Starting a K1 advisory business

[JoanBill 0]

Aloha kakou,

With Joan and I 99.9% thru with our (pretty much problem free) K1 process, I am seriously considering the possibility of Joan and I starting a K1 advisory business. Note the word "advisory". The appearance of practicing law concerns me, but I am sure there are protections we can take.

With Maui's proximity to the Philippines, the abundance of Filipinos already here, Joan being filipina and $1800 legal fees - I see a possible market.

Has anyone else contemplated this???

Mahalo,

Bill and Joan

[no name 1]

Aloha kakou,

With Joan and I 99.9% thru with our (pretty much problem free) K1 process, I am seriously considering the possibility of Joan and I starting a K1 advisory business. Note the word "advisory". The appearance of practicing law concerns me, but I am sure there are protections we can take.

With Maui's proximity to the Philippines, the abundance of Filipinos already here, Joan being filipina and $1800 legal fees - I see a possible market.

Has anyone else contemplated this???

Mahalo,

Bill and Joan

Legally you'd have to cover yourself 10x over...as you are NOT a lawyer.

[Kang Lang 7]

Aloha kakou,

With Joan and I 99.9% thru with our (pretty much problem free) K1 process, I am seriously considering the possibility of Joan and I starting a K1 advisory business. Note the word "advisory". The appearance of practicing law concerns me, but I am sure there are protections we can take.

With Maui's proximity to the Philippines, the abundance of Filipinos already here, Joan being filipina and $1800 legal fees - I see a possible market.

Has anyone else contemplated this???

Mahalo,

Bill and Joan

a suggestion is to shift away from being an advisory service as it implies legal knowledge but there is definitely money to be made as a document preparer. plenty of agencies exist in other countries where non-attorney types provide notarised translations etc. think of how many people (me included who are just too scared to fill out the forms even though they are really simple if you just take your time and read them)

good luck!

Edited August 15, 2007 by Kang Lang

[JoanBill 0]

Aloha kakou,

With Joan and I 99.9% thru with our (pretty much problem free) K1 process, I am seriously considering the possibility of Joan and I starting a K1 advisory business. Note the word "advisory". The appearance of practicing law concerns me, but I am sure there are protections we can take.

With Maui's proximity to the Philippines, the abundance of Filipinos already here, Joan being filipina and $1800 legal fees - I see a possible market.

Has anyone else contemplated this???

Mahalo,

Bill and Joan

Legally you'd have to cover yourself 10x over...as you are NOT a lawyer.

Yeah, I know. I am thinking of some type of waiver/agreement signed by the client in the very beginning stating to the effect "I recognize Joan and Bill aren't lawyers and they are acting in a non-legal advisory manner. If unforeseen problems arise, then actual legal services may be needed above and beyond what Bill and Joan provide". I would think a good pre-screening could alert us of any potential legal issues. And if we sensed that, we could reject the client.

[JoanBill 0]

Aloha kakou,

With Joan and I 99.9% thru with our (pretty much problem free) K1 process, I am seriously considering the possibility of Joan and I starting a K1 advisory business. Note the word "advisory". The appearance of practicing law concerns me, but I am sure there are protections we can take.

With Maui's proximity to the Philippines, the abundance of Filipinos already here, Joan being filipina and $1800 legal fees - I see a possible market.

Has anyone else contemplated this???

Mahalo,

Bill and Joan

a suggestion is to shift away from being an advisory service as it implies legal knowledge but there is definitely money to be made as a document preparer. plenty of agencies exist in other countries where non-attorney types provide notarised translations etc. think of how many people (me included who are just too scared to fill out the forms even though they are really simple if you just take your time and read them)

good luck!

That is an excellent angle.

Mahalo nui.

[Devil's_Advocate 0]

JoanBill,

If you are serious about this venture, I would highly recommend that you make and appt with a lawyer and discuss the legal ethics of what you wish to do. The ABA may take the stance that even preparing some documentation would constitute practicing law if you provide analysis in how to answer or fill in the form. The drafting of legal documents requires a law license.

Please do an extensive search on the "unauthorized practice of law" (UPL) as it is prohibited in every state. Is this something that you were considering for the US or in your spouse's homeland? If in your spouse's homeland, I would consult with an international lawyer.

Yeah, I know. I am thinking of some type of waiver/agreement signed by the client in the very beginning stating to the effect "I recognize Joan and Bill aren't lawyers and they are acting in a non-legal advisory manner. If unforeseen problems arise, then actual legal services may be needed above and beyond what Bill and Joan provide". I would think a good pre-screening could alert us of any potential legal issues. And if we sensed that, we could reject the client.

[bszoom42 0]

Just because you are not a lawyer doesn't mean you couldn't hire lawyers as you needed to to do your business.

For example, I could open up my own law firm, and hire lawyers to work for me - There is no restriction that a law firm needs to be owned by a lawyer. Sure, I can't do the lawyer's work, but it would still be my firm.

[bora bora 1]

There is a company in Orlando that works with immigration and basically just fills out people's forms for them. There is not a lawyer working in the office - but that is not to say they don't know more than a lawyer. They even have the immigration documents in Portuguese.

