When people learn that I am the director of the West Virginia University Immigration Law Clinic, they sometimes say, “There are immigrants in West Virginia?”

According to the American Immigration Council (AIC), West Virginia is home to a foreign born population of more than 27,000 people, about 1.5% of the state’s population.

More than half - about 14,000 - are naturalized U.S. citizens. The top countries of origin are the Philippines (9%) and China (8.5%). About 2,500 U.S. citizens in West Virginia live with at least one undocumented family member.

What does this mean for law students or lawyers considering immigration law?

Compare the West Virginia immigration law market with, say, California. California certainly has far more immigrants - over 10.5 million, according to AIC, or 26.7% of the state population.

Given those relative populations and percentages, it makes sense that people would think of California as a much better market for immigration lawyers than West Virginia.

But consider this: The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) attorney locator currently lists 2 (that’s right, two) immigration lawyers based in West Virginia - one for every 13,500 foreign-born residents. (Even naturalized U.S. citizens often seek legal help for family members.)

By comparison, AILA lists 644 immigration lawyers based in California. For a state population of 10.5 million, that’s about one for every 16,300 foreign-born residents.

Becoming an Immigration Lawyer in West Virginia

By these numbers, there’s about as much demand for immigration legal services in West Virginia as there is in California.

Moreover, people seeking immigration law help in West Virginia often have no idea where to start.

In California, a larger immigrant population means a larger network of people to ask for references. The California Bar Association maintains a 92-page list of all the immigration legal services providers in the state - and that’s just pro bono services, not private immigration lawyers. The West Virginia State Bar doesn’t even have an immigration law section.

There’s an untapped market for immigration legal services in West Virginia. We just need entrepreneurially-minded immigration lawyers in the state to meet it.