Hiring a lawyer, complicated case!

[Rania 1]

I have decided to go with hiring a lawyer, although it is so costly and i feel quite suspicious everytime i speak to one. However, i feel my case is complicated as my fiance is illegal in the country i met him in (UK) - illegal from beginning to end (got smuggled in the back of a lorry type of illegal, fake documents - the whole shebang). My initial consultations with attorneys seemed to me that his status in another country doesn't really matter, especially if he will be doing the interview in his native country, but i still think that gathering the necessary information might be tricky because of his status in the UK. Our relationship has been going on and strong for three years, so there is no problem proving it. The problem is that it occured in a country he was staying illegally. And we plan on being completely honest with all of this information during the process, so i would prefer to have the backing of someone who at least knows better than me.

Anybody have any comments? Lawyer or no lawyer? any good ones to recommend? I might be going with John F Roth http://www.arctec.com/. $1800 (expensive!) but he refunds your money if you dont get the visa (provided you were up front and legitimate with all the information) which i believe is a good sign and deal, especially since he is about 2x as expensive as anybody else.

[AnnaF 0]

Our case was a lot more complicated than yours (I won't go into detail). We did it all by ourselves, and were approved one month ago.

If you're more or less educated, and can read and pay attention to detail, there is no reason for you not to be able to file successfully without outside help. Information is available to everybody - the same information that is available to lawyers. There is no reason why you couldn't take advantage of it as efficiently, if not more so, to help your case than someone who has less personal interest vested in its successful outcome

I have decided to go with hiring a lawyer, although it is so costly and i feel quite suspicious everytime i speak to one. However, i feel my case is complicated as my fiance is illegal in the country i met him in (UK) - illegal from beginning to end (got smuggled in the back of a lorry type of illegal, fake documents - the whole shebang). My initial consultations with attorneys seemed to me that his status in another country doesn't really matter, especially if he will be doing the interview in his native country, but i still think that gathering the necessary information might be tricky because of his status in the UK. Our relationship has been going on and strong for three years, so there is no problem proving it. The problem is that it occured in a country he was staying illegally. And we plan on being completely honest with all of this information during the process, so i would prefer to have the backing of someone who at least knows better than me.

Anybody have any comments? Lawyer or no lawyer? any good ones to recommend? I might be going with John F Roth http://www.arctec.com/. $1800 (expensive!) but he refunds your money if you dont get the visa (provided you were up front and legitimate with all the information) which i believe is a good sign and deal, especially since he is about 2x as expensive as anybody else.

[Kym 0]

Me and my fiance hired a lawyer and we have regreted it!!!! However, don't let our misfortune guide you in your decision. Our lawyer obviously had no clue what he was doing on this type of visa....he specializes in something completely different and we didn't know at that time. Of course he should have told us. But if I were in your situation, I'm sure I would do the same thing. Heck, we hired a lawyer and there was nothing complicated at all about our petition, yet it has been a year since we filed and my fiance still doesn't have his K-1 visa (although we are so close we can taste it!).

My suggestion to you would be to get references and make sure they are references for the same type of visa that you are applying. And actually contact these references if at all possible. You can also contact the state board to see if that lawyer is in good standings. As for the cost, that amount does not seem that much out of the ordinary. As a matter of fact, it is approx. the same as our lawyer was charging. However, we have since had all our money refunded and another lawyer (whom I like a lot!) from the same lawfirm is doing the complete process at no charge...plus some other forms of compensation...that is how bad this lawyer screwed things up!

I wish you the very best of luck through this process.

[U.S. Wendy 0]

YES, get an attorney BEFORE he leaves the UK and returns to Albania. There are others on here who's fiances immigrated from countries in which they were staying ILLEGALLY (ie. Italy and Greece). So, do your homework and find someone who is experienced with Petition Revocations, or for that matter, avoiding them.

I regret NOT having one when I started this process. I have one now, but only after a BIG mess.

Ideally, find an attorney with some experience with the Embassy either in Tirana or the UK. Best of luck to you. I'll be watching to see how your case progresses.

