What we commit to in writing

Attorney advises. You decide. We commit to our work, not the outcome.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides waivers at its discretion under Matter of Hranka — the three-factor test addressed in every we file. No lawyer, anywhere, can promise a specific outcome.

What we commit to is straightforward: the attorney will provide a pre-filing written merit opinion. As with all of our services, we will refile at no additional charge.

What we commit to.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not Chernoff Legal Services, decides your waiver. Our written commitments cover our work, not the outcome. The attorney advises; you decide whether to file.

Read the full policy

Commitment 1

Attorney advises; client decides.

Before filing, the attorney provides a pre-filing written merit opinion on your application. We commit to thorough preparation of your application based on the facts and documents you provide. You see the attorney's assessment before any filing fee is paid. The decision to file is yours.

Commitment 2

Free re-filing for documentable Chernoff Legal Services errors.

If your application is denied and the denial is attributable to a documentable error by Chernoff Legal Services — an incomplete document package on our end, a missed filing deadline we tracked, or a form-field error we should have caught in review — we will prepare and file a renewed application at no additional service-fee cost. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection re-filing fee and any new RCMP fingerprinting fee are not included in this commitment; those are paid to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the fingerprinting agency directly.

What these commitments do not cover

  • Outcome. No lawyer, anywhere, can promise a specific outcome. U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides each case at its discretion under the three-factor test in Matter of Hranka.
  • Refund on attorney concerns. If the attorney's written merit opinion identifies weaknesses and you choose to file anyway, the service fee is earned and is not refundable on that basis. The attorney's job is to advise; the decision is yours.
  • Government fees. The US$1,100 U.S. Customs and Border Protection filing fee and any re-filing fees are paid to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and are non-refundable by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
  • Third-party costs. RCMP fingerprinting fees, court-record retrieval charges, and translation fees are third-party costs and are non-refundable by those providers.
  • Client-side delays or inaccuracies. The free-re-filing commitment does not apply where a denial or delay results from information or documents you provide that are inaccurate, incomplete, or submitted outside our direction.

Common questions.

What if the attorney identifies weaknesses in my case?

The attorney will tell you, in writing, before any filing. That written merit opinion identifies what concerns U.S. Customs and Border Protection may weigh against you. If you decide to file anyway, we will file. The attorney's job is to advise; the decision is yours (unless filing would be unlawful, in which case we will not file).

Will you ever refuse to file my application?

Only when filing would be unlawful. If your application is weak, we say so in writing — we do not refuse to file weak cases. Many waivers approved by U.S. Customs and Border Protection would have looked weak on paper before filing.

What counts as a documentable Chernoff Legal Services error?

Examples from our internal QA checklist: filing past a statutory deadline we tracked, a form-field error we should have caught in review, or an incomplete document package we assembled that missed a required piece of evidence. A denial based on the merits of your case — the Hranka factors — is not a Chernoff Legal Services error.

Why not guarantee approval?

Because U.S. state bar advertising rules and the nature of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's discretionary review make an outcome guarantee both unethical and impossible. Any provider promising one is making a claim they cannot keep.

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