Any of you regret ever hiring a lawyer for filing? (rant)

[mika__ 50]

Hi everyone

 

Me and my husband are in the middle of our CR-1 visa (currently at the NVC stage waiting to hear back from them to set up our interview). 

My husband insisted we hire a lawyer to help us with this CR-1 visa,  I didnt want to hire one, but I have been to the USA previously (yeaaars ago on a k-1 visa with my EX husband now) and for some reason I thought having a previous k-1 visa might make this cr-1 visa more complicated (I dont know why I just did). So I went along with my husband getting a lawyer.

 

 

My husband got us a lawyer. I wish I could have been in the USA to help look for one with him (im the beneficiary moving to the USA) because oh my lord our lawyer sucks.

 

1st problem:

> Our lawyer made us fill out a I-130 form (just for the lawyer) and then our lawyer took all the info and filled it in on his own on a different copy to send off. When our lawyer took our info from the I-130 and gave us a copy of what he sent, there was 20+ spelling errors. He would spell my name wrong on every line, our address's , our work info. I dont know how, we literally wrote down everything (and we double checked what we gave him and we had no spelling mistakes) and somehow he managed to have spelling mistakes everywhere

 

 

2nd problem:

> We gave everything to our Lawyer March 18th (my police cert, tax stuff, paid all fees, everything) to send to NVC since we are at that stage now. Our lawyer said he would send everything that same day March 18th. Our lawyer called us 2 days ago (April 10th) and told us he will send in everything to NVC on April 11th. Umm what? He told us he sent it in 24 days prior and he hasnt even started yet

 

 

 

Every since being on VJ ive had multiple people tell us we should have done the filing on our own. I wish I listened to convince my husband otherwise lol

 

 

curious is any of you had similar issues with a lawyer 

 

rant over

[Crazy Cat 41,974]

If I had found VJ earlier, I would have not hired an attorney.  Unfortunately, I hired him before I ever found VJ.  During the process our attorney (case manager) gave us incorrect information (and I also think she failed to send all the info).  As a result, we received a checklist at the NVC stage which delayed our case by 3 months.  As a result, our case was at NVC for 6 months.............then the incorrect information caused my wife to get a 221g at the interview.......thankfully, the 221 g only delayed her visa by about 1 or 2 days.

[Tegs&Lols 41]

Ah, the famous Incompetent lawyer rant, I've come across a few of those here on VJ. Sorry about your experience, the only solution to an incompetent lawyer is micro management, you gotta call them daily to remind them what they're supposed to do, its annoying i know but that's what helped a few friends of mine who went through this process. 

[Crazy Cat 41,974]

1 minute ago, Tegs&Lols said:

Ah, the famous Incompetent lawyer rant, I've come across a few of those here on VJ. Sorry about your experience, the only solution to an incompetent lawyer is micro management, you gotta call them daily to remind them what they're supposed to do, its annoying i know but that's what helped a few friends of mine who went through this process. 

and I would tell the lawyer "If I have to micromanage you, why do I need you?"   Believe me, I made a few calls to my attorney....

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

We used a service backed by a lawyer, not RapidVisa or anything, for the original I-129f petition. While we had no issues with them and all and everything went smoothly, I wish had saved those hundreds of dollars and just done it myself had I known about VJ first, so we went and did our own AOS paperwork and saved a lot and had no issues doing it on our own.

[Tegs&Lols 41]

12 minutes ago, missileman said:

and I would tell the lawyer "If I have to micromanage you, why do I need you?"   Believe me, I made a few calls to my attorney....

I can only imagine what you went through. I heard a story of a couple who sued their lawyer for being incompetent. 

[KartineeKartoons 434]

33 minutes ago, mika__ said:

Hi everyone

 

Me and my husband are in the middle of our CR-1 visa (currently at the NVC stage waiting to hear back from them to set up our interview). 

My husband insisted we hire a lawyer to help us with this CR-1 visa,  I didnt want to hire one, but I have been to the USA previously (yeaaars ago on a k-1 visa with my EX husband now) and for some reason I thought having a previous k-1 visa might make this cr-1 visa more complicated (I dont know why I just did). So I went along with my husband getting a lawyer.

 

 

My husband got us a lawyer. I wish I could have been in the USA to help look for one with him (im the beneficiary moving to the USA) because oh my lord our lawyer sucks.

