Didn't submit a letter of intent

[crazydomlvr 2]

I did not submit a letter of intent and my petition was aproved.

[Hank_ 9,174]

I know about the guide and everything and I fully intend to file myself....

I was originally going to file myself for the I 129F As well but my parents convinced me that it would look better coming from a lawyer than from an individual. Clearly that's not really accurate but my parents definitely wanted me to go this route.

What a headache

Time to cut the cord (or apron strings)....

I did not submit a letter of intent and my petition was aproved.

You got lucky. Someone just posted about getting an RFE for LOI not too long ago.

The other side of it is you do new letters for the interview.

[cherylc522 0]

She told me to submit the adjustment of status on my own with out of the I 130 and to inform her when I get denied so she can prove she was right.

Ughhhhhh This lawyer is driving me crazy

Why would you be filing an I-130 if you came in on a K-1 fiance visa? this application is for if you are already married coming in, it would be INSTEAD of the I-129f (or am i getting forgetful and completely wrong here)

[Stephen + Elisha 92]

She told me to submit the adjustment of status on my own with out of the I 130 and to inform her when I get denied so she can prove she was right.

Ughhhhhh This lawyer is driving me crazy

This is your chance to get your money back! Make a wager with her... tell her you'll file for AOS on your own without an I-130, and if you're approved without it she'll return everything you've paid her so far. If you get denied for failure to file the I-130 concurrently, you'll pay her what she would have charged to file it for you.

(Sucker bet, really, but she sounds stupid enough to take it)

[JimVaPhuong 4,864]

Ok. So I just called and spoke to my attorney for about 45 minutes. She continued to insist that the letters of intent are not required and are optional at this point. I informed her of the research I had been doing online and also that I had contacted a separate attorney to receive a second opinion. She told me that she was very upset with me as her client contacting elsewhere to receive information after she told me it wasn't needed. She informed me that she did not want to be my representation if I was not going to trust her completely. She said she was insulted by my persistence on pursuing my own investigation of what the requirements are. She told me how she has done over 500 k1 cases in the past 2 years that were approved without letters of intent. She said the cover letter that she had typed up and attached to the front of my pocket stating our intent to marry was good enough and that we did not require documents from myself and my fiance as well as the cover letter. She also said that is highly inappropriate for me to contact her on a saturday when she was at a family function, said she didn't appreciate me second guessing her, and told me how rude it was to contact a professional pretending to know more than she did. She basically told me that I should not be even reading forums online or discussing immigration matters with anyone besides her. Basically told me that she deserves an apology and that when I don't get an rfe she wants an additional apology. I in turn asked her to send me a email containing our conversation summary of what we discussed so that if I do you get an rfe I can then file for malpractice based on that and other information she gave me incorrectly.

The bulk of our conversation however was about her telling me how I needed to file and I 130 as well and she told me she would not represent me if I refuse to file and I 130 along with our adjustment of status.

I think once all is said and done I may just contact the bar association after all

Your attorney is afraid you'll find out she's screwing up. Any attorney who is confident in what they're doing would not have any problem whatever with their client seeking a second opinion on an important legal matter. I consulted with three other attorneys during my last divorce. I was completely open with my attorney about it, and he had no problems with it. In fact, he was glad I was being proactive. He was confident his advice was right, and also confident that other attorneys would confirm this. They did. He was also glad I was doing a lot of my own research because it meant he didn't have to explain a lot of things to me. If I had an attorney who was offended that I was consulting other attorneys and doing my own research then I'd fire them on the spot. Most attorneys WANT an educated client. It makes their work easier.

Your attorney has severely screwed up on four different points. First, the letters of intent, or some sort of original statements, are required for the I-129F. The form instructions are clear on this. Yes, many people have had petitions approved without them, but others have gotten RFE's for not submitting them. Second, there is only one consulate in Mexico that conducts K1 interviews. Your attorney should have known this. Third, the fees are VERY predictable. Unless there's a fee increase coming up, your attorney should be able to tell you, down to the dollar, what the fees are going to be. Fourth, an I-130 is NOT required with a K1 adjustment of status unless the K1 marries the petitioner after their I-94 has expired.

Fire your attorney. Whether you want to pursue a legal malpractice case against your attorney is up to you. At this point, you could probably only get your attorney fees reimbursed because you probably couldn't show any actual harm. You were fortunate to have discovered your attorney was incompetent before she managed to do any real damage.

[grifols 1]

She just emailed me .... "Regarding the letter of intent, I had Rachel look through our last three fiancé visas, and none of them required a letter of intent at the USCIS stage. To date, we have not received an RFE requesting this either."

Hopefully she is correct

Yes, she is right. I didn't include a letter of intent, and I was still approved. Just relax.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Yes, she is right. I didn't include a letter of intent, and I was still approved. Just relax.

And yet someone recently WAS RFE'd for the letter of intent. It's a requirement. It's more likely she WILL get RFE'd but that's not the issue (because RFE's aren't the end of the world and it's easily fixed). The issue is the attorney excluded something that was CLEARLY written in the instructions as a requirement. She also told her that an I-130 is required for AOS which is a MAJOR no no for a K1 AOS. People's cases have been delayed for a year for incorrectly filing an I-130 with a K1 AOS application.

