Frustrated trying to find/get a quote from an immigration lawyer

[Justine+David 218]

in laymans terms, you only need to provide evidence if you have a police record.

your husband does not.

He DOES have a police record if it comes back as "No Live Trace." Having no police record says, "No Trace." The US doesn't consider spent convictions--they want to know about everything regardless of what the UK thinks about them.

[Boiler 46,359]

He DOES have a police record if it comes back as "No Live Trace." Having no police record says, "No Trace." The US doesn't consider spent convictions--they want to know about everything regardless of what the UK thinks about them.

You beat me to it!

He was fined 500 pounds but no jail time or probation

Sounds pretty risky, even aside form the criminal conviction, you would need a local lawyer who knows the practice of your local office with regards to VWP overstayers.

[SunDrop 59]

+1 to Justine and Boiler, no live trace does require a subject access.

+1 to Bob's advice not to bring overstaying AND attempting to adjust from a VWP into the mix.

You're dealing with complicated enough processes considering his spent conviction. I know it sucks to hear it, but you're not doing yourselves any favours in the long run by trying to stay physically together in the US while sorting all this out. If his AOS is denied, there is no appeal process.

He waived that right when he requested admittance under the VWP. Sadly, whatever he thought about his conviction being spent meaning he didn't need to declare it, the onus is on him to have confirmed this before traveling.

Check when his VWP actually expires, and make sure he's on a plane out before that date. It's not 3 months, it's 90 days, so if he entered on October 3rd, then it's January 1st. Make sure they put the right date on, they sometimes make a mistake if they haven't fixed their date stamp. If he's having problems because of the weather, don't assume it will count as an excuse and speak to CBP at the airport. Failing that, drive him across the border to Canada.

[Nataliya-Ron 7]

Hey my attorney here in Beverly Hills where I live, does free online serivces and answers questions for free

www.immigrationattorneyla.com His name is Jack Sung, just tell him Ron sent you from Ukraine, he knows who I am.

His website is awesome and he only charged me $1900 for 3 I-130 applications for my wife & 2 kids $355 each I-130 plus $1900. thats a drop in the bucket.

Many attorney charge you 2000k or more per I-130 filing and he did mine all the way up to and including doing the AOS

after her arrival with the kids also. I checked around and he does INTERNATIONAL VISA FOR USCIS and has been doing them for many years. I trusted him to do mine. Sure many say attorney can do mistakes but no body perfect. Anybody can make mistake. But I would rather have and attorney doing mine and be fast than worry about money.

If people are worried about 1 or 2k than you shouldnt be bringing a women here if you cant afford this money.

I hate people who complain about paying money. Listen if you drive and expensive car the you can afford to pay for the gas that goes in it.

Same with this, if you can afford and attorney and get it done right the first time and than dont be complaining if you make mistake and have RFE and or get declined and refused your Visa.

Sure many people can do it them self, but knowing you can make a mistake to and still have a RFE or anthing doing it yourself too.! I see it all the time here on VJ.

So to each his own, for me better i have somebody who knows what they are doing and knows the trick of the trade and what and how to get your done the first time the right way, than take your time and take the chance and do something wrong yourself and it cost you more time and money than what its worth.

Is your wife or financee worth more than 1 or 2k or you just being cheap about it. Like I said if your saving pennies and dimes and cant afford and attorney than maybe you shouldnt be trying to bring a women here for a 1 or 2k

if you have a hard time paying for 1 or 2k than maybe you dont make enough to bring her at all.. Is 1 or 2k going to break you. Come on be cheap about your bride or do it right. What you going to put her in a cheap apt also after you bring her here or a decent house and the good life.

Sure im going to take flack from all you out there but maybe the truth speak for it self. I trust in my attorney

more than somebody who dont know what there doing them self for SURE.

DO your trust your own expereience better than & attorney or take chances in life with your own wife??

Anyway for you there who are looking here a free chance to ask without charge anyway

Mr. Sungs a good attorney and knows his stuff to the T, do you know everything to be doing it yourself if you have a problem. Do you do things alone or go to some body that knows what they are doing about all aspect of the CR-1 or anything else.

Sure it your choice but GOOD LUCK to each his own.

Ron

[mill 1]

Does anyone know of a good immigration lawyer in the Cleveland, OH area? We are getting really frustrated as we cannot even interview a lawyer to get a quote from them without paying $100 -$150 dollars for each lawyer we talk to. We don't want to waste our limited resources just trying to get a quote. One lady charged us $150 that was supposedly for no time limit and no question limit. We made a phone appointment for 2:00pm and she didn't end up calling us until well in the evening leaving us sitting home all afternoon waiting for her. Then she rushed us while asking questions about our case and would barely let us get a word in or ask any questions at all, she just kept saying it would cost $10,000 to do our case and to call her assistant at the office for an appointment to come in and arrange financing. Another lawyer we contacted wants $100 just to give us a quote on how much our case would be. Our case is not THAT complicated but we do have a couple of issues that are extenuating that we wanted to be sure we addressed correctly so we didn't make any kind of irreversible mistakes. Ten thousand dollars just seemed insane to us. We are educated people and can fill out the forms ourselves but we didn't want to make any errors during the process and needed some advice and possible coaching for the interview. So before we use up all our money trying to just FIND a lawyer, I was wondering if anyone could recommend somebody that would be worth paying the initial consultation fee to.

