Immigration Legal Services for Afghan Arrivals Eligible Afghan Arrival Focus Group

ILSAA Eligible Afghan Arrival (EAA) Focus Group

Introduction

Hi everyone – thank you for being here today. My name is ________, and I work as an analyst for ILSAA. I want to clarify that none of us are attorneys or legal representatives, and we are not allowed to discuss specifics regarding your legal cases.

Let’s take a moment to introduce ourselves. If you feel comfortable, please share your first name. However, if you prefer to maintain privacy, you don’t have to do so.

[Introductions]

The purpose of this focus group is to gather your feedback about working with ILSAA so we can improve the legal assistance provided to Afghan arrivals.

Everyone will have the chance to respond to each question if you choose to share. Please avoid interrupting one another and allow time for interpretation. You don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to answer, and you can leave the focus group at any time if you do not wish to continue.

Your individual responses will not be shared with your attorney or have any impact on your legal status. You will continue to receive services from ILSAA regardless of your decision to participate and regardless of your responses. There are no right or wrong answers, and we encourage you to share honestly. Please keep our discussion confidential to protect everyone’s privacy.

Your feedback will be kept private and will not be associated with your name. It will be combined with other responses to create an informational report. This combined feedback will help us enhance our services.

We expect this focus group to take around an hour and a half. We greatly appreciate your time and willingness to participate. To thank you for your participation, we will provide each of you with a $50 gift card after the discussion.

Does anyone have any questions so far?

[Pause to answer questions]

Please take a few moments to review and sign the consent form.

[Collect signed consent forms]

I will now start the recording.

[Start recording]

The recording is now on, and we will begin the questions.

[ASK DISCUSSION QUESTIONS]

1. Describe your experience working with ILSAA.

2. In your opinion, how well did your attorney explain the immigration legal process?

3. What has your experience been like when communicating with ILSAA?

4. Think about your experience with the immigration legal process before working with ILSAA. How did ILSAA change your experience?

5. Describe any challenges encountered when working with ILSAA.

   • What could we have done differently?

6. Describe what has gone well that ILSAA should continue doing.

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about ILSAA?

Closing

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and experiences. We really appreciate your input. Your feedback will help us improve our work.

If you have any legal questions, we have an attorney available today who can speak with you.

Thank you!

[stop recording]

[distribute gift cards, may be via email]