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Joy Alegria Haynes

Immigration Attorney at Washington, DC

5.0   31 reviews

also known as Practicing immigration law exclusively since 2007.

  • State Years
    Dist. of Columbia - DC 16 years
    California - CA 17 years
  • Licensed for 16 years
    State DC
    Acquired 2007
    Status
    Good Standing No misconduct found
  • Licensed for 17 years
    State CA
    Acquired 2005
    Status
    Inactive No misconduct found

We have not found any instances of professional misconduct for this lawyer.

About Joy

Learn Joy’s areas of practice.

1
Practice area

Joy has been practicing immigration law exclusively since 2007. Historically focused on employment-based immigration, particularly H-1B Specialty Workers and E Treaty Traders and Investors, she has deep experience with the employment-based permanent-residency process, including PERM (labor certification) and I-140 immigrant petitions, followed by adjustment of status or consular processing. A particular niche area of hers was advising and representing those in the field of Montessori education.

On the family side, she represents couples in consular processing and adjustment applications based on marriage and other family-based petitions. She is particularly known for her representation of bi-national LGBT couples, having counseled countless couples on legal options to remain together in the United States before the fall of DOMA, to filing scores of marriage-based adjustment applications post-DOMA. She also has a successful track record securing marriage-based permanent residency where both spouses are transgender, even pre-DOMA. Her practice also focuses on parent-child sponsorships, both adjusting status and consular processing. Joy specializes in removal of conditions for conditional residents as well as naturalization.

Prior to practicing immigration, Joy gained experience in employment, civil rights, and product liability class action litigation at California-based law firms.

