Is are attorney fobbing us off

[bsa.steven 0]

Is are attorney fobbing us off? Email from are attorney Email below.

Good afternoon,

The execution of payment of fee bills is something that we complete in our office once the pertinent information from the NVC arrives. Although the NVC case number is needed, there is other information issued by the NVC that is necessary in order to complete the payment.

John’s prescribed course of action would be for the funds for the fee bills to be issued to us, then we would complete the payment online. This is his preferred way of completing the payment because it eliminates variables that could potentially cause delays.

My recommendation would be to call the office and provide us with the funds to complete the payment. Once I have the funds I can issue the payments after calling the NVC to request the rest of the information needed to execute the fee bill payment. Once executed, approximately one week later, the NVC will request that we submit the forms to trigger an interview.

I have most of the information needed to complete the forms, but I would not say that I have 100% of the information, as each consulate operates according to the prescribed protocols for the region and the consulate in London may have different rules than the consulate in Taiwan (my last fiancé visa case to go to a consular interview.) This is why it is important to wait from the consular post. Without having the exact instructions in my hands (which can change at the drop of a hat if there is a security event somewhere in the world) I can only assume what the instructions are going to be based on what is available on the Internet (which is a mistake because in my experience the instructions are littered with inconsistencies and conflicting information).

I understand the desire to complete this as quickly as possible and I will do what is possible to complete this as quickly as possible. But circumventing the process for the sake of expediency can back fire and that would be bad all the way around.

If you have additional questions please let me know.

Thank you,

Edited July 6, 2012 by bsa.steven

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Having worked with a lot of excellent lawyers who specialize in consular processing, and having gone through consulates on two continents so far, I would say that this looks like completely a standard procedure for a typical immigration law firm. They do try to be extra careful to avoid RFEs and to specifically obtain all the documentation needed for whatever consulate you're processing through, which definitely can vary. They do have to take their time, and yes, they will move a bit slower on this sometimes than you would, only because they need to give equal care to all of their pending cases. Yes, it is standard procedure for attorney's offices to handle the online payment and submission, which means you do submit your NVC-related fees to them. However, I also suspect this firm does not do a lot of consular processing, based on the wording of the message, and also based on the fact that they're having you do a K3, which I thought was no longer the fastest method through London, but I could be wrong...

Anyway, basically if you choose to have a lawyer handle your process, you also are agreeing to do it their way, which might deviate a bit from the fast-track methods people often use on forums like VisaJourney. If you attempt to do things on your own or push for different procedures, it can compromise their process, cause confusion, and in the worst cases, cause the attorney-client relationship to be severed. If you feel unsettled about the way they're handling your case, and your'e confident that you can do this on your own (and honestly, unless your case is involves inadmissibilities or complications, it's pretty likely you can), then you should find out how your lawyer and any contract you signed handles the termination of the relationship, and let them know that you would prefer to proceed on your own. Otherwise, just check to make sure they're not doing things blatantly wrong, and then go along with what they're asking.