K-3 using a law firm in Thailand

[bkhitech 0]

Back last year in July of 2009 my Thai Wife and I decided to move to the US. In Sept we contacted a Law firm in Bangkok to just handle all this and make it some for us. What a life changing mistake this turned out to be. We have since found out the firm has made a few bad decisions with our case including not sending documents when they told us they had. Of course they blame the long processing period on us now for contacting the USCIS office directly (once we found out that they were screwing up and not telling us the truth).

Aug 1st 2009 paid in full for fees for the I-130 and there fees (In Thailand)

Dec 20 2009 found out nothing has been done yet. Went to visit our "professional" law firm hired for this process.

Jan 2010 received at Chicago lock box

March 2010 found out our application has been sitting in LAX service center, but LAX has not done anything with it because petitioners address was a Thailand address.

March 2010 LAX resumes after begging and pleading.

March 23 receive approved I-797C from LAX

Mid 2010 April pay all fees for NVC AOS fees and visa application

Sept 27 2010 receive message from NVC that Affidavit of support is missing and photos for all 3 applicants. Lawyer blames NVC for losing the documents and NVC claims never received.

3 weeks later we learned our lawyer still has not sent in the required documents

October 2010 still waiting for NVC feedback.

History

Married for over 10 years in USA (former K-1 visa approved)

Worked and lived in S'pore with green cards issued for the whole family

Sum it all up, don't trust others with things that can affect your life, Also found out we could have gotten tourist visas for the family first and then changed their status once in the US. Now we are living apart since Jan 2010 as I had to start my new job in US.

[bless1010 1]

Back last year in July of 2009 my Thai Wife and I decided to move to the US. In Sept we contacted a Law firm in Bangkok to just handle all this and make it some for us. What a life changing mistake this turned out to be. We have since found out the firm has made a few bad decisions with our case including not sending documents when they told us they had. Of course they blame the long processing period on us now for contacting the USCIS office directly (once we found out that they were screwing up and not telling us the truth).

Aug 1st 2009 paid in full for fees for the I-130 and there fees (In Thailand)

Dec 20 2009 found out nothing has been done yet. Went to visit our "professional" law firm hired for this process.

Jan 2010 received at Chicago lock box

March 2010 found out our application has been sitting in LAX service center, but LAX has not done anything with it because petitioners address was a Thailand address.

March 2010 LAX resumes after begging and pleading.

March 23 receive approved I-797C from LAX

Mid 2010 April pay all fees for NVC AOS fees and visa application

Sept 27 2010 receive message from NVC that Affidavit of support is missing and photos for all 3 applicants. Lawyer blames NVC for losing the documents and NVC claims never received.

3 weeks later we learned our lawyer still has not sent in the required documents

October 2010 still waiting for NVC feedback.

History

Married for over 10 years in USA (former K-1 visa approved)

Worked and lived in S'pore with green cards issued for the whole family

Sum it all up, don't trust others with things that can affect your life, Also found out we could have gotten tourist visas for the family first and then changed their status once in the US. Now we are living apart since Jan 2010 as I had to start my new job in US.

[rsn 135]

Also found out we could have gotten tourist visas for the family first and then changed their status once in the US.

No, you could not have done this. Adjusting from a tourist visa with preconceived intent to adjust is illegal.

[Ning 619]

Back last year in July of 2009 my Thai Wife and I decided to move to the US. In Sept we contacted a Law firm in Bangkok to just handle all this and make it some for us. What a life changing mistake this turned out to be. We have since found out the firm has made a few bad decisions with our case including not sending documents when they told us they had. Of course they blame the long processing period on us now for contacting the USCIS office directly (once we found out that they were screwing up and not telling us the truth).

Aug 1st 2009 paid in full for fees for the I-130 and there fees (In Thailand)

Dec 20 2009 found out nothing has been done yet. Went to visit our "professional" law firm hired for this process.

