Using a Law Firm for Philippines K-1 Visa

[thepizzadude 26]

Thanks GOD I found VJ back in October. :rofl:

[sjr09 155]

I reiterate, there are many situations in which a lawyer is not a waste of money! VERY TRUE!

Each person's situation is very different. Just because some people on this forum advocate doing the whole process relying only on forum advice and their own research, that doesn't mean it is right for everyone...

[rheanick 42]

Lol. You sound like me. I am so fed up with this BS visa process. I'm almost 200 days into it. I called the USEM yesterday and some ####### said they have our case, but to wait 2 weeks and call back. I literally just sat here flexing like the hulk for like 20 seconds until my eyes almost exploded after i heard that.

I called back and some ####### who was rude as hell told me the same thing and wouldn't answer my questions.

You're in for a bumpy ride if you have as little patience as i got.

PM me if you need any info.

Good luck.

Relax, man. The American Embassy does not act on a visa application before its time. Your words might make you an Ugly American and we Filipinos don't care much for Ugly Americans!

Well, the first guy i spoke to giggled like a woman and was very effeminate, (believe me i've had enough of them flirt with me in Cebu to know), and the second guy was rude and didn't want to answer my questions. Hence, 1 ####### and 1 #######.

Anyway, i was basically trying to find out from them why other people's cases that are on the same time-line as mine, and have just recently been logged into their system like mine, could get interview dates so easily, while i was basically told to hang-up and call back in 2 weeks....it's very frustrating.

Sorry for the rant. It's nothing against the Filipino people, just those 2 guys.

The two weeks is the call center SOP. They would always answer "call back in 2 weeks". My hubby, then fiance, also got that response. I told my hubby not to believe it and call after few days. Sure enough we were able to schedule it. My hubby teleconferenced me during the call. I told the call center agent the particula hour and date i want. They gave me the schedule i wanted.

I always deal with different visa for my business travel before. I got too used to visa interview scheduling thus i'm quite aware that there is always a work around.

[marriedtomrg 141]

Hi Joseph & Ana.

We hired Reeves and Associates thinking their "expertise" would somehow help us along in our immigration process. I myself work for a Canadian immigration consulting firm and I guess I had it in my head that they conduct business in the same manner we do...always with the client's needs, resources and timelines in mind.

We signed up with them September 2008, with the intention of filing a K1/K2. But Rick and I decided we were going to get married so we switched to K3/K4. Told the lawyers we were getting married and that there would be no problem switching. I asked repeatedly if we can file after we get the marriage certificate from the local civil registrar, they said yes. We got married in January 2009, and once we had the marriage certificate, I scanned it and sent it to them. The senior processing officer assigned to our case said they needed the NSO Copy of the marriage certificate.

Boy was I miffed!

We agreed to set the filing on April 2009, while Rick was here on spring break. We told them he only had 2 weeks to be here, and one of them was Holy Week, so we wanted it filed before then. The plan was for Rick to sign the paperwork, we deposit the application fee, then submit at the Embassy (we were told we qualify for DCF).

3 days before Rick comes home, I find out that what they wanted to happen was for us to send them the funds, and they will get the money order (which takes a couple days to process, they said) AND they give me this BS that our file has to be reviewed by their Pasadena office before it is submitted. By the time all that would have been said and done, Rick would have been back in the U.S. and the application would not have been filed (since in DCF Rick was told to file it in person).

And here's the real shocker, I find out through a telephone call to the U.S. Embassy that to qualify for DCF, Rick has to be a resident of the Philippines for at least 6 months. Reading the VJ site and the USCIS Memo (they had on DCF online) confirmed that information.

By this time, I was livid. It became painfully clear that we were being hoodwinked.

So we withdrew from the agreement, and through the Guides posted here on VJ, we filed our own I-130 nd I-129F in May 2009. We basically kissed our US$ 3,000+ fees goodbye...

Hope you don't fall under the same trap...

I'd really like to have a timeline, but Ana and I aren't even filed yet, so I guess I need to wait on that.

I'm fortunate though, that I'll be going back to see her (in Bohol) in December for Christmas. Hopefully that will break up the wait.

Well, everytime I contact the law-firm they act as if i am being overly impatient. I think waiting a day for a response from them is plenty of time. Especially when i'm not getting any updates on my final drafts of forms.

[웃 910]

Because I'm a stupid dumbass who doesn't deserve to live I guess.

That was a funny response!

[forestrose 0]

If a lawyer is just a waste of money, then it is too late. I guess I will find out. Can't back out now. As of right now i'm just not satisfied with the communication. They also claim to have people in the Philippines (not sure how i can validate that), but they do have excellent references and testimonials on the BBB, and other places. I never expected it to take a month to get filed (of course i am just guessing that we will be filed soon - I don't know for sure yet.).

