doesntmatter

31 minutes ago, Mimiso said:

Wow, such incompetence. If I were in her shoes, I would make that drive if possible and pick it up and mail it myself. It’s kind of cutting it close and iffy based on the lawyer’s history, isn’t it? 

If it was me, I would, but she's pretty hardheaded about letting the lawyer do his job unbothered. I had to really press her to make the calls, among other things that I won't get too deep in detail about. I knew we were in for a world of waiting when we had a March 29 NOA1 despite her mailing him the documents in mid-February, but I had no idea it'd get this bad.

On 7/16/2019 at 5:07 PM, doesntmatter said:

 

I'm in the same boat with lawyer issues. Long story short, our reply to their request that I thought would have been sent over two weeks ago STILL hasn't been sent. My fiancee finally got everything sorted out the way the lawyer wanted last Wednesday. I begged for her to mail the package to USCIS herself because I don't trust him anymore, but she mailed it to him "for him to make sure everything's right"... Her package tracking says it arrived the next day (Thursday) and, as of now, we've gotten NO RESPONSE. Not even saying he received it... he probably hasn't even touched the package yet.

 

I wish I could somehow tell everyone who's yet to start their K-1 process to stay far far away from lawyers. They don't give a **** about you and will only cause unnecessary delays. Best of luck to you.

Update: He FINALLY got back to her a few minutes ago, by e-mail, after not picking up any calls yesterday or today. Since our notice gave a 30 day limit to respond, they expect to receive it July 26 at the latest. He said he'll mail it next Monday (July 22), 11 days after he received it. Haha... **** my life, man. I am absolutely livid that we're gonna have to worry whether it makes it there on time it or not because of someone who's supposed to be paid to help with the process.

I want to tell her to make the 3 hour drive all the way to his office and take the package from him and mail it herself, but I doubt that's a real possibility...

1 minute ago, Elif_and_Greg said:

Ah, that sucks man. Sorry you had a bad experience. This particular lawyer who is working for me, she previously worked pro bono for me and did a pretty good job. The second time around, however, she charged me the full fee, but this was fine at the time. I just didn't want to risk messing up our application and I didn't know of sites like VisaJourney at the time. But yeah, yesterday I was done with the polite emails and waiting for responses. I just got on the phone with people and started demanding either it was done today or at least a deadline with which it would be done by. They ended up mailing it the same day I called them. It was good, but also bad cause I knew that it could've easily been sent off last week and they were just getting around to it when they felt like it.

 

Call your lawyer. Don't let them think you're just some passive client who is grateful for the services which you are paying a lot of money for. I just learned this lesson the hard way. 

She called him yesterday and also today, no one picked up. She left a voicemail this time.

He also did a good job with a previous case of hers (wasn't pro bono though) so she thought it'd be ok. We're either both unlucky or lawyers aren't suited for this part of the process... Regardless, I do see why people don't recommend lawyers for the K-1. 😕

On 7/15/2019 at 11:12 AM, Elif_and_Greg said:

Thanks for asking, man. Unfortunately, my lawyer has really been dragging her feet getting our RFE prepared. I'm really mad about it actually. The last thing she was waiting on was an official translation of a piece of our evidence since it was in Turkish. This made sense to me, but it was also supposed to be the last thing they were waiting on and everything else was supposed to be ready. So last Thursday they got the translation finally and I thought, "Okay, they should have it ready to send off by the end of the day or at least by the end of Friday."

 

Still they haven't sent it off. So I got my RFE two weeks ago, and now it's still with the lawyer and I'm pretty mad about it. I feel sick about it actually. 

 

I've read a lot of people here saying don't even bother with lawyers and I can definitely see why now. 

 

The evidence that was translated was of a hotel receipt during my stay in my fiance's hometown in Turkey. I thought that was some of our best evidence besides my entry visas to Turkey. So waiting for that to be translated was something I was okay to wait for. This morning, the paralegal who usually emails me, said my lawyer is still "reviewing and researching to make sure that the RFE fully responds to USCIS's request" before it is sent in. 

 

I feel like I've really let my fiance down by going through a lawyer to do this. I guess I was so afraid of making mistakes when I did our application that if I didn't get a lawyer to have it done right, and I messed something up, I also would've let my fiance down. So yeah I'm feeling pretty low today. I'm about to call the lawyer's office too because before I've just been politely emailing them. 

I'm in the same boat with lawyer issues. Long story short, our reply to their request that I thought would have been sent over two weeks ago STILL hasn't been sent. My fiancee finally got everything sorted out the way the lawyer wanted last Wednesday. I begged for her to mail the package to USCIS herself because I don't trust him anymore, but she mailed it to him "for him to make sure everything's right"... Her package tracking says it arrived the next day (Thursday) and, as of now, we've gotten NO RESPONSE. Not even saying he received it... he probably hasn't even touched the package yet.

I wish I could somehow tell everyone who's yet to start their K-1 process to stay far far away from lawyers. They don't give a **** about you and will only cause unnecessary delays. Best of luck to you.

2 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

This is what you received https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-1067/0-0-0-1318.html

 

I advise you to personally handle this and gather the requested documents, create a cover letter with a checklist in the body in the exact order that the documents will sit behind the letter. You make a copy of everything you send back. You send it through a tracking currier like FedEx, DHL, USPS etc. 

 

You will receive and email notification in the app when the USCIS received your response to the RFE. 

 

"On January 19, 2016, we received your response to our Request for Evidence for your Form I129F, PETITION FOR FIANCE(E), Receipt Number xxxxx. Our California Service Center office will begin working on your case again. We will mail you a decision or notify you if we need something from you."