I too would fire this attorney immediately. Her behaviour is very disturbing and I would report her to the state bar association. She is costing people time and money by giving them incorrect advice.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Vanessa&Tony

[RickJovi 81]

I have email PROOF that my lawyer told me these were not needed, and I also have email evidence that she was informing me to file an I-130 after we get married in the states on an I-129f along with the AOS. Can I sue her to get my attorney fees refunded? These are TWO MAJOR overlooks on her part. I want my $5000 in fees back.

I am VERY mad

Why in the world would you even pay an attorney $5,000.00 for something you could have filed for yourself. Plenty of useful information, guides and samples here. Good luck. I doubt very seriously you will get your money back from an attorney.

[Andy and Pui 16]

Ok. So I just called and spoke to my attorney for about 45 minutes. She continued to insist that the letters of intent are not required and are optional at this point. I informed her of the research I had been doing online and also that I had contacted a separate attorney to receive a second opinion. She told me that she was very upset with me as her client contacting elsewhere to receive information after she told me it wasn't needed. She informed me that she did not want to be my representation if I was not going to trust her completely. She said she was insulted by my persistence on pursuing my own investigation of what the requirements are. She told me how she has done over 500 k1 cases in the past 2 years that were approved without letters of intent. She said the cover letter that she had typed up and attached to the front of my pocket stating our intent to marry was good enough and that we did not require documents from myself and my fiance as well as the cover letter. She also said that is highly inappropriate for me to contact her on a saturday when she was at a family function, said she didn't appreciate me second guessing her, and told me how rude it was to contact a professional pretending to know more than she did. She basically told me that I should not be even reading forums online or discussing immigration matters with anyone besides her. Basically told me that she deserves an apology and that when I don't get an rfe she wants an additional apology. I in turn asked her to send me a email containing our conversation summary of what we discussed so that if I do you get an rfe I can then file for malpractice based on that and other information she gave me incorrectly.

The bulk of our conversation however was about her telling me how I needed to file and I 130 as well and she told me she would not represent me if I refuse to file and I 130 along with our adjustment of status.

I think once all is said and done I may just contact the bar association after all

Please see the bold. Did the petitioner and beneficary sign the cover letter? I agree she should not have acted that way and if she did not want to distrubed on the weekend she should have let your call go to voicemail. If you do end up getting a RFE for the letter of intent to marry it will only set you back a few weeks. Email a letter of intent to the beneficary and have them sign it and snail mail it back to you so you are ready for the RFE if it comes. If you get the RFE then I would be trying to get back some money from the lawyer.

We did not have get an RFE for our K1 but we did get one for Pui's AOS. It took about 3 weeks from when we got the text message about the RFE to getting it returned and then receiving the biometrics appointment. We did not use a lawyer for the K1 or the AOS. Good luck OP.

[me&him 2]

I filed K1 on May 2011 through a lawyer an never included the Intent to marry letter. I did get an RFE but it was for somethingb else. I sumbitted those documents but never submitted intent to marry letter and I was approved without the letter. I know each officer reviewing the case is different and has their own way.

[KayDeeCee 4,902]

It is possible you won't get an RFE for the letters of intent. Some people have gotten by without them, some have gotten RFEs. It will depend on the adjudicator that looks through your petition.

I think your lawyer is still missing the bigger picture. It is not about the letters of intent or whether you will get an RFE or not. It is about her intentionally giving you incorrect information and trying to get you to pay her thousands more to file a single form that is NOT required. It states in the form instructions what is required for adjusting from a K-1, and it is NOT an I-130. She should read it someday.

---

The I-485 instructions state on Page 4 - #12 - Evidence of eligibility -

B. Based on admission as the K-1 fiancé(e) of a U.S. citizen and subsequent marriage to that citizen

Attach a copy of the fiancé(e) petition approval notice (the NOA2 from your I-129F), a copy of your marriage certificate, and your Form 1-94, Arrival/Departure Document.

---

She seems to be unprofessional and rude as well. No competent lawyer would tell you not to research and be informed about your situation. The way she speaks to you and the misinformation seems like enough to ask for a refund. There is no need for her to 'play a power-trip card' and tell you she will not represent you if you do not pay her to file the I-130. You should fire her well before that. I would have fired her long ago.

Yes, only one consulate it could be sent to in Mexico, and that is Juarez. The only forms that are time sensitive are the financials. The rest of the forms can be filled out already. Your fiance will sign and date those at his interview anyway. The fees are not unknown. The fee for the visa is $350 and the medical in Juarez is approx. $200. There is also a small fee(less than $10 unless it has gone up recently) for DHL.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Jay-Kay

[BesosforMexico 13]

Please see the bold. Did the petitioner and beneficary sign the cover letter? I agree she should not have acted that way and if she did not want to distrubed on the weekend she should have let your call go to voicemail. If you do end up getting a RFE for the letter of intent to marry it will only set you back a few weeks. Email a letter of intent to the beneficary and have them sign it and snail mail it back to you so you are ready for the RFE if it comes. If you get the RFE then I would be trying to get back some money from the lawyer.

