Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

Hoo-****ing-Ray

Sorry but any lawyer who tells you debts are unrecoverable after 6 years is a twat but what the **** do i know as i was only a lawyer for 6 years in the UK!

Your time wasting so piss off.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

OR...

"I finally figured out that I have no hope in hell of getting to America so I'll try and save face and blame everythnig on you guys."

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

First sensible thing you've said!

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

Yet again someone here proves my point. Somehow I think your confusing secured and unsecured debts, I have sitting in front of me now the official goverment guide to debt management available through any UK courthouse. It states quite clearly in the "Dealing With Debt" booklet that unsecured debts are not recoverable after six years of non-payment / disputed payment. (ie any payment dispute / non payment must be resolved within six years of the initial non-payment)
Along a similar note it also states that if a change in circumstances / reduction iof income can be proven then you can petition in court to have the debt limited to five years at an ammount you can afford (agreed between yourslef and the court) after which any remaining ammount owed is in effect written off.

So basically it ties in exactly with what my lawyer has advised me.

FYI - I actually now have a solid job offer in Florida and a move date in early Feb next year, although I must admit that is largely due to a few personal recommendations.

I realise your probably now going to pick at what i've just said, but to be honest I couldn't care less. I refuse to be drawn into this pathetic slanging match, this reply is solely for the information of anyone who might read this thread in future.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

No i am not confusing secured and unsecured debts at all.

You are(and your pseudo lawyer) are not quite correct. In the event that no recovery action had been taken after 6 years from the date of the breach of the contract(failure to pay/dispute began) then under Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 (1980 Chapter 58) a creditor would be barred from taking legal action under a simple contract. That is not the same as the debts being written off. What you will find is that for any substantial debts your creditor will attempt recovery before 6 years are up thus negating the time limitation and no matter whether you are around or not they could obtain a county court judgement and an order for recovery. That is not time limited and can wait until you return to the UK. There is a world of difference between not being legally recoverable without court order and 'written off'.

If you have payment problems you can petiton the court if action has been taken for recovery so at that stage your magic 6 year limit is gone. The procedure is called an Individual Voluntary Arrangement and is sanctioned under the Insolvency Act 1986 Part VIII. This is limted to a time limit of 5 years maximum but it involves various other requirements so its no easy option. Its really bankruptcy lite.

I dont really expect you to understand this as you and your lawyer(?) were stupid enough to begin repaying(accept liability) for debts that you did not contractually incur yourself. But for the benefit of other readers of the thread it makes sense to clarify that merely avoiding creditors for 6 years will not neccessarily remove any debt liability you may have.

Good luck with getting a visa for your job in Florida i suggest using the lawyer who advised you on your debts he/she cant seem to go wrong. ;)

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

Hmm, ok well at least that is fairly accurate this time. I admit I could have worded things a bit better.
However to quote the "Dealing with Debt" booklet (and also in effect my lawyer, who is incidently non-psuedo with over 25 years experience), with relation to CCJ's ...
"Whether or not a Judgment has been paid it will remain on your file for 6 years. After that time the records are deleted."
The debt is "frozen" for that period meaning that no interest or charges can be added whether or not any payment is made. So yes it may catch up with me/you at a later date but at least it will not have increased at all. And lets face it what seems a lot now will most likely not seem a lot in six years or so (going by inflation over the last few years anyhow!), especially when your earning $130K+ for a job that pays £30K (if your lucky) in the UK.

A "substantial" debt is considered (by the courts at least) to be anything over £5000 to a single creditor, in which case it would be impossible to take the IVA route anyway. Agreed this is not an easy option, but as it does not stay on your credit history permanently is a far better option than bankrupcy. In most cases, if you wish, you are able to obtain credit (such as credit cards, loans etc) within twelve months of the IVA being settled.
That said I recently found out that a close friends boyfriend was discharged from bankrupt only around 10 months ago and already has two credit cards and a mortgage!

