RFE for meeting in last 2 years: does this mean our lawyer messed up?

[bellsbells 3]

12 minutes ago, payxibka said:

When you say flight receipt,  what does that mean exactly?  Boarding pass?  How does it show flight completion? How does it show you were on the plane?

 

In country reservations means you booked a hotel,  a copy of the hotel folio would be better 

 

 

The flight receipts show either "USED" or "FLWN" for each leg of the trip listed. I was able to find boarding passes for the most recent trip, as well. For two of the trips I stayed with Xavier at his apartment, and in China I have a receipt from the hotel showing that the stay was completed. I hope this is good enough? When you visit someone in their home town, how else are you supposed to prove that you were there? I didn't save any receipts, unfortunately. Although my Visa bill would show that I made purchases there. Have you any idea if copies of my credit card statements would be useful?

[payxibka 10,045]

Just now, bellsbells said:

The flight receipts show either "USED" or "FLWN" for each leg of the trip listed. I was able to find boarding passes for the most recent trip, as well. For two of the trips I stayed with Xavier at his apartment, and in China I have a receipt from the hotel showing that the stay was completed. I hope this is good enough? When you visit someone in their home town, how else are you supposed to prove that you were there? I didn't save any receipts, unfortunately. Although my Visa bill would show that I made purchases there. Have you any idea if copies of my credit card statements would be useful?

People have used statements showing local purchases and local atm withdrawals. 

 

In my situation I showed my entry stamp  and copies of boarding passes with us in adjacent seats on the same domestic flight.  Game, set, match.  Nothing more was required.   So it is not quantity but quality .

[bellsbells 3]

Just now, payxibka said:

People have used statements showing local purchases and local atm withdrawals. 

 

In my situation I showed my entry stamp  and copies of boarding passes with us in adjacent seats on the same domestic flight.  Game, set, match.  Nothing more was required.   So it is not quantity but quality .

Sounds like you hit the jackpot there. We don't have evidence of travelling together because I always went to visit him. That's why I thought 3 trips would be better, because it would show that I went to his home town twice, and to China while he was there. I will include credit card statements, too. Thanks for all of your help!

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, bellsbells said:

Sounds like you hit the jackpot there. We don't have evidence of travelling together because I always went to visit him. That's why I thought 3 trips would be better, because it would show that I went to his home town twice, and to China while he was there. I will include credit card statements, too. Thanks for all of your help!

As long as one is airtight.   

 

The uscis adjudicator has a list that must have all the requirements checked before it can be approved. That is why for the petition,  three trips are not better than one but simply the same as one because the most you can receive is one checkmark 

[Mike E 11,732]

You will be fine with photos, receipts for airline tix and receipts for hotels. 

 

For my I-129F (didn’t use a lawyer but wished I had) I put together a book of all the meetings ordered by date with photos, tix, receipts and sometimes emails between us confirming the dates.  I used the same book for the interview (with more meetings) and for the AOS (with tix and receipts for our honeymoon). I used the lawyer for the AOS and she specifically asked for this stuff. 

 

People with bad lawyers ... are their yelp reviews fake?

[clw654321 159]

Lawyers Only want your money. You can get an RFE, they lie to you, then ask for more money. They do not care if your fiance/wife gets here or not. If you and your fiance do not have extremely bad backgrounds then a lawyer is completely pointless.

I knew nothing about this process at first... Now thanks to God, people here on VJ, and other research my wife is at home and we are just waiting for AOS. 

[bellsbells 3]

You all are awesome. This community is so responsive and helpful. 

I have a follow-up question: since the lawyer has shown incompetence by not having asked us for proof of meeting to include with the original application, we have decided not to continue with him. He had quoted us something like $5K for the whole process and we so far have not been billed for anything, so we planned to just quietly take care of the rest of the process and hope he forgot about us. However, we have just received an email from him asking us to provide the evidence to him to send to the USCIS. So what we didn't realize was that the USCIS also informed him about the RFE. Does this mean the USCIS will be updating him on each step of the way, even if we take things into our own hands? If so, is there a way to prevent him from being notified going forward?

I'm a little worried now that if we tell him we don't need his services anymore, he will still charge us the full amount, or a ridiculously high fee, even though he only took care of the initial application.

[SalishSea 17,503]

1 minute ago, bellsbells said:

You all are awesome. This community is so responsive and helpful. 