Joy is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

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Contact Joy

Similar lawyers nearby

Haynes Novick Kohn Immigration
2001 S Street, NW
Suite 550
Washington, DC, 20009

Reviews

5.0 / 5.0
  31 customer reviews
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Posted by Khay M. | March 30, 2023
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Best Immigration lawyer without exaggeration!!
Joy is so great in helping me with my Adjustment of Status( Marriage based Green card), work authorization, and Advance parole. They submit my forms to USCIS right after I got married. It was really a smooth transaction with them and they are very quick to respond whenever I have questions, which not all immigration lawyers are known for. They are also updating me immediately whenever there’s an update to my case. All in all, I’m giving them 5 star cause they deserve it for all their help to me. I didn’t have to worry a thing about the forms getting filed incorrectly all I have to do is answer their questionnaire and submit the necessary documents. I just got my 2-year green card in just a span of 6 months without an interview next is the removal of condition and Im going to hire them for that. Thank you, Joy, you the best!
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Posted by Max | December 27, 2019
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great Immigration Attorney
Joy was my immigration attorney. My case was more complicated than expected, but she knew exactly how to handle every single requests from USCIS. I am not sure if I would have gotten my Green Card without her. Joy and her team were always extremely responsive, and clear about the process. She charged no extra fees and she was always available for questions. I would certainly recommend Haynes Novick Immigration to anyone looking for an immigration lawyer. She really care about her clients.
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Posted by Chirag | November 17, 2019
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great immigration lawyer
Let me start by saying that Joy is truly a joy to work with! My wife and I availed of Joy’s services to file for a marriage based green card. Joy was recommended to us by a friend who had recently gone through the same process and gotten his green card. She brings a wealth of experience in this area. She was very responsive through emails and/or phone calls and guided us very well at every step of the way of this lengthy process - through all the paperwork, performing a detailed review, answering all our questions as we worked through collating the information she needed to fill out the paperwork, through preparing for the interview, gathering all the documentation/evidence, organizing it to be presented to the immigration office during the interview. Once we had our interview notice, she took the time to conduct a mock interview session walking us through how it would be in reality. We had a fantastic experience with her and felt we were in very safe hands throughout the process. Needless to say, we would highly recommend her for someone needing help with immigration related attorney services.
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Posted by anonymous | October 5, 2019
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Responsive, trustworthy, and outstanding service. Joy is the model all immigration lawyers should follow
I retained Joy for my Permanent Residence application, and again for my Naturalization. Incredibly responsive (replies within minutes sometimes) and always professional, Joy advised me through what could have been a labyrinthine process. I have dealt with many immigration advisors in the past, usually employer-provided, and I consider Joy the model all should follow. You can trust her, and I'm glad I did.
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Posted by Cormac | September 17, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Highest recommendation
My husband and I worked with Joy for my green card application, removal of conditions, and naturalization, and we couldn't have been happier. Joy was a pleasure to work with, and was always extremely accommodating and responsive to our (many!) questions. We would absolutely recommend her to anyone looking for an immigration attorney.
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Posted by Tung | August 10, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Best lawyer you can find!
Joy helped my wife and me to complete our Green Card process (EB2). We already had our ETA 9089 certified with the help of another lawyer but when it came to status change, it was more complicated due to some factors and we were afraid that he cannot handle it. One of the reasons being that he is very careless and unprofessional. We always had to try our best to study the whole Green Card process and review all the forms he prepared ourselves to notify him about hundreds of mistakes. We got really lucky to still have the ETA approved by his work but we decided to stop leaving it to chance by looking for a new lawyer. We searched online and found that Joy is one of the highest rated immigrant lawyer in DC area. When we talked to our friends, we realize that one friend also consulted with Joy and she gave Joy a lot of compliments, so we decided to contact Joy. I called Joy first but couldn’t reach her. However she called me back within 30 minutes. She spent the next 30 minutes talking to me to understand our situation and gave me general advices regarding our case. And it was free! Impressed with how professional, knowledgeable and responsive she was, I asked her to officially consult on our case. We sent over all our documents but she was busy with some other cases at the time so she promised a time to give us feedbacks on our case after reviewing it. And she did as promised, very on time! Given the fact that our previous lawyer was able to get our ETA 9089 approved and Joy not knowing how unprofessional he was, she even suggested us that maybe we don’t need her help and just let him finish the process. That’s when we know Joy is a very work ethic oriented lawyer as well! Quickly we decided to have Joy take over our case. To summarize, Joy is: 1. Knowledgeable: Not only she is knowledgeable about the whole Green Card process but also about other visas/programs which we were involved in such as J1/J2, CBT, OPT, marriage at an embassy, etc. … 2. Professional: Joy is always on time, always keeps promises and lets us know in advance if she out of office. She also always follows up to stay on top of everything. 3. Very responsive and effective in communication: Over the course of 7 months, we wrote almost 200 emails back and forth (!). Joy usually responds within 30 minutes and if it’s rush, 5 minutes. She’ll address all our questions in the very next email. 4. Diligent and meticulous: Most forms that Joy prepared had no mistakes. All we have to do is that if we have some concerns here and there we would talk to her to see if adjustments need to be made. 5. A great planner: Joy always has everything ready for our next step. From when USCIS transferred our application to NVC for visa processing and notified us, it just took us another week to submit all the papers to NVC. Preparation for this already took place 6 weeks prior! Time was sensitive to us, so we really appreciate that Joy can help us to save a lot of time by planning ahead! We asked Joy to take over in January and now it’s July, here we are with our Green Cards! The process went so smoothly and quickly that we cannot be happier with Joy. We are just really lucky that we found Joy. And also thanks a lot to all the accurate reviews that we found online on Google, LinkedIn, Yelp and Avvo. We will post this review on all those sites hoping someday it will help others just like it did help us.
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Posted by Brian | June 23, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Green Card Process Made Easy!
