Being "called to the bar" as an international graduate without US residency

Hello TSR, I'll be studying History at Amherst next year. I'd like to study Law after graduating but I don't know whether or not i'd be able to actually practice law without a Green Card, the acquisition of which (i've heard) is difficult... Is there any possibility that my Green Card application would be processed more quickly because I plan to practice? Alternatively, would I be able to practice Law without residency, acquiring instead a work permit?

P.S - Are any of you guys familiar with the process by which a Law graduate is called to the bar in the states?

Yours, :yep:

Ben

Reply 1

username149848

Hmm, well, here in the U.S. people are admitted to the bar by passing a state bar exam and fulfilling a few other dog and pony show requirements (a certification of your moral character being the most humorous of the lot). You pretty much need a J.D., which is a three year postgraduate degree, since no undergraduate course in the U.S. can prepare you for the life - although there are apparently alternatives. After you have that and jump where they say jump, you are pretty much in. People only really worry about the J.D. and the Bar exam, with both the last one and the rest of the requirements being part of the ABA racket more so than anything else.

I don't know about the residency stuff or whether you could practice without a green card (I'd think not, but I really don't know). I think I can say without need of research however, that practicing law will not fast track a green card application for you. Why should it really? We aren't in need of lawyers over here.