Camino
Pacifico

Immigration Psychology

Camino Pacifico Immigration Psychology* offers top quality immigration psychological assessment reports for clients who live in California and are seeking to legalize their immigration status. Our clients are usually referred to us by private immigration law practices or by non-profit organizations that provide immigration legal services.

*Somatica Pacifica Psychological Services, Psychology Corporation D/b/a Camino Pacifico Immigration Psychology.

About Us

Research shows that including a psychological assessment with your immigration application greatly improves your chances of success.

We have more than 20 years of experience providing psychological assessment reports successfully.

We help clients who have retained the immigration legal support of a law practice or other qualified legal organization. Once clients establish the viability of their case, legally, we conduct an intake interview to determine whether we can provide our support as an immigration psychology practice.

Our Approach

Caring for our clients

We conduct a thorough intake interview before determining if a client qualifies for our services. If we proceed with a case, we provide an emotionally safe, trauma-informed approach to data gathering—minding the client’s breath, pace, and needs for movement breaks.

Our respectful demeanor is the primary building block of a good data-gathering interview. We work well with low-literacy clients and have also worked successfully with clients who have injuries, including mild to moderate postconcussional symptoms.

We take our time onboarding clients to ensure they understand the terms of the assessment (informed consent, privacy, and financial considerations). Although we have an in-person office, most of our clients participate in the assessment process on secure video calls.

Immigration Psychological Evaluation Services

We pride ourselves on the independence of our work. We do not take all cases referred to us by immigration legal professionals, and we do not work directly with USCIS. We work with people who present as honest and needing our professional support. Please note: we currently only serve clients who reside in California.

Psychological Assessments

U-Visa
T-Visa
VAWA
Asylum
601 Waiver (Extreme Hardship)
N-648 Medical Exemption

Expert Witness Testimony

We also provide expert witness testimony as an additional or separate service. Approval of expert witness testimony requires consultation between an immigration attorney and Dr. Mayorga.

Native Language Capacity

Our staff can provide services directly in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

When a psychological assessment client speaks a different language, we can often conduct the evaluation with the assistance of a professional interpreter. The interpreter must be able to communicate fluently in the client's language and in one of the languages spoken by our staff. For example, an interpreter might speak Mam and Spanish, or Mongolian and English.

Assessments conducted with an interpreter generally require more time because the interview process must proceed at a slower pace. As a result, the cost of the psychological assessment may be somewhat higher when an interpreter is needed.

The client is responsible for the cost of professional interpretation services. To protect the accuracy, confidentiality, and integrity of the assessment, we do not permit friends or family members to serve as interpreters.

Laura Mayorga, Ph.D.

Laura Mayorga, Ph.D., SEP, is a Clinical Psychologist, licensed in the State of California (Lic# PSY19045, NPI# 13567 18464). She has conducted hundreds of successful immigration psychological assessments for more than 20 years. Dr. Mayorga obtained her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and conducted all pre- and post-doctoral clinical hour requirements at the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry. She has taught Master’s level psychology students (California Institute of Integral Studies), and she oversees all information gathering for the Camino Pacifico professional interviewing team. Dr. Mayorga first appeared as an expert witness in immigration court in 2003. She has been sworn in as a psychological trauma expert witness in State and Federal Courts.

Daniela Elsin

Daniela Elsin is a professional trauma-informed life events interviewer. She has conducted this work for more than ten years for various entities, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Aside from interviewing clients in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, Ms. Elsin has extensive report-writing and administrative experience assisting immigrants facing high-stress situations. At Camino Pacifico Immigration Psychology, Ms. Elsin documents client life event information under the supervision of Dr. Mayorga.

Our Team

Client Stories

Our clients share their transformational experiences at Camino Pacifico, highlighting the effectiveness of our services in meeting their needs.

"With the utmost respect and gratitude I would like to start saying thank you. Thank you so much for your amazing support and service. I wanted to let you know that our case was approved and your hard work and dedication towards our case did not go unnoticed. Once again thank you. I wish nothing but blessings to you and Daniela. Kindness and compassion goes into what you do and I can see that through your work. Once again thank you."

Client's message to Dr. Mayorga

Collaborating with Attorneys

Referring a client to us is simple. When an immigration client is already represented by an immigration attorney or qualified legal organization, we ask that the legal professional provide the client with the contact information for Camino Pacifico Immigration Psychology. The client can then contact us directly to begin the intake process.

Some clients find us online while searching for an immigration psychological assessment, rather than through a referral from their attorney. We welcome these inquiries as well. When a client contacts us directly, we ask whether they already have legal representation, as our psychological assessment services are intended to support clients who are working with an immigration attorney or other qualified immigration legal professional.

Clients can contact us directly in English, Spanish, or Portuguese through our secure telephone voicemail 415-993-5522 or secure email camino@drlauramayorga.com.

Please note: We currently provide psychological assessment services only to clients who reside in California.

Referring a case

Through the years, we have developed a positive professional relationship with several immigration law practices. We ask our immigration clients to sign a release form to allow communication between Camino Pacifico and staff from their designated immigration law practice. With this written permission, we send a psychological assessment report to the staff of the law practice. We offer the possibility of conducting minor edits to our report as long as these are appropriate given the scope of our data-gathering and the purpose of the assessment.

How collaboration works

U-Visa
T-Visa
VAWA
Asylum
601 Waiver (Extreme Hardship)
N-648 Medical Exemption

Types of cases accepted

Typically, most of our assessment processes require 3 to 8 hours of direct client contact, depending on the complexity of the case. Our psychological assessment reports are detailed and high-quality. Referring parties need to take into consideration that complex cases—like asylum or VAWA—usually require at least three weeks or more to be completed.

Expected report process

Will the evaluation help my case?
Research shows that including a psychological assessment report with your assessment application packet greatly enhances the chances that your case can succeed. However, the merit of your case is closely tied to the current landscape of immigration law, and we cannot guarantee that your case will succeed because you had a psychological assessment with us.

Is this psychotherapy?

Conducting a psychological assessment for immigration purposes is not psychotherapy. Our work seeks to document a description of difficult life events and emotional reactions to these events. Its purpose is forensic (to be used in a legal proceeding) and not psychotherapeutic. If the psychological assessment process reveals that psychotherapy could be beneficial, we can provide you with a list of clinicians to choose from.

Can I participate remotely?

Yes. Most of our psychological assessment interviews are conducted online on a secure video call.

Do I need to speak English?

Our staff has the native capacity to conduct all aspects of your assessment in Spanish, Portuguese, or English. We have interviewed clients using professional interpreters or fully bilingual speakers of several indigenous Latin American dialects. We do not allow a client’s friends or family members to act as their interpreters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your privacy is very important to us. We do not gather information about you on this website.If you want to send us a secure message, please call our office at

(415) 993-5522 or email us at camino@drlauramayorga.com.