Okay, so lately it seems like I've been getting a lot of "clean up" work which I hate. More often than not, had the client done nothing or not hired a bad lawyer, the applicant's case would be far cheaper and easier for me to "fix."

So, here are my four simple rules for hiring an immigration attorney. If you do nothing else, please follow at least these rules.

•Run away from anyone who "guarantees" any kind of result

•If someone tells you they have a 100% success rate, make them put it in writing

•Hire an immigration lawyer who only practices immigration law

•Call their Bar Association and check to see if there is any record of misconduct or client complaints (CALL don't just check online)

This is great Susan, thanks! This should be a sticky!

Ian

I would respectfully add a 5th.

If at all possible, only go with attorneys that have been given a verbal recommendation from someone you know who has gone through the same / similar situation.

And I would like to reiterate how important the above points are if you don't wish to lose money.

I'm still waiting for a refund from an AILA registered attorney who has made written promises ans failed to deliver.

My Attorney was a recommendation in Miami.

Recommended him several times, as a former boss once said if he could get me in this country he could get anyone here.

As is often the case, I started writing a response to this query and found myself authoring another consumer article. So, I've posted this new article on both the Marriage and Regular U.S. Immigration forums. I'll leave it up to our moderators to modify as appropriate.

"THREE GOLDEN RULES FOR PRICING AN IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY"

It's still valuable advice, posted by someone who does contribute to the forums.

Perhaps de-personalising it would have been better, but good advice all the same for a question that does crop up quite a lot.

I'm with you, Bob - very useful, especially for immigration newbies.

Thanks for your feedback.

I must say I was surprised at the vitriol exhibited by FatBrit at my last posting (which was directly in response to questions posed to me by members of this forum).

Following his postings, I was contacted by a number of immigration attorneys who previously posted on British Expats and had similar experiences.

It's very disheartening for us to take valuable time from our day to post legitimate and useful information purely out of desire to help this community. So, disheartening, in fact that I will be now be joining that growing group of legitimate immigration attorneys who will no longer post on this forum.

Best wishes to everyone this New Year and I hope you reach all your immigration goals.