superjim

*Avoid at all costs*- Their incompetence is matched only by their dishonesty.

Please, if you are reading this, avoid this company at all costs, use freely available resources like VisaJourney and seek advice from genuine people who have gone through the visa process themselves. Do not use the services of "Rapid" visa- it could waste months of your life and cost you thousands for absolutely nothing.

We made the mistake of paying rapidvisa to assist us with my visa application to the USA. I am a UK citizen and my wife is a US citizen. During the application process a number of items in the forms required entry of our current US address (Which I didn't have as we lived in the UK)- when I asked the staff at RapidVisa (Their staff seems to be mainly e-chat operators based in the Phillipines who often struggled to appreciate what I was asking), I was told that I had to put a US address in even though I didn't have one. This seemed strange but they told me it was required. When I asked them (and this is important) about whether or not the application should be filed as DCF (Direct Consular Filing to the embassy in London), I was told, quite firmly, no - that their method was the correct way and DCF was not appropriate for us. We had paid at this point so I had no choice but to take their word for it.

When I read on VisaJourney (An extremely valuable resource that I wish I had found before giving a penny to these charlatans), that many UK citizens were getting their US visas within a matter of 3-4 months (as opposed to the estimated 11-14 months through rapidvisa) I contacted the US embassy in London to ask whether I should have filed through DCF- they told me that I absolutely should have filed through DCF and that rapidvisa had incorrectly advised me. They advised that I re-submit my application myself via DCF which I did.

Long story short, I am writing this review from the USA, in possession of my green card and having been working and living here for 3 months now. Today I got an email saying my petition that rapidvisa had filed had finally been approved- so if I had taken them at their word I would still be in the UK, living separately from my wife for months (even up to a year longer than necessary). I'm sure someone from Rapidvisa will be along shortly to tell me that I'm still wrong! 

Initially, when I realised that RapidVisa had filed my application incorrectly (or at least, in a manner likely to extend the process by many many months), I was happy to accept it was just an error on their behalf and would have accepted a refund or partial refund of my fees and would have called it a day. However I was met with denials, outright lies, and bizarre accusations about accusing the US government of lying. 

I paid RapidVisa nearly $2000 and received absolutely nothing in return except more costs when I had to do myself what I'd paid them to do. I was fortunate that I realized we'd made a mistake not too long into the process, others might lose months waiting unnecessarily. I was also fortunate that we were able to pay for a second, correctly filed application, which isnt cheap, others might not have that luxury. 

Once again, seriously, do not use this company- do your research and ask people who've done it and they will guide you far better.

Hi all,

I'm hoping this is a silly question (and may well have been answered on the forums elsewhere so apologies but I'm panicking!).

On the UK Embassy website it states that "Applicants whose case was processed by NVC will be required to bring your appointment letter. Both locally filed and NVC cases must bring their courier confirmation page"  However on the AIS website it states that "You must print this instruction page and bring it with you to your consular interview, along with the letter or email you received from the Consular Section."

Which letter or email from the consular section are they referring to?!  I only got the letter with instructions on where to book medical and schedule the appointment, I didnt get a letter confirming my appointment (just the email from AIS).

I dont want to arrive at the desk with something missing that gets me turned away (especially as Im travelling from Edinburgh just for the interview!

To clarify-  I have the email from the AIS that has appointment details and courier info but it reads like I need something from the embassy with my appointment info? Or is that just NVC cases and not locally filed cases?

PS interview is on Friday...

So, in case anyone following this thread is interested- we had our petition approved within 5 weeks of filing in London (still not a peep from Texas and RapidVisa arent willing to accept any responsibility).

I've posted a couple of questions on the DCF board here: 

 if anyone feels like giving us some more of your help (which was really appreciated on this thread, then we'd be really grateful!

Thanks everyone!

So,  my wife (a US citizen) and I are hoping to move to the US at some point this summer.  (Some of you might have seen my earlier post http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/654690-should-we-have-filed-with-dcf/ )

We submitted our I-130 in London via DCF in late November and it was approved early January.

I have now completed and submitted (online) my DS 260.

I have a record of my vaccinations.

I am awaiting my police report (should be within 10 days).
I have all the required documentation.

I have two main questions-

1) Am I correct in thinking that as soon as I receive my Police report that I can schedule my medical?  and that as long as I leave 5 days after my medical, I can book my interview at the same time?

2) I have vaccination records for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Tuberculosis (BCG) and Meningitis.  I DO NOT have a record of influenza vaccines or Hepatitis B.  Will the doctor at the medical exam administer these or am I required to get them BEFORE the medical? If he administers them, is there an additional cost (on top of the £300).

Any help would be massively appreciated!  Feels like its actually getting real now!!!

Thanks!

13 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Screw up happen, how they are dealt with is what counts.

 

I think they are based in the Philippines so not sure you will have much joy.

Their office is in Las Vegas and its where they send the petitions out from.

Their online chat operatives, I believe, are based remotely in the Philippines (it was those guys that, in my opinion, gave us the bad advice however they are employed by RapidVisa).

Oh, and we also have refiled the petition via DCF in London.  Posted it today!  Will update as we go.

Secondly, I'm compiling a list of all the places where RapidVisa has reviews.  I want to ensure that as many people are aware of their practices as possible (regardless of whether you think we are in the wrong or not, their response to our genuine concerns was appalling).   I know they are on Yelp, google reviews, facebook,  anywhere else worth posting a review on?

5 minutes ago, acidrain said:

I am so sorry you have to go through this ordeal. Their explanation that DCF is completed in the same time frame as a Visa abroad is absurd. DCF in London takes 4-6 months while a Visa abroad is 12-14 months. That's 1/2 to 1/3 total processing time depending on how your application unfolds.

 

I would encourage you if you had paid Rapid Visa with your credit card to open a dispute claim with your credit card company to recover your fee. You have a very strong case in that they did not provide the service they promised they would do. In fact they gave you bad advice and will cost more time and effort.

Just now, Hypnos said:

If you paid RapidVisa using a credit card, attempt to do a chargeback.

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

If you paid by Credit Card time to file a dispute.

I paid with a debit card.  $1165 and I'll see precisely nothing for that money...

A hard lesson learned.  

1 minute ago, NikLR said:

And i would not worry about the cancelling.  If asked at interview  (which I doubt) the answer is quite obvious.  We used rapidvisa and they were morons.  

Yeah,  the fact that the London field office told me to go ahead and cancel leads me to think it wont be seen as too big a deal.  And, as you say, we have a pretty good explanation.  

The "Guarantee" only covers you if you get denied.  We paid for the full premium review service so I really hope they are reasonable and can see that they should refund us.  I'm not hopeful though, their initial blank denial of any blame makes me think they just want to keep our money and give us the finger.  

I'll await the outcome before going nuclear on review sites/their facebook page/their twitter feed/visa journey...  

1 hour ago, Jorge Valdivia said:

When I was first starting our process I got pricing quotes from several law firms around Dallas. I based my choices around Google reviews, which also means that I was talking to some of the priciest options.

 

When talking to these lawyers I would make sure to tell them our situation, including that we lived in Mexico, and always asked for the shortest possible process. I was quoted $4,500+ by three firms and none of them mentioned DCF. I was almost ready to bite the bullet until I found VJ's DCF forum and decided to just do it myself. I know this doesn't help you but I did want to share my experience. It was frustrating to realize that someone who should know more than I do was willing to charge me money for incorrect or incomplete advice.

Hi Jorge,

That makes me feel a little bit less of an idiot.  I felt really stupid when I realised I'd paid this company to basically cause us lots of unnecessary grief and extend the visa process unnecessarily.

UPDATE:  RapidVisa responded to my email.  Very predictable "Nothing to do with us, we're not lawyers and cant offer legal advice".  They also tried to tell me that there would be no difference in processing time between keeping the petition going in Texas and switching to Direct Consular Filing.  They were not aware that I had spoken to the London USCIS office who had confirmed everything.

I have responded with a pretty strongly worded email outlining exactly why their claims are nonsense (if they cant offer advice then why did they tell us to change the postal address from the UK to the US? etc).  I have also told them their claim about processing times was bordering on an outright lie given widely available processing time information (and information provided to me by the London USCIS office).   I will let you know what they come back with (not holding my breath, seems like they are a bunch of cowboys and just want that fee). 

Thank you everyone for your advice, its nice to hear from people who understand what we are talking about (its like reading hieroglyphics trying to decipher the US government forms, UK isnt much better though!).

An update:  I emailed the USCIS office in London late last night and they responded first thing this morning (really impressed).  They advised me that YES, we SHOULD have filed the petition with them.  Secondly, they advised that we CAN file our petition with them before cancelling the one in Texas,  they actually recommended this as it can take a while for the cancellation to be processed.

They also, very helpfully, sent across the processing times and some helpful checklists with the actual forms we need to submit.

So, we are now in the position of having to re-file.  Pulling together the  stuff tonight and tomorrow to post out tomorrow.  Will write to Texas to cancel the current petition.

