IMMIGRATION EVALUATIONS:

Current rates: $1,100

$200 non-refundable deposit required to schedule first interview, which will be applied towards the total cost

Expedited Turnaround: $300

Testimony: $175 per hour, including court prep time

Payment plans are available.

Evaluation includes:

  • 2 60-90 minute forensic interviews

  • Review/interpret standardized/scored measures

  • Assess for and identify DSM diagnosis, if applicable

  • Review all other documents and questionnaires

  • Contact/consultation with your attorney/legal aid

  • Full completed evaluation

Alona Wellness Center offers comprehensive immigrant evaluations, including asylum cases, petitions for extreme hardship waivers, domestic violence (VAWA), and U Visa cases. 

Current availability is with Michelle Hamilton, LICSW

Michelle has held her MSW since 2007 and has been fully licensed since 2013. She has extensive clinical experience in both the acute care/hospital setting as well as in out-patient clinic settings.

This experience includes providing biopsychosocial evaluations, diagnostics, and care planning. She has a proven expertise providing behavioral health services, and has worked with both adults and children as young as 5 years old. Her area of expertise lies in the treatment of PTSD/Trauma, providing care from a trauma-informed lens.

Immigration advocacy is one of her passions.

Ms. Hamilton also has experience working in the District Attorney's office and within the state legal system, providing testimony in family court and working with state legislature, drafting policy.

Michelle is a certified trauma therapist with a focus on intergenerational trauma, utilizing trauma-informed care, EMDR, and psychoeducation, among many therapeutic modalities. 

She also provides clinical supervision to pre-licensed clinicians and has been a Practicum Instructor for grad students. 

If you would like to learn more, please contact our office so that you can schedule a consultation with our provider. 

Extreme Hardship Waivers

Demonstrate that a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse/parent may suffer "extreme hardship" or exceptional and extremely unusual hardship upon separation if the applicant is denied entry or upon relocation abroad in order to remain together. It acts as a waiver of inadmissibility, allowing individuals to stay with or join family in the U.S.

The psychological evaluation for hardship waivers explores and documents hardships that impair the qualifying relative’s ability to move to another country and issues that impair the qualifying relative’s ability to reside in the United States without their non-resident family member.

The psychological evaluation identifies and documents unique factors contributing to a client’s psychological distress such as: mental health diagnoses/suicide risk, medical needs/illness, disability, professional or financial difficulties, housing, or academic hardship, or adverse country of origin conditions that would negatively affect the petitioner and their family member(s) if forced to separate or relocate.

We then assess the impact these hardships have on emotional, psychological and social adjustment.