Fiance Visa / Attorneys

[william_wallace 8]

We hired a lawyer too at Reeves and Associates (www.rreeves.com) charged us $3500 for k-1 and k-2 visa.

Sh*t thats alot of dosh. Hope there worth it at that price.

[Chin2003 0]

We hired a lawyer too at Reeves and Associates (www.rreeves.com) charged us $3500 for k-1 and k-2 visa.

Sh*t thats alot of dosh. Hope there worth it at that price.

yeah, it is a lot of money. my fiance is currently working in iraq and he has no idea how to apply for a visa thus hiring a lawyer. now we regret doing it so we learned from our mistake. :bonk:

[Knoll 1]

Hi,

It is a shame many seem to have had a bad experience with an attorney. However, they are not all bad and in fact can be invaluable. An ethical and decent attorney can be worth it. There is no need for so much cynicism.

I hired Holmes & Lolly and my experience was good. My caseworker was friendly and helpful. She replied to my e-mails and took my phone calls. They “hand-held” us through the entire process, made it stress free and easy. So, because CasandraApple had a bad experience does not mean it is a “bad” idea to hire Holmes & Lolly. I hired them in November 2007 and now I will have our K-1 interview this month May 2008 in Ukraine.

The advantage of using a good attorney is they will take the information they need from you and fill out the forms “CORRECTLY” without mistakes (and submit everything in the right order). Do you want to take a chance doing it yourself and miss one item or incorrectly enter something and get it “kicked” out only to be delayed, or who knows, maybe worse? The attorney will submit “ONLY” the important data government entities need to see.

If you have the money to hire an ethical and decent attorney, this is the way to go. Especially if you are busy and don’t have the time to study the process and complete forms, gather paperwork, etc. It is not only hard doing it for yourself but you are also working with your fiancée to try and get her/him to complete their paperwork correctly. Don’t tell me this is easy. You are kidding all of us.

So, consider calling Holmes & Lolly. It can be a good idea because they can remove the stress and anxiety of getting everything done timely. No individual petitioner will ever know the process as completely or when things can change at a moments notice, as an ethical immigration attorney

Good luck everyone

[RodD 0]

We also hired Holmes & Lolly. So far I don't have any major complaints, although I did need to proof read and correct the filing documents very carefully. Some of the errors were my fault, some of them were theirs.

I have sent a lot of emails to them and they have responded to all of them. They also have an associate office in Moscow who have been directly in contact with my fiancee (both by phone and email) about getting all her Russian documents in order. It helps that they can explain things to her in Russian. They will also help prepare her for her embassy interview.

Their fees include not just the K1 filing but also help with filing for AOS after her arrival and our marriage.

[CasandraApple 0]

I'm happy to hear that some people are having good experiences with holmes&lolly.

I'm starting to think that if we had a different paralegal, my story could have been different.

We actually wanted to ask if we can change the paralegal but didn't want to make them grumpy

I'm considering flying to America soon and wanted to know if they can help me if I get in some trouble at the airport. I heard that, depends on the immigration officer, anyone could be denied their entrance to the US.

But, as usuall, my paralegal is not responding my e-mail for 3 weeks......

I'm not in the hurry, so I haven't called him, but also my mind is not calm when I think about calling him.

[KimandRuss 0]

People are complaining about the lawyers here because they have caused their case more harm than good....eg; not filling in the forms correctly, not including critical documents...etc... it's not just because they want people to save a few dollars. It's good that some peole had a good experience but the truth is here at VJ we tend to see a lot more harm than good.

All of the documents that a lawyer needs and all of the information they need comes from you anyway... all they really are doing is spell checking. The example forms, GUIDES and vetran members here at VJ are much more invaluable IMO.

Casandra, no lawyer will be able to help you at POE. It is at the officer's discretion to let you in or not and their decision is final. As long as you bring ties to your own Country, are in your own Country more than you are in the US (see our timeline ), stay honest and dont have anything that would make them suspicious of your intent you 'should' be fine. good luck.

[maggieNomar 0]

I have also seen quite a bit of negative information on Holmes and Lolly. They were one firm I was considering when I filed. I am glad to see there are happy couples as well. I ended up using Michael Solomon and never regretted it. It is true that many of the straight forward cases can be done on their own. Ours probably could have as well but I did not find this site until the month after I had filed. I probably would have used an atty anyways because I had a few concerns about our case. As they state all the time around here, most likely an atty isn't needed, but each has to weigh his or her own case and do what they feel they need in order to ensure success.

[sara..... 371]

People are complaining about the lawyers here because they have caused their case more harm than good....eg; not filling in the forms correctly, not including critical documents...etc... it's not just because they want people to save a few dollars. It's good that some peole had a good experience but the truth is here at VJ we tend to see a lot more harm than good.

All of the documents that a lawyer needs and all of the information they need comes from you anyway... all they really are doing is spell checking. The example forms, GUIDES and vetran members here at VJ are much more invaluable IMO.

Casandra, no lawyer will be able to help you at POE. It is at the officer's discretion to let you in or not and their decision is final. As long as you bring ties to your own Country, are in your own Country more than you are in the US (see our timeline ), stay honest and dont have anything that would make them suspicious of your intent you 'should' be fine. good luck.

kim can u take a wild guess as to WHO my attorney is omgosh

[KimandRuss 0]

.... sara

[RodD 0]

As I posted earlier, I have had only good experience with Holmes & Lolly so far. Right now I am truly glad I have an attorney.