Cheers, W

[BabyBlueSusie 1]

im in basically the same situation as you are and im braving it alone...ive come to realize that nothing is definite in this process...it can always go either way...some ppl have been in our situaiton with success and others with denials...if you decide to brave it alone, we can be in it together...i sent my petition in today...if you do get a lawyer, and wouldnt mind sharing any valuable info that might be of assistance to us with illegal fiances lol thatd be great =)

best of luck to ya

[TimsDaisy 0]

Don't rely solely on the internet to find an attorney. A lot of good, highly experienced attorneys have no internet presence at all. And there are plenty of swanky sparkley websites that look impressive but are merely window dressing.

You need to call the state bar of the state in which you live. Find that by googling state bar of _____. (new york in your case?). Call them and ask for qualified immigration experts in your area. then, do more homework. Meet with as many as you can.

Educate the h*ll out of yourself first so you know the steps of the process - that way, you can ask educated questions about the extent of a potential attorney's experience. DO NOT ASSUME because he/she is a lawyer that he/she knows about the immigration process YOU will be working with. DO NOT ASSUME that a lawyer who works with 1000s of employment-based visa applications each year knows ANYTHING AT ALL about family based visas. Visas are different from one another and misunderstanding those difference can spell doom.

A good attorney should meet with you at no cost initially to hear about the nature of your case. Then the attorney should tell you whether he/she can provide any help. The attorney may say "I think I can help you, a full consultation costs $xxx." Before you hand over A SINGLE CENT, get a letter signed by the attorney that says what each cent goes to. Is it a one-time consultation fee? A retainer fee? Will you be billed for photo copies and faxes, by the page? Attorneys bill for EVERYTHING in many cases. Each letter. Each stamp. Each photocopy. Each phone call. Each tenth of an hour. No joke. And a good attorney will make sure you are fully informed before money changes hands.

Call a prospective attorney's office first. Who answers the phone? Well-spoken? Attentive? Did your message get through? Did you get a call back? How long did it take. Don't assume that once you fork over cash, your calls will get returned faster. Remember, YOU ARE THE CLIENT and the attorney is providing a service for which you are paying. The attorney WORKS FOR YOU. You need to work WITH the attorney, but never confuse who is driving the bus. That's you.

Remember - the more research you do, about the process and prospective attorneys, the better you'll spend your money and the better your process will go. Hiring an attorney - especially for this kind of case - shouldn't be seen as an excuse to get lazy. You'll need to help a lot in gathering documents and filling in information on forms.

Lastly, a lawyer is not a magician. No lawyer has a special red phone to USCIS or the Dept of State. They often are paid hundreds/hour to call some poor congressional staffer making $22,000/year who ends up doing any actual work on the case. They don't know magic words or trapdoors. They don't know short cuts. They don't make laws. They can't change them. Manage your expectations.

It sounds like your situation warrants at least a consultation.

If you are in the UK, I'd be happy to PM you the name of a London-based US attorney I found helpful, responsive, and responsible.

Otherwise, first go through the local state bar for names and see where you need to go from there. You don't need to hire the first person you talk to. And you certainly should NEVER base your decision solely on a visit to a website.

Best of luck.

[SteveSandyHill 0]

I have decided to go with hiring a lawyer, although it is so costly and i feel quite suspicious everytime i speak to one. However, i feel my case is complicated as my fiance is illegal in the country i met him in (UK) - illegal from beginning to end (got smuggled in the back of a lorry type of illegal, fake documents - the whole shebang). My initial consultations with attorneys seemed to me that his status in another country doesn't really matter, especially if he will be doing the interview in his native country, but i still think that gathering the necessary information might be tricky because of his status in the UK. Our relationship has been going on and strong for three years, so there is no problem proving it. The problem is that it occured in a country he was staying illegally. And we plan on being completely honest with all of this information during the process, so i would prefer to have the backing of someone who at least knows better than me.

Anybody have any comments? Lawyer or no lawyer? any good ones to recommend? I might be going with John F Roth http://www.arctec.com/. $1800 (expensive!) but he refunds your money if you dont get the visa (provided you were up front and legitimate with all the information) which i believe is a good sign and deal, especially since he is about 2x as expensive as anybody else.

Hi, I am using John Roth at the moment, yes expensive, yet so far also very professional. They have a timeline as well on there site that allows you to follow your case. I will say That although I retained Mr. Roth 3 months ago, and have yet to speak personally to him. I have been working with one of his assistant's "Chantel" She is very helpful and very professional as weill. She takes the time to explain the details and is very thorough. Before I even retained there firm, she called my fiance at my request, and spoke to her for me in spanish, I thought that was pretty special. So I would reccomend them.