Joy and her firm helped my wife get a Green Card seamlessly, painlessly and unbelievably quickly! We had a very complicated situation as I was an American citizen living abroad but planning on returning to the States to study for my PhD. My uncle who is a lawyer recommended Haynes Novick when I asked him about our situation. And what a great recommendation it was! We had our consultation with Joy on February 7th and my wife got her green card approved on June 16th of the same year, unbelievable. Absolutely could not be more pleased! Joy was so helpful, working with us and accommodating us even though we were 14 time zones away. We'd communicate via Skype and email at odd hours due to the time difference but we were always impressed by her responsiveness and friendliness. Everything was prepared on time, explained thoroughly and completely and went off without a hitch. We asked a lot of stupid questions and always got immediate, thoughtful and helpful responses. Joy is a pleasure to work with, you can immediately tell that she cares about you and your case. I have to go back to the States in July and we were afraid that my wife and I would have to live apart for a year or more while we worked on the immigration process. Or that we would go together, but she would be unable to work which would have been a real financial hardship on us. We still can't believe that she has her green card already and that we can move together with no worries! We will always be thankful to Joy and her team. Positively cannot recommend highly enough!
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Posted by Robert | May 24, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Highest recommendation
At the referral of friends, Joy Haynes of Haynes-Novick Immigration provided invaluable help in steering us through a permanent residence application on the basis of a same-sex marriage. It was a pleasure to have worked with her over the course of nearly a year, from her initial consultation to outline our immigration options, through to our marriage and subsequent petition for alien relative and adjustment of status application, and finally to our marriage interview at U.S.C.I.S. and conditional permanent residence status. From the start, Joy was exhibited the sincere interest, expertise, competence, and unhurried throughness that prepared us for what might follow and for a timeline with some built-in uncertainties. We were put at ease in a sometimes unnerving process knowing that we had Joy as our attorney, and never felt that we enjoyed anything less than her full (and immediate) attention at every step. We are happy to recommend Joy Haynes for her professionalism, knowledge and experience, and genuine care and interest she takes with her clients.
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Posted by Teodora | February 5, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Best Immigration Lawyer!!!
Joy Haynes and her paralegal Leo Santana are absolutely the best you can get. We found Joy on Yelp and cannot be happier with our decision to hire her and her firm. 1. Joy is extremely knowledgable. She knows every part of the law and always gives the best advice. 2.Joy always gets back to you in a timely manner. She is always available. We have been using her services since September, and since then she always gets back to us in couple of hours, which is absolutely amazing. 3.Working with Joy and Leo feels absolutely amazing. We are always guided in the right direction. We would strongly recommend Joy Haynes if you need an immigration lawyer.
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Posted by Akshina | January 30, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Best Immigration Lawyer Experience
I found Haynes Novick Immigration on Yelp. I will be eternally thankful that my first phone call was to Haynes Novick Immigration and that Joy Haynes picked up the phone. From our first conversation Joy was compassionate, clear and organized. This combination was exceedingly important to me. Immigration is personal matter and Joy treats the issue with the compassion and respect this matter needs. Joy guided my husband and i through the marriage-based green card process over an 11 month period. While working through this process, i had questions related to a career move and Joy even provided me with guidance about questions i had related to that. The following characteristics are the reasons i would recommend Joy Haynes and Haynes Novick Immigration to anyone i know: 1. Joy knows her stuff. This is evident in the way she explains immigration guidance. I've worked with several immigration lawyers over 16 years and Joy is by-far the best. 2. She communicated with us constantly. We never had to remind Joy about a response. She always responded to us. 3. The firm is well equipped to gather necessary information from clients. When we signed-on with Joy, they had packets of information with clear guidance on what we needed to provide to them to move forward. This minimized any back and forth and made the information transfer process extremely smooth. 4. Lastly, but to us was the most important to us: In Joy we felt we were working with a lawyer that truly had our best interests at heart. We trust Joy immensely. Thank You Joy.
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Posted by Dai | January 15, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Best immigration lawyer I could find
I was referred to Haynes Novick Immigration through a client of mine. I was looking at starting the Green Card process through employment for both myself and my wife. After my first meeting with Jim and Joy, I knew that this law firm was going to everything to help me out. It took sometime to convince my work (no fault of Joy and her team) about sponsoring my application. Once I got all the approvals sorted out, Joy and her team went to action. Preparing documents, asking questions and making sure that everything was perfect. Whenever I had a question, no matter how ridiculous it was, I got an answer immediately. We predicted that our case would take a decent amount of time, however by diligent work from Joy we got our Green Card in record time (From start to finish, 1 year). I cannot thank Joy enough for how much she has helped both my wife and I, if you are looking for an immigration lawyer who is entirely on your side and will fight for you every step of the way - look no further.
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Posted by James | March 15, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
A great experience, best results
[We are especially pleased to write this today as we just received confirmation that the immigration visa we had long sought has just been granted.] Finding Joy Haynes of Haynes Novick Immigration was the best thing we could have done. We had gotten in touch with Joy after having decided to seek a Green Card for my spouse, who is South African.The dismantling of DOMA and the expansion of foreign same-sex partner rights afforded us the first real opportunity to seek immigration to the U.S. and while were excited, we also had trepidation. From our very first Skype meeting, Joy gave us the big picture -- all of the ins and outs, various scenarios as to how we could proceed -- and provided us not only a clear game plan but the confidence to move forward. We can tell you with certainty that Joy's advice and ongoing counsel saved us a lot of time, money and anxiety simply by directing us around hurdles and common mistakes that we saw a lot of other people making. It the end, what could have been anxiety-making was a breeze. It took time, as these things do, but the whole affair was as pain-free as anyone could have hoped it to be. What we learned is that the process can vary significantly from country to country, particularly if you are applying from the country of origin. Joy was able to identify and outline the process particular to South Africa, as well as some of the pitfalls that regularly trip people up. (Trust us, we consider ourselves relatively well educated but the process is actually quite tricky and we could have easily messed up at different stage in the process. Don't fools yourselves into thinking you can do it on your own; you can't.) Joy makes a point of crossing every "t," dotting every "i," and reviewing every piece of documentation coming and going. She and her team couldn't have been more meticulous. Moreover, she answers emails generally within a day and communicates completely, simply and with clarity. As for cost, we could say with that her counsel is a bargain at any price, but that would be glib. What we can say is that her firm's rates are incredibly reasonable by any standard. As far as we're concerned, we got far more than we paid for. We are fans, plain and simple, and remain grateful to Joy for finally enabling us, as an American and South African same-sex couple, to return the U.S. after 15 years. Thank you, Joy, Raisa and the rest of the Haynes Novick team!