Jan 2010 received at Chicago lock box

March 2010 found out our application has been sitting in LAX service center, but LAX has not done anything with it because petitioners address was a Thailand address.

March 2010 LAX resumes after begging and pleading.

March 23 receive approved I-797C from LAX

Mid 2010 April pay all fees for NVC AOS fees and visa application

Sept 27 2010 receive message from NVC that Affidavit of support is missing and photos for all 3 applicants. Lawyer blames NVC for losing the documents and NVC claims never received.

3 weeks later we learned our lawyer still has not sent in the required documents

October 2010 still waiting for NVC feedback.

History

Married for over 10 years in USA (former K-1 visa approved)

Worked and lived in S'pore with green cards issued for the whole family

Sum it all up, don't trust others with things that can affect your life, Also found out we could have gotten tourist visas for the family first and then changed their status once in the US. Now we are living apart since Jan 2010 as I had to start my new job in US.

You would not have gotten tourist visas. If you did & attempted to do an AOS you would have commited visa fraud on a grand scale.

[payxibka 10,045]

Also found out we could have gotten tourist visas for the family first and then changed their status once in the US.

What you should have done and still don't know, is to have filed the I-130 directly with the consulate in BKK (thus avoiding the stateside USCIS) and everyone probably would have had visas issue within a couple months of petitioning

[rsn 135]

What you should have done and still don't know, is to have filed the I-130 directly with the consulate in BKK (thus avoiding the stateside USCIS) and everyone probably would have had visas issue within a couple months of petitioning

Agreed. DCF (Direct Consular Filing) would have been the best option.

[bkhitech 0]

You would not have gotten tourist visas. If you did & attempted to do an AOS you would have commited visa fraud on a grand scale.

We are doing everything "by the Book" currently for the past 13 Months. As the instructions are laid out for the US Gov. And plan to continue going that route.

But I do have to ask you why you say we would not have been issued tourist visas in the begining before anything was filed in regards to our visas. Is my Family black listed that I am not aware of?

[bkhitech 0]

What you should have done and still don't know, is to have filed the I-130 directly with the consulate in BKK (thus avoiding the stateside USCIS) and everyone probably would have had visas issue within a couple months of petitioning

This is how it was first started at BKK but Our "professional lawyer" dropped the ball and only got my application in 7 days (3 1/2 Months after starting our case) before my one year visa and work permit expired. Then our Lawyer told me he could take care of this and "make" the BKK USCIS proceed with our case even though I no longer was going to be in Thailand.

[belinda63 3,031]

Well no there is not a blacklist but it is illegal to come to the US on a tourist visa with the intent to adjust status. This could result in punishment up to a life-time ban.

First you would have had to obtain the tourist visas which think about it, an entire family of a US citizen suddenly decide they all want to visit the US? And what would you/them have provided as ties to the country to prove they would return after the visit?

Then you would have had to make it through inspection at the POE, again giant red flags.

If you managed to make it here with your family and filed for AOS for all of them don't you think someone would have been a little curious as to why you and the entire family came to visit and "suddenly" decided to stay here?

I am very sorry the visa service has messed your life up and you have all my sympathy. I almost always recommend people do this themselves unless there are complications exactly for this reason.

I hope things get better soon and wish you all the best. Also you are never obligated to continue with their services and you may want to consider finishing the process yourself.

[pushbrk 12,812]

Well no there is not a blacklist but it is illegal to come to the US on a tourist visa with the intent to adjust status. This could result in punishment up to a life-time ban.

First you would have had to obtain the tourist visas which think about it, an entire family of a US citizen suddenly decide they all want to visit the US? And what would you/them have provided as ties to the country to prove they would return after the visit?

Then you would have had to make it through inspection at the POE, again giant red flags.

If you managed to make it here with your family and filed for AOS for all of them don't you think someone would have been a little curious as to why you and the entire family came to visit and "suddenly" decided to stay here?

