Lies my Lawyer Told Me

[zenaxe 22]

Yes, but with the NVC and Medical Exam Fees, it's over $1,000 in TOTAL fees

Yes if you want to get down to brass tacks: $355 for the I 130 petition fee, $70 for the Aff of Support fee, $400 for the immigrant visa fee. those are that. Other costs include a medical not covered by the Canadian health care system $330, travel to wherever to get the medicaal (in my case a tank of gas plus a top up going back ), flight to Montreal $700 plus, hotel $150 per night plus.

It adds up but it's still less overall than what we've been spending on travel to see each other etc. Hmm moving costs too ugh. Yup it's gonna leave a mark...

Yes if you want to get down to brass tacks: $355 for the I 130 petition fee, $70 for the Aff of Support fee, $400 for the immigrant visa fee. those are that. Other costs include a medical not covered by the Canadian health care system $330, travel to wherever to get the medicaal (in my case a tank of gas plus a top up going back ), flight to Montreal $700 plus, hotel $150 per night plus.

It adds up but it's still less overall than what we've been spending on travel to see each other etc. Hmm moving costs too ugh. Yup it's gonna leave a mark...

Forgot to add the cost of Tdap vaccination....$80 oh ya

[And_Sam 44]

Wow Thank God for VJ~~

[kruz_patz 22]

Looks like fake degree attorneys.........

[CanAmBride 5]

Wow, DebbyNSeyi, you win!!!

[DTunda 0]

I've just now encountered a similar situation with our lawyer.

We're filing for a K1 visa for me and since my fiance and I 1) are quite busy because of hectic jobs and 2) have absolutely no clue as to how the immigration system works we thought it would be a wise investment to hire a lawyer. I'm a little bit sketchy on all the details at the moment, but I think he said he'd charge us somewhere between USD 4000 and USD 4500 for the ENTIRE process. That is from filing the I-129 all the way until I have my green card in hand.

We decided on the lawyer just about the same time I discovered VJ, but due to time constraints on both sides my fiance and I really thought this was the right path to take. Moreover, my fiance is not one to pay attention to detail so I didn't trust him to file all the papers on his own without making numerous mistakes.

Anyway up to now everything has been okay, but on Wednesday I had my interview at the embassy and was shocked to hear that 1) The lawyer had submitted the WRONG Affidavit of Support form. Instead of filing the I-134, he filed the I-864. When I informed him of this he placed the blame on the embassy in Oslo saying, "They're a bunch of idiots because it shouldn't matter which of these forms are used since the I-864 in essence provide more information than the I-134. This just shows how they are over there."

Well, I can understand what he's saying, but I'm not paying him (so far he's gotten about USD 3000 from us) to make assumptions, especially when you consider that he returned our packet to the embassy on two different occasions when there was a delay in getting his payment to him. Yep, he actually sent our information back because he wasn't going to process our documents until he got his money. You know, the fiance and I are both business people so fair enough, but if you're gonna play hard ball with your clients you better damn well provide good service.

The second, and perhaps the most major mistake he made was that he did not advice us that we needed a joint sponsor. Due to an injury my fiance has not been able to work full time during 2009 so his income was a bit lower than in previous years. My fiance thought since he was receiving disability payments in addition to his, albeit somewhat reduced, income ... he thought this was fine and we actually asked the lawyer about it in the beginning when he was filing the I-129 and he said there should be a problem at all.

So imagine my surprise when the woman who interviewed me (and she wasn't very pleasant from the get go) informed me that my fiance doesn't earn enough so we're going to have to get a co sponsor. Totally was not expecting that. I wasn't expecting the lawyer to let me go all the way to the embassy for the interview without telling me something this important.

When I emailed him with the info from the embassy he didn't respond. Then I called and asked him if he had received my email. No, he said. I know that's just rubbish. I used the same email I've always used and I've never encountered any problems with him not getting my correspondences so not only is he a con artist or a complete incompetent, he's also a LIAR of the highest order. Earlier when he returned our case to the embassy unopened because we hadn't paid on time I asked him why did he do that, he was like "I didn't, they must have sent it to the wrong address." But the embassy sent him the package again and he received it so no it was the right address all along. #######!

Then after lying through his teeth, he proceeded to advice me on why my fiance's income for 2009 might concern the embassy. I told him this information is of little use to me now. I should have received this information BEFORE you let me shell out great sums of money to do a medical and pay a USD 350 fiancee visa fee AND potentially jeopardize the successful processing of our case because you didn't do what we're paying you to do.

Now we have to be hounding people who have not yet filed their taxes for 2009 about being co sponsors for us, and since our friends and family haven't filed their taxes yet even if they wanted to help us they can't because I need the 2009 tax returns. If the idiot lawyer had done his job we could have avoided all this waste of time and the anxiety of wondering if our petition will be approved or not. We would have secured a joint sponsor long ago and ensure that that person filed their 09 taxes in time for the interview.

One thing's for sure, if all goes well and I get to the States, this lawyer's history.

[OBX 51]

These stories are just plain scary.

If we could all find VJ and figure out the system your would think an "immigration" attorney could do the same.

I hope things go more smoothly from here on for everyone still on their journey

Edited June 11, 2010 by OBX

[utst10 0]

I guess I can share lawyer story on this.

I too went to see immigration lawyers about sponsoring my wife after I came back to the states.

I didn't care about the fee at the time. All the lawyers told me my case was "too quick".

They said I needed tokeep contacting my wife at less 6 more months before talking to them. They all also told me to not married her until I talked to them again.

I was disheartened and went online to do research. I am glad I didn't listen to them. Two months after I came back to the states, I traveled back to married my wife.

That was in December, and now we are about to get the visa interview (7 months later). Had I listened to them, I would probably just started the paperwork.