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Posted by anonymous | February 28, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Trustworthy, responsive, and exceptionally competent
We decided to retain Joy rather than our firm-sponsored attorney primarily because she was accessible. After my wife and I met her, we knew immediately we made the right choice. Joy made us feel at ease as she and her team outlined how they would manage our AOS case. Throughout the process, her team was always responsive (at times, even proactive). As expected, our case was approved on schedule. We recommend Joy without reservation.
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Posted by Luc | January 18, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Excellent experience as a transgender couple
My partner and I had an amazing experience with Joy Haynes at Haynes Novice immigration to get my green card. We had been especially concerned when we filed our case because we are a same-sex couple and DOMA had just recently been overturned, so we were not sure what to expect. We are also both transgender, so finding a lawyer who was knowledgable in trans issues and immigration law was a top priority. We were impressed by Joy's professionalism, expertise, and ease with which she handled our case. We highly recommend her for other LGBT couples seeking a great lawyer for their green card applications!
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Posted by Dmitrii | January 5, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great experience with getting a Green Card
We just got my green card after this past Christmas and as Joy said "It’s a Christmas miracle!"... I believe so too. We got married in August 2015 and applied all the forms by the end of September 2015 in Cleveland, OH. All the process of collecting necessery documents was really easy by the guidance of Joy and Raisa (our case manager). I would strongly recommend Joy as your immigration attorney even though she is in a different city as you live. All our conversations with her were accomplished via Skype or e-mails (this method worked really good because she responded really fast, on weekends, late in a day). Thank you, Joy and Raisa.
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Posted by Eduard | September 30, 2015
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Caring, Dedicated, Passionate, a Joy to Work With!
We have been fortunate to have Joy as our attorney. She is absolutely knowledgeable and caring immigration attorney. Joy has a lot of experience working with LGBT couples in regards to family immigration matters. As an LGBT couple, we had a peace of mind having Joy as our lawyer. She always responded to our inquires within a couple hours, sometimes just minutes! She always encouraged us for the better. I am recommending Joy Alegria Haynes and Haynes Novick Immigration Law Firm to anyone seeking A+ quality representation in immigration matters. Thank you very much Joy!
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Posted by mor | August 29, 2015
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
what a joy
oy has been my lawyer for the last 4 years during that time i receive my temporary green card, my permanent green card and my american citizenship.during the entire time i worked closely with joy and her office stuff.service was super fast, efficient and professional.there was not a single question that haven't been answered within hours and every thing went smooth and stress free. i would highly recommend Haynes Novick Immigration. As a person that makes his living in the service industry i know and appreciate good personal service. you will find that with joy and her stuff. cheerse
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Posted by Jennifer | August 24, 2015
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Excellent experience receiving green card
Joy Haynes was recommended to me and my husband by another immigration attorney to help with my husband's green card application. My husband was in the country on an H1-B visa (through his employer) and we were eager for him to receive permanent residency through marriage. We were married in December and Joy helped us to file our paperwork literally the day after our wedding. She is quick, efficient and navigates the system easily. Joy made sure we were well-prepared and well-informed each step of the way. She is extremely responsive and communicative. Joy provided us with accurate and helpful coaching in advance of our INS interview, and we felt well-versed and ready the day of. We received my husband's green card just a few weeks later. All in all, Joy made this process (which can seem overwhelming) smooth and easy. She clearly enjoys what she does and is a pro. I would absolutely recommend Joy to those searching for an immigration attorney.
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Posted by anonymous | November 6, 2014
A true and trustworthy professional
We retained Joy shortly after the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013. Joy provided us with excellent advice and counsel - she got nothing wrong and everything right. She was very available and empathetic to our anxieties. I'm pretty good with navigating government systems on my own (I'm not a lawyer), but I did not want to take any chances with CIS. She had insights I would've never had and helped us present a case that sailed through (as it should have). We were successful and my husband is on the road to full citizenship. I can't recommend Joy highly enough. And I'm a pretty tough critic. We are deeply grateful.
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Posted by anonymous | August 19, 2014
Absolutely the most professional and caring lawyer ever
Because of the repeal of DOMA, my wife and I wanted to have the help of a lawyer to assist us with our adjustment of status. We called around to a few lawyers - each wanted to charge us just to speak with them and we even had one who found it ridiculously amusing that we wanted to do what we set out to do. It got to the point where when I called each lawyers office I asked first "how much would it cost to get information". When I finally called Joy's office, Mr Haynes just simply said "why would I charge you to just answer your question?"... let's talk he then said. Since we started working with Joy, she has been patient and extremely understanding and just so positive and encouraging. Her assistant Tyler also has been very helpful and thorough. They made our process seem so easy. We supplied information, they supplied the encouragement. Our prep session before our actual interview went so well, my wife and I felt so confident that our green card was going to get approved. Joy was even there before us on our interview date. We went in and we were out in about 15 mins or so with our approval. Joy and her team made a daunting experience seem like a walk in the park. Her experience and expertise is endless. I would absolutely recommend anyone searching for a lawyer to allow Joy and her team to work with you. You will not be disappointed.
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Contact for Details

