Immigration Paralegal II

Immigration Paralegal II - San Francisco, CA 

Full-Time, Exempt

Hybrid (2-4 days in office)

About Us: 

“It always seems impossible until it's done.” - Nelson Mandela

We believe that even the biggest problems can be broken down into small, achievable steps. Poverty and access to justice are part of the same problem. And to solve this, we just need to discover what the steps are. At Open Door Legal, we're pioneering the country's first system of universal access to civil legal representation to dramatically reduce poverty and prove that the law really can belong to all of us. We've grown 100x since our founding, and in the next 3 years, we hope to finish scaling across San Francisco and eventually become a model across the country. To achieve this ambitious goal, we've created an award-winning and best-in-class legal aid organization full of creative, results-oriented people. 

We believe that injustice is the heart of poverty, and we're looking for someone to help us make a systemic impact on how we, as a society, ensure justice for all. 

Overview of Position: 

Immigrants are the lifeblood of our city. With almost 40% of San Francisco's residents being foreign-born, San Francisco would literally not function without immigrants. Since studies have found that immigrants are more likely to obtain legal status when represented, we believe that the only way to create the best-case scenario for our immigrant neighbors is to ensure that everyone who qualifies for immigration relief is able to obtain legal representation. Legal representation has become even more important during these challenging times. It can protect our neighbors and reduce poverty in our city by dramatically improving each immigrant's earning potential. 

We are hiring an Immigration Paralegal II to help ensure that everyone who lives in Open Door Legal's service area who needs immigration legal assistance can access timely, competent representation. We are looking for a passionate paralegal to support our growing Immigration Team. Currently, we handle only affirmative immigration benefits and, in limited cases, represent existing clients in removal proceedings. We are looking to expand our removal defense practice and continue helping clients with affirmative immigration benefits. 

Because we are a full-service legal aid organization representing clients in nearly every area of civil law, we can and do frequently collaborate across teams to provide comprehensive legal assistance to clients in every area of need, including Family Law, Housing Law, and Employment Law.

Overall, this position is intended to be a challenging and rewarding experience. Cultural humility is not just conceptual to you; you embody it and commit to growth. Success in this role requires grit, dynamism, teamwork, care, and passion (our team's five values).  You will report directly to our Managing Immigration Attorney.

Responsibilities:

• Provide support to our low-income clients with sensitivity and awareness to various cultural, socio-economic, and disability barriers to service and skillfully navigate difficult or tense situations. Deliver a consistently positive client feedback rating for the Immigration Law Department.
• Support your team with administrative and advocacy responsibilities where a law license is not needed, including providing clients with individualized case support to increase the efficiency and capacity of your team, under the supervision of an attorney.
• Perform paralegal administrative tasks central to the Immigration Team's needs, including drafting documents and forms, translations, and meeting and communicating with clients and guests.
• Support immigration law intakes in-person and virtually across multiple physical Open Door Legal locations.
• Gain competency in basic knowledge of immigration law,  especially removal defense, and direct services legal advocacy, including client management and time management.
• Empower immigration law clients to know their rights, navigate the immigration system, protect themselves and their loved ones, and resolve their immigration law issues.
• Mentor junior paralegals and direct reports (e.g., interns and volunteers)
• Efficiently utilize Salesforce, our client management system (CMS), to document case activities, maintain accurate client records, and ensure timely record updates.
• Embrace and embody our values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism. 

Requirements: 

• A minimum of three (3) years of experience in affirmative forms of immigration relief, including family-based applications, U-nonimmigrant, T-nonimmigrant, SIJS, naturalization, VAWA, and removal defense.
• Advanced Spanish proficiency (speaking, reading, and writing) 
• At least an associate's degree or equivalent work experience. A paralegal certificate or declaration is required for a paralegal designation.
• Strong time-management skills and the ability to organize case tasks, manage diverse activities, and meet critical deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Must actively demonstrate cultural humility and sensitivity to barriers low-income residents face when attempting to access the justice system.
• Demonstrated understanding of how to effectively provide trauma-informed advocacy for clients in crisis.
• Hybrid position: minimum of three days in-office in one or more of our Open Door Legal office locations.
• Must genuinely enjoy and be motivated by working with low-income clients, the vast majority of whom are people of color, and be able to work effectively with clients impacted by trauma (emotional, mental, and physical). 
• High level of comfort in learning and using technology and cloud-based case management systems. We use Salesforce, Dropbox, and the Google Suite.  
• Authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.
• Must be willing to make a minimum two-year commitment to the organization. 

Bonus Points: 

• Comfort translating and interpreting legal information from English to Spanish without assistance.
• Experience working with low-income and vulnerable populations.
• Experience working in a high-volume legal aid or similar environment. 
• Knowledge of other local non-profit organizations and tools for assisting low-income, underserved communities. 
• Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper.

Starting compensation is $76,500 - $92,500 per year based on experience.

Benefits:

• Loan Repayment Assistance - for staff pursuing 10-year public interest debt forgiveness, we will pay the minimum payment on all qualifying loans so that you don't need to worry about student loan debt (this is a conditional benefit).
• Medical/Dental/Vision Plan offerings at 100% coverage
• Generous paid time off (four weeks vacation and two weeks sick/care)
• Flexible work hours
• Generous paid parental leave
• 401K/Retirement Account
• We believe everyone is always learning. We financially invest in individual professional development for each staff member and provide many internal and external mentorships, coaching, and learning opportunities (conferences, workshops, etc.).
• We are a fun and hard-working office with best-in-class technology solutions for anyone who is passionate about making a meaningful and measurable difference.

Ideal starting date: June 1, 2026

Apply here: 

Applications received before April 24,  2026 will receive priority consideration.

To apply, submit your cover letter and resume. You may type your cover letter into the text box or combine your cover letter and resume into one PDF document for upload.

Open Door Legal is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at whitney[at]opendoorlegal[dot]org.