I have a follow-up question: since the lawyer has shown incompetence by not having asked us for proof of meeting to include with the original application, we have decided not to continue with him. He had quoted us something like $5K for the whole process and we so far have not been billed for anything, so we planned to just quietly take care of the rest of the process and hope he forgot about us. However, we have just received an email from him asking us to provide the evidence to him to send to the USCIS. So what we didn't realize was that the USCIS also informed him about the RFE. Does this mean the USCIS will be updating him on each step of the way, even if we take things into our own hands? If so, is there a way to prevent him from being notified going forward?

I'm a little worried now that if we tell him we don't need his services anymore, he will still charge us the full amount, or a ridiculously high fee, even though he only took care of the initial application.

So you didn't pay a retainer at the start of the process?  There is no way he will "forget" about the "work" he has done so far.  You will be billed for those hours, whatever they are.

 

My suggestion is to notify him in writing immediately that you no longer require his services, as of today, and that you will be personally taking care of the paperwork for the rest of your process.  You could try sending a copy of this letter to USCIS (along with a copy of your NOA1/RFE so they could potentially find your file), but there is no guarantee that they will take action.  Perhaps try calling and asking to speak to a tier-2 rep and tell that person that you fired your lawyer?

[treppenwitz 78]

5 minutes ago, bellsbells said:

If so, is there a way to prevent him from being notified going forward?

https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-your-form-g-28 "Withdraw your legal representative"

[payxibka 10,045]

6 minutes ago, bellsbells said:

You all are awesome. This community is so responsive and helpful. 

I have a follow-up question: since the lawyer has shown incompetence by not having asked us for proof of meeting to include with the original application, we have decided not to continue with him. He had quoted us something like $5K for the whole process and we so far have not been billed for anything, so we planned to just quietly take care of the rest of the process and hope he forgot about us. However, we have just received an email from him asking us to provide the evidence to him to send to the USCIS. So what we didn't realize was that the USCIS also informed him about the RFE. Does this mean the USCIS will be updating him on each step of the way, even if we take things into our own hands? If so, is there a way to prevent him from being notified going forward?

I'm a little worried now that if we tell him we don't need his services anymore, he will still charge us the full amount, or a ridiculously high fee, even though he only took care of the initial application.

I assume he checked the box that he is an accredited attorney and his services extend beyond the petition preparation.   As such, he will continue to receive notices until you sever that relationship 

[bellsbells 3]

7 minutes ago, treppenwitz said:

https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-your-form-g-28 "Withdraw your legal representative"

Thank you, this is very helpful! 

[gabluc 171]

23 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Not surprising at all.  Photos are considered secondary evidence because in most cases, it is not possible to "prove" the date they were taken.  They show you have indeed met and been together in person, but not WHEN.

 

Lawyers often cause delays and RFEs. You've paid them, and they don't have any personal stake in the outcome or timeline. I totally recommend completing your process as DIY by reading and studying as much as you can here as well as on the USCIS website.

 

Best primary evidence of meeting within two years of filing is passport stamps and boarding passes.  

Best advice, I will take note if this happens to me.

[bellsbells 3]

Sorry to be a pest, but in your experiences, what is the best way to prove that my fiancé was present in his hometown when I went to visit him? I can show my boarding passes and passport stamps, but I stayed with him at his apartment so from his side, I don't know what would be the way to prove that we were together....

[SalishSea 17,503]

1 hour ago, bellsbells said:

Sorry to be a pest, but in your experiences, what is the best way to prove that my fiancé was present in his hometown when I went to visit him? I can show my boarding passes and passport stamps, but I stayed with him at his apartment so from his side, I don't know what would be the way to prove that we were together....

Are you referring to the visit in China?  Sounds like he was living there - does he have rental leases or bills from the time you visited?

[Shiran 1,134]

4 hours ago, bellsbells said:

Sorry to be a pest, but in your experiences, what is the best way to prove that my fiancé was present in his hometown when I went to visit him? I can show my boarding passes and passport stamps, but I stayed with him at his apartment so from his side, I don't know what would be the way to prove that we were together....

I am not sure you need to go to that degree. Usually they are satisfied with passport stamps + boarding passes showing trip to country of the partner. I know in my case I didn't have boarding passes for ... reasons, but I did have baggage tags that showed my full name and destination city/country. I never provided any additional proof of my fiancee at the time address. Well, other than her address filled in 129F itself.