Forensic Evaluations in Immigration Matters
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I do forensic evaluations for Immigration authorities and will stand by my finding at the Court. Usually a referral for Psycho-social Evaluation comes from an Attorney working with clients on Asylum, T visa, U-visa, VAWA or Deportation Cancellation where the hardship is evaluated.
This kind of Report would be helpful for any case, though trying to reduce Clients’ expenses, Attorneys usually refer Clients under the following circumstances: - if Attorney believes a case is not supported with sufficient evidence or a case has been returned with RFE request for additional evidence;
- one received NOID - Notice of Intent to deny;
- if traumatic events had a negative impact on Applicant’s mental health condition and diagnostic work is required.
Phone: 650 338-9530 Zoya Girshfeld, LCSW
Office is located in Redwood City but i travel all around the Bay Area and use Skype.
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, graduated from SJSU in 2014. I have a private practice in Redwood City treating clients with psychiatric problems. It was late change of career since i was a Lawyer in Russia before. I received basic knowledge of law in the U.S. graduating from the Paralegal Institute of Santa Clara University, working as a Paralegal and studying at Lincoln Law School. Those experiences developed an extra attention to details and love for a thorough analysis of causation between events. I can say I know what immigration official (or a judge) is looking for!
Attorney Todd Pilcher, WA - January 2023.
I just read your evaluation of Ms. D.N. It is by far the best, most comprehensive report I have ever seen for a client. I have been doing the I-601 waiver applications for clients since 1998 and I cannot recall seeing a report this carefully prepared, detailed, and compelling. Thank you so much.
Although you said that English is not your first language, the report is extremely well written and grammatically correct. I could make a few minor edits for grammar, but it doesn't seem necessary because the report is so good.
I am truly grateful for your hard work on this case. If USCIS approves the waiver, and I think they will approve, Mrs. D.N. can be certain that your strong evaluation made all the difference.
From the Office of Luu Law, PC (San Jose, CA):
I am writing to express gratitude on behalf of attorney Nguyen Luu and our office. We
greatly appreciate your dedication to accommodate our time constraints and provide us with Mrs. Li's psychological evaluation on such short notice.
We noticed that beyond doing a psychological assessment, you explored our client's cultural traditions. This gave more weight to your argument that our client would suffer more underseparation from a loved one than a client of another background would. Our office has worked with the clients from Eastern Asia for many years, and this is the first time a client's cultural background and traditional Confucian values have been brought into the Psychological Evaluation Report to the client's advantage. Your expertise has not only facilitated our work but has also showcased your genuine concern for the well-being of our client. Please know that your contribution is highly valued. We look forward to the opportunity of working together again in the future.
Verenice V., Legal Assistant
Luu Law, PC.
December, 2023
Attorney Sergiy Fedorov, Sacramento, CA, August 2022
I’m glad to meet and work with forensic evaluator Zoya Girshfeld. We work mostly with Russian speaking clients.
I can say that she is the best forensic evaluator I have ever worked with.
We just won the case or a young lady from Ukraine asking for asylum based on family violence against her in Ukraine. It was a difficult case because client missed a 1 year deadline for filing her application by 9 months. She could haveeasily been denied just based on this 1 year deadline or they might have found her traumatic history not substantiated enough and decline her claim for asylum. But we won!
Zoya usually spents multiple hours talking to clients, collecting information and researching scientific psychological and other sources on related issues. She brings additional facts and new perspectives on a client experiences. As a result, every client’s case benefits tremendously from her work; I can say, she significantly contributes to the winning of a case. She usually starts from scratch, not willing to look at a client’s Declaration before she has her own concept. Her reports are very detailed but not at the expense of a chronological or other accuracy; she verifies all the information before submitting her Report.
Though researching the contry conditions is not a direct task of a psychological evaluation, Zoya goes into the depth on the contry condition. She explains that complete assessment of psychological status of a client is not possible without showing how the client perceived the events occurred to him or her(subjective aspect). And an analysis of the subjective perception is not possible without good knowledge of the contry background as documented by sociologists and historians as well as by media reports.
Successful Applicant for Asylum based on religious persecution - AFTER NOID !!! New York.
Мне надо было делать психологическую оценку после того как я получила форму NOID от USCIS - Извещение о Намерении Отказать. Они посчитали что ситуация со Свидетелями Иеговы не достигла уровня "преследования" в России. Сейчас 2022 , и. все стало намного хуже. Я просила убежище в 2018 и тогда суды отказывали на основании того что " harassment is not persecution" - дискриминация это не преследование.
Мой адвокат (Алена Шауцова) проверила по всем штатам, около 6 дел дошли до Аппеляционных судов в разных штатах и всем было отказано. То есть надежды практически не было.
Зоя Гиршфелд сделала Психологическую оценку за 10 дней. Она сделала детальный анализ моего состояния . Она сдедала даже больше чем психологи обычно делают: она собрала и организовала инциденты плохого обращения со Свидетелями Иеговы в России. Её работа коренным образом изменила ход событий - я получила ОДОБРЕНИЕ на убежище!
Translation of the review above from Russian into English:
After i have got the form NOID -Notice Of Intent to Deny from USCIS, I was advised to have a Psychological Evaluation made by a psychologist. They seemed to find that the situation with Jehovah Witnesses in Russia did not reach the level of persecution. Now is 2022 and things became much worse but I applied for Asylum in 2018. Then the USCIS and courts denied on the basis that 'harassment is not persecution".
My Attorney, Alena Shautzova, checked West Law through all states. About six cases have reached the level of the Appellate Courts in different states and they all were denied. I still had a little hope.
Zoya Girshfeld has made the Psychological Evaluation within 10 days. She made a detailed analysis of my condition. She did much more than psychologists usually do -she found information about incidents of mistreatment of the Jehovah Witnesses in Russia and presented all in an organized way. Her Report has drastically changed the course of events. I was APPROVED !!!
Natalya Goncharova from Russia, January 2022.
Attorney Benjamin Hall, CA (VAWA) 2022
Excellent Report! Regarding the Clinet's 'stoic attitude" despite her psychological impairment - I felt the same about this Client but I did not know how to describe that. The use of Armenian sources is impressive !
Services
Why to bother to have a Psycho-Social Report:
There are few reasons any Applicant for Immigration relief is better off if she/he has a Report from Forensic Evaluator that is called Psycho-Social Evaluation:
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As a Forensic Evaluator, I spend 3-4 hours with an Applicant talking about all details of his or her case. This prolonged interviews inevidently bring to the light new details of the case and they goes into the Report. There could be details that the Applicant’s Immigration Attorney did not elicit from and did not write about just because of the time constraints. Usually the work is being done in close contact with Attorneys.
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I do extensive research to be able to ask an Applicant good questions. I believe that, like a journalist, an Evaluator could elicit more information by doing homework before the interview. I usually research the country situation and specific country socio-cultural or religious patterns relevant to Applicant’s experience:
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Applicant does not need to have necessarily a mental health diagnosis: there could be subthreshhold traumas that did not cause a full blown disorder - the description of which would matter as an additional evidence for a case showing the severity of trauma, the sincerity of Applicant’s response, and the most important the consistency of the narrative, so it helps to establish the Client’s credibility.
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