Program Director: Dawn Picken
CUNY School of Professional Studies
119 West 31st Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Email Contact: immigrationlaw@sps.cuny.edu
The Program
Immigration is one of the most pressing contemporary issues in the United States. Professionals across the country, working in many fields, are faced with immigrant employment and family issues on a regular basis. The Advanced Certificate in Immigration Law offers a unique opportunity for those working with immigrants, employers, and families to:
- Understand law and regulations governing immigration and citizenship;
- Learn how to comply with rapidly evolving immigration policies;
- Learn how to file petitions and applications;
- Witness immigration court proceedings first hand;
- Work with top CUNY faculty and legal experts; and,
- Gain expertise to professionally advance.
Students will learn how to: determine an individual’s eligibility for benefits under the Immigration and Nationality Act; access the resources needed to analyze complicated legal issues; identify and complete standard immigration applications and petitions; and, recognize the ethical and legal restrictions on the practice of law by non-attorneys.
Graduates may pursue careers working with immigrant populations in areas such as law, education and non-profit and community-based organizations. It is important to note that this program does not qualify anyone who does not hold an attorney’s license to practice law.
Online courses available:
All courses in the program are available online. The online courses in the Immigration Law program are provided asynchronously, which allows students to read course materials, participate in class discussions and complete assignments at their own pace each week. For more information about online learning at CUNY SPS, visit http://sps.cuny.edu/online.
Admissions Criteria
Candidates for admission to advanced certificate programs must possess a bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 GPA or higher from an accredited undergraduate institution.
Scheduling note: To allow students to start the program at any time, ILAW 601 Introduction to Immigration Law will be offered both online and on campus each semester. The advanced courses (ILAW 602, ILAW 603, ILAW 604 and ILAW 605) are rotated by course and format. While there will always be a choice of at least one online and one on campus advanced course, not every course will be offered each semester.
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