This office works on helping people transfer from tourist to student (I-20) visas - among other things.

They work with basically only Portuguese and Spanish speaking people...works for them. I don't see why not either.

[JoanBill 0]

JoanBill,

If you are serious about this venture, I would highly recommend that you make and appt with a lawyer and discuss the legal ethics of what you wish to do. The ABA may take the stance that even preparing some documentation would constitute practicing law if you provide analysis in how to answer or fill in the form. The drafting of legal documents requires a law license.

Please do an extensive search on the "unauthorized practice of law" (UPL) as it is prohibited in every state. Is this something that you were considering for the US or in your spouse's homeland? If in your spouse's homeland, I would consult with an international lawyer.

Yeah, I know. I am thinking of some type of waiver/agreement signed by the client in the very beginning stating to the effect "I recognize Joan and Bill aren't lawyers and they are acting in a non-legal advisory manner. If unforeseen problems arise, then actual legal services may be needed above and beyond what Bill and Joan provide". I would think a good pre-screening could alert us of any potential legal issues. And if we sensed that, we could reject the client.

JoanBill,

If you are serious about this venture, I would highly recommend that you make and appt with a lawyer and discuss the legal ethics of what you wish to do. The ABA may take the stance that even preparing some documentation would constitute practicing law if you provide analysis in how to answer or fill in the form. The drafting of legal documents requires a law license.

Please do an extensive search on the "unauthorized practice of law" (UPL) as it is prohibited in every state. Is this something that you were considering for the US or in your spouse's homeland? If in your spouse's homeland, I would consult with an international lawyer.

Yes, I intend on talking to a lawyer about this. The question arises - what in the I-129F process constitutes being a legal document?? And if providing analysis on answering question is UPL, then is VJ.com acting in an illegal manner??

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Hi, Bill and Joan

Your business idea sounds like a very tricky proposition. Initially, you'd have only your experience and the anecdotal experiences of others on which to base your knowledge. There is a reason that immigration lawyers exist: it's a really complicated area! I'm not sure exactly what services you guys are considering offering, but also keep in mind that many charities and nonprofits exist (Catholic Charities, for example) that offer free or inexpensive immigration advice and employ lawyers and paralegals. I know that some of us feel like experts because of all we've been through with this lengthy process, but I wouldn't feel comfortable being paid to advise someone about immigration. The possibility of something going wrong would give me an ulcer!

I wonder if perhaps you could consider shifting focus. Instead of thinking in terms of assisting with highly complex immigration issues, which could be fraught with complications, you could concentrate on something practical for new arrivals from the Philippines, like resources for relocation issues, or where to get Filipino groceries, or how to deal with culture shock, etc. (This is just stuff off the top of my head.) I’m sure there are ways that you both can use your experiences as the basis for a good business idea, but I’d steer clear of anything that could be construed as legal advice. Assisting w/ document preparation definitely seems like it would fall into that category, no matter what disclaimer someone is willing to sign.

VJ is a free forum for people to relate their experiences; it’s entirely different from providing immigration advice as a paid service.

Edited September 5, 2007 by AOS despair

[payxibka 10,045]

JoanBill,

If you are serious about this venture, I would highly recommend that you make and appt with a lawyer and discuss the legal ethics of what you wish to do. The ABA may take the stance that even preparing some documentation would constitute practicing law if you provide analysis in how to answer or fill in the form. The drafting of legal documents requires a law license.

While I think your caution is good CYA, what drafting of "legal" documents are you referring to? There is a big difference between "drafting" legal documents and simply filling in the blanks... Even on the forms it asks who the "preparer" is if not the applicant/petitioner... This is no different than anyone being able to hang out a shingle and preparing income tax returns.

[pushbrk 12,883]

JoanBill,

If you are serious about this venture, I would highly recommend that you make and appt with a lawyer and discuss the legal ethics of what you wish to do. The ABA may take the stance that even preparing some documentation would constitute practicing law if you provide analysis in how to answer or fill in the form. The drafting of legal documents requires a law license.

While I think your caution is good CYA, what drafting of "legal" documents are you referring to? There is a big difference between "drafting" legal documents and simply filling in the blanks... Even on the forms it asks who the "preparer" is if not the applicant/petitioner... This is no different than anyone being able to hang out a shingle and preparing income tax returns.

There certainly are some cautionary issues, but I don't think I was practicing law when I filled out my wife and daughter's forms for them.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

This topic piqued my interest, so I did a little bit of research. It sounds like what you're thinking of doing is close to what an immigrant consultant does. It appears that in the U.S. (as opposed to Canada), there is no certifying authority or professional association, and anyone can offer his or her services to people who need assistance with filling in immigration forms. However, it looks like they are not supposed to give legal advice of any sort, and how much they can charge varies from state to state.

Some links:

http://www.immigrationconsultant.org

www.filipinoreporter.com (California)

From USCIS site

see second paragraph under Accredited Representatives

So, it looks like you can indeed do a limited number of things without legal problems, although you may need to expand your repertoire from just K1 to compete w/ other immigration consultants. I'd say that the Devil's Advocate's advice still applies--you'd need to make sure you don't give legal advice of any kind.