For Individuals
Understand your own situation.
Most of what you can read about U.S. immigration online is a summary of a summary, or a page that is really trying to sell you something. This works the other way round.
What it does
It reads the law, and shows you where the answer came from.
The Immigration and Nationality Act, the regulations, the government's own policy manuals and the decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Explained in ordinary English, with every source listed so you can open it and read it yourself.
It will not tell you what to do, and it is not your lawyer. It shows you how the rules work in a situation like yours, where those rules come from, and where the answer is genuinely uncertain. Whatever you decide next, you decide it knowing more.
When people use it
Three moments this is built for.
Before you hire a lawyer
Walk into the consultation knowing the right questions to ask, and do not pay for answers you could have found yourself.
When a lawyer is out of reach
Counsel can run to hundreds of dollars an hour. This is a low-cost way to understand your rights, the process and your deadlines.
When the paperwork stops making sense
Notices, forms and filing instructions, turned into clear explanations, with the sources shown so you can check every point.
Built for individuals, families, employers and non-profits, and for asking from inside the United States or from anywhere else.
What you get
Four things, on every question.
- Two answers, and an honest comparison. One built from the law with a citation on every claim. One from an AI working from memory alone, labelled as such. Then a third reading of where they agree and where they part company.
- Sources you can open yourself. A curated library of 1,479 official documents. Anything that moves quickly, priority dates, processing times, fees, is looked up live instead of trusted to the library.
- A check, described honestly. It matches quoted passages and government links against what was retrieved. It does not confirm the law is stated correctly. You will never see a bare "verified" badge here.
- When there is nothing solid, it says so. No sources found means no answer, and the question goes back to your account instead of counting against it. A tool that would rather say nothing than guess is the entire point of this one.
Please read this part
When to stop reading and call someone.
There are situations where no research tool is the right answer, including this one. If any of these is true, speak to a qualified immigration attorney or an accredited representative before you file anything, sign anything, or travel.
- You are in removal proceedings, or have a date in immigration court.
- There is anything at all on your record, including a charge that was dropped or a matter you were told was expunged.
- You have ever been removed, refused entry, or asked to withdraw an application for admission.
- You have been out of status or worked without permission, and you are thinking about leaving the country.
- Something in a previous application was inaccurate, or was filed in your name without you seeing it.
- Your question involves asylum, withholding, CAT, a U or T visa, or VAWA.
- A deadline is close: a status expiry, a filing window, an RFE or NOID response, an appeal, or a hearing.
- A child's status is involved, including ageing out.
- You are an employer facing an audit, a site visit or an investigation.
- Someone who is not a licensed attorney or accredited representative is charging you, or anyone has promised you an outcome.
- You have read the answer, opened the sources, and you are still uneasy. That feeling is information. Act on it.
Getting someone is what matters, not getting us
None of that is a nudge to instruct Lemmy Law. Some of it needs someone in your time zone, someone who speaks your first language, or someone who can stand up in your immigration court. Non-profits recognised by the Department of Justice, legal aid, and law school clinics handle a great many of these at low cost or none.
Use Dickie Woods to arrive at that conversation prepared. That is what it is good at.
What it costs
One monthly fee. Free if the firm is acting for you.
Individual subscription
One flat monthly fee, billed in US dollars
- Answers from the law, with sources shown
- Two independent answers and an honest comparison
- Cancel any time
The price and the monthly question allowance are shown at checkout, before you are asked to pay anything.
Lemmy Law clients
Included with your engagement
- Everything in the individual subscription
- No separate charge while the firm acts for you
- Set up when your engagement letter is signed
If the firm is acting for you, access comes with the engagement and there is nothing further to pay.
Dickie Woods is a research and education tool. It gives general information about U.S. immigration law, not legal advice, and using it does not make Lemmy Law your lawyer. Immigration law changes often and an answer can be incomplete or out of date. Check important points against the sources cited, and speak to a qualified attorney about your own situation. Operated by Lemmy Law Pte. Ltd., a U.S. immigration law practice registered with Singapore's Ministry of Law as a Foreign Law Practice. Lemuel Lim is admitted in Missouri.