Someone is charging me to fill in my USCIS forms. Is that allowed?

Charging is not the problem. Giving legal advice without being licensed to is the problem, and the two get sold as one service.

A person who is not a lawyer may translate, type what you dictate, and charge you for it. The moment they choose the form for you, tell you which category you qualify for, or advise you what to write, they are practising law.

The two questions that settle it

"Will you sign the preparer section of the form?" Every USCIS form has a block for whoever prepared it. A legitimate preparer completes it. Someone who refuses is planning for the form to look as though you filled it in alone — which means when something goes wrong, there is no record they were ever involved.

"Will you file a Form G-28?" That is the notice of appearance an attorney or accredited representative files to formally represent you. If they can file it, they are authorised. If they cannot, they are not — whatever the sign in the window says.

Two questions, and you do not need to understand immigration law to ask them.

What the damage actually looks like

Rarely the fee. It is a wrong form filed in a category you never qualified for, a fabricated claim you did not know was on the application, a missed deadline, or an application withdrawn without your knowledge — and by the time it surfaces, the preparer has moved on and their name is nowhere on it.

Some of these are not recoverable. A false claim on a form you signed follows you regardless of who typed it.

Protecting yourself either way

• Never sign a form you have not read, and never sign a blank one
• Keep your own copy of everything submitted, plus receipts
• Keep control of your USCIS online account — the email and password should be yours, not your preparer's
• Ask for the fee in writing before anything starts

The Justice Department publishes the list of recognised organisations and accredited representatives, and free or low-cost immigration legal help exists in most states — the state pages here link it where a statewide service is listed. If you have already paid someone who turned out not to be authorised, your state attorney general takes complaints, and so does the federal system.