Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC) is the country’s first and only dedicated immigration fellowship program. IJC recruits the nation’s most talented college and law graduates and places them with premier legal service institutions, to reduce the representation gap and expand access to justice for low-income immigrants. IJC currently has over 130 active Fellows in more than 30 states across the country.
We are now recruiting our twelfth class of Community Fellows who will join IJC in the Fall of 2026.
Community Fellows:
IJC’s 2026 Community Fellows will be inaugural three-year placements awarded to recent college graduates with the linguistic skills, passion, and cultural competency to work with diverse immigrant communities. IJC seeks to foster advocates who seek to achieve full accreditation from the Department of Justice’s Recognition & Accreditation Program by the end of the fellowship. Community Fellows will seek partial accreditation by the end of year 1 (ideally by 6 months and no later than 12 months) of the placement, which allows them to practice before U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services and ideally achieve full accreditation by the midpoint of the placement (between 12 months to 18 months) to allow Fellows to gain experience before the Immigration Courts. IJC Fellows are granted full salary and benefits.
Community Fellows carry their own caseloads and provide a broad range of representation, under the supervision of legal staff at their host organization.
2026 Community Fellow Placement Options:
IJC anticipates that 2026 Community Fellow placements will be in New York State, including New York City, Long Island, and Upstate New York. Those selected as Community Fellows must be located or willing to relocate to the geography of their host organization (placements may be hybrid or fully in-person, but no fully remote options will be offered).
Community Fellow Application Eligibility Requirements:
Applicants may be enrolled in an undergraduate degree, as long as they graduate by the Spring of the Fellowship start year. For example, if you graduate in Spring 2026 you will be eligible to apply to the Class of 2026.
Applicants may have graduated from college no more than two years prior to the start of the Fellowship (no earlier than Spring 2024).
All Fellows must be eligible for work authorization in the U.S. for the full three years of the Fellowship placement. Applicants with DACA or TPS are welcome to apply.
All Community Fellows must be proficient in a second language in addition to English, with Spanish (including indigenous dialects) preferred for the Class of 2026.
We define undergraduate to include both Associate and Bachelor's Degree programs.
Application Components:
Community Fellowship Application Form
Resume/C.V. (no more than two pages)
PDF of your unofficial college transcript(s)
Statement of Interest (500 words or less)
Please provide a statement of interest, no longer than 500 words, describing why you would like to be a Community Fellow. Questions to consider in drafting your Statement of Interest include:
Why are you interested in immigration advocacy?
How might an IJC Fellowship prepare you for the career you want to have in the future?
Why, specifically, are you interested in participating in a fellowship program?
What area(s) of immigration practice (i.e. asylum, humanitarian, family-based, detention) are you seeking to gain experience in through the fellowship and why
What skills and experiences do you bring to working with immigrant communities?
Essay Question (500 words of less)
- We seek fellows who exhibit cultural humility, are able to translate complex doctrine and policy into plain language for immigrants, and whose beliefs are in alignment with IJC's mission and theory of change. As such, we ask you to tell us about your perspective on immigration policy in the U.S. through a response to the following prompt: What do you believe are the most critical issues facing immigrants in the United States today, and why? How would the fellowship empower you to make a difference?
- We seek fellows who exhibit cultural humility, are able to translate complex doctrine and policy into plain language for immigrants, and whose beliefs are in alignment with IJC's mission and theory of change. As such, we ask you to tell us about your perspective on immigration policy in the U.S. through a response to the following prompt: What do you believe are the most critical issues facing immigrants in the United States today, and why? How would the fellowship empower you to make a difference?
One Letter of Recommendation (Two valued)
Only one letter of recommendation is required to apply for the fellowship. A second letter of recommendation is optional, though highly valued.
When setting up your account you will be asked to enter a name for your submission – PLEASE USE YOUR FULL NAME (LAST, FIRST) AS THE SUBMISSION NAME.