We did not have get an RFE for our K1 but we did get one for Pui's AOS. It took about 3 weeks from when we got the text message about the RFE to getting it returned and then receiving the biometrics appointment. We did not use a lawyer for the K1 or the AOS. Good luck OP.

We did NOT sign the cover letter.

I mentioned to her that if she did not want to be bothered outside of office hours, her business cell phone number should not have been given to me. I also mentioned if she was going to a family function she could have left her work cell phone off or as you said sent me to voicemail. She said that she was more than happy to help me on the weekends as she advertises her work phone is available 24/7. So we argued for a few moments about how she was trying to make me feel guilty for contacting her. Our conversation honestly was very highschool. She wanted to bicker about my "complaints" even after a resolution was met. I told her I was satisfied with her "solution". Her solution is to send me a format for the letter of intent, and to submit it as soon as an RFE is given, or if I like we could submit before we receive it with a copy of the receipt for my NOA1. I was under the impression no further information could be submitted without an RFE, and she again told me I was incorrect and that we could submit as much extra evidence as we wanted by submitting it with my receipt number.

[pepper 34]

We hired a lawyer too for our K1 application. We did not submit letter/s of intent and it was approved...with no RFE! Our lawyer said it was not needed as we have enough evidence. We got lucky I guess!

Edited February 19, 2012 by pepper

[BesosforMexico 13]

It is possible you won't get an RFE for the letters of intent. Some people have gotten by without them, some have gotten RFEs. It will depend on the adjudicator that looks through your petition.

I think your lawyer is still missing the bigger picture. It is not about the letters of intent or whether you will get an RFE or not. It is about her intentionally giving you incorrect information and trying to get you to pay her thousands more to file a single form that is NOT required. It states in the form instructions what is required for adjusting from a K-1, and it is NOT an I-130. She should read it someday.

---

The I-485 instructions state on Page 4 - #12 - Evidence of eligibility -

B. Based on admission as the K-1 fiancé(e) of a U.S. citizen and subsequent marriage to that citizen

Attach a copy of the fiancé(e) petition approval notice (the NOA2 from your I-129F), a copy of your marriage certificate, and your Form 1-94, Arrival/Departure Document.

---

She seems to be unprofessional and rude as well. No competent lawyer would tell you not to research and be informed about your situation. The way she speaks to you and the misinformation seems like enough to ask for a refund. There is no need for her to 'play a power-trip card' and tell you she will not represent you if you do not pay her to file the I-130. You should fire her well before that. I would have fired her long ago.

Yes, only one consulate it could be sent to in Mexico, and that is Juarez. The only forms that are time sensitive are the financials. The rest of the forms can be filled out already. Your fiance will sign and date those at his interview anyway. The fees are not unknown. The fee for the visa is $350 and the medical in Juarez is approx. $200. There is also a small fee(less than $10 unless it has gone up recently) for DHL.

She was very rude. She told me she didn't appreciate my "tone". I told her a few minutes later that she should not accuse me of unrightfully having an attitude when I felt an injustice was done on my part by my paid attorney. She then wanted to bicker about never saying I had an "attitude" and said "tone" and "attitude" are two different things. WHATEVER.

She then told me that since I had emailed her assistant (who I was told was my point of contact) it was not her "fault" that I had been told there was no way of knowing which consulate would be forwarded my case. She also said if I had contacted her, which she felt the need to say was an actual attorney not just an assistant, she would have been able to give me everything I asked for.... my consulate information, my fee estimates, a list of information I could be compiling while waiting. I was told to ONLY contact my attorney if her assistant wasn't available, and she said that if her assistant wasn't sure of an answer to my questions it would be forwarded to her anyways.

I also want to point out that I ASKED her before submitting if it would be helpful to include the letter of intent and also if I should submit chat logs. On our call yesterday I asked her why she persuaded me not to submit these items when it was readily available. Where was the harm in submitting it anyways?

[BesosforMexico 13]

We hired a lawyer too for our K1 application. We did not submit letter/s of intent and it was approved...with no RFE! Our lawyer said it was not needed as we have enough evidence. We got lucky I guess!

I'm honestly hoping she is correct and we don't receive an RFE but I still am annoyed that it was readily available and she turned me down. At that time I could have easily picked it up from my fiance, as I was visiting consistently every month. Now I havent been able to see him since October and due to work circumstances it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to get any mail to or from him.

I have vacation time requested this weekend so in anticipation of an RFE I will be going to Mexico to obtain his signature on a LOI. If I don't go now, it would be impossible for me to go until end of March or April. Unfortunately his work transferred him and he is staying in employee housing for an undetermined length of time. Meaning I now have more expenses for hotel, transportation, etc that I would not have if he were home. Basically I am "wasting" $2000 in anticipation of an RFE that I may or may not get, because my attorney didn't feel these letters to be neccesary.