Information for Advocates New to CGRS's Technical Assistance Program

How to Register

To access CGRS's technical assistance (TA) resources, such as the TA Library and Expert Witness Database, begin by registering for an account. You will be required to provide basic contact information, including your organizational affiliation. Once you have completed the form, your account will be reviewed by CGRS staff to ensure that you meet the requirements to access our site and TA program. We will not share any of your contact information, including your organizational affiliation, with anyone -- we collect this information for verification purposes.

Expedite Account Approval

We typically review and approve new account requests within 24 hours. However, to get access more quickly, we recommend the following: 

• Register for your account with your work email. This helps streamline the approval process as we can match your email domain to that of your employer.
• Use your real, full name. We do not share user contact information with anyone, including other site users. All contact information is kept completely private; we only use it internally to verify site eligibility through means such as looking at your State Bar or employer's website. 
• Choose the correct organizational affiliation -- even if you are working in a pro bono capacity. If you are a private attorney employed at a law firm taking on a pro bono case referred to you by a legal services organization, please select your private employer instead of the referring legal services organization. This helps streamline the approval process. We will never share information on your organizational affiliation with anyone, including your employer or other registered users. 
• For solo practitioners or advocates without a work email (e.g., those using a Gmail account), please help our team expedite your account approval by providing context in the Motivations for accessing CGRS site box. If we can't verify your eligibility via your organizational affiliation, telling us in what capacity you work with asylum seekers or providing a State Bar number helps us expedite your review. 
• If we can't verify your account with the information provided, our team will email you for more information. To avoid email traffic, provide all information up front on the registration form so we can approve without reaching out. 
• If you have an urgent deadline and need to access ASAP, email us. You can reach our TA team at CGRS-TA@uclawsf.edu.

Eligibility to Access CGRS TA

CGRS's TA materials are not available to the public in order to ensure the safety of the immigrant community and deter misuse. The following types of users are permitted to access the logged-in parts of our site and TA program:

• Attorneys, accredited representatives, paralegals, law students, or other legal advocates working on an asylum, withholding, or CAT case in an official capacity.
• Individuals or representatives of clinics interested in being listed in our Expert Witness Database or interested in accessing the Expert Witness Resource Library to learn more about serving as an expert.

The following types of users are not permitted access and will not be approved:

• Government employees, other than public defenders, or individuals registering for expert accounts.
• Researchers not working on an individual asylum case.
• Members of the media. For media inquiries, contact Brianna Krong at krongbrianna@uclawsf.edu.
• Individuals representing themselves in immigration proceedings (pro se). Our materials are developed to be reviewed and interpreted by attorneys or legal representatives, and may contain information harmful to your case if misinterpreted. We do have pro se-specific materials available at this link. We also encourage pro se individuals to find counsel, if possible. Look for legal services providers in your area at this link.
• Any other individual that does not fall into the above-specified allowed user types.

After Applying for an Account

CGRS staff will review and either approve your account or reach out to you with more information. If approved, you will receive an email from CGRS@uclawsf.edu with login instructions. If we need more information, a team member will reach out from CGRS-TA@uclawsf.edu. Keep an eye on your junk mail folder, as emails from our site can sometimes be marked spam. 

If you have not gotten an approval email or heard from our staff with follow-up questions within 2 business days of registering, email us at CGRS-TA@uclawsf.edu. You may have entered your email wrong or registered for the wrong account type.

If you have already registered for an account but have issues logging in, begin by resetting your password. If you're still unable to log-in (e.g., you don't have access to the email you registered with), email us at CGRS-TA@uclawsf.edu and our staff will change the email on your account and reset your password. 

If you already have an account, please do not register for a new one. You will get access quicker by reaching out to our TA team rather than entering the account approval queue; additionally, you will be able to access prior-submitted cases.