About Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast
Hey there, and welcome to Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast! If you're new here, I'm Dr. Mariela Shibley, and this is the podcast for mental health professionals who want to expand their practice and make a real impact through immigration psychological evaluations.
Here, you'll learn how to confidently conduct evaluations, connect with attorneys to gain referrals, and create a thriving practice.
If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the legal jargon, unsure about how to break into this field, or wondered how to turn your expertise into a sought-after service, this is the podcast for you.
Expect deep dives into immigration evaluation processes, best practices for working with attorneys, and expert guidance on writing a thorough report.
So, if you're ready to master immigration evaluations and grow a meaningful, sustainable practice, hit that subscribe button and get ready for Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast. Can't wait to have you along for the ride!
You can use an imperfect measure, name its limits plainly, and still write a report that reads as authoritative. Here is how I decide what to use when no validated test exists in the examinee's language.
You have a referral question to answer, and the person sitting across from you cannot be validly tested in English. The test you normally reach for does not exist in their language, or not in a version you trust.
Throwing up your hands is not rigor, and neither is running the English version and reporting the scores like nothing happened. The real work lives in between.
Over-explaining might feel like diligence, but it quietly works against you. In immigration work your reader is usually an adjudicator, not an opposing expert, and a report buried in qualifications is one they can set aside.
In this episode, you'll learn:
✅ Why an accurate translation still is not an equivalent test
✅ The translation continuum, from best option to the one to avoid
✅ What an elevated validity score may actually mean across cultural lines
✅ How to acknowledge a limitation from authority rather than apology
✅ The essentials for using an interpreter in standardized testing
Your credibility does not come from flawless tools. It comes from the quality of your reasoning and the soundness of your conclusions, and that holds even when conditions are far from ideal. Share this one with a colleague who is wrestling with it.
📘 Not Sure Where to Start as an Evaluator?
Download our Free Guide to learn the essentials and see if this work is the right fit for you.
👉 Get the free guide (https://www.shibleyacademy.com/free-guide)
If you want a clear, ethical, and clinically grounded framework for writing evaluations that protect your clients and your license, the Expert Training in Immigration Evaluations will give you the structure and support you need.
👉 Learn More Here
📲 Stay Connected and Grow Your Expertise
🔹 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/shibleyacademy)
🔹 Facebook
🔹 LinkedIn
🌟 Join our private Facebook community for deeper discussions, peer support, and access to valuable training opportunities.
👉 Click here to join the group
🎙️ Monthly Consultation Group
Join our monthly consultation group for case support, guidance, and community with clinicians doing immigration evaluations
📍 Immigration Psych Eval Directory
Get listed in our provider directory and connect with attorneys seeking immigration evaluations. Join the directory.
25 Aug 2026
Factual Witness vs. Expert Witness: Why This Distinction Matters
Knowing whether you're a factual witness or an expert witness is one of the clearest ways to protect your client, your license, and the case itself, and most clinicians were never taught the difference.
On this episode of Beyond Borders, I dig into something I see all the time, when a well-meaning attorney asks a treating therapist to write a letter that answers what is really a legal question. It sounds reasonable, but it quietly asks the clinician to step into a role they never signed up for.
So I slow down and sort out what actually separates these two roles, why the line matters so much for your client and your license, and the cleaner path that protects everyone.
In this episode, you'll learn:
What separates a factual (treating) witness from an expert (forensic) witness
The kinds of letters that quietly cross the line
Confidentiality versus privilege, and who actually holds it
How to know which hat you're wearing before you write a word
If you have ever felt unsure about what you can and can't put in a letter, today's episode brings real clarity.
📘 Not Sure Where to Start as an Evaluator?
Download our Free Guide to learn the essentials and see if this work is the right fit for you.
👉 Get the free guide
If you want a clear, ethical, and clinically grounded framework for writing evaluations that protect your clients and your license, the Expert Training in Immigration Evaluations will give you the structure and support you need.
👉 Learn More Here
📲 Stay Connected and Grow Your Expertise
🔹 Instagram
🔹 Facebook
🔹 LinkedIn
🌟 Join our private Facebook community for deeper discussions, peer support, and access to valuable training opportunities.👉 Click here to join the group
🎙️ Monthly Consultation Group
Join our monthly consultation group for case support, guidance, and community with clinicians doing immigration evaluations
📍 Immigration Psych Eval Directory
Get listed in our provider directory and connect with attorneys seeking immigration evaluations. Join the directory.
14 Jul 2026
Why N-648s Get Denied When You've Done Everything Right, ft. 33-Year USCIS Officer Douglas Pierce
What gets your N-648 approved or quietly denied usually has nothing to do with your diagnosis. I asked Douglas Pierce, who spent 33 years inside USCIS, adjudicated tens of thousands of applications, and trained the very officers who read our forms, and his answers changed how I'll certify from here on.
For twenty years, I've signed N-648s and sent them into a black box, so having someone from the other side of the desk answer my questions honestly was the conversation I wish I'd had two decades ago.
Here's some of what we cover:
✅Why officers can't challenge your diagnosis, only the consistency of your documentation
✅How copy-paste boilerplate quietly invites scrutiny
✅The age and residency exceptions many of us overlook
✅Why a clinical addendum on your letterhead strengthens your work
If you do this work, or you're building toward it, you'll know exactly what to tighten before you sign your next N-648.
📘 Not Sure Where to Start as an Evaluator?
Download our Free Guide to learn the essentials and see if this work is the right fit for you.
👉 Get the free guide (https://www.psychevalcoach.com/free-guide)
If you want a clear, ethical, and clinically grounded framework for writing evaluations that protect your clients and your license, the Expert Training in Immigration Evaluations will give you the structure and support you need.
👉 Learn More Here
📲 Stay Connected and Grow Your Expertise
🔹 Instagram
🔹 Facebook
🔹 LinkedIn
🌟 Join our private Facebook community for deeper discussions, peer support, and access to valuable training opportunities.
👉 Click here to join the group
🎙️ Monthly Consultation Group
Join our monthly consultation group for case support, guidance, and community with clinicians doing immigration evaluations
📍 Immigration Psych Eval Directory
Get listed in our provider directory and connect with attorneys seeking immigration evaluations. Join the directory.
Who has been a guest on Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
David Koelsch
Dr Andrew Rasmussen
Gabrielle Bryan
Dr Lynn Moore
Dr John Doe
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
59
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
Contact Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast
Who hosts Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast?
Mariela Shibley host the show. Published by Mariela G. Shibley, Psy.D..
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes bi-weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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