souls canuck

Hi there

well, as most of you know we had to file an I 601.. we decided to use a lawyer because we wanted to make sure everything was looked over. we basically ended up doing it all ourselves anyway, and handed over about 400 bucks for him to add his own cover letter and give us a little advice.. peace of mind I guess, but still.. havent been happy with his service thus far. we did go thru all the steps up till then on our own and did just fine.

anyway, I have emailed lawyer and called, no replies.. not until yesterday when he sent me a cryptic email about his new york office having correspondence and to send credit info to get it..(he has a toronto office and thats why I picked him.. you never know you have a bad lawyer until its too late!)

how nice!!

so back and forth on email a few times, a couple more messages left.. all I ever get from him is how to pay him more money for doing next to nothing. wants 25 bucks just to fax me our rfe! I know it seems like nothing.. but he rubs me the wrong way..another 35 to send it courier.. on and on..

anyhow.. short of it is, just got off the phone with the INS office at Dorval, Montreal.. PQ.. the guy was super nice, and I am happy to say thus far I haven't really had that, so good timing anyway I said that we had a case pending, here's when we sent it in, that we received an rfe but were having trouble getting it.. well! he said people shouldnt use a lawyer for this, that they have zero training and are not certified in the least.. he was very sympathetic! anyway, he said its quite common.. so he put me on hold, went to find out something.. I guess the guy who is working on our case is at lunch.. that they generally dont call out, and that can I call back in 45? he will tell him about me.. very helpful and courteous, (which is what I have heard, but not had the pleasure of.. until now!) anyway.. take it with a grain of salt, but it seems to me people are happier going thru it alone.. then the correspondence comes to you, and you take care of it.. god knows how long that rfe was sitting in new york. of course not all lawyers are created equal and its hard to know if you have picked the best for your case..

just passing along as this debate goes back and forth quite a bit.. hopefully I will get another rfe sent to ME and we can get on with it already..

please send some good vibes

Poppy33usa

good vibes are on their way Im so sorry to hear that you have been unlucky with your lawyer, lets hope everything else goes really smoothly for you and you can say goodbye to him once and for all!
Poppy

Noorah101

Good Vibes!
Good Vibes!!
Good Vibes!!!

As one who has had attorney woes also, I sympathize with you. Hope you get what you need through your new contact!

Best Wishes,
Rene

DazzaInTheUK

Good vibes from the UK on their way

I waffled back and forth on the lawyer issue, but thanks to this board (among other resoures) my fiancee and I decided to go it alone.

We've only just received NOA1 so we have no idea what will happen yet, but we do feel good about the money we saved.

Sorry to hear you are being mucked around and I'm even more sorry that you got an RFE. Hopefully it will be something simple and you'll be back on track soon.

Chin up

Darren

GiveMeStrength

Souls,
I can't believe your lawyer is holding your RFE notice ransom!!! That's BS! You've already paid him plenty for just a little bit of work that he's done on your case. For him to ask you for your credit card to charge you $25.00 for a fax seems outrageous!

I'm hoping that you can get the info you need without having to go through him!

Good luck! I'm sending some positive energy your way!!

Noorah101

Hi souls,

I'm a bit confused. I thought you guys were just waiting for the waiver to be processed, no? What's the RFE for? Did you get an RFE on your I-601?

Rene

souls canuck

well, I just got the info from the lawyer in an email..

yes, we got an rfe on our 601.. isnt that rich? I guess at least we didnt get denied..

they want more info and more hardship..

((

Noorah101

OMG, I didn't even know there was such a thing as an RFE on an I-601. Wow. You guys are having a rough time of it. What are you planning to give them in response (besides some foul language LOL)?

Rene

GiveMeStrength

Souls,
Hang in there! We also got an RFE on our I-212...for more hardship and other things as well. Just gather as much proof as you can from yourself, your parents, your family, your employer, your friends...anything you can think of that may help prove your case. It does suck getting an RFE, but like you said, at least it wasn't a denial and they're giving you another opportunity to state your case...make the best of it!

souls canuck

thanks everyone for your well wishes..

