients, as well as insights from reviewing thousands of government records about immigration processing obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Below, you can access the variety of resources that IRAP has created, organized by the type of resource. We have also included ways for practitioners to contact IRAP for technical assistance, to request trainings, and to sign up for legal practice updates. Further below you can access resources related to U.S. immigration law (including 2025 Trump Administration Actions, Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans and Iraqis, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), U.S. Family Reunification-and Humanitarian Parole), Family Reunification in Germany, and cross-cutting topics such as Climate Displacement.

Important Update on Trump Administration Actions: Please use our resources related to 2025 Trump Administration Actions to understand how changes impact refugees and migrants. Please note that we are still in the process of updating certain legal resources, and the legal landscape is frequently changing. For now, IRAP is keeping our resources online for reference, but practitioners should review the date of the resource and any recent developments.

These in-depth guides cover a legal pathway or areas of the law in detail, with tips for practitioners, hypothetical scenarios, and tools for legal practitioners like template submissions:

IRAP updates practice guides on a recurring basis to reflect changes in law, and in order to ensure that only the most up-to-date version of the guide is publicly available, IRAP’s practice guides are view-only. Attorneys and law students working on IRAP pro bono cases can log into our attorney-student resource webpage for downloadable versions.

These concise advisories, blogs, and tools cover new legal developments and provide practitioners with tools to address specific legal challenges:

 

These recorded trainings, webinars, and online courses provide viewers with an introduction to key legal pathways and issues:

If you are a legal aid organization and would like to ask about booking a free training by an IRAP expert, please use IRAP’s Speaker Request form here.

IRAP has created searchable archives of thousands of government documents obtained through freedom of information laws, litigation, and research:

 

IRAP’s has created a technical assistance portal where legal practitioners working on specific case types (only available for SIV cases at this time) can ask IRAP’s legal experts questions:

 

Sign up here for an email list sharing information about new and updated IRAP resources for legal practitioners.

IRAP regularly submits public comments on U.S. government changes impacting clients and their communities. Below are the public comments that IRAP has submitted since January 2025:

Navigating Trump's Second Term

Special Immigrant Visas

Use the links below to access IRAP’s SIV resources:

U.S. Refugee Resettlement

Use the links below to access IRAP’s Refugee Resettlement resources:

Climate Displacement

Use the links below to access IRAP’s publications and legal resources on Climate Displacement:

U.S. Family Reunification

Use the links below to access IRAP’s U.S. Family Reunification resources:

German Family Reunification

Use the links below to access IRAP’s Family Reunification and Humanitarian Visa resources for Germany:

France

Use the links below to access IRAP’s French Asylum Visa and Family Reunification resources:

Humanitarian Parole

Use the links below to access IRAP’s Humanitarian Parole resources: