Namaenai

My spouse is another one who had no problem coming to visit (LAX was the POE). We had prepared for the worst and had all kinds of proof of intent to return to Sweden (letter from work, return ticket, Comic-Con registration/hotel reservations, even emails from the cat-sitter talking about how long she was watching the cats, etc.). None of that ended up being necessary (tho I still think it was good to have, just in case).

As I understand, the conversation went something like this:

Agent: What is the purpose of your visit?

Spouse: To go to Comic-Con. My friend is here too. *pointing to friend in another line*

A: Who are you staying with?

S: Family?

A: What kind of family?

S: My spouse.

A: Ok, have a nice visit.

Please clarify where there is wrong information in the VJ Guides and what is speculation. Of course some people give the wrong advice

but for the most part several experienced long term members will correct those posters and one must always check the guides for the

basic information. There are check lists that in my opinion are much more detailed than the average attorney check list.

I picked a lawyer out of a 42 recommended ones. I emailed them and got a feel for what they knew on the phone and hung up on several

that were clueless when I asked them some basic questions I already had answers to. They didn't even pass first base.

I then hired a lawyer who came recommended and fired him because he screwed up.

I am doing a much better job myself now the second time around with the VJ community and guides and special threads full of correct

detailed information. Collective experience is so valuable, especially when embassy specific where so many lawyers are just lost.

I do think that a good referred attorney is needed for legal issues and lots of red flags the couple may have. For the basic petition I just read

way too many posts about incompetent lawyers who delay petitions with silly things and don't stay in contact enough and the petitioners

end up here totally lost asking questions and are amazed at how their lawyer messed them up.

Proceed with caution if you think you must have a lawyer and don't take the first one even if his web site is full of impressive content is my advice. Ask some questions you already know the answers to and watch them squirm.

I'm not referring to the guides. But I have seen several examples in the forums that have made me cringe and think "I hope someone doesn't really follow that advice." (I've also seen some very sarcastic posts that could easily be misinterpreted as being advice.) Sometimes things in any area of law, particularly when dealing with a government agency, can be particularly fact specific.

Your experience is exactly why I think people need to be careful about which lawyer they hire if they use one. I interviewed several attorneys before using one that a friend had good results with. As a lawyer myself, I also think clients sometimes have unreasonable expectations of how much contact their lawyer should have. For example, we went 6 months between our NOA1 and NOA2 and there wasn't really much for my lawyer to say in that time period. When I had questions about stuff, she answered them. Collective knowledge is great, but a good immigration lawyer (particularly an AILA member) has access to far more collective knowledge than is on this board - they have message boards and listservs where the discussions are with other immigration attorneys who deal with just about every type of issue.

As I said, not everyone needs a lawyer. As a lawyer myself, I felt it was most expedient to spend the money and have an experienced lawyer handle our petition because there were a couple of things that I was uncertain about (and I wasn't comfortable relying on non-expert guidance). Plus, I know my own limitations and schedule and didn't want to have delays if, for example, I was too busy at work to deal with my own paperwork. My point was that if someone is already having issues or is not very organized about pulling together or remembering to send stuff, then a good lawyer is going to help them past that stuff. It is not just about the knowledge but about having someone to manage the process on your behalf.

I'll give an example - one part of my job is working with trademarks. Anyone can file a trademark application without a lawyer. But there is certain terminology that could cause hang-ups and delays, someone may not know how broadly they can describe the items/services on which the mark will be used, etc. Recently, when I filed a new trademark in exactly the same category as one I had previously filed, I ran into several months of delays going back and forth over a description I used - a description that previously had been accepted on another mark. An individual could certainly file alone, but would they know how to deal with those situations? Stuff like that is why attorneys are helpful, even if they are not necessary.

CONGRATS!! I kinda wanted to start calling and bugging my lawyer and everyone so they can look into my case but just gotta keep waiting it out ? But A BIG CONGRATS to everyone that recently got approved!! ?

Thanks.

It doesn't hurt to bug your attorney to remind them to look into it (as long as you are paying on a flat rate, that is). I am not sure they can do much until USCIS changes their internal dates, but at least they will have it on their radar if they don't already.

Call uscis at Monday, it has to be a mistake. and

and yay !! wow looks like yesterday Was a lucky day for so many of you guys!

that is great

Congrats angeldaemon13 Namaenai oghenekenyoro and DnKnT

Thanks!

Call uscis at Monday, it has to be a mistake. and

and yay !! wow looks like yesterday Was a lucky day for so many of you guys!

that is great

Congrats angeldaemon13 Namaenai oghenekenyoro and DnKnT

Thanks!

My husband filed our petition in august 2013. We received 2 RFEs since...still waiting for USCIS to receive the reply to second one. My husband is really bad with filing documents and absolutely hates paperwork...he was honest about that from the start.

From what I've read here we still have a very long road ahead and whats hard is still to come.

Would it be wise AND faster to just hire someone to take care of the paperwork PROPERLY? Someone who actually knows what they are doing?

Or is it just a waste of money?

I know a lot of people here have done things themselves, but I thought I'd add my perspective. I am an attorney (not immigration). Based on my own experience in other areas of law, I felt it was in my best interest to hire an attorney for our applications. We do have a few quirks that could create wrinkles for us (my spouse was adopted as an infant), but I wanted to turn things over to someone who knew the ins and outs of dealing with USCIS and the NVC. I have 3 other attorney friends who have gone through the process in recent years - 2 handled it themselves and the other used the same attorney as me.

We are still only about halfway through the process (just got our NOA2 yesterday), but I don't regret the decision to hire our attorney. Although I have been frustrated with her at times (and her fees were about 25% higher than some of the other attorneys I spoke to), she has been a good resource for explaining the process, etc. and for making sure we have all the documents we need and that they are the right documents. Yes, there is a lot of good information here, but I have also seen wrong information here or stuff that is just based on speculation, so you need to be sure you are comfortable enough wading through what is good advice and what is not. At times, I have been frustrated having an attorney, but that is the control freak in me and just the nature of the process.

Another option to consider is a non-attorney immigration adviser (those are very common here in LA). I think they operate in a grey area of the law, but they are cheaper than an attorney and the good ones seem to know the ins and outs of the law very well. (My friend's mother does that and some of her guidance was actually a little better than I got from my attorney, at least just from the "don't worry, here is how it will play out" perspective.)

If you have already gotten 2 RFEs (particularly for forgetting to include relevant documents), I would say find a reputable attorney or adviser to help you through it (but get referrals - there are a lot of scammers out there). In my own line of practice, I have seen many people have more frustration than they need because they thought they could handle things on their own without really understanding what they are getting themselves into. Immigration is certainly an area where you can do it on your own if you can wrap your head around the process, but sometimes it is worth the extra expense of using someone who is an expert

How long can I wait for approval at NSC my NOA1 is ApriL 2014?

We just found out today that our application was approved. our PD was Dec. 5. So it took just over 6 months. I'm not sure how they get the 5 month number they are stating publicly (well, I did read how they calculate it and it is based on a formula that uses processing/pending volume and applications received, rather than actually looking at the dates they are processing). So based on my experience and what I have read from others, I would suggest adding at least a month and a few days to whatever the USCIS claims is it's processing time. Then you will be pleasantly surprised if it gets processed more quickly rather than disappointed if it takes longer...

November filer here, still no approval although people with PDs after ours have been approved...don't know what's going on with NSC

Have you put in a service request yet? Their "official" processing date was Dec 3 as of last week, so you should be able to.

Approval......yay!!!!!!! PD 12/06/2013

Me too, for Dec 5 PD.

Congrats!

You are totally right, it is one month past processing time on their system. Yeah too lame!!! Just keep your hopes up. People are getting approved back and forth. Maybe we are next very soon :-)

Congratulations!!!! Just saw this... Such great news :-)

Thanks! I think my attorney is going to be sending one of those "I told you so" emails on Monday after the rant I went on last week.

I woke up this morning to a text message from USCIS saying my case had been updated. I waited a while to check, worried that it might be an RFE. Thankfully, we have been approved. Our PD is 12/5 (at Nebraska), and I see a bunch of 12/5 people got approved today... so maybe they aren't that far behind, after all?

You can go here for the e-request:

https://egov.uscis.gov/e-Request/Intro.do

I have tried it before my PD over the phone and online and the agent over the phone todl me it wasn't allowed to process the request and I should keep calling and the same result was online, it did not work. You can try it, but I think It is only allow after the 6 months period.

That was great that you saw your husband in February and I know what you mean about waiting for years ;-) Just hang in there, I am sure we'll get good news very soon!!! Yeah, stay positive and good luck!!!

It's actually not 6 months - it's approximately 1 month past the reported processing time (which would be 6 months). But, there's a catch (which is why I couldn't file a service request). Your PD has to be later than the official date they are working on, which I found out was slightly more than 6 months. When our attorney's office tried to file a service request on Thursday (June 5, which was 6 months after our 12/5 PD) they couldn't because the official date they were working on at NSC was 12/3. So even if they are working on a later date, which they seem to be, it's still limited by what their official date is.

Lame, isn't it?

My attorney's paralegal called NSC for us (our PD is 12/5). Contrary to their reported "5 months," they reported that the official date they are working on right now is 12/3 (I saw someone else post the same date several days ago). The paralegal tells me that this official date is only updated about once a month. So those of us who fall right after that date are pretty much screwed as far as putting in service requests until next month, per the information I received.

I've been lurking around here for a while and finally set up an account to pass along the info I received from my attorney today.

Her paralegal put in a call to Nebraska for us (our PD is 12/5). Apparently the official processing date at Nebraska is still 12/3. Per the information from him, he can't put in a service request until that official date changes to later than our PD and the dates are only updated at the beginning of the month.

If I put out the kind of statistics the USCIS did (claiming a 5 month processing time when clearly it is over 6 months), I'd be opening myself up to considerable legal liability. I don't understand how USCIS gets away with it.