Open Borders

Now with Immigration Court insights, live USCIS processing times and Visa Bulletin data, and legal alerts when the law moves. Free, in English and Spanish.

Open Borders is a free immigration guide written by an immigration attorney. Answer plain-language questions about your situation and read authored information about the paths that may apply to you — family-based green cards, asylum, cancellation of removal, waivers, TPS, DACA, U and T visas, naturalization and more. No account, no ads, no tracking.

GUIDED REVIEW • Start from the beginning or use Quick Start to record facts you already know. • The guide asks only for the context it needs and explains each answer in plain language. • Focused tools for Family-Based Options and Removal Relief when you want one topic at a time. • Case Snapshot shows your progress; Case Notes collects what matters. Export your notes as a PDF and share them with an attorney.

IMMIGRATION COURT INSIGHTS • How every sitting immigration judge and court has decided cases since 2021, from the government's own records: asylum grant rates, bond outcomes, relief by type, time to decision, and appeals. • A map of who appointed each state's judges, the Board of Immigration Appeals roster, and notable numbers across the system. • Past decisions, not predictions — and never a tool for choosing a judge.

PROCESSING TIMES • Current USCIS processing times by form and office, with a personalized estimate for a pending case. • The State Department's Visa Bulletin, read as a waiting line: which filing dates are being decided now, and how far the line moved in the last year. • Department of Labor queues for employment-based cases.

ALERTS AND DISPATCH • Firm-authored alerts when a rule, fee or court decision changes what you should do — with who is affected and what to do next. • A curated archive of reporting, broadcasts, public records and commentary on immigration law, civil rights and Montana's immigration history. • An emergency guide for families after an ICE detention in Montana.

WHEN YOU WANT A LAWYER • Schedule a phone or video consultation with the attorney who wrote the guide, from inside the app. • Clear flat fees, with monthly payment options, for the services the firm offers.

ENGLISH AND SPANISH • The guide, the tools and the alerts are available in both languages, with authored Spanish — not machine translation. • Read Aloud, text scaling and other accessibility support.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Open Borders is written and maintained by Shahid Haque, founder of Border Crossing Law Firm and a former law professor, who has represented thousands of people in the U.S. immigration system since 2008.

IMPORTANT Open Borders is intended for adults 18 and older. It provides general educational information that may be incomplete and may not reflect current law or every fact, exception or option in your situation. It does not provide legal advice, determine eligibility, recommend a filing strategy or create an attorney-client relationship, and it is not affiliated with USCIS, ICE, CBP, EOIR, the BIA or any government agency. Have a qualified immigration attorney review your case before acting or filing anything.