I completely understand the information you gave, however it is ground i've already covered and in no way linked to the information I was looking for from this forum (ho-hum). With regards to the fact that I started re-paying (accepted liability for) these debts, I had no choice as the fraud was unprovable.. if I had held off any longer then the creditors would have taken further steps which would have been more costly. I made the decision to limit the damage to my credit history and the costs involved.
Quite frankly as you were apparently a Uk lawyer at some point you should unerstand this! (If you can't see what i'm getting at then YOU where/are a crap laywer!!)

My future employer (and there own lawyer/s) is dealing with this and is confident that they can push it through in time for me to start fairly quickly on a temporary visa until my residency is established (they have several other employees originating from the UK). They consider it worth the wait and so do I, seemingly there is a high demand for people with IT skills who have actual experience rather than just virtually meaningless pieces of paper saying they are qualified (eg MCSE, which anyone with half a brain can get within a week if they really want to!).

Anyhow, lot's to sort out and not much time so I'd better get on with things.. my only concern now is how I get my spanish girlfriend out to join me asap :)
At the moment it looks like she may only be able to spend 90 days at a time with me until I get PR status,, ah-well, nothings ever as simple as one may hope :D

It's all fair and well to try and put forward advice that suits some cases but I think people here need to concentrate on REAL LIFE rather than hear-say etc.

For anyone that is reading this looking for accurate advice, don't believe anything you read without confirming it from a real life pespective (eg an active UK lawyer). A large percentage of what you read on this forum is hear-say with no provable foundation.

Especially if you are an IT/Tech consultant with a good record of experience, Florida has an expanding IT/Tech sector (many sources say it's the next silicon valley) and for any UK (or basically english fluent) based people this is the perfect opportunity to earn more and gain more experience in a highly competetive occupation.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

Anyhow, lot's to sort out and not much time so I'd better get on with things.. my only concern now is how I get my spanish girlfriend out to join me asap :)
At the moment it looks like she may only be able to spend 90 days at a time with me until I get PR status,, ah-well, nothings ever as simple as one may hope :D

Ummm, I ththink you need to have a few more words with your lawyer, on both counts above.

I have no knowledge of the Florida IT Job market, I do know that in Colorado it sucks.

And that is for people with 10 to 30 years experiance.

I have heard there are plenty of jobs in India.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

And you need to get married BEFORE you ever move out there and she will not be allowed to work.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

You are on drugs or something.

Ok I dont know why I am bothering, but here goes anyway(in brief):

Wrong. The file is your credit report which is held by the major credit reference agencies e.g. Experian and Equifax. This report generally only goes back for 6 years. However if a judgment is unpaid for 6 years and a creditor later tried to enforce the judgment on your return to the jurisdiction they could do so. The new activity could then be recorded back onto your credit record at that point. If you want to get rid of the record you must discharge the debt in some fashion (i.e., repay, settle, insolvency, Bankruptcy).

The debt is most certainly not frozen. Once you breach the terms of your contract by failing to repay the agreed amount (minimum or balance) your creditor can charge fees and or interest as per your agreement. This would continue until such time as the creditor took enforcement action and the court could then freeze interest(although a court order has interest added on it as well). This is why they will not enforce immediately they will charge you interest and charges for as long as they can after which they will move to obtain a court order for payment. So assuming they have 6 years in which to begin proceedings under simple contract that allows for around 5 years of interest and charges. I would not assume that your debt will be smaller it will be sizably larger if you just try to ignore it.

What the **** are you blithering about? The IVA has no cap to it. The courts don’t assess the debts as substantial. An IVA can include any creditor for any amount so I have no clue where you get the idea that it doesn’t apply to debts over £5000 (your lawyer maybe). The main issue will be what court is the proper place to bring an action as the different courts have different limits. The issue is whether your creditor assumes it worthwhile to pursue you. For a few hundred their commitment will be lower for thousands they will try harder. Also note that most likely the debt will be sold to a collection agency usually for around 5% of the value of the debt. They will fight hard to recover as anything above 5 % represents a gain for them and it’s their business so they don’t let go easy.