I also emailed a complaint to RapidVisa.  I explained that their staff had been made aware (on several occasions) that we both resided in the UK, and that I had asked the specific question about direct consular filing and had not been giving the correct advice or option to file directly.  I await their response.  Hoping to get at least the fee we paid them for their services back, if not the filing fee itself.  Will need to look at courses of action if they chose to be difficult.

Further note: There is a little bit about cancelling and refiling petitions on the US gov website, it infers that cancelling and re-filing could be seen as (but is not evidence of) something untoward.  I asked the question to the London office but they didnt answer that (I guess they perhaps cant offer advice on the likelihood of petitions succeeding).   Should we file the petition in London and maybe wait a while before we cancel the Texas one? Its hard to know what will show as worse, two petitions or a cancelled petition...

Just now, JFH said:

Their situation is different, though. You and I would have done anything to speed up the process as we were/are thousands of miles apart from our spouses. DCF cases are where the couple is (usually) already living together in another country. So they are not dealing with the separation and don't have that feeling of wanting to be together that we had/have. For many DCF cases, the rush is often due to work or the USC's visa being about to expire. In some cases there is no rush at all as they have already achieved the aim that we wait a long time for - to be together. 

 

So, if DCF had applied to us I would have made use of it but not because the wait would have been painful without it. That said, had DCF been applicable to us we wouldn't even be going through the process as our first choice was, and still is, to live in the U.K. 😀

Sadly, for us, the wait may well mean time apart for us!  My wife has been accepted onto a post grad university program that starts in a few months.  Anything over 6 months and we will be seperated.  So DCF would really help us in this situation.

Ok,  so this confirms what we feared.

We used rapidvisa as we thought it was a better way to ensure whatever we filed was done correctly.  We had done all the filing for Kiara's visa when she moved from the US to the UK ourselves and we didnt fancy doing it again (we got a couple of RFE's and the delays were killer).

I asked rapidvisa directly if we should be filing via DCF and they fobbed us off with bad advice.  I have raised an official complaint with them (spoke to a member of their team online who literally said "Not sure what you want me to do about it"!!!!).

It seems we were/are eligible for DCF.  I am going to email the USCIS office in London to ask for advice (anyone got experience getting info from them?).

It feels as though we are early enough in the process for it to be worthwhile cancelling the application and re-applying in London.  I would hope that we can get some, if not all, of the fee we paid Rapidvisa back, that might cover having to re-pay the I-130 fee.  Even if we dont, I think the $535 fee is worth potentially shaving 6 months off the process time.

Are there any reasons why we WOULDN'T be eligible for DCF?  (Wife is USC, living here on "Leave to Remain" with a permanent resident permit card, we were married in June 2016).

Really appreciate the advice guys (even if its not what I wanted to hear!!!!

2 minutes ago, JFH said:

Oh goodness what a mess Rapidvisa have caused! 

 

You absoluteky could have done fine the DCF route through London - it is there for couples in exactly your situation. Now you are facing a total processing time of around 12-14 months and it would be less than half that through DCF in London. 

 

I don't know if you have a case to get a refund from Rapidvisa on the basis of inaccurate advice. But I would certainly look into that and file with London instead.

 

Any reason you used Rapidvisa? I think the only time they are useful is for cases where neither the petitioner nor the beneficiary speaks sufficient English to understand the forms and needs someone to give the forms a once-over just to be sure. Kind of like the passport check and send service at the post office in the U.K. Totally unnecessary and doesn't make the process any quicker or increase the chances of success. 

Oh gosh.  Thats not what I was hoping to hear.

They literally told us to change her mailing address so they KNEW she was living here with me.

Has anyone ever cancelled an i-130 and re-filed it?  Is it possible?

We only got our NOA1 about a 6 weeks ago, is it worth cancelling and starting again?

So we recently submitted our cr1 and i-130 applications using the rapid visa service.  My wife, US citizen, who is sponsoring me, resides in the UK with me on a permanent basis (Leave to remain).

We submitted the forms and we received the NOA1 from the Texas Service Center.  Looking at the horrific times the TSC is taking to process i-130's I noticed that some Cr1s had been processed very quickly using DCF through London-  Should we have filed this way?!  We basically went along with what we were told by rapidvisa.  They advised that using my wifes family home address in the states would be better (effectively told us that we couldnt really file unless she used that address).  Have we gone down the wrong path?!

A little worried and will be a bit pee'd off if we could have done it quicker and simpler via DCF in London.

Advice appreciated...!