[Rania 1]

Thanks for all the replies. The problem is, and i have to be frank, that my fiance cannot risk going back home to albania with no way out just yet. We are definitely not getting married for the sake of him getting legal status, he could have done that with someone british a long time ago. We met unexpectedly 3 years ago and i have spent 1.5 years of that physically with him. He has a good job in the UK, a house that we are building in albania that is nearly finished - but no savings. WE will live a poor decrpid life in a beautiful new house with no money! If he gives it up and goes back home and he gets denied the K1, it would be so difficult for him/us to make a living, and we would have to marry there and start the ever-so-hard process of the other visa. I want to be extra sure that we can spot hiccups and potential issues BEFORE he leaves for albania. And i want us to be ultra prepared for the interview. With an experienced lawyer i think this can be more likely. I will only pick the lawyer if he has dealt with such a case before. The two firms I called today weren't sure of the situation (to my surprise). I am calling around and explaining it to find a lawyer who has dealt with this. I tried to think up stories we could say but he sensibly told me that he doesn't want anymore lies with immigration. We want to be honest and hopefully they will be nice!!!

John roth seems quite legit, right??

All of this is so hard, it is nice to talk to those who understand and are not judgemental!

[TimsDaisy 0]

Beware paying for a "lawyer" or a service where you never speak to the principle. If it's advertised as Mr. Joe Schmo's immi law firm or service and you don't ever speak to Mr. Joe Schmo, in some states, that's cause for discipline.

I would also inherently distrust any attorney or association of attorneys who brag of "100%" success rates. That screams data manipulation. Perhaps they reject cases too complicated to preserve their record.

I'm glad that some may have had luck with "John Roth" - by the way, from the site, it's fairly clear that "John Roth" is a brand name more than a person for whom you'll be paying - but I would still beware.

It sounds like your case is complicated enough, perhaps, to make it worth your while to do more than a simple web search to find guidance or a qualified attorney. Choosing wrong could not only waste your money and your time, but could also jeopardize options for you in the future if they screw anything up.

I'm not usually a gloom-and-doom person, but I really can't over-emphasize the importance of being diligent in your search for an attorney if you choose to retain one.

[Creel 0]

My husband was illegal in Italy and had been deported from Greece and it never even came up in the interview even though we wrote about it on the application. The US does not care if they have been illegal in another country as long as they are not illegal in the USA. More than likely the US embassy in the UK won't see him and he will have to go home to Albania, but it won't hurt to ask. Also, when you file the docs they send the info to the address where he lives even if you ask it to be sent to his home country so you'll want to supply an Albanian address or you will have to have the embassy transfer the docs.

[little white guy 0]

Our case was a lot more complicated than yours (I won't go into detail). We did it all by ourselves, and were approved one month ago.

If you're more or less educated, and can read and pay attention to detail, there is no reason for you not to be able to file successfully without outside help. Information is available to everybody - the same information that is available to lawyers. There is no reason why you couldn't take advantage of it as efficiently, if not more so, to help your case than someone who has less personal interest vested in its successful outcome

I have decided to go with hiring a lawyer, although it is so costly and i feel quite suspicious everytime i speak to one. However, i feel my case is complicated as my fiance is illegal in the country i met him in (UK) - illegal from beginning to end (got smuggled in the back of a lorry type of illegal, fake documents - the whole shebang). My initial consultations with attorneys seemed to me that his status in another country doesn't really matter, especially if he will be doing the interview in his native country, but i still think that gathering the necessary information might be tricky because of his status in the UK. Our relationship has been going on and strong for three years, so there is no problem proving it. The problem is that it occured in a country he was staying illegally. And we plan on being completely honest with all of this information during the process, so i would prefer to have the backing of someone who at least knows better than me.

Anybody have any comments? Lawyer or no lawyer? any good ones to recommend? I might be going with John F Roth http://www.arctec.com/. $1800 (expensive!) but he refunds your money if you dont get the visa (provided you were up front and legitimate with all the information) which i believe is a good sign and deal, especially since he is about 2x as expensive as anybody else.

Exactly right!!!!!!!!!!!

Takes a little effort but the best

lawyer is yourself..A www connection

and common sense is all ya need