41% K 1 Fiance Visas Denied?

[christeen 966]

Hey JROC, this is all about preference.

You don't feel comfortable doing the papers yourself, then hire a lawyer.

You feel confident enough to do the papapers yourself with the help of this forum, then go for it.

It's all about preference!

I must add that it is not just about being confident, but having the time and dedication to do it yourself. For some, work and home situations do not allow enough time to really do the research required for this process... In that case it might actually be quicker to use a lawyer if a person does not have the time to do all the paperwork and research in a timely manner...

[pushbrk 13,167]

Hey JROC, this is all about preference.

You don't feel comfortable doing the papers yourself, then hire a lawyer.

You feel confident enough to do the papapers yourself with the help of this forum, then go for it.

It's all about preference!

I must add that it is not just about being confident, but having the time and dedication to do it yourself. For some, work and home situations do not allow enough time to really do the research required for this process... In that case it might actually be quicker to use a lawyer if a person does not have the time to do all the paperwork and research in a timely manner...

All true but there are also people with different priorities. They would rather pay somebody who already knows how to do something and spend their time doing things either more profitable, more enjoyable or both. Also, professionals often default to hiring professionals to do professional work.

[thongd4me 69]

The rules of professional responsibility are set ultimately by the courts themselves.

1) a person is always free to fire thier attorney at any time, they will pay for the services already rendered, but they can always fire them.

2)An attorney, barring exceptional circumstances cannot fire his client.

The number one complaint at the bar in regards to an attorney is a failure to communicate with clients.

There is no excuse for an attorney missing a deadline, ever. It happens, but there is no excuse for it.

Before you hire an attorney check with your states bar. For example, if they are part of the state bar of California you can go to the website of the california bar and check the attorney's record to see if there is any public record of censure or something like that. You can also check how long they have been a member of the bar.

As for doing it yourself, yes a lot of people can and do, but it is not wrong to hire an attorney, but make sure you hire a competent attorney whose agency has done a lot of these petitions before. I would only personally advise someone to hire an attorney if thier case is complicated, by that I mean difficult circumstances, criminal records, or things like that. I would also advise them to hire an attorney if they do not feel comfortable doing it themselves or are worried about screwing it up. If an attorney messes up the paperwork you can file a complaint with the bar, perhaps even malpractice depending on what it is. Attorneys are held to a standard of professional behavior

Ha ha.

My original attorney, besides being incompetent over a long period of time, had a sudden health

crisis (of which I was the last to know; yes even my ex-wife knew before me). The attorney she

appointed to take her place showed up on the court date and neutralized my ex's new attorney

(yes my ex's attorney had since retired so there were 2 stand-ins at the court date) before the judge

so needless to say I was pleased with the results, because this was a welcome change of events.

I promply asked the new attorney if she could become my attorney and she said she would have

to ask my former attorney if that was possible, because of an "of counsel" relationship between

my original attorney and her. She said she would ask my attorney if that was OK with her the

next time she got to see her at the hospital and each time I checked with her if that was accomplished

I got a negative reply, while the next court date (at which it was incumbent on my side to present

certain papers to the court) loomed closer. While I didn't get any reply from either the new or the

old attorney, I got a feeling in my gut that there must be something that I'm doing wrong or some

detail that I didn't know about or some magic word because this shouldn't be that difficult.

I called up the judge's court clerk who was not helpful at all, referring me to the opposing attorney

to beg him for a continuance. After 2 words (non of them printable) with him I realized that was a

dead end too. I then called up the local bar association and they read me a long list of requirements

I would have to do to file a "formal complaint" while totally ignoring my question (how to effectively

switch attorneys). I just realized that I had to talk to someone NOT interested in this case who

wouldn't bull$hyte me so I went to the best attorney in my organization and he told me after I

explained my dilemma to him in less than a minute that all I had to do was write a letter to the

former attorney & say thank you you're fired, with a copy to the judge and the new attorney.

I had read that the way to fire an attorney was to present such a letter, but since I was

actively engaged with two attorneys who should have known that detail yet who didn't

present that as an alternative to their yakking between themselves, I felt that if I wrote

such a letter at that point in time I would have alienated both of them and neither would

take my case. Since the ABA didn't mention that as the way to go my doubt increased.

My attorney friend at work totally cleared up this doubt in short order.

I did that according to the brief format he outlined for me and I got the new attorney to accept

my case and file the required papers before the court in ONE DAY, with a few days to spare

before the new court date.

The ABA can ki$$ my a$$ as far as I'm concerned.

There are many competent attorneys out there, but when it comes to a question of who

gets priority, it's always "professional courtesy" before "client privilege." That was the

bottom line when the "of counsel" relationship took effect. No hard feelings regarding

that toward my new attorney, who finally completed the case in a few months.

Edited October 19, 2009 by thongd4me

[endoftheroad 1]

To his credit, he offers a money back guarantee if your SO doesn't get a visa. Most attorneys only guarantee you'll get the petition approved.

Pretty brave of him considering 95% get approved.

... there are also people with different priorities. They would rather pay somebody who already knows how to do something and spend their time doing things either more profitable, more enjoyable or both. Also, professionals often default to hiring professionals to do professional work.

BINGO!

Hey JROC, this is all about preference.

You don't feel comfortable doing the papers yourself, then hire a lawyer.

You feel confident enough to do the papers yourself with the help of this forum, then go for it.

It's all about preference!

Toss in possible language barriers with your fiance and it is more comfortable to get assistance from an intermediary.

[Starlight95 1]

I chose to hire an attorney due to pressure from family. They seem to think that attorney's know a lot and get things done without delay. Frankly, speaking I hardly get a chance to talk to my attorney, and her legal assistant is not very familiar with types of petitions that are filed. At one point she told me to send my documents for my K-1 to NVC. The assistant was even got confused to what petition I filed. They only give you answers to what you need to know, and majority of the time through this process I have been getting things dones quicker on my own with the help of VJ. My attorney is knowledgable, but they like to give the grunt work to their assistants and they may not know much and may confuse you. I recommend an attorney if your case is complicated, and just remember that they have a lot of clients so your not their priority. At the end of the day its up to us to stay on top of your individual cases and inform them to get things done. Don't wait around for an attorney to call you to notify you, as you have to take the initiative to get things going. This is just my two cents.

Edited October 19, 2009 by Starlight95

[thongd4me 69]

I chose to hire an attorney due to pressure from family. They seem to think that attorney's know a lot and get things done without delay. Frankly, speaking I hardly get a chance to talk to my attorney, and her legal assistant is not very familiar with types of petitions that are filed. At one point she told me to send my documents for my K-1 to NVC. The assistant was even got confused to what petition I filed. They only give you answers to what you need to know, and majority of the time through this process I have been getting things dones quicker on my own with the help of VJ. My attorney is knowledgable, but they like to give the grunt work to their assistants and they may not know much and may confuse you. I recommend an attorney if your case is complicated, and just remember that they have a lot of clients so your not their priority. At the end of the day its up to us to stay on top of your individual cases and inform them to get things done. Don't wait around for an attorney to call you to notify you, as you have to take the initiative to get things going. This is just my two cents.

My accountant & I often talk about attorneys (his ex wife was one!).

His best advice is to KNOW your attorney's legal assistant well (by name, etc.)

and develop a good relationship with him or her. It's very true that most of the

work (call it grunt work but the devil is in the details) is done by the legal assistant.

It's like when you hire a top-of-the-line "professional" home contractor and he shows up at your house

with all his documents in his "executive" pickup truck. Then the work begins and you never see him

again and all of the actual work (may be good work too) is performed by illegals.