VAWA Psychological Evaluations for Immigration

One way to figure out if you need psychological evaluation for your immigration case is to ask your immigration attorney.  He or she can help you determine if you will be applying a VAWA petition.  If you are, then you may benefit from undergoing a psychological evaluation to document your history of abuse.

Please bring the following information with you to the appointment:

• Immigration attorney’s name and contact information
• Primary doctor’s name and contact information
• Psychiatrist’s name and contact information
• Names of all medications and dosages you are currently taking
• List of all medical conditions
• 2 offical forms of photo identifaction

Yes.  The psychologists on staff at Envision Wellness are qualified to complete VAWA evaluations for immigration.  They are licensed psychologists on the State of Florida and have completed specific training to conduct VAWA immigration evaluations.  

Yes.  We can perform these evaluations in other languages with the assistance of a Certified Medical Interpreter or Certified Court Interpreter fluent in the client’s native language. The client is responsible for the cost of the the interpreter’s time. 

We recommend Verbatim Languages Translators & Interpreters. They provide certified medical translators and interpreters in a variety of languages in the greater Miami area. Costs range from $95 – $160 per hour (2-hour minimum) depending on the language.

Due to the legal nature of these evaluations, family members, friends, or other persons casually known to the client cannot serve as interpreters. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. 

We can usually complete most VAWA evaluations in 14 days or less.  This is enough time in most cases.  However, we can accommodate you if you need the evaluation completed in a faster timeframe, subject to a rush fee. Rush fees are as follows:

$500 More than 72 hours but less than 14 days

$800 72 hours or less

First, don’t panic.  Rejections happen occasionally. We can provide revisions for individuals which we have evaluated, subject to a prorated charge.  If you were evaluated by another psychologist, we cannot provide a revision.  We would need to repeat the entire evaluation.

Chances are that whoever did the previous evaluations failed to provide sufficient supporting data.  Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of poorly conducted evaluations that cost families a lot of money.  We believe that this is a huge disservice to the general public and damaging to the mental health field’s credibility. 

At Envision Wellness, our psychologists will interview you and/or family member on 2 separate occasions for about 90 minutes each time. During the second session, you and/or your loved one will also complete psychological assessment scales.  Then, the psychologist will prepare a draft of the evaluation report and send it to your immigration attorney for their review. Once your attorney has reviewed the draft, the report will be finalized and you’ll meet one final time with the psychologist to review the comprehensive final report, receive recommendations, and address any questions. 

If previous evaluations consisted of less than the above described, no quantitative data, or a 1-page letter instead of a final report, then it’s likely your previous evaluations were poorly conducted. 

Don’t get scammed.

Our evaluations may seem costly, but remember, you get what you pay for.  Our evaluations are comprehensive assessments conducted by experienced psychologists with good rates of acceptance by US immigration who specialize in neuropsychology, trauma, and cross cultural psychology.

Maybe. However, our psychologists do not accept any form of health insurance. As out-of-network providers, they can give you a superbill (a receipt with medical procedure codes) that you submit to your healthcare insurance company. Your insurance carrier will determine if you are eligible for reimbursement of this evaluation’s cost based on your healthcare plan’s coverage.

You can pay with credit card or cash ($50 discount for cash payments). We require that 50% of the evaluation be paid at the first appointment.  The remaining 50% is expected on the day of the second appointment. We will provide you with a receipt for your records. No additional payment is required at the final session when you receive the evaluation’s results. 

At this time we do not accept personal checks or money orders for this type of evaluation. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Not this time. Our immigration evaluations are only provided to adults (age 18 and older). Do you conduct immigration evaluations for minors (age 17 & under)?