Last updated: November 1, 2026
Immigration matters involve some of the most personal information a person can share: where you were born, who your family is, and your status in this country. This Privacy Policy explains how Oltarsh & Associates, P.C. handles that information at each stage of your contact with us, from a first visit to our website to the end of a case.
The policy applies to www.oltarsh.com and its Spanish-language pages (the “website”), to inquiries you send us through the website, by phone, or by email, and to the legal services we provide. “We,” “us,” and “our” mean Oltarsh & Associates, P.C., 494 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1704, New York, NY 10001. “Personal information” means information that identifies you or can reasonably be linked to you.
Our obligations as lawyers go further than this policy. Information about a client’s matter is protected by the duty of confidentiality in the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, and much of it by attorney-client privilege. Wherever those rules or your engagement agreement protect you more than this policy does, they apply.
An inquiry is not an engagement. Sending us a message does not make you our client. We represent you only once we have agreed to take your matter and we have both signed an engagement agreement. Until then, please tell us only what we need to understand your question and hold back confidential documents. If someone has been detained or has an immigration court date coming up, call us at (212) 944-9420 instead of writing.
This policy is published in English and Spanish. If the two versions differ, the English version applies.
1. When You Visit Our Website
What is recorded automatically
Each visit generates technical data: your IP address and the approximate location it indicates, your browser, device, and operating system, the page that referred you, the pages you open, and the date and time of each request. Our hosting and security systems record this in server logs, and the tools described below collect part of it.
Cookies and similar technologies
The website stores a small number of cookies and similar files in your browser. They serve three purposes:
- Preferences. Remembering the language you chose and that you have dismissed our cookie notice.
- Measurement. Google Analytics tells us which pages are read and how visitors move through the website. We also set our own cookies that note how you reached us, for example through a search engine, social media, another website, or a direct visit, so that we know which channel led to an inquiry. These cookies contain no name or contact details and expire after 90 days.
- Security. Google reCAPTCHA checks that our inquiry forms are being used by people and not by automated programs.
We do not place advertising, retargeting, or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not use Google Analytics for advertising.
Content provided by Google
Several parts of the website are delivered by Google: the analytics and reCAPTCHA services above, the map on our Contact page, some of our fonts, and the client reviews we display from our Google Business Profile. When these load, your browser connects to Google, which receives your IP address and other technical data and handles it under the Google Privacy Policy. reCAPTCHA is also subject to the Google Terms of Service.
Because Google operates these services on many websites, it may be able to collect information about your online activities over time and across different sites. Google explains how it uses that information in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
Your choices on the website
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The website works without measurement cookies, but our forms need reCAPTCHA, so if you block it, please reach us by phone or email instead. You can also stop Google Analytics from measuring your visits with Google’s opt-out browser add-on. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of the sale and sharing of your personal information. The website does not respond to Do Not Track signals.
How long visit data is kept
Server logs are kept for a short period for security and troubleshooting. Google Analytics keeps detailed visit data for the limited period set in our account, after which only aggregated statistics remain.
2. When You Contact Us
What you send us
Our inquiry forms ask what your matter is about, for a short description of your situation, and for your name, email address, and, if you wish, your phone number. Some of them also ask for your permission to contact you about your request. When you call or email us, we note the same kind of information along with anything else you choose to tell us.
An inquiry can touch on sensitive subjects, such as your immigration status, nationality, family situation, detention, or a pending court case. We ask for these details only when they help us understand whether and how we can assist you.
What we do with it
An attorney or a member of our staff reviews each inquiry so that we can respond, answer your questions, and arrange a consultation. Before we agree to take any matter, the rules for lawyers require us to check that representing you would not conflict with our duties to current or former clients. For that check, we compare your name, the names of others involved, and the type of matter against our records.
We reply by phone or email, using the details you gave us. If you prefer not to hear from us further, tell us and we will stop.
How long we keep it
We keep an inquiry for as long as we need it to respond to you and to meet our record-keeping duties. Even if we do not take your matter, we keep a short record of your name, the other people involved, and the type of matter, because future conflict checks depend on it. If you ask us to delete your inquiry, we delete everything except that record.
3. When We Represent You
The information a case requires
Once we represent you, we collect the information and documents your matter needs. Depending on the case, this can include identity documents and numbers (passport, Alien Registration Number, Social Security number, driver’s license), your immigration history, family relationships, education and employment history, financial records, and, where the law makes them relevant, health information or criminal records. We also receive notices and receipt numbers from the agencies handling your case, and the billing and payment details needed to process our fees.
Please let us know promptly when your address, phone number, or circumstances change. Agencies and courts send time-sensitive notices, and outdated information can affect your case.
How we use it
We use your case information to advise you, to prepare and file forms, petitions, and applications, to correspond with government agencies for you, and to represent you before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of State, the immigration courts, and the federal courts. We may use your receipt numbers to check the status of your case and keep you informed.
In employment-based cases, the employer filing the petition may also be our client. Your engagement agreement explains what information passes between you and the employer.
How long we keep your file
We keep client files for the period set by your engagement agreement and by the record-keeping rules that apply to lawyers, and then dispose of them securely.
4. Who Receives Your Information
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for advertising or for their own marketing. Personal information leaves our firm only in the situations below.
- Companies that support our work. We rely on outside providers for website hosting, website maintenance and security, email, analytics, spam protection, and website and marketing support. They receive only the information they need to provide their services to us.