 

1st problem:

> Our lawyer made us fill out a I-130 form (just for the lawyer) and then our lawyer took all the info and filled it in on his own on a different copy to send off. When our lawyer took our info from the I-130 and gave us a copy of what he sent, there was 20+ spelling errors. He would spell my name wrong on every line, our address's , our work info. I dont know how, we literally wrote down everything (and we double checked what we gave him and we had no spelling mistakes) and somehow he managed to have spelling mistakes everywhere

 

 

2nd problem:

> We gave everything to our Lawyer March 18th (my police cert, tax stuff, paid all fees, everything) to send to NVC since we are at that stage now. Our lawyer said he would send everything that same day March 18th. Our lawyer called us 2 days ago (April 10th) and told us he will send in everything to NVC on April 11th. Umm what? He told us he sent it in 24 days prior and he hasnt even started yet

 

 

 

Every since being on VJ ive had multiple people tell us we should have done the filing on our own. I wish I listened to convince my husband otherwise lol

 

 

curious is any of you had similar issues with a lawyer 

 

rant over

Same here lol! Always saying I wish I paid myself instead of paying the lawyer er... her assistant. She seem annoyed everytime we call and ask questions. I did all research because they want us to wait for idk what. All they gave us is...”we will call NVC and get back to you” 🙄

Anyway, since I didnt trust them which is silly coz we hired them... I did my own research on things specially the HK police certificate (who wont give you the result. They send it straight to the embassy where you will he interviewed. Took 6weeks before I got the receipt. We applied online CEAC and what I did is exchange e-mails with HK police, pdf the e-mails and it is what we uploaded on the HK police cert in our CEAC account). Aside from doing my own research, I had to redo my Ds-260 and submitted it myself because I let her type all our infos for the DS-260 so she has some JOB to do but, made a loooot of mistakes! Idk where she got all those dates?! 

Also, about HK police cert our attorny told us to request and take the certificate so we can upload a copy! She kept insisting! Like... we hired you for this to guide us and make it easier at least for us, to do the research instead of us! They don’t know that HK WILL NEVER send the result to the applicant! They did not even bother to research about it! 🙄

 

Oh and another thing! When I asked what NVC letter should I send to HK police because it is required to give them a copy of letter from NVC that acquiring an HK police is stated with the interviewing embassy and case number and my name on it.  She told me that NVC wont mail me a hard copy of my case and invoice # coz they don’t do that anymore. Wrong! They did! This simple things they don’t know! I wonder if they’re real immigration lawyers. 🙄

On the last part... when all documents were completed, we sent them all the scanned civil documents for them to upload coz i was doing all the job for them. Told them to upload everything and we will go over it after and then they can submit. Well... as expected, they uploaded it as is. They did NOT even rotate the page!   Nor straighten the passport photo! So there! We paid them for doing nothing! 🌝🌚

 

[mika__ 50]

1 hour ago, mika__ said:

Hi everyone

 

Me and my husband are in the middle of our CR-1 visa (currently at the NVC stage waiting to hear back from them to set up our interview). 

My husband insisted we hire a lawyer to help us with this CR-1 visa,  I didnt want to hire one, but I have been to the USA previously (yeaaars ago on a k-1 visa with my EX husband now) and for some reason I thought having a previous k-1 visa might make this cr-1 visa more complicated (I dont know why I just did). So I went along with my husband getting a lawyer.

 

 

My husband got us a lawyer. I wish I could have been in the USA to help look for one with him (im the beneficiary moving to the USA) because oh my lord our lawyer sucks.

 

1st problem:

> Our lawyer made us fill out a I-130 form (just for the lawyer) and then our lawyer took all the info and filled it in on his own on a different copy to send off. When our lawyer took our info from the I-130 and gave us a copy of what he sent, there was 20+ spelling errors. He would spell my name wrong on every line, our address's , our work info. I dont know how, we literally wrote down everything (and we double checked what we gave him and we had no spelling mistakes) and somehow he managed to have spelling mistakes everywhere

 

 

2nd problem:

> We gave everything to our Lawyer March 18th (my police cert, tax stuff, paid all fees, everything) to send to NVC since we are at that stage now. Our lawyer said he would send everything that same day March 18th. Our lawyer called us 2 days ago (April 10th) and told us he will send in everything to NVC on April 11th. Umm what? He told us he sent it in 24 days prior and he hasnt even started yet

 

 

 

Every since being on VJ ive had multiple people tell us we should have done the filing on our own. I wish I listened to convince my husband otherwise lol

 

 

curious is any of you had similar issues with a lawyer 

 

rant over

Forgot to say, when our lawyer asked for my police certificate. I asked him "which one?" (because I know theres different kinds). He told us, "doesnt matter get any"....and when I went to my police dept to get my police certificate they asked me which one I needed and I explain "doesnt matter which one, any" and I explained it was for a cr-1 visa to the USA and thats what my lawyer told me to get any certificate. The police dept was like "uh ya no, we need to know which" and were hesistant to give me my police cert. I asked our lawyer again which certificate I needed and he was like "I told you any" and I explained "well no, my police dept here in Canada needs to actually KNOW which one, one with fingerprints, without fingerprints etc..."