They claim they weed out any errors before it gets to the filing station, and that they keep checking constantly with the office to make sure they aren't dragging their feet.

Well, the guy i was dealing with went on vacation for a week and i had to badger them into making someone else work on my case.

Its just frustrating that I feel like I can't get anything done unless i am hounding them. Maybe its all in my head. I thought I was patient before this, but then I fell in love and my patience is ALL GONE - I know you all know how i feel.

hello, my hubby also hired a lawyer , we got married in June08 , before coming here he has already paid the law firm $2000+ for their services in May, he brought with him forms for me to sign and necessry docs that we need for filing, a week after the wedding got NSO copies of marriage certificate , sent it to them thru FEDEX , and what do you know, when hubby went home in July , petition hasnt been filed yet , i kept telling him to follow it up on them and they wont even talk to him personally or thru phone , long story short , it was only in Nov08 that they were able to file and approved in JUne 09 ; from then on he never called the firm anymore and we just proceeded with our approved petition, guess what , last week the secretary of the firm called on hubby and he gave her updates , that i already had my interview(K-3) and approved and awaiting my visa ;so she said they will now be closing our files ;

hiring a lawyer is ok specially if you think they can expedite the process than by doing it yourself , but in my case it didnt and i dont think they can ever .

you have no recourse but to continue with it , since you already paid him in full(?)

good luck on your journey.

[Calypso 464]

Hello Joseph!

My American fiancé who resides in Santa Monica has hired a lawyer from San Francisco and according to my precious baby, it was only for $ 400. The lawyer’s function was basically for consultation and not that he filled out the forms for us or prepared anything else. Hiring a lawyer may not really speed up the case but he has been of help to us. I understand that my fiancé, a busy man as he has always been, appointed a lawyer with the purpose of making things easier for us and so far, it’s working well.

While we were about to complete the I-129F, the lawyer gave us a list of the required documents and other supplementary documents which he deemed to be of help. Before sending our I-129F, my fiancé scanned all the documents with the forms and e-mailed them to our lawyer for scrutiny and double checking. When all was approved, it was then that my sexy love mailed the whole package to the USCIS on May 29 this year, a Friday. He received the NOA1 on June 1, Monday.

Every now and then whenever my precious baby and I would have questions, we just e-mail the lawyer. We have done a great deal of research on our own, too. Lucky us, the legal guy hasn’t asked for any additional fee and he said that his actual role will be on the second phase of the K1 Visa process. Since we are still waiting for the NOA2, my sweet love and I will be on watch about the kind of assistance the lawyer is capable of providing in the advent of the NOA2.

Essjay has a point upon saying, “I reiterate, there are many situations in which a lawyer is not a waste of money!

Each person's situation is very different. Just because some people on this forum advocate doing the whole process relying only on forum advice and their own research, that doesn't mean it is right for everyone...”

Give it a little more patience, bro! Again, the lawyer is there not really to do the whole process on our behalf. I guess it’s called legal advice.

God bless us all.

FAE

[Qiix 0]

We Feel Your Pain!!!

We also hired a lawyer for similar reasons( my decision) and for the most part they have just slowed things down. The biggest frustration is that things like Original NOA2, notification Emails, etc did not come to me at the beginning so we do not have them. Hopefully the Lawyer will pass all of the documents on to us when this is all over. I believe they will.

Mid process we called NVC and added my email address and finally got in the loop after the Lawyer sent incomplete paperwork and generated an RFE on our case which added a month delay. Thanks to all of the info here at VJ.com, by God's grace we were able to get the RFE resolved and finally we have an interview appointment.

I didn't fire the lawyer, just helping them out. ( wish I had the $3K back tho )

Funny, the Lawyers office still has not notified me that our case is complete and that we have an interview assigned. I'm not even sure that they know yet. In my case, it is a paralegal handling all of my correspondence and I suspect that We are very small fish in a large ocean.

Just hang in there, you will get through it. I keep telling myself to remember "It's not the destination, It's the Journey" that makes for the best memories. Make it Fun!

Edited August 14, 2009 by Qiix

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Arbind.Ariadne - Thanks for the story, and I love how you refer to your fiance .

Qiix - Thanks too for your story. I am hoping I am wrong about this and that they are working diligently. However, after my e-mail yesterday ripping them again, I received word that my forms were reviewed and sitting on the attorney's desk for further review. I tell you what, if we get an RFE i'll be POed. I will lay into them, as this is whole point of using them.

Anyone care to name their law-firm? I am using Allan S. Lolly.