Anyone use www.usavisanow.com?

I am currently using them. They seem pretty up to speed. I processed my Gc through them for employer based catagory. SESA recieved my app 2003. Used them for H1B transfer/AP/EAD/140 - All with approvals. Just pending 485.

No Experience with PERM process.
I filed under EB2/RIR

They are pretty nominal for their charges. Pretty good with communication as well. Good Luck.

Further questions, leave me your email address. I'll email you
 
alvin said:
Do some search for an immigration attorney named: Earl S. David and decide yourself.
Click to expand...


Yes, I found the dissent in the court case posted on the ILW website most enlightening since it was a nonpartial opinion. It states in relevant part:

"The nature of the attorney-client relationship established at their initial meeting is unclear. Jobe's affidavit suggests his understanding that David would represent him in his asylum claim generally: "I retained Attorney Earl S. David to represent me in my asylum proceedings." This understanding would have been reasonable, based on the fact that David represented Bah in the immigration proceedings resulting in his successful asylum claim. Guided by Bah, Jobe would likely seek the same service from David. Nevertheless, David's letter of justification to the Board of Immigration Appeals defending himself against charges of ineffective assistance of counsel suggests that he was retained exclusively to obtain a change of venue for Jobe's asylum hearing, a seemingly minimal task for the $600 fee that Bah says David received. Thus, at the beginning of the attorney-client relationship, there may have been miscommunications between Jobe and David.

With Bah's assistance, Jobe requested that David obtain a transfer of his Boston-based immigration court hearing to his new home, New York. As he recalls, "Attorney David told me that he would be transferring his case to New York." Bah corroborates this account, while David denies it, saying that "nder no circumstances did I promise to transfer the file as the power to do so arises from the government, not this office."

Prior to the May 22nd hearing date, Jobe says he again contacted David, through Bah, to say he would be unable to make the Boston court appearance due to a back injury. According to Jobe, "Attorney David told