- Agencies and courts in your case. As your matter requires and with your authorization, we file information with the agencies and courts handling your case, as described in Section 3.
- People you authorize. We share information with others when you ask us to, for example a family member you want kept informed, or a translator or expert we engage for your case with your approval.
- Recipients of a legal demand. If a subpoena, court order, or similar demand requires us to produce information, we will raise every privilege and confidentiality objection available to you. Where the law allows, we will tell you about the demand before responding, so that you can challenge it. We do not give personal information to immigration enforcement or any other government authority except as described in this section.
- A successor firm. If our practice merges with or passes to another law firm, client information may move to that firm, following the notice and consent requirements that apply to lawyers.
We may also use and share statistics that are aggregated or de-identified so that they no longer relate to any individual, such as reports on website traffic.
5. How We Protect Information
The website is served only over encrypted connections and runs on managed hosting with a firewall, security monitoring, and daily backups. Access to inquiries and client files is limited to the people who need it for their work, and everyone at our firm is bound by the duty of confidentiality that applies to lawyers and their staff.
No website, network, or email system can be made completely secure. Regular email in particular is not encrypted from sender to recipient, so if you need to send us identity documents or other sensitive records, ask us for a safer way to transmit them. If a security incident affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by New York law and any other law that applies.
6. Your Rights and Choices
Whoever and wherever you are, you can ask us to:
- confirm whether we hold personal information about you, and give you a copy
- correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
- delete your information
- stop contacting you
Send your request to [email protected], call (212) 944-9420, or write to us at the address in Section 11. A family member, attorney, or other representative may make a request for you if they provide your written authorization.
Before acting on a request, we confirm that it comes from you, usually by asking you to reply from the email address or phone number you used with us. We respond within 45 days, or sooner where the law requires it. If we need longer, we will tell you within that time and explain why.
Some requests we cannot fulfill in full, for example when information is protected by attorney-client privilege, when releasing it would expose another person’s information, or when the law or our professional rules require us to keep it, including the conflict record described in Section 2. In that case, we will tell you what we could not do and why. If you disagree with our answer, reply to it, and an attorney at our firm will review the decision. Making a request will never affect how we treat you.
7. Additional Information for State Residents
California and several other states have consumer privacy laws that require specific disclosures. Where such a law applies to our firm, the following information supplements the rest of this policy.
Over the past twelve months, we have collected the following information, from the sources and for the purposes shown. The categories in parentheses are those defined by California law.
| Information | Source | Purpose | Recipients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website visit data: IP address, approximate location, device and browser details, pages viewed, referring website (identifiers, internet or other network activity, geolocation data) | Your browser, our server logs, analytics and security tools | Running, securing, and improving the website; learning which channels lead to inquiries | Service providers |
| Inquiry details: name, email address, phone number, type of matter, your description (identifiers, customer records) | You | Responding to you, arranging a consultation, checking for conflicts of interest | Service providers |
| Case information: identity documents and numbers, immigration history, nationality, family relationships, education and employment history, and, where relevant, health or criminal records (identifiers, customer records, protected classification characteristics, professional or employment information, education information, sensitive personal information) | You, family members or employers involved in the case, government agencies | Representing you | Service providers, government agencies and courts, people you authorize |
| Billing details: payment and invoicing information (customer records, commercial information) | You | Processing our fees | Service providers |
Some case information counts as sensitive personal information under these laws, such as government identification numbers, citizenship or immigration status, racial or ethnic origin, and health information. We use it only to provide the legal services you have asked for. As Section 4 explains, we do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. How long we keep each kind of information is explained in Sections 1 to 3.
The rights described in Section 6 include the rights these laws provide to know, correct, and delete your personal information. If we deny a request and you disagree with the outcome of our review, you may contact the attorney general of your state.
8. Visitors Outside the United States
Many of the people we help contact us from abroad. Our firm and the website are based in the United States, so information you send us from another country is transferred to and handled in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from yours. We transfer it because it is needed to answer your inquiry or to carry out your engagement.
If the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the United Kingdom’s data protection law, or a similar law applies to how we handle your information, our legal basis is one of the following: the information is needed to answer your request or to perform our engagement with you; we must process it to meet legal or professional obligations; it serves our legitimate interests in running and securing our practice and website, which do not override your rights; or you have consented. In addition to the rights in Section 6, you may have the right to restrict or object to certain processing, to receive your information in a portable format, to withdraw consent at any time, and to complain to the data protection authority where you live.
We answer requests under these laws within one month, which can be extended by up to two further months for complex requests. Giving us your information is voluntary, but without it we may not be able to respond to your inquiry or take your case. We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing.
9. Children and Young People
Our website is meant for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. Many of our cases involve minors, however, such as children included in a family petition or young people applying for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. In those cases, we handle a minor’s information only as the representation requires. A young person who needs help is welcome to contact us, ideally together with a parent, guardian, or other trusted adult. If you believe a child under 13 has sent us information without a parent’s or guardian’s knowledge, let us know and we will delete it.
10. Updates to This Policy
We review this policy at least once a year and whenever our practices or the law change. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. When an update significantly changes how we handle personal information, we will point it out on this page when the revised version takes effect.
11. How to Reach Us
Questions about this policy and privacy requests go to:
Oltarsh & Associates, P.C.
494 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1704
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 944-9420
Email: [email protected]
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