Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Belen Beltran
Hi MARIA BELEN, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Born and raised in Quito Ecuador in the Summer of 1973, I attended a Catholic School called Santa Mariana de Jesus, I was a cheerleader and a trouble-maker always having fun and making everyone laugh, I graduated HS and decided to go on vacation to the USA to visit my family and ended up staying in Miami, FL for 28 years. I repeated 12 grade to learn the language and graduated from Hialeah Miami Lakes HS, then went to Miami-Dade Community College to take business administration but did not finish then because I became pregnant with my only child, my life changed all around and I forgot about all my plans to become 100% a mother, then I worked at banking and finance for 10 years working with many banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Regions Bank, following I got involved with Real State as a Mortgage broker to then finally open my own Mortgage Company Kismet Financial Center LLC in Florida, then the 2007-08 Mortgage crisis came and Real Estate market was devastated. My company started doing Loan Modifications at the time and we were working with Real Estate attorneys, one of them ask me to personally work with him full time and I accepted the offer, then he relocated and refer me work with a Criminal attorney and I was working the criminal field, but I was not that happy , he was very strong, loud and sometimes heartless, I asked God to guide me and one of the pastors in my church was an Immigration attorney he happen to ask me to please help him in his office a few hours per week because he was overwhelmed with work and did not trust many people, I said yes and about three months into it he ask me to work full time and to be his head paralegal, with this attorney Andres Rivas from Rivas Immigration Law, I lean everything about Immigration and for the first time in my life I felt like I can really enjoy my work and make money at the same time, don’t get me wrong I made great money with real estate , and with banking, but with Immigration I have a passion and not many people are blessed and fortunate to enjoy that. With the Immigration attorney, I traveled to many cities including in January 2019 to Greenville, SC, I fell in love with this city, and by March I was moving here, I was going to continue working with Rivas Law firm here in SC but with a different name and different office manager, but the way he treated people was so different from what I was used to with attorney Rivas I decided to go work for another Law firm, but before that I wanted to make sure my paralegal certification form FL was going to be fine for SC and in the Bar they advised me that I can get an IAS license (SC Immigration Assistance services license) as long and I worked over 7 years with Immigration, I was a US Citizen, had a voters registration and conducted a background check, luckily for me I did, so I began a new adventure in 2019 opening my own IAS office and the rest is history, I’m happy and blessed to be working for the Immigrant community in the Upstate and helping all as much as I can. Note: as an IAS license. We can help clients with all Immigration processes from USCIS, but we may not represent them in court, therefore we refer them to our network of attorneys in SC or NC. We are grateful to the Upstate, and we are often involved with the community in many ways. We belong and volunteer with the Legal team in the SC Hispanic Alliance, and we are members of AHAM (Hispanic Women’s Association), we are part of the Woman Voters League, Livewell Greenville, and more, we help all but especially the Hispanic Immigrant families.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I just stated I had a partnership with a generic attorney from Colombia who did not want to work, did not learn English, and kept promising she would, I had to terminate that partnership, losing time, clients, and money but I learned a good lesson.
I was new to Greenville and had to get my brand and work out to the public as much as possible to be known, we did such a great job, and after that, we have not done much advertisement but just referral after referral, thank God.
I am an honest believer that if you work hard, are honest, and always look out for the best result for your clients you will always have great referrals.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I think I already put this info in the previous question field. (Your Story)
But what sets us apart:
-We always talk to our clients directly and they always have access to me via WhatsApp Monday to Thursday 11 am to 6 pm.
-We don’t have set fees for our work, the quote is determined after I have a one-on-one face-to-face meeting and learn more about their situation (FYI we had several clients that we have not charged or charged them very little)
-We always give them payment plans regardless of how low we charge.
-We update ourselves daily with Immigration news and changes in law.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Just some facts:
I was raised by my grandparents instead of my parents
Even though I was in the Immigration field It took me over 25 years to become a U.S. citizen, so I know how it feels.
I love cats and have two Balam (Mayan name meaning Jaguar) and Inti (Inca name meaning son of the Sun)
I was a single mom
I have a 27-year-old son named Leeander (Greek name means Strong man born from a Lion) who lives in Miami
I’m 51 years old and have never had a cavity (lol) or any plastic surgery
Contact Info:
- Instagram: immigrationlegal
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/immigrationlegalresource