 

It's up to you if you want to pursue this with your lawyer but what's done is done. JMHO

I think you misunderstand.

1. I do know what a RFE is, thanks. This might be similar to one but it isn't the exact same.

2. We do intend to follow the procedures of mailing back a package with all the documents they requested ASAP. We're not pursuing legal action or anything like that.

I have no issue with USCIS for what happened. My grievance is that she paid a lawyer to make sure "everything was done properly" when it was, in fact, not done properly. So if it really was his fault, that's really upsetting.

5 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

"The letter just lists what we need to send" which is an RFE. Was your reply to the RFE sent with tracking? Do you have verification that the package was received by USCIS? Did the lawyer provide you with what was sent?

 

Someone dropped the ball here and I have limited knowledge of what was or wasn't sent and when so I can't opine further. There is a lot that needed to be met with only 30 days in which to reply.

 

 

We did not have an RFE to reply to, like I said, this is the first notice we received after the NOA1. We haven't sent them anything yet past the original I-129F.

Yes, they are requesting many documents, but like I said it's all things we already have prepared because we did submit them to the lawyer when we first filed the I-129F, so it shouldn't be a big hassle. The question is whether the failure to include them in the I-129F package that USCIS received was by the lawyer's part or something/someone after that.

2 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

This document MAY change things but without the remainder of the entire letter it's hard to factually respond to this.

 

Let me ask, you did get an RFE asking for additional documents, you responded with those documents and you received this letter stating "it is the intent of USCIS to deny Form I-129f" which is vague to begin with but I digress. Correct.

 

And, who sent the information from the RFE if indeed their was an RFE?

There was no RFE. This was the first response after NOA1 we got.

The letter just lists what we need to send - Passport photos, proof of divorce, proof of my intent to marry (they didn't ask for hers, strangely), proof of her US citizenship, and proof of meeting within 2 years. And that they'll deny our petition if we don't receive it in 30 days.

The thing is, we did prepare all of this. They *could* have judged our proof of meeting as not enough (we sent photos of us together and with her family, and my passport stamps), but the rest I have no explanation for. I'm thinking everything was somehow lost in transit, or it was never sent. And if it was never sent, either because the lawyer didn't double check what my fiancee sent him or just didn't include the stuff at all, it feels inexcusable to me either way.

4 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

This is NOT a NOID. I repeat this is not a NOID. This is a RFE (request for additional evidence). Easily satisfied and may put you back 2 to 3 weeks.  This is not something to be MAD at your lawyer.  You follow the request from the letter and your onto the next step. Simple.!!

 

Oy vey!

This is what we got. They're requesting things we were otherwise 100% sure we prepared (like passport photos and her divorce decree, for example)

We get it's easy to fix but it feels to me it shouldn't have happened at all.

On 6/27/2019 at 4:42 PM, doesntmatter said:

 

Looks like we'll be getting a NOID. 😕

 

I have no idea what we did so wrong. We did add everything on the list; photos of us together, passport stamps, her divorce decree, letter of intent, passport size photos, and so on... All we can do now is wait for the mail, I guess. So frustrating.

My fiancee got the mail today, it was a NOID after all...... But it was for the same things we thought we had sent. We had an immigration attorney help us with the process and send the package for us so if anything went wrong before the mailing, it's probably his fault. We emailed him and are waiting for a response, will also call him tomorrow. If it really is his fault, I'm going to be so ###### pissed.

On the bright side, we do have a chance to fix everything easily since we already have everything on hand, so she'll probably mail the package tomorrow.

19 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

This is NOT a NOID. This is an RFE, request for additional evidence. The two are completely different. 

 

The USCIS has issued a Ruling, effective April 17, 2007, that gives adjudicators flexibility in determining the length of time a petitioner or applicant has to respond to a Request for Evidence (RFE) or a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). Currently, the standard deadline for response to an RFE is twelve weeks (84 days). NOIDs must be responded to within thirty days. Under this regulation, the USCIS will determine how much time should be permitted in any given case, with maximum possible time being what is now the standard response deadline. That is, adjudicators will set deadlines for both RFEs and NOIDs that could be up to twelve weeks in case of RFEs or up to thirty days for NOIDs. No extensions of time are permitted.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Outreach/Feedback%20Opportunities/Interim%20Guidance%20for%20Comment/change-timeframes-rfe.pdf

 

Processing of your Form I-129F. will resume upon receipt of your response.  If you have not heard from USCIS within 60 days of responding, you may contact the USCIS Contact Center (UCC) at 1-800-375-5283.

 

It is almost impossible to determine USCIS workload and when the adjudicator can get back to your file, since the adjudicator likely just picked up another file and started working on it after sending out your RFE and putting yours back in the stack. It may be safe to assume that you may hear something in 2 to 4 weeks, maybe sooner(?). It is safe to say that at this time, USCIS is seriously buried in paperwork and short on workers, just look at the protracted processing times for everything....

 

Good luck on your immigration journey.

 

 

Thanks for your support, that is comforting to read. My own googling has showed me this kind of message usually leads to a NOID, is that what changed in 2017? I have never seen anyone (especially in this thread) get this message so I was worried. I am not worried about processing times, thankfully us 2019 filers are having great luck with the 80-90 day responses to our case.

Patiently awaiting my fiancee to receive the mail (next week I imagine) so we can figure out what they want.

Looks like we'll be getting a NOID. 😕

I have no idea what we did so wrong. We did add everything on the list; photos of us together, passport stamps, her divorce decree, letter of intent, passport size photos, and so on... All we can do now is wait for the mail, I guess. So frustrating.