 

ahh was frustrating...

[KartineeKartoons 434]

8 minutes ago, mika__ said:

Forgot to say, when our lawyer asked for my police certificate. I asked him "which one?" (because I know theres different kinds). He told us, "doesnt matter get any"....and when I went to my police dept to get my police certificate they asked me which one I needed and I explain "doesnt matter which one, any" and I explained it was for a cr-1 visa to the USA and thats what my lawyer told me to get any certificate. The police dept was like "uh ya no, we need to know which" and were hesistant to give me my police cert. I asked our lawyer again which certificate I needed and he was like "I told you any" and I explained "well no, my police dept here in Canada needs to actually KNOW which one, one with fingerprints, without fingerprints etc..."

 

ahh was frustrating...

Yep. Same. I live in Canada now and my embassy will be here so I had to get Police cert here as well. There was a confusion with the change last Sept. I asked them about that too. Their reply is...”we called and NVC and it seems they are not aware of this change.” Really? The change was September and theh are not aware? It’s February already. Luckily the finger printing  company where I had it done knows about this. He knows more than the ATTORNEY. 

[EnglishLove 112]

25 minutes ago, mika__ said:

Forgot to say, when our lawyer asked for my police certificate. I asked him "which one?" (because I know theres different kinds). He told us, "doesnt matter get any"....and when I went to my police dept to get my police certificate they asked me which one I needed and I explain "doesnt matter which one, any" and I explained it was for a cr-1 visa to the USA and thats what my lawyer told me to get any certificate. The police dept was like "uh ya no, we need to know which" and were hesistant to give me my police cert. I asked our lawyer again which certificate I needed and he was like "I told you any" and I explained "well no, my police dept here in Canada needs to actually KNOW which one, one with fingerprints, without fingerprints etc..."

 

ahh was frustrating...

I didn't use a lawyer, even though my fiance has a criminal record of cautions. I called an immigration attorney to get advice on that matter but she didn't even know what a caution was and told me not to worry about them since he was never charged with it, which I know is not true when it comes to immigration. AND she still charged me $100. I grew up working an attorney's office so I know how over rated they can be (not saying that every single attorney is worthless lol) but I especially since finding this website, everyone is soooo incredibly helpful here that I feel like you don't need one. Even if our k1 ends up being denied and I have to file a waiver, I will be doing that on my own as well. 

[junkmart 320]

1 hour ago, mika__ said:

Hi everyone

 

Me and my husband are in the middle of our CR-1 visa (currently at the NVC stage waiting to hear back from them to set up our interview). 

My husband insisted we hire a lawyer to help us with this CR-1 visa,  I didnt want to hire one, but I have been to the USA previously (yeaaars ago on a k-1 visa with my EX husband now) and for some reason I thought having a previous k-1 visa might make this cr-1 visa more complicated (I dont know why I just did). So I went along with my husband getting a lawyer.

 

 

My husband got us a lawyer. I wish I could have been in the USA to help look for one with him (im the beneficiary moving to the USA) because oh my lord our lawyer sucks.

 

1st problem:

> Our lawyer made us fill out a I-130 form (just for the lawyer) and then our lawyer took all the info and filled it in on his own on a different copy to send off. When our lawyer took our info from the I-130 and gave us a copy of what he sent, there was 20+ spelling errors. He would spell my name wrong on every line, our address's , our work info. I dont know how, we literally wrote down everything (and we double checked what we gave him and we had no spelling mistakes) and somehow he managed to have spelling mistakes everywhere

 

 

2nd problem:

> We gave everything to our Lawyer March 18th (my police cert, tax stuff, paid all fees, everything) to send to NVC since we are at that stage now. Our lawyer said he would send everything that same day March 18th. Our lawyer called us 2 days ago (April 10th) and told us he will send in everything to NVC on April 11th. Umm what? He told us he sent it in 24 days prior and he hasnt even started yet

 

 

 

Every since being on VJ ive had multiple people tell us we should have done the filing on our own. I wish I listened to convince my husband otherwise lol

 

 

curious is any of you had similar issues with a lawyer 

 

rant over

I've had a good experience so far. I (petitioner) didn't want to hire a lawyer, but my husband did. Similar experience in that our lawyer gave us forms to fill out, then used that information to fill out the actual applications. As a back up, I provided the attorney with all the applications already filled out by myself. Before she sent everything off, we met, reviewed every single line of every single form, and signed as we went along. There were so many checks that a mistake would be almost impossible. I'm a micromanager, but so far the attorney has been on top of everything. I've been pleasantly surprised. We did a lot of research, and interviewed two attorneys prior to choosing. We finally decided on the one we felt most comfortable with. Most of her work is pro-bono for immigrants in detention centers. I'm happy that the fees I pay to her help her provide free legal aid to immigrants and asylum seekers. They sure need it!