Sorry if i may ask, what exactly do you need these lawyers for?.

[RichiJenny 14]

Apologies - I got it the wrong way round, it was late here! I hope you feel comofrtable with the decision you finally make. Although you are going to need an i601 I would have thought and steve heller in the UK is someone without question I would choose. As well as being experienced in the whole uscis process - he has vast knowledge and experience on inadmissabillities. I didnt need to use his services, however he was more than happy to return calls and give free advice.

Sorry if i may ask, what exactly do you need these lawyers for?.

The OP has explained within the thread

[drakkon84 1]

http://www.1-800-usa-immigration.com/ Allan S. Lolly is the main attorney.. He does free phone consultations. He is who I am using so far so good no problems made it all pretty simple process. They have a wonderful staff and specialize in immigration law. They do it all from start to finish. It is never very long to get any questions answered either. Good Luck!

[mike9 0]

you can try http://cliniclegal.org/ very good support system and very reasonable priced see what program are in your area

[Tricia599 2]

Let me admit up front, I did not read the entire thread. But, I am in the Cleveland area also, so that struck a chord.

Although I have not used them personally, there is a free legal clinic offered by the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network. (http://immigrantsupportnetwork.org/programs/) I found them when I was looking for ESOL classes for my husband. Maybe they will just refer you to someone else, but it's worth a shot. I'd be willing to bet there are others if you Google it.

Also, you can try the local law schools to see if they have any recommendations. I know that Case Western Reserve has a law clinic that they offer (http://law.case.edu/clinic/). I am sure Cleveland State also offers something as well, but I am more familiar with Case since I went to school there.

Good luck!

Edited December 30, 2010 by Tricia599

[Kathryn41 3,205]

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[Mintchip 0]

We are using Steven Heller right now and are very impressed with him.

[Boiler 46,359]

Is he in Brighton? If so I have heard good things about him.

[Mintchip 0]

Yes Boiler, he is in Brighton. In fact, we met with him just about two weeks ago. I had already wasted 5 months with a local attorney here in the US. Steven Heller had us all taken care of in about 4 weeks and from what I can tell has done an excellent job. He has been wonderful and I would recommend him to anyone who was seeking legal assistance.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Mintchip

[caspiantiger 1]

So we hired a lawyer who charged us 2k. While it didn't seem like the lawyer had to do much, he did make sure all of our forms were filled out correctly and all of the information we needed to provide was enclosed. This prevented any RFE requests. Since we hadn't planned on getting married before he got here, there was no intent so that was a non-issue - provided we could show he still had ties (apartment, bank accounts, etc) back in the UK, and a return ticket. He has a flat (that he still has which we have to figure out what to do with), bank accounts, and evidence of employment at the time he visited the US. His overstay was only a couple of weeks which our lawyer didn't see as a huge problem. My husband's one conviction was expunged and was not considered a moral turpitude type of crime, so he felt that would not be a show-stopper either.

We were completely and thoroughly prepared for the interview. We had plane tickets with pictures from each trip bundled together. Pictures of our wedding. Pictures of him with my family on holidays and get-togethers. We had lists of hundreds of emails, phone calls, and Skype calls. We had cards from relatives, my half of snail mail love letters from him, cards, etc. (his was back home obviously). We had utility bills with both our names, credit cards, membership cards, bank cards, insurance policies, life insurance beneficiary proof, and income taxes filed for 2010. In addition to the ACPO certificate, he had gotten the actual court document from his conviction showing the charge and fine. We left no stone unturned with the paperwork we got together. We had each set of evidences neatly organized ready to present when asked. We both dressed very well, as though we were going to a job interview.

Our interview took less than 15 minutes. She asked us what everything was that we brought to the interview and we went through explaining what was in each bundle. She then went through the I-485/130 forms and asked each question to us and checked it off as she went. She asked about the police record and what it was for, he simply stated "common assault". She asked when we decided to get married and we explained it was after he got here. She then looked at our wedding pictures. After that she stated that she was approving our petition. Four days later we got the welcome letter, and today his green card arrived.

Thank you everyone for your input. I would just like to say to people who have extenuating circumstances, please don't get yourself in a panicked state of mind taking to heart all the different advise on here. While it is much appreciated, on the other hand, it can literally rip you apart psychologically. I did not come back to this forum to read these answers after the first day I posted my question because some of the responses scared the living snot of me. If you are in the least bit worried, the money for a good lawyer is worth the peace of mind. All I can say is be completely and utterly prepared for the interview, do not take anything for granted. We asked each other questions for days to prepare for it.

Take care everyone, and I wish those of you who are still waiting the best of love and luck.

Jan 20, 2011 - I-130 & I-485 Forms fed-ex'd to USCIS

Jan 26, 2011 - Checks cashed

Jan 31, 2011 - Rec'd receipts from USCIS

Feb 25, 2011 - Biometrics appt (Federal bldg closed due to weather)

Mar 02, 2011 - Got biometrics done as walk-in

Apr 18, 2011 - Interview - Approved

Apr 21, 2011 - Card Production Ordered

Apr 22, 2011 - Welcome letter received

Apr 26, 2011 - Green Card Arrived!!!

[Darnell 8,479]

*** not an IR-1/CR-1 topic, moving to AOS/work/student/tourist forum ***