Cant comment on the capacity of someone out of an IVA to get new debt. But I would expect it to be more like 6 years before it clears. Also don’t forget that if asked about bankruptcy or any agreement with your creditors you will have to declare it no matter how many years have passed. Also it is permanently recorded in the Department of Trade and Industry records. Though it is still better than bankruptcy.

It’s your choice but I think the advice was bad. It’s not your job to prove fraud its theirs to prove that you entered into the contracts. I would have advised that you notify the police to request an investigation of the fraud. Then refuse to accept liability, then let them issue against you under the contract, then argue the toss in court and produce whatever evidence that you could that you did not enter into the contract (obviously a criminal conviction against your other tenants would have been pretty good and admissible evidence). If they couldn’t prove the contract was entered into by you then you would have be entirely free of the debt. By beggining payments you have implicitly accepted liability and now you’re stuck with the debts. That’s bad advice by your lawyer, in my view. But I suppose it depends how much they are. If you had evidence that you did not enter into the agreement, for instance you were abroad (as you claimed earlier) at the time that the contract were entered into then how could they prove it was you? Seems like duff advice to me which doesnt make me a crap lawyer i just have a different opinion to yours. hey maybe they are a brilliant lawyer. ;)

Your debts have nothing to do with your visa by the way the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t give a toss who you owe money to and won’t ask. As long as you can support yourself they won’t care.

I have no clue how you think you will get PR status. You won’t get it through work and if you think you can get it through your dad no chance anytime in the next 10 years. Children over 18 are so far down the priority list you have more chance of winning the lottery than getting PR status inside the next 10 years. But you have already been told that and just filtered it out.

If you don’t like our advice why ask? I have offered my advice based not on hearsay but on my LL.B, my LL.M and my 6 years practice, up to last summer, as a UK lawyer(a Barrister not some pissant Solicitor), when I gave it up to move to the USA and I am now studying at Harvard University but what the **** would I know right? I am sure your lawyer went to some upstairs night class law school and knows what he/she is about that’s why his/her advice has left you, the victim of a fraud, paying off debts you didn’t actually incur. Excellent advice I am sure. :D

You have a rose tinted view of the USA and I severely doubt that you will get any kind of visa anytime soon. I have no doubt that you will pay money to your lawyer or some agency who promise you a great USA visa in just a few months but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

If you don’t like the advice given here don’t ask next time. But when someone bothers to offer you advice which is correct you could at least be courteous enough to appreciate it rather than challenge every ****ing line and question their professional competence. :mad:

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

Never heard of a temporary visa...
Well! I have lived in florida for many years..my wife has always lived here..
According to our newspaper the IT sector is shrinking at an incredible rate ..

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

After reading this part,
remember this

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

A large percentage of what you read on this board are people who have been there and bought the T-shirt.

you and your lawyer, don't know you are talking about with regards US immigration policy.
temporary visa's until residency is established? wtf is that then?

Your father is not a citizen, just a permanent resident, unless he's a citizen then your wait time for his sponsorship is horrifically long.

so ****ing what?

I have a long penis.


If your step mum is so clever in these matters, I am surprised she didn't tell your Dad that his proposal is garbage.

We are people experieced with this.
We're here aren't we?

Based on what? If you've got a H1b visa then there is no need for a EAD.

What residencey application?

If your Dad is sponsoring you then yes, you'll end up with an EAD but in about 2014 unless he becomes a citizen first and then you're looking at 2008 earliest.

I think you're full of crap.

Your future employer is talking kack.

There is no temporary visa. unless you are a migrant worker picking cherries.


I live in real life.
and in the real world there is no sponsorship temporary H1B visa's until residency is established. The h1B is a non immigrant intent visa and needs to be renewed after 5 years. There is a chance that it could possibly lead to a Green Card. But talk to Honeymommy about how ****ed up her dreams are right now, That's real life right there.

In the real life mate, a Permanent Resident cannot sponsor a relative without waiting for approx 10 years.


You are full of shit.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

That is an outright lie...according to your wife..

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

trouble is, you're right.

Re: Immigration quandry.. please help!!
 

mighty fine cigar though, if I may say so ....