I am very sorry the visa service has messed your life up and you have all my sympathy. I almost always recommend people do this themselves unless there are complications exactly for this reason.

I hope things get better soon and wish you all the best. Also you are never obligated to continue with their services and you may want to consider finishing the process yourself.

First, the case described is a CR1 visa case, not K3.

In short, the law requires Consular officers to assume all potential visitors have immigrant intent. From the poorer countries, visitor visas are very difficult to obtain but foreign nationals who are part of a US Citizen's immediate family must disclose that on their visa applications. Having a USC for a spouse, makes the immigrant intent assumption far stronger. People with immigrant intent are not eligible for visitor visas. The US Citizen, of course, does not need a visa to either visit or move to the USA.

DCF was the correct procedure in this case but it's too late now.

As for the letter from NVC indicating something is missing, these notices go out often when the papers are already at NVC but the left hand simply doesn't know what the right hand is already holding.

Edited October 11, 2010 by pushbrk

[Ning 619]

We are doing everything "by the Book" currently for the past 13 Months. As the instructions are laid out for the US Gov. And plan to continue going that route.

But I do have to ask you why you say we would not have been issued tourist visas in the begining before anything was filed in regards to our visas. Is my Family black listed that I am not aware of?

belinda63 has already answered this perfectly.

I tried 3 times to get a tourist visa myself. An officer at the embassy finaly told me " we are not allowed to issue tourist visas to anyone married to a USC", " we never do it because we will be fired the next day". He also told me "if we could shut down these local law frims we would because they create more problems than they fix".

We then did " everything by the book ". Our case took 408 days while we experianced many of the things you are & will.

You indicate filing "the 130". Then you talk about the whole family coming. Every family member is required to have their own visa therefore a 130 for each.

[pushbrk 12,812]

belinda63 has already answered this perfectly.

I tried 3 times to get a tourist visa myself. An officer at the embassy finaly told me " we are not allowed to issue tourist visas to anyone married to a USC", " we never do it because we will be fired the next day". He also told me "if we could shut down these local law frims we would because they create more problems than they fix".

We then did " everything by the book ". Our case took 408 days while we experianced many of the things you are & will.

You indicate filing "the 130". Then you talk about the whole family coming. Every family member is required to have their own visa therefore a 130 for each.

I expect the rest of the family consists of children of a US Citizen, who would be entitled to US Passports and need no visas. Only if there are stepchildren would additional I-130 petitions be needed.

Edited October 11, 2010 by pushbrk

[Ning 619]

I expect the rest of the family consists of children of a US Citizen, who would be entitled to US Passports and need no visas. Only if there are stepchildren would additional I-130 petitions be needed.

If thats the case why would anyone seek tourist visas or any other visa for the family & be concerned about changing their status?

Edited October 11, 2010 by Ning

[bkhitech 0]

belinda63 has already answered this perfectly.

I tried 3 times to get a tourist visa myself. An officer at the embassy finaly told me " we are not allowed to issue tourist visas to anyone married to a USC", " we never do it because we will be fired the next day". He also told me "if we could shut down these local law frims we would because they create more problems than they fix".

We then did " everything by the book ". Our case took 408 days while we experianced many of the things you are & will.

You indicate filing "the 130". Then you talk about the whole family coming. Every family member is required to have their own visa therefore a 130 for each.

Thanks belinda63 for your feedback, I see what you say now about the tourist visa that makes sense. Anyways yes we have 2 Stepchildren involved so they are also waiting for their own visa's as well. We filed 3 individual petitions as instructed, one for my wife and then 2 for my Stepchildren. The 3rd Boy has his US passport already being he is a US Citizen. Looks like we will be in the 400+ day range as well, we are still waiting for NVC's response and they tell me now they are running closer to the 7-8 week periods for document reviewing.

[Darnell 8,478]

*** not a K-3 visa topic, as there's NVC involvement for I-864 and DS-230- moving to IR-1/CR-1 forum ***