colombia8t

I-129F petition mailed today - finally. Problem with lawyer solved and using visajourney.com for all future advice.

I followed up with my fiancee and we decided to proceed without a lawyer. I received the K1 supporting docs back from the lawyer on March 1 and a full refund today March 8. We will proceed using advice from the visajourney.com site.

Update - last night I talked with another one of Alex's clients who was also having similar problems contacting Alex. But she said that Alex had been her attorney for a year and she said he was a good lawyer and this was the first time this had happened to her. She has also been trying to get in touch with Alex and was surprised that she was having problems contacting him as he had been her attorney for a while. She thought something had happened to Alex and had called called the police in his town.

But then today I finally received a call from the lawyer. Alex apologized and said that his wife had a baby which is why he has been unavailable. He offered a discount or to refund my money and return my docs. I will talk with my fiancee to decide if we still want to use a lawyer.

Update - still no contact from the lawyer after 16 days, thus I have started taking action.

1. I sent two certified letters - one to his PO box and one to the address he has on record with the State of Pennsylvania telling him he is fired and requesting that he return my K1 petition supporting docs and my retainer.

2. I contacted the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to find out how to file a complaint against an out-of-state attorney (Alex lives in GA but is registered in PA). The complaint goes in the mail tomorrow.

3. I contacted my credit card company for help with a charge-back.

4. And I have started regathering all the K1 petition supporting documents.

Unbelievable that this lawyer took my money, then he spent maybe an hour to cut and paste from the info I sent him electronically to create drafts of the I-129F and G325As, and after I sent a big package to him of K1 supporting docs he disappeared off the face of the earth. What a mess. I am not happy and my fiancee is not happy.

But thankfully I found the VJ site and no longer need a lawyer.

I thought that maybe he was on vacation or got sick with the flu, but more than two weeks is too long to disappear completely and not inform clients.

Even if he's on vacation, with a laptop email could be exchanged and voice mail checked, or a message posted to his web site. There is no excuse. I paid a lot of money for immigration legal services and I expected this to help and not completely put a halt to things. After reviewing the visajourney website, I now am confident that I don't need a lawyer. But I hope I get my K1 supporting documents back from the lawyer. I don't want to have to pay for another notarized birth certificate and birth certificate translation and passport photos for my fiancee and then the fedex charge to reliably send these to me.

Luckily I realized I paid the immigration lawyer with a credit card. Credit card companies don't like vendors who are unresponsive to their card-holders and this should make a charge-back for this easy. I have tried to contact this immigration lawyer for more than two weeks via emails, phone calls, and now certified letter. I have terminated his services and I want my K1 Petition supporting documents back and a partial refund for non-delivered services.

I am completely frustrated that I hired a lawyer who promises the following on his web site: "IT WILL REDUCE YOUR PAIN, STRESS, AND UNCERTAINTY" and "IT CAN SPEED UP THE K1/K3 PROCESS...". And then does not answer emails or phone calls for more than two weeks and has effectively disappeared. Since the lawyer has my K1 Petition supporting docs and does not reply to my emails or phone calls, it looks like I will have to collect a completely new set of documents from my fiancee in Colombia.

I am totally frustrated and I now realize it was a complete mistake to use a lawyer when the resources found on this visajourney.com site are available.

If the petition is still at the USCIS, make sure the letter is sent via certified mail and is addressed to "Withdrawals" at the Service Center where the K1 petition was filed at. I went through a nightmare with the California Service Center (CSC), I sent a withdrawal request via certified mail that was received by the CSC on 4/20/07 as I discovered my ex-fiancee was seeing another man. But the CSC approved on 5/9, 19 days after they received my withdrawal letter. Then my nightmare for the next 7 months started. The NVC sent me a letter saying they were going to send the case to the embassy in Bogotá, but after much persistence and countless emails and faxes the NVC returned the case to the CSC. But after more letters to the CSC, still no action. I contacted the Department of Homeland Security CIS Ombudsman and still no action from the CSC. And I contacted my state Senators for assistance. And in November I sent my 3rd withdrawal request to the CSC via certified mail and they finally acted on this on 12/10/07 and finally officially withdrew my K1 petition.

If the case is at the USCIS - send a letter to the USCIS service center - attention Withdrawals

If the case is at the NVC - send emails and faxes - and be persistent - this worked for me stopping it here

If the case is at the embassy/consulate - contact them

Thanks for the advice... With the information on this site, I think an immigration lawyer is not needed.

The lawyer (Alex Halow) I am having problems with is licensed in Pennsylvania:

http://www.padisciplinaryboard.org/pa_atto...2&pdcount=0

but he lives in Athens, GA and practices immigration law across the USA. If he doesn't return my docs and provide a partial refund for services then I will file a complaint with his State Bar.

I sent a certified letter today requesting he return my documents and I also requested a partial refund of my retainer. But I have also contacted my fiancee and if we don't hear back from the lawyer in the next couple days my fiancee will get another birth certificate and birth certificate translation and photos and other docs and Fedex them to me.

What a pain...

After finding this site, I think lawyers are not needed even in more complicated cases like mine with an IMBRA waiver needed.

Since I need an IMBRA waiver for my K1 petition I thought I needed an immigration lawyer. Thus I did some research and talked to several and hired Alex Halow (www.k1fianceevisas.com). I also checked with the State Bar where Alex is licensed to see if he had any complaints.

My initial interactions with Alex went well with rapid turnaround on draft I-129F and G-325A's. But I sent a large package of documents to Alex more than 2 weeks ago and all communications from Alex have stopped. He doesn't answer email messages and he doesn't answer my phone calls.

Thus I have decided to proceed without a lawyer using advice from this forum.

However, I need to get my file of supporting docs and photos back from Alex and he doesn't reply to email messages or phone calls. I am totally frustrated as this will put additional delay on an already lengthy K1 visa process.

Does anyone have advice about what I can do? What legal recourse do I have?

Thanks in advance