The difference is the source of authority.
An immigration attorney is a lawyer — under the federal immigration regulations, a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any U.S. state, territory or D.C. A DOJ accredited representative is a non-attorney authorized to represent a recognized organization's immigration clients: partial accreditation covers DHS only, full accreditation adds the Immigration Courts and the BIA.
Authority, employer and career path all differ.
Who can represent clients in immigration matters
For immigration matters before the federal government, the list of who may represent someone is set by regulation, not by job title.
Under 8 CFR 292.1, the people who may represent others before DHS include attorneys and accredited representatives of recognized organizations — two different authorizations sitting side by side on the same list.
The attorney side of the list is defined in 8 CFR 1.2: an attorney is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any U.S. state, territory or D.C., which is why a license from any one state is enough to practice immigration law nationwide.
Keep that definition in its lane: it is the federal rule for immigration practice, and state-law matters still follow the state's own admission rules.
The full immigration attorney role guide covers what the license leads to day to day.
The representative side of the list works differently.
Under 8 CFR 1292.1, a DOJ (EOIR) accredited representative is authorized to represent immigration clients on behalf of a recognized organization — an authorization that runs through the organization rather than through a state bar.
That structural difference is the whole comparison in miniature: one role is admitted by a bar, the other accredited at an organization.
What accredited reps can do
Accreditation comes in two levels, and the level sets the forum.
A fully accredited representative may appear before the Immigration Courts, the BIA and DHS (8 CFR 1292.12); a partially accredited representative may represent clients only before DHS.
The full level also has a procedural step: under 8 CFR 1292.1, a fully accredited representative is authorized to practice before the Immigration Courts and the Board upon registering.
The authorization is also organization-side and time-limited.
Only recognized organizations can request DOJ accreditation, and accreditation is valid for three years.
An attorney's qualification is a different instrument — bar membership in good standing under 8 CFR 1.2 — so this is a comparison between two kinds of credential, not two levels of the same one.
What the research behind this page does not document is how an organization divides matters between its attorneys and its representatives — that split is each organization's own structure, and it is a question worth asking on either side of an interview.
Accreditation is EOIR's framework, and it changes
Working alongside reps at nonprofits
The employer map is set by rule.
Recognition is limited to non-profit religious, charitable, social service or similar organizations that serve mainly low-income and indigent clients, and only a recognized organization can request accreditation of an individual.
A for-profit law firm does not fit that rule, so accreditation is not a credential a private firm can put on its staff — the representative seat lives on the non-profit side of the field.
The two authorizations can still stand in the same forums.
An immigration attorney appears by bar membership under 8 CFR 1.2; a fully accredited representative appears before the Immigration Courts, the BIA and DHS by accreditation.
On a recognized organization's matters, the colleague on the file may hold either authorization — and, as noted above, how an organization divides that work is its own structure.
For immigration paralegals and other legal staff, the representative seat is a career option with its own authorization — the staff-side guide to the DOJ accredited representative path covers how that route works.
Where to find immigration attorney jobs
Two places to look.
The first is the live board for the role — browse current immigration attorney jobs.
The second is the field's professional association: AILA (the American Immigration Lawyers Association) runs the AILA Career Center (careers.aila.org), which lists immigration attorney and immigration paralegal jobs.
If you are weighing the field rather than the credential, the role guide linked above covers the practice areas and settings on the attorney side.
The representative path has its own guide on the staff side, linked in the section above.
Career information, not legal advice. The representation and accreditation rules described here sit in the federal immigration regulations and change — confirm current requirements with EOIR before relying on them.