Submitting Letter(s) of Recommendation:
Within the application portal, you will need to enter the email address for one reference who will submit a letter on your behalf. You will be able to enter an additional email address if opting to include a second letter of recommendation on your application.
Once you enter your recommender’s email address into the system, they will be sent an email with a link to create an account and submit their letter of reference on your behalf. We strongly recommend that you immediately follow up with your recommender to make sure they receive the email. Frequently, recommender notifications are routed to spam, therefore please be sure to notify your recommender to check both their inbox and spam folders. The system will automatically remind recommenders to submit their letters several days before the application deadline, however, we also encourage you to send them a note to remind them of the upcoming deadline.
Your recommender may also contact IJC at recruitment@justicecorps.org for further assistance. They can send a PDF copy of their letter of recommendation to recruitment@justicecorps.org, however applicants are still required to enter their information in the system so we can upload it on the recommender's behalf.
You are encouraged to submit your application even if letter(s) of reference have not been uploaded to the system.
Every component of your application must be submitted by the deadline of Sunday, May 3rd at 11:59 p.m., ET, including your recommendation letter(s), so please reach out to your recommender(s) early and often and let them know to expect an email requesting a reference on your behalf.
The Selection Process:
All Community Fellow applications and supporting documents are due on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Application Review: a selection committee reviews Community Fellow applications and makes recommendations to IJC staff in early May. IJC staff schedule interviews with selected prospective Community Fellows.
Interviews: Brief, 45-minute interviews are held in mid-May via remote video calls.
Matching: IJC staff select finalists from the interview pool and places some applicants on the waitlist in mid-May. We then solicit input from finalist candidates and finalist host organizations regarding their preferred matches. That information is used to appropriately match host organizations and applicants via tentative offers made in May.
In June, successfully matched 2026 Community Fellows receive Fellowship Agreements.
If you have any questions about the application or selection process, you may contact us at recruitment@justicecorps.org.
To learn more about Immigrant Justice Corps visit our website: www.justicecorps.org.
2026 Community Fellowship
Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC) is the country’s first and only dedicated immigration fellowship program. IJC recruits the nation’s most talented college and law graduates and places them with premier legal service institutions, to reduce the representation gap and expand access to justice for low-income immigrants. IJC currently has over 130 active Fellows in more than 30 states across the country.
We are now recruiting our twelfth class of Community Fellows who will join IJC in the Fall of 2026.
Community Fellows:
IJC’s 2026 Community Fellows will be inaugural three-year placements awarded to recent college graduates with the linguistic skills, passion, and cultural competency to work with diverse immigrant communities. IJC seeks to foster advocates who seek to achieve full accreditation from the Department of Justice’s Recognition & Accreditation Program by the end of the fellowship. Community Fellows will seek partial accreditation by the end of year 1 (ideally by 6 months and no later than 12 months) of the placement, which allows them to practice before U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services and ideally achieve full accreditation by the midpoint of the placement (between 12 months to 18 months) to allow Fellows to gain experience before the Immigration Courts. IJC Fellows are granted full salary and benefits.
Community Fellows carry their own caseloads and provide a broad range of representation, under the supervision of legal staff at their host organization.
2026 Community Fellow Placement Options:
IJC anticipates that 2026 Community Fellow placements will be in New York State, including New York City, Long Island, and Upstate New York. Those selected as Community Fellows must be located or willing to relocate to the geography of their host organization (placements may be hybrid or fully in-person, but no fully remote options will be offered).
Community Fellow Application Eligibility Requirements:
Applicants may be enrolled in an undergraduate degree, as long as they graduate by the Spring of the Fellowship start year. For example, if you graduate in Spring 2026 you will be eligible to apply to the Class of 2026.
Applicants may have graduated from college no more than two years prior to the start of the Fellowship (no earlier than Spring 2024).
All Fellows must be eligible for work authorization in the U.S. for the full three years of the Fellowship placement. Applicants with DACA or TPS are welcome to apply.