Resume

AVVO RATING 8.0 (Excellent)

Work Experience

  • Managing Partner
  • Haynes Novick Kohn Immigration
  • 2023 - Present
  • Principal
  • Haynes Novick Immigration
  • 2012 - 2023
  • Attorney
  • The Haynes Immigration Law Firm
  • 2007 - 2012
  • Attorney
  • Fenwick & West
  • 2005 - 2006
View all work experience

Education

  • Georgetown University Law Center
  • JD - Juris Doctor
  • 2005
  • Stephens College
  • BFA
  • 1993

Legal Cases

  • Green Cards for Bi-National LGBT Married Couples
  • Families are united!
  • Expired H-1B - Righting a Terrible Wrong
  • Extension Granted!

Associations

  • American Immigration Lawyers Association
  • Member
  • 2007 - Present

Languages Spoken

  • English

Honors and Awards

  • District of Columbia Service Star Award
  • District of Columbia
  • 2013
  • Cum Laude graduate
  • Georgetown University Law Center
  • 2005
  • Summa Cum Laude graduate
  • Stephens College
  • 1993

Publications

  • V Geo. J. Gender & L. 545
  • Same Sex Marriage and Domestic Partnerships
  • 2004

Speaking Engagements

  • LeaderHERship Redefined
  • Designing The Career That Works For You
  • 2017
  • AIJA Annual Congress
  • Immigration Issues
  • 2010

Attorney endorsements

Received (3)
Given (3)
Endorse Joy
Immigration Attorney | Feb 12
Relationship: Co-worker
"Joy is a highly skilled and experienced immigration attorney who focuses her practice on employment-based and family-based immigration matters. She has a deep understanding of the intricacies of PERM and has had substantial success helping individuals secure E, L, and H-1B visas. Many of her clients gravitate to her because of her responsiveness and clear communication. Joy has also has received thousands of approvals for individuals seeking family-based immigration benefits, and often clients wish to work with her for multiple processes in their immigration journey. Furthermore, she is uniquely attune to cultural and legal issues impacting the LBGT community, and has assisted hundreds of LGBT immigrants securing permanent residence. I have enjoyed working with Joy over the past two years and have the utmost confidence in her legal representation."
Immigration Attorney | Jun 20
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I have known Joy for many years as an immigration lawyer colleague and can highly recommend her. If I have a conflict of interest or otherwise cannot handle a case within my own firm, Joy is the first immigration attorney to whom I turn, because I know she will give clients the same high level of service that I do. She is smart, creative, and doggedly pursues all available options for her clients. Five stars!"
Immigration Attorney | Jun 20
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Joy and I have worked on cases together, and she is professional, extremely knowledgeable, and is adored by her clients. I highly recommend Joy!"
Immigration
Immigration