I didnt know we would get an rfe either.. thats the second one, we got hit with our application as well.. its like anything that can go wrong has..

everything they asked for, as in the first time (proof we met! and trust me when I say they had absolute proof we met since we both had been grilled by immigration together prior to filing..)

they asked for more detailed court records (I had sent them my originals which had as much info that exists) as well, we had about 5 ways of hardship, letters from friends, letters from his parents..we both wrote up something.. not sure what else to include now.. more letters?

its been a real tough time lately, I have been a little wigged out (I chock this up to my being slightly psychic and knew this was coming..) and I know I am not alone on this as someone pointed out recently that just when you are about to hear something , you reach the breaking point.. blah blah blah.. anyway.. any suggestions are welcome as we thought we had it covered, again, but alas, more more more..

its all worth it in the end. I know that.. I love you soul sender

Matthew Udall

So, you basically did your I-601 work yourself and you received an RFE. Sounds like you might have tied your attorneys hands if you did the work and all he gave was a little advice. Did you basically go to him to review your work before submitting it? Did he charge an hourly rate?

Waiver work is not as simple as filling out a form, and to do the job correctly takes time, effort, creativity and attention to detail. I would think to do the job correctly (to demonstrate the equities of the client's case) would require quite a number of hours of working "with" the client. Good luck.

soulsender

Just a little back ground info:

the first time we got an rfe during the USCIS (then BCIS) Process asking specifically for proof of the time we met in europe in the form of passport stamps pictures and Flight tickets...all of which they already had. Some have speculated that it may have been lost but I wondered how they knew about the trip to europe but could not see the clearly marked and detailed evidence where this information came from. They wanted of course the time and date stamped photos again which they had. luckily we had 2 sets of everything and this time I scanned in the highest quality all our evidence again and sent it as a lazer printed document nearly 30 pages long. still have a copy of it. we were finally approved.

this time they are asking for the original court records which they have (i do have a high quality scan as well if they happen to "lose" our original) and specifically asked for hardship as separation alone does not meet the criteria...well let me say this that aside from separation which I never even mentioned in my evidence as part of the hardship, I gave them several examples with evidence to back it up. Sworn affidavits, copies of the deed to my ranch, etc...I looked at the list of factors that help them decide the case and found examples with evidence of each one and still they want more hardship.

before anyone gives thier opinions to our case this is just our info. I am putting it out there since theres more and more of us seeming to get I 601s lately it's only info for you. no advice is asked for (nosy lawyers and wanna be's) at this point.

as many love to point out "if you don't like the answers don't ask the question"...I ain't askin anything from anyone here. Just shareing info.

soulsender

thats why he charged us he looked it over and gave his seal of approval said it should be no problem.

Matthew Udall

There is a world of difference between the words "should" and "would". Did he "guarantee" that it would be approved, or that an RFE would not be forthcoming?

All he (and you for that matter) could come to would be an educated guess as to the strength of your evidence and arguments. It's up to the USCIS to pass judgment on your final submission. Limiting him to just "looking it over" was just that, a limitation on his services.

Most attorneys who are experts in waiver work (that I know of and whom I've heard speak on waiver work) talk about the processes they go through "with" their clients.. back and forth a few times, refining the submission to put the strongest case forward possible. Doesn't sound like you allowed your attorney to do that, and $400.00 for waiver work???? That's an extremely low fee (probably because he was brought in on a limited basis) knowing the time involved to do that work right.

And who knows, it might still turn out OK.

Good luck.

souls canuck

well, you have some good points. we hired him on at the last stage... we sent him what we had and he made some changes and suggestions.. we revised it, added to it, we did go back and forth quite a few times..but at the end of the day, he really provided us with one form letter with a few tidits about our case, and a cover letter stating he was representing us.. maybe thats good value for the money.. I know lawyers arent cheap.

we did our homework.. we didnt just slap together a couple of Im sorrys and send it off. hours were spent pouring over cases trying to come up with something.

he said, if your case is prepared properly it should succeed.

before we submitted I went over it again with him and he gave it the thumbs up.

noone can guarantee an approval on a 601 I dont think.. its just a guess really isnt it?

we basically included everything we could think of and typed it up very formally.

I am calling dorval again tomorrow to talk it over..

you seem pretty sure that we are losers on this.. I hope you're wrong. thanks anyway,