We got our NOA2 approval a few days before my fiancee moved from the UAE back to Russia. Of course the NVC still sent our file to Abu Dhabi even though we had requested Moscow from the beginning since we knew when she would return to Russia. But Holmes & Lolly's Moscow office helped us figure out how to request the file be sent to Moscow.

Unfortunately, although the consulate in Abu Dhabi told me a couple of weeks ago that they sent the file to Moscow on June 19, Moscow says they have not received it yet. So right now our file is lost in limbo. Our paralegal just emailed Abu Dhabi to get a confirmation about where the file was sent. If it is truly lost, we will definitely need our attorney to help us sort through this mess.

[KimandRuss 0]

Sorry to hear that.. DOS can handle all of that.

(202) 663-1225 Press 0, then Press 1

They can always tell you if/when your petition has arrived at 'whichever' Consulate and will even tell you if it's arrived and if you have an appointment date.

Hope it's sorted soon.

[RodD 0]

Sorry to hear that.. DOS can handle all of that.

(202) 663-1225 Press 0, then Press 1

They can always tell you if/when your petition has arrived at 'whichever' Consulate and will even tell you if it's arrived and if you have an appointment date.

Hope it's sorted soon.

Thank you so much for pointing me to the Dept. of State. I called them (it's actually Press 1, then 0, instead of the other way around), and they informed me that Moscow just received our file last Friday and the interview is scheduled for September 19.

[sara..... 371]

Sorry to hear that.. DOS can handle all of that.

(202) 663-1225 Press 0, then Press 1

They can always tell you if/when your petition has arrived at 'whichever' Consulate and will even tell you if it's arrived and if you have an appointment date.

Hope it's sorted soon.

Thank you so much for pointing me to the Dept. of State. I called them (it's actually Press 1, then 0, instead of the other way around), and they informed me that Moscow just received our file last Friday and the interview is scheduled for September 19.

congratulations

[Lancep 0]

I'm a very experienced attorney (25+ years) who used a non-attorney service ($465) for my fiancee's K-1 just for the comfort level of having someone with direct experience make the submission. They were helpful in responding to a number of my e-mails, but I'm sure they didn't spend more than a couple of hours on this project. They did nothing that I couldn't have easily done myself. When we hit snags in the process, I had to handle them myself -- and I know that I was a lot more persistent and thorough than any law firm would have been or could afford to be. If you are of average intelligence, you can easily do this yourself. And as one of the other posters said, you are going to end up doing most of it yourself even if you use a law firm. There is no way that this process is so complicated or legally intensive as to warrant spending $2K or more on an attorney. Nor is there anything an attorney can do for you that is going to give you an advantage over other filers. I had a similar experience filing radiation "downwinders" claims with the Department of Justice (the program that pays $50K to $100K if you have cancer and lived downwind of nuclear testing in the 1950s and 60s). There are numerous law firms that charge $5K to $10K for handling these things, and you still have to do 75% of the work yourself. I handled two of them for relatives with no problems in a couple of hours, which makes $5K to $10K seem pretty silly.

[KimandRuss 0]

Sorry to hear that.. DOS can handle all of that.

(202) 663-1225 Press 0, then Press 1

They can always tell you if/when your petition has arrived at 'whichever' Consulate and will even tell you if it's arrived and if you have an appointment date.

Hope it's sorted soon.

Thank you so much for pointing me to the Dept. of State. I called them (it's actually Press 1, then 0, instead of the other way around), and they informed me that Moscow just received our file last Friday and the interview is scheduled for September 19.

You are most welcome!! I'm so happy that you have some good news. Best of luck to you in Moscow! That'll be $500 please!

I'm a very experienced attorney (25+ years) who used a non-attorney service ($465) for my fiancee's K-1 just for the comfort level of having someone with direct experience make the submission. They were helpful in responding to a number of my e-mails, but I'm sure they didn't spend more than a couple of hours on this project. They did nothing that I couldn't have easily done myself. When we hit snags in the process, I had to handle them myself -- and I know that I was a lot more persistent and thorough than any law firm would have been or could afford to be. If you are of average intelligence, you can easily do this yourself. And as one of the other posters said, you are going to end up doing most of it yourself even if you use a law firm. There is no way that this process is so complicated or legally intensive as to warrant spending $2K or more on an attorney. Nor is there anything an attorney can do for you that is going to give you an advantage over other filers. I had a similar experience filing radiation "downwinders" claims with the Department of Justice (the program that pays $50K to $100K if you have cancer and lived downwind of nuclear testing in the 1950s and 60s). There are numerous law firms that charge $5K to $10K for handling these things, and you still have to do 75% of the work yourself. I handled two of them for relatives with no problems in a couple of hours, which makes $5K to $10K seem pretty silly.

This is exactly my point and thank you for sharing your views with us. I know that i'm an intelligent woman but when I first stared looking into the process of getting my love back into the Country it was all just so overwhelming and because he had been denied entry, I was stressed enough! Thank goodness VJ was the first place I found when I started looking for more info! The thought to hire a lawyer makes perfect sense initially because it all just looks so confusing and it's so very important to get right.... but once you start searching and reach out for resources such as VJ and all the knowledgeable people here, you soon learn that most of what must be done has to come from you anyway. And even if you do hire a lawyer... you have to make sure they get it right because they are not emotionally invested and not all of them understand the entire process. It's like having a doctor... you still need to take care of your own health and what they say isn't always the way it is.

Now, in saying that, there are certainly people who probably should hire a lawyer for some guidance.