Using a lawyer

[sarah and hicham 3]

Oh man he has some nerve to ask you to pay that much for AOS. Unbelievable.

[jordanianprincess 0]

I don't think using a lawyer is a bad thing at all. Throughout my career I have worked with a few different immigration attorneys for work related visas. They all told me the same thing when I consulted with them regarding my case.

They said there is nothing they can do to help, they would just be filling out forms. Since the interview takes place in another country they can't get involved. So there is never really any presence of an attorney. The only positive thing he said that could come out of it , is that if you use an attorny that comes from a big firm, one that the USCIS is used to dealing with, then you could possible get an approval from the CSC without any RFE's.

He said that the service centers tend to comb through paperwork more carefully when its done by the petioner, which makes sense. I am going to most likely hire an attorney for AOS.

Good Luck

[morocco4ever 63]

I paid a lawyer $500.00 just to file one little paper...the FOIA. That was back in October of 2005. To this day I haven't gotten anything on it even though our case is now reaffirmed.

Now here is the good part, the point of the FOIA was too find out what the consular's notes are. The consulates are the Department of State. I found out that my lawyer filed it with the Department of Homeland Securities! So when it does come I will get squat for my $500.00!

Needless to say I didn't ask her to help with my rebuttle letter for the Notice of Intent to deny, she probably would have sent that to the consulate.

If by chance you do want to consult a lawyer you might want to consider Mark Ellis. He is very well acquanted with the visa process. I wish I had asked him first.

[~*Dorothy*~ 2]

If your visa process is relatively uncomplicated (no arrests, no past issues with the US regarding visa problems, overstays etc) then the whole process is collecting information, filling out forms and sending them to the correct address with the correct amount of money. Having a lawyer sign that he filled the papers out for you doesn't seem to speed anything along. And, there have been several instances on this board where lawyers have messed things up, and delayed the process (I think this happened to Jackie if I can remember correctly).

I totaly agree with Rahma...and with Visa Journey how can you go wrong....

Dorothy

[honeyblonde 0]

I'm a pre-law student and figure I'll add my two cents here - what the heck.

To specialize in any form of law requires a deep knowledge of that area of law and the jurisdiction in which you will be practicing it and the local application of laws, as well as the precedent for that area. That is what makes the odds of getting a good immigration attorney extremely low. In general, there are very few middle eastern/north african visas coming into any area of the country (there are some areas here where that will not be the norm, but overall it is). Chances are there will not be an attorney in your area that has ever filled a visa for someone in your situation before. Even the best attorney you can choose is likely to be filing for a Moroccan for the first time so will know much less about the precedent for this consulate than you do from coming here to VJ.

IF you decide you need an attorney, don't just go look in the yellow pages for "immigration attorney". Come here and talk to people who have used an attorney and had satisfactory results. Don't get an attorney that is good at getting visas from VietNam or Russia or the Phillipines. Find one who understands the intricacies of getting a visa for an Arab man, preferrably an Egyptian. ONLY under these circumstances would I ever recommend hiring an attorney.

I have a friend who used an attorney and the ways that man messes up her case amaze me. He called her one day and told her she had sent him the wrong birth certificate for her husband! When she went to his office and he handed her the birth certificate, it clearly had his fax number across the top of it. Someone else had sent it to him and he had put it with her file! When she pointed this out to him he didn't even appologize but just gave it to his secretary to go find the right file to put it in.

She filed over 2 years ago, her husband didn't pass his interview, their case was sent back, and she has no idea what is going on. Her attorney is absolutely useless and she paid him $2,700 total now. He sent her an e-mail blaming the visa denial on everything but his own incompetence.

I have other horror stories I could tell, but I think you've gotten a pretty good sample in this thread already.

Edited October 11, 2006 by honeyblonde