[mika__ 50]

51 minutes ago, Kartinee23 said:

Yep. Same. I live in Canada now and my embassy will be here so I had to get Police cert here as well. There was a confusion with the change last Sept. I asked them about that too. Their reply is...”we called and NVC and it seems they are not aware of this change.” Really? The change was September and theh are not aware? It’s February already. Luckily the finger printing  company where I had it done knows about this. He knows more than the ATTORNEY. 

you got the fingerprinted one? is that the one we were supposed to get for the cr-1 visa?

I just walked into the police dept and got it and walked out the same day, I didnt do fingerprints. My lawyer already sent in everything

 

 

I hope im not screwed lol

[KartineeKartoons 434]

9 minutes ago, mika__ said:

you got the fingerprinted one? is that the one we were supposed to get for the cr-1 visa?

I just walked into the police dept and got it and walked out the same day, I didnt do fingerprints. My lawyer already sent in everything

 

 

I hope im not screwed lol

Hey I requested the PRIVACY ACT. I had to do finger prints at the agency and they (agency) sent it straight to RCMP. The fingerprints will not appear on the certificate as well. It’s just a piece of paper that says no criminal conviction or record. I hade to wait for over a week for the result. Where did you get yours done? I am

not sure if this is the right one. I just followed what is online that says PRIVACY ACT. Lol

 

According to the US website, it is fingerprint-based but the Report does not include an immage of the applicant’s fingerprints. Here is the link https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Canada.html

Edited April 12, 2019 by Kartinee23

[paulsquare 76]

3 hours ago, mika__ said:

Hi everyone

 

Me and my husband are in the middle of our CR-1 visa (currently at the NVC stage waiting to hear back from them to set up our interview). 

My husband insisted we hire a lawyer to help us with this CR-1 visa,  I didnt want to hire one, but I have been to the USA previously (yeaaars ago on a k-1 visa with my EX husband now) and for some reason I thought having a previous k-1 visa might make this cr-1 visa more complicated (I dont know why I just did). So I went along with my husband getting a lawyer.

 

 

My husband got us a lawyer. I wish I could have been in the USA to help look for one with him (im the beneficiary moving to the USA) because oh my lord our lawyer sucks.

 

1st problem:

> Our lawyer made us fill out a I-130 form (just for the lawyer) and then our lawyer took all the info and filled it in on his own on a different copy to send off. When our lawyer took our info from the I-130 and gave us a copy of what he sent, there was 20+ spelling errors. He would spell my name wrong on every line, our address's , our work info. I dont know how, we literally wrote down everything (and we double checked what we gave him and we had no spelling mistakes) and somehow he managed to have spelling mistakes everywhere

 

 

2nd problem:

> We gave everything to our Lawyer March 18th (my police cert, tax stuff, paid all fees, everything) to send to NVC since we are at that stage now. Our lawyer said he would send everything that same day March 18th. Our lawyer called us 2 days ago (April 10th) and told us he will send in everything to NVC on April 11th. Umm what? He told us he sent it in 24 days prior and he hasnt even started yet

 

 

 

Every since being on VJ ive had multiple people tell us we should have done the filing on our own. I wish I listened to convince my husband otherwise lol

 

 

curious is any of you had similar issues with a lawyer 

 

rant over

Nope, I don't have issue with our lawyer. He did well.

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

yes,  very sorry i wasted the money

(I did all the legwork to gather documents) and all my lawyer did was copy it and send it in

he said "if you get denied, call me immediately as that is when my work starts.   I called from Morocco right after interview and gave him a list of the questions asked

and the next thing i got was an email saying his work was done

On the 90 day finance program a lawyer tells a USC that she can appeal a K1 denial / there is no appeal for a denied K1 

 

My contract with him did not include my CR1 appeal that i did myself and won so i had no recourse

but for the bad paperwork he did for you,  (if you have copies of what you gave him)  you can report it to the State Bar Assocation / this won't unforunately help your case but the state bar does keep track of the number of complaints