Screening is a short set of questions that decides whether your organization can help someone, and how. Intake is the full fact-gathering that follows once you take the matter on. Keeping the two apart moves people off the waitlist faster and saves clients from telling their story three times.
For the whole process, from first contact to the engagement letter, see The Ultimate Guide to Intake for Immigration Organizations.
Why separate screening from intake?
When one form does both jobs, it does one of them badly: a long form puts every caller through questions about travel and taxes, and a short one means full intake starts over. Separate forms save staff time for people you will actually serve. A screening decision can happen the day someone calls, so people you cannot help get a referral while there is still time to use it. And when the front desk, the screener, and the paralegal each ask what happened, a person describing persecution or abuse pays for every retelling, while small differences between the versions pile up in the file.
For organizations with lawyers, the conflict check is one more reason to keep screening short. ABA Model Rule 1.18 protects what a prospective client says and can bar the lawyer from later representing the other side, and the conflict-check step in the intake guide explains why hearing less before the check helps. The screener takes names and a one-line description, runs the check, and saves the full story for after it comes back clean.
Screening and intake at a glance
| Screening | Full intake | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Decide whether and how the organization can help | Collect the facts an attorney or accredited representative needs to advise |
| Length | One short call or clinic-table conversation | As long as the matter needs, often more than one session |
| Who does it | Front desk, intake coordinator, or trained volunteer | Paralegal, caseworker, or trained volunteer, with attorney review |
| When | At first contact, before the full story | After the organization decides to take or evaluate the matter |
| Output | A routing decision, urgency flags, and a cleared conflict check | A complete record with copies of documents |
What should a screener ask?
Ask these in the same order every time. Each one changes where the case goes or how fast it moves.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| "What language do you prefer to speak? To read?" | Sets the interpreter for every later step. Ask it first. |
| "What is the safest way to reach you? Can we leave a message there?" | Phones are often shared, and a message can reach the wrong person. |
| "In a sentence or two, what do you need help with?" | Routes the matter. Keep the person's own words. |
| "What is your full name, and the full names of anyone else involved, like a spouse or a relative filing for you?" | Run the conflict check on these names before the questions below. |
| "What city and county do you live in?" | Service area, or which partner to refer to. |
| "What immigration papers do you have, and when do they expire?" | Status and expiration dates, including a work permit. |
| "Have you ever gotten a paper telling you to go to immigration court? Do you have a court date?" | A court case changes every step after this one. |
| "Is the person who needs help being held by immigration now?" | Detention changes the timeline. Relatives often make this call. |
| "Did you get a letter from USCIS, the court, or ICE with a date on it?" | Ask them to read the date aloud, and check it against the list below. |
| "When did you most recently arrive in the United States?" | The asylum filing deadline counts from arrival. |
| "Has anyone else helped you with an immigration matter or filed anything for you?" | Earlier filings, or another representative. |
| "How many people live in your household, and what is its monthly income?" | Only if a funder or program sets income limits. |
A good screening note records what the person said: "Court date June 4, read from her hearing notice." A note like "Probably eligible for cancellation" records a conclusion, and repeated to a client, it becomes advice.
Which answers should move a case to the front of the line?
Some answers mean a deadline or a required appearance is close. Decide in writing which answers count, who gets the call, and how fast, so a volunteer at a Saturday clinic does not have to judge it alone.
- An upcoming hearing. Check EOIR's Automated Case Information system (ACIS) with the A-Number and nationality. ACIS warns that "Not all cases, or all information about a case is displayed," so an empty result proves nothing. Ask for the latest hearing notice; the page calls court-issued documents "the only official determinations related to your case."
- Detention. ICE's Online Detainee Locator System finds people in ICE custody, or in Customs and Border Protection custody for more than 48 hours, by A-Number or exact name plus country of birth. It "cannot search for records of persons under the age of 18." ACIS does not show bond hearings; for those, call the court.
- A Notice to Appear. Under 8 CFR 1239.1(a), a removal proceeding "is commenced by the filing of a notice to appear with the immigration court." Treat one as urgent even if ACIS shows nothing yet.
- A deadline on a USCIS notice. USCIS cannot give extra time to answer a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny (8 CFR 103.2(b)(8)(iv)), and the intake guide lists the maximum response periods. At screening, write that deadline in the file before the call ends and tell the attorney the same day.
- An ICE check-in. Record the date, time, and office from the paperwork; ICE's check-in page explains how appointments are scheduled. Whether or how to attend is a question for an attorney.