All Community Fellows must be proficient in a second language in addition to English, with Spanish (including indigenous dialects) preferred for the Class of 2026.
We define undergraduate to include both Associate and Bachelor's Degree programs.
Application Components:
Community Fellowship Application Form
Resume/C.V. (no more than two pages)
PDF of your unofficial college transcript(s)
Statement of Interest (500 words or less)
Please provide a statement of interest, no longer than 500 words, describing why you would like to be a Community Fellow. Questions to consider in drafting your Statement of Interest include:
Why are you interested in immigration advocacy?
How might an IJC Fellowship prepare you for the career you want to have in the future?
Why, specifically, are you interested in participating in a fellowship program?
What area(s) of immigration practice (i.e. asylum, humanitarian, family-based, detention) are you seeking to gain experience in through the fellowship and why
What skills and experiences do you bring to working with immigrant communities?
Essay Question (500 words of less)
- We seek fellows who exhibit cultural humility, are able to translate complex doctrine and policy into plain language for immigrants, and whose beliefs are in alignment with IJC's mission and theory of change. As such, we ask you to tell us about your perspective on immigration policy in the U.S. through a response to the following prompt: What do you believe are the most critical issues facing immigrants in the United States today, and why? How would the fellowship empower you to make a difference?
- We seek fellows who exhibit cultural humility, are able to translate complex doctrine and policy into plain language for immigrants, and whose beliefs are in alignment with IJC's mission and theory of change. As such, we ask you to tell us about your perspective on immigration policy in the U.S. through a response to the following prompt: What do you believe are the most critical issues facing immigrants in the United States today, and why? How would the fellowship empower you to make a difference?
One Letter of Recommendation (Two valued)
Only one letter of recommendation is required to apply for the fellowship. A second letter of recommendation is optional, though highly valued.
When setting up your account you will be asked to enter a name for your submission – PLEASE USE YOUR FULL NAME (LAST, FIRST) AS THE SUBMISSION NAME.
Submitting Letter(s) of Recommendation:
Within the application portal, you will need to enter the email address for one reference who will submit a letter on your behalf. You will be able to enter an additional email address if opting to include a second letter of recommendation on your application.
Once you enter your recommender’s email address into the system, they will be sent an email with a link to create an account and submit their letter of reference on your behalf. We strongly recommend that you immediately follow up with your recommender to make sure they receive the email. Frequently, recommender notifications are routed to spam, therefore please be sure to notify your recommender to check both their inbox and spam folders. The system will automatically remind recommenders to submit their letters several days before the application deadline, however, we also encourage you to send them a note to remind them of the upcoming deadline.
Your recommender may also contact IJC at recruitment@justicecorps.org for further assistance. They can send a PDF copy of their letter of recommendation to recruitment@justicecorps.org, however applicants are still required to enter their information in the system so we can upload it on the recommender's behalf.
You are encouraged to submit your application even if letter(s) of reference have not been uploaded to the system.
Every component of your application must be submitted by the deadline of Sunday, May 3rd at 11:59 p.m., ET, including your recommendation letter(s), so please reach out to your recommender(s) early and often and let them know to expect an email requesting a reference on your behalf.
The Selection Process:
All Community Fellow applications and supporting documents are due on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Application Review: a selection committee reviews Community Fellow applications and makes recommendations to IJC staff in early May. IJC staff schedule interviews with selected prospective Community Fellows.
Interviews: Brief, 45-minute interviews are held in mid-May via remote video calls.
Matching: IJC staff select finalists from the interview pool and places some applicants on the waitlist in mid-May. We then solicit input from finalist candidates and finalist host organizations regarding their preferred matches. That information is used to appropriately match host organizations and applicants via tentative offers made in May.
In June, successfully matched 2026 Community Fellows receive Fellowship Agreements.
If you have any questions about the application or selection process, you may contact us at recruitment@justicecorps.org.
To learn more about Immigrant Justice Corps visit our website: www.justicecorps.org.