WTF is up with our "lawyer"

[manda 1]

Hi

My wife and I got married here in Canada back in December. I'm from the UK and she's from the US. We are temporarily residing in Canada so we can live together. We hired a Canadian "lawyer" in December to start a IR/CR1 visa for us and my god are they bad. They successfully filed our case with USCIS in December. Since then, every package sent to the NVC was incomplete or not correct and had to be redone. This delayed us maybe 1 month. We heard finally that our case was complete August 9th, called today to check if they have an interview and can you believe it... our case was reopened because our "lawyer" sent the NVC more documents after it was already complete, meaning the NVC had to reopen our case. Can you believe it, our lawyer fails us yet again after our case has already been completed!!!!!! I feel sick, and cannot afford to live in Canada too much longer. Is there such thing as a proper Lawyer in this country? (Canada). I'm advising anyone who is going to hire a Canadian lawyer to really really check up on them first, also if anyone wants to know the name of our "lawyer" so you can stay away from them and burn their page out of the yellowpages, feel free to contact me. Sorry for ranting on but I thought they can no longer fail us once our case was complete on Aug 9th and somehow, they managed to delay us yet another month.. Check your Lawyers out before you hand over your money..

[trailmix 77]

Hi Manda,

Yes, there are bad lawyers everywhere, there are many good lawyers in Canada as there are everywhere as well - I'm sorry you got stuck with a bad one.

It is rather unbelievable that he sent documents after your case was already completed and I know it must be very frustrating for you.

Checking out your lawyer before handing over your money is very good advice.

Best of luck to you

[picnictable 0]

Fire the lawyer and do it yourself....no brainer.

[Jasman0717 9]

Fire the lawyer and do it yourself....no brainer.

[manda 1]

to add: as i said above, im from the UK in canada on my passport, the lawyer succesfully extended my visitors visa to canada once. I paid him to extend it again a few weeks ago and have not heard anything. As of now i do not have legal status in canada. we are supposed to have an interview in montreal at some point. (lawyers delayed us another month yet again) im wondering do i need legal status in canada to go for the interview in montreal? Does the us counsalor in montreal care/know if i have legal status here?

[Captain Oates 911]

All lawyers are bio-degradable and that's the good bit said.

When we did K1, we hired one who was having a family crisis and forgot to mail our completed petition for weeks !!!!

I forgave him coz I am soft and we paid him up front anyway !

We went back to him for AOS and I argued that we needed a certain form (I had read it on VJ) - he said no..

3 weeks later we got an RFE for that form!!!

never again !

VJ is worth tens of thousands in lawyer fees....

[trailmix 77]

to add: as i said above, im from the UK in canada on my passport, the lawyer succesfully extended my visitors visa to canada once. I paid him to extend it again a few weeks ago and have not heard anything. As of now i do not have legal status in canada. we are supposed to have an interview in montreal at some point. (lawyers delayed us another month yet again) im wondering do i need legal status in canada to go for the interview in montreal? Does the us counsalor in montreal care/know if i have legal status here?

Hi Manda,

I'm not sure how the consulate views your status, hopefully someone will come along who has some experience with that.

The thing is, currently interviews in Montreal take about 6 months to obtain - from the time your case is completed at NVC - not sure if you know that?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

to add: as i said above, im from the UK in canada on my passport, the lawyer succesfully extended my visitors visa to canada once. I paid him to extend it again a few weeks ago and have not heard anything. As of now i do not have legal status in canada. we are supposed to have an interview in montreal at some point. (lawyers delayed us another month yet again) im wondering do i need legal status in canada to go for the interview in montreal? Does the us counsalor in montreal care/know if i have legal status here?

Yup, they do care. The beneficiary absolutely needs legal status in Canada for an interview, they required proof of my legal status before even approving my I-130 (in my case, work permit). How about filing for the extension with CIC by yourself (since your lawyer is as good as nada)? Or give CIC a call to see how your extension is going?

Good luck, L.

[manda 1]

Hi Manda,

I'm not sure how the consulate views your status, hopefully someone will come along who has some experience with that.

The thing is, currently interviews in Montreal take about 6 months to obtain - from the time your case is completed at NVC - not sure if you know that?

Ok thanks everyone for your input, trailmix: you scared me, 6 months, are you sure about that. Our visa is the IR/CR1 not the K1/3?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Ok thanks everyone for your input, trailmix: you scared me, 6 months, are you sure about that. Our visa is the IR/CR1 not the K1/3?

Indeed, the processing times in Montreal are between 5 and 7 months from receipt of checklist to interview. Sorry

[trailmix 77]

Hi Manda,

I'm not sure how the consulate views your status, hopefully someone will come along who has some experience with that.

The thing is, currently interviews in Montreal take about 6 months to obtain - from the time your case is completed at NVC - not sure if you know that?

Ok thanks everyone for your input, trailmix: you scared me, 6 months, are you sure about that. Our visa is the IR/CR1 not the K1/3?

Hi Manda,

Sorry didn't mean to scare you (but it's true), of course there are exceptions and some people do get their interviews sooner. There is more info on this in the Canadian forum:

CR1 Montreal timeline to interview

K Visa Montreal timeline to interview - spreadsheet

Montreal K visa timeline to interview thread

Edited September 11, 2007 by trailmix