- The asylum one-year deadline. 8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(B) sets a 1-year asylum filing deadline counted from the date of arrival, and the intake guide covers the rule and its exceptions. At screening, ask whether the person is afraid to return home and when they arrived. If they are afraid, send the file to an attorney with the arrival date, even if more than a year has passed.
- Expiring status or work authorization. USCIS's Form I-765 page recommends filing a work permit renewal "up to 180 days before your current EAD expires." Under 8 CFR 214.1(c)(4), an extension of temporary stay generally "may not be approved" where the "status expired before the application or petition was filed." Flag any expiration within 180 days.
What can a screening lead to?
Every screening should end in one of five outcomes, recorded with the date and the name of whoever decided.
| Outcome | When it fits | What the person leaves with |
|---|---|---|
| Take the case | Fits your services, and you have capacity | A full-intake appointment and a document list |
| Schedule a consultation | A narrow question, or a deadline that needs an attorney first | A date with an attorney or accredited representative |
| Refer out | A partner handles this matter or area | The partner's name and intake contact, plus any deadline you spotted |
| Waitlist | Fits, but no capacity now | An honest wait estimate and what to do if a date arrives |
| Decline with a referral | Outside your work, and no partner fits | A non-engagement letter and at least one place to turn |
For people in immigration court, EOIR's List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers covers nonprofits and attorneys "who have committed to providing at least 50 hours per year of pro bono legal services" at the court location where they are listed. It is published quarterly, and EOIR "does not endorse any of these organizations, referral services, or attorneys." USCIS's Legal Services page links that list and DOJ's list of recognized organizations and accredited representatives. Keep your own partner list too, noting what each partner takes, its languages, and its intake contact.
Anyone you do not take on, including people on the waitlist, should get a letter saying the organization does not represent them, naming any deadline you noticed and where to turn. Under Model Rule 1.18(b), a lawyer who learns information from a prospective client may not use or reveal it even when no representation follows, except as the rules allow for former clients, so a declined person's screening record needs the same care as a client file. Check your state's version of Rule 1.18.
How do you carry screening answers into intake?
Full intake should start from what screening already collected.
- Same wording, same field names. If screening asks for the most recent arrival date, full intake should use that question and that field. When one form says "entry date" and the other says "date came to the U.S.," someone has to reconcile them by hand.
- Confirm instead of re-asking. Show the screening answers and read them back: "At screening you told us you arrived on March 3, 2022. Is that right?"
- Keep both versions when an answer changes, with the reason. The attorney needs to see the difference before anything is filed.
- Carry the flags and the history. Put language, safe-contact instructions, and urgency triggers at the top of the intake record, and note whether each answer came from screening or intake, who took it, and when.
How do you keep screening from turning into legal advice?
Screeners hear "Do I qualify?" constantly, along with "Should I go to my check-in?" and "Can I travel?" Answering any of them is legal advice.
8 CFR 292.1 lists who may represent others before DHS, and paragraph (e) says: "Except as set forth in this section, no other person or persons shall represent others in any case." USCIS adds that people outside those categories "may be able to give you limited help filling out USCIS forms, but they cannot represent you or give you legal advice." The intake guide covers the categories in detail.
A screener can explain the organization's process, say what happens next, list documents to bring, and read back dates from the person's papers. A screener cannot say whether someone qualifies, whether to file, travel, or attend a check-in, or how a case will turn out. A script helps:
"I can't answer that one, and I don't want to guess about something this important. I'm writing your question down word for word for [name], our attorney. Because you have [a court date / a letter with a deadline] on [date], I'm marking your file urgent today, and you'll hear from us by [day]."
Promise only a callback time you can keep. The exact line for non-attorney staff depends on your state's rules on the unauthorized practice of law, so have your supervising attorney put the screeners' rules in writing and train every volunteer before a first shift.
Where Parasource fits
Parasource lets your organization write its own screening and intake questionnaires in its own wording. A screening form's answers carry forward into the fuller intake. Clients can complete intake in 11 languages, and it captures facts without giving advice.
For staff, Parasource flags issues such as criminal history and prior removal, with citations to the governing law, for a caseworker to review.
Sources
- ABA Model Rule 1.18: Duties to Prospective Client
- EOIR: Automated Case Information
- ICE: Online Detainee Locator System
- 8 CFR 1239.1: Notice to appear
- 8 CFR 103.2: Submission and adjudication of benefit requests
- ICE: Check-In
- 8 U.S.C. 1158: Asylum
- USCIS: I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
- 8 CFR 214.1: Requirements for admission, extension, and maintenance of status
- EOIR: List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers
- USCIS: Legal Services
- 8 CFR 292.1: Representation of others