Community Fellow
Immigrant Justice Corps
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.
Guaranteed Minimum Salary
IJC guarantees a minimum salary for each year of the Fellowship. The annual salary rates are as follows:
- First Year Community Fellows: $49,500 annually
- Second Year Community Fellows: $51,500 annually
- Third Year Community Fellows: $53,000 annually
The Selection Process:
All Community Fellow applications and supporting documents are due on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET through the application on our website.
- 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.