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Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc. (Stamford Office)

  • Location:
    34 Woodland Ave
    Stamford, CT 06902
  • Phone:
    (203) 965-7190
  • Fax:
    (203) 339-4400
  • Contact methods:
    Drop-in, Email, Phone calls
  • Appointments accepted:
    Yes

The Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI), founded in 1918, is a statewide nonprofit human service agency that addresses the need to provide new immigrants and refugees in Connecticut with services to help them become self-sufficient, integrated, and contributing members of the community. The organization focuses on helping those individuals who face significant barriers to adjusting to their new environment and offers legal, social, and educational programs to help them overcome these obstacles. CIRI provides special services to victims of serious crimes such as human trafficking, torture, and domestic violence. Each year CIRI assists over 4,000 individuals from its offices in Bridgeport, Stamford, and Hartford. CIRIr esponds to the urgent legal needs of immigrant families. CIRI's experienced immigration attorneys and representatives accredited by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Access Programs ensure that immigrants are aware of their legal options and provide representation before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Executive Office of Immigration Review. The program offers a wide range of low-cost and free legal services to low-income immigrants that may include help with issues related to family-based immigration, applications for permanent residence, naturalization & citizenship, legal protections for victims of violence and serious crimes, asylum applications, and representation before the immigration court. In addition, CIRI provides confidential consultations to individuals with varying immigration statuses so that they may understand rights, responsibilities, and whether or not any immigration benefits are available to them according to current U.S. immigration law and policy.

State served: Connecticut

Services Provided

Are immigration legal services provided? Yes
Areas of immigration legal assistance: Adjustment of Status, Asylum applications, Consular Processing, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Employment authorization, Family-based petitions, NACARA, Naturalization/Citizenship, Removal hearings, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T visas, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), U visas, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions
Types of immigration legal services provided: Help completing forms, Filings with USCIS, Representation at Asylum Interviews (Credible Fear Interviews, Reasonable Fear Interviews), Representation before the Immigration Court, Representation before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
Non-legal services: Department of Justice (DOJ)/Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)-funded services for trafficking victims, Employment services, ESL, Language services, Legal Orientation Programs (LOP) / Know Your Rights Presentations (KYR), Office Of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)-funded services for trafficking victims, Referrals to other services, Social services
Populations served: Domestic Violence Victims, Farm workers, Human Trafficking Survivors, Individuals who are not in legal immigration status, Individuals with physical/mental disabilities, Juveniles, Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender, Torture survivors
Languages spoken: Chinese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Kirundi, Laotian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Vietnamese
Access to a commercial interpreting service or language bank: Yes
Nominal fee charged? Yes

Staffing Information

Number of attorneys on staff: 1
Is organization BIA recognized? Yes
Number of fully accredited BIA representatives on staff: 0
Number of partially accredited BIA representatives on staff: 2
Number of paralegals/legal workers on staff: 1

Additional Details

Pro Bono opportunities? Yes
Network affiliations: American Immigration Lawyers Association, Immigration Advocates Network, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)