Lawyer for CR1

[mrvman 0]

Two weeks ago my wife was approved for a CR1 visa at the US Consulate in Guanzhou. A year ago she was refused a K1 Visa because we had a very difficult case. For the CR1 process I hired Marc Ellis, a lawyer who specializes in Immigrant Visas. He assisted me in completing the forms, wrote an interview letter for the I-130 Petition and for the interview. I wish I had hired him for the initial K1 application. I believe the consulate looks more favorably upon applications for Petitioners who have hired a lawyer, especially one with his experience and reccomend him very highly. If you want to contact Marc Ellis, you can contact him at marcellislaw@gmail.com. He is based in Vietnam but has an office in the USA. He also has an assistant who lives in Guanzhou who can help with the interview.

[Olomi_811 130]

Congrats on your approval!! Do you mind sharing what made your case difficult?

[bigdog 376]

i would be interested to see what was difficult. GZ if not that had to get along with.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to General Immigration-Related Discussion; topic is contact information and a recommendation for Marc Ellis and not related to the spousal visa process itself.

For the CR1 process I hired Marc Ellis, a lawyer who specializes in Immigrant Visas. He assisted me in completing the forms, wrote an interview letter for the I-130 Petition and for the interview. I wish I had hired him for the initial K1 application.

Marc Ellis' specialty is visa refusals, he may or may not have taken your K1 case.

I believe the consulate looks more favorably upon applications for Petitioners who have hired a lawyer,

I disagree, the Consulate does not care whether or not a petitioner has retained an attorney. Their own website even states the following:

WARNING: The U.S. Consulate General does not endorse or have a "special relationship" with any individual or business that offers advice or assistance with the visa process. No one can guarantee the issuance of a visa to you. The only U.S. consular office in Guangzhou is located on the 5th floor at Tianyu. All U.S. government forms are free. Beware: many visa applicants lose money or are permanently barred from the United States as a result of misleading information and fraudulent applications provided by visa consultants.

With that being said, if a petitioner feels their best course of action is to retain an attorney or have a case that warrants retaining an attorney, then the petitioner should make a choice that is best suited to their own individual situation.

OP: Congratulations on the approval!

Edited February 5, 2012 by Ryan H

[Darnell 8,479]

I'm a big fan of Marc Ellis - especially on helping folk with prior and current red flags.

GUZ IV is one tough sumb|tch - if one has legitimate red flags with NO KNOWLEDGE of how 'letters of attestation' work - Marc Ellis is da man !

[bigdog 376]

I will keep him as a reference, don't know how I missed him.