OUR STORY

[vietazn 1]

I don't think I would be able to sleep at night if I told someone that their case was good to go and they got denied because they went on my advice rather than someone more familiar with what they were going through in their specific country... Good Gawd man.... don't these people understand the impact of what is going on here?

Isn't that what many lawyers, dich vu, and document preparers do? Couples who outsource everything without being involved will not do very well.

Edited January 24, 2010 by vietazn

[ScottThuy 140]

On issue #6, a lot of not being able to present evidence at the interview is partly due to short time frame of interview (less than 20 minutes), but there also is error by person being interviewed. It is really up to the person being interviewed to provide to the CO the evidence quickly and efficiently. My fiance spoke with others who outsourced everything and didn't know what documents were what or where. Of course I would like to think my fiance did an outstanding job interviewing because we didn't frontload anything. But what if the whole frontloading theory is not what it is built up to be? Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on organization and interview preparation.

The exact reason why I like to say it's 2 people on a Journey together and both need to know everything at every step along the way...

so many people go the route of the man doing all of the paperwork and the woman getting sent a box of stuff not having a clue of what the stuff is or much about the man in general.... there are alot of bad Immigration attorneys out there and I don't know how they can sleep at night..

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The exact reason why I like to say it's 2 people on a Journey together and both need to know everything at every step along the way...

so many people go the route of the man doing all of the paperwork and the woman getting sent a box of stuff not having a clue of what the stuff is or much about the man in general.... there are alot of bad Immigration attorneys out there and I don't know how they can sleep at night..

Like doctors, they have to become emotionally detached from their clients. No matter how hard they try, they're going to lose some cases. If they let each one get to them they'd go crazy. Unfortunately, for many, this emotional detachment eventually develops into a "don't give a #######" attitude about each case, which results in them handling each case in a robotic fashion just to collect their fees.

Don't misunderstand - the knowledge and experience of good attorney can be invaluable, but if you as client aren't willing to devote a significant amount of time into understanding and managing what your attorney is doing, and just trust them to do everything for you, you're much more likely to fail.

I have a lot sympathy for people who are overwhelmed by the immigration process, and feel they need to turn everything over to a lawyer. Some people just don't have the mental capacity to understand all of this stuff. For these people, a lawyer may be their only hope. There is one VJ member who is adamantly opposed to immigration lawyers, and he likes to chastise people who choose to use them. I don't think people deserve to be chewed out just because they're not smart enough to understand everything. On the other hand, I don't have much sympathy for people who are either too lazy or think they're too busy to spend any time trying to learn.

[ScottThuy 140]

Jim,

My hats off to you... knowing what you went through with the immigration process as well as the medical issue you noted today... You can take a hell of a lot... I had a former student dealing with the same issue and between the pain meds and steroids to treat it... he was in a living hell every day... My prayers are with you that they can do something so you don't have to endure what I have seen him go through...

So many people think the attorney does everything, and as you said there is a great burden/responsibility that is upon the beneficiary and petitioner that they somehow avoid...

[luckytxn 2,265]

On issue #6, a lot of not being able to present evidence at the interview is partly due to short time frame of interview (less than 20 minutes), but there also is error by person being interviewed. It is really up to the person being interviewed to provide to the CO the evidence quickly and efficiently. My fiance spoke with others who outsourced everything and didn't know what documents were what or where. Of course I would like to think my fiance did an outstanding job interviewing because we didn't frontload anything. But what if the whole frontloading theory is not what it is built up to be? Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on organization and interview preparation.

I didn't front load at all and we somehow got her here. It seems that either way can work as well as the other. There have been some that have frontloaded and been denied also.

[Bernie C 24]

This is a bit of a twist but just thought I'd add it for informational purposes, as every case is unique unto itself. Doan and I met for the first time in Jan 09. In April 09 we had a full blown traditional wedding ceremony with over 350 guests. After that trip I sent my I129F (we still did K1). I explained everything fully in my petition. We did the wedding for her family, relatives and friends but are planning a US based wedding after arrival. I went back in September 09 and interview was December 09 at which time I was present again. First 3 trips were two weeks, last one was 6 weeks. We really had no problems at all. One small bump due to fingerprint issue but it was a quality issue and we just resubmitted the finger prints. We received pink. I guess the moral of our story is just that we were very well prepared with lots of proof and documentation. We thought we might have a big red flag because we got married but did not register the marriage in VN. However it is my belief that since I clearly stated our intentions and documented it, we were fine even though we didnt follow the standard expected practice. So in the end it was divulging everything up front and being totally honest and prepared that I think helped is through with no RFE's or problems. This lends to the belief that deviances from the norm can be acceptable, if presented and fully explained. Our timeline was 5 pages and very detailed. I emailed a copy to the consulate before the interview and they never even asked for the official notarized copy at the interview! More to show that there is no "norm" to HCMC.

[Bernie C 24]

One additional note (which I am not paticularly proud of but life is life). I have previous 3 divorces. The only thing they asked her at the interview was if she knew how many. Nothing about where any of them live or anything like that. The last was over 7 years ago. I did provide copies of all the decrees in the I129F and also had copies in her interview packet. Another case where there is inconsistencies. I have heard where some get grilled over this but in our case - just a basic question and that was it.

I would end to agree with the others though, to be safe, have the information about previous spouse available in the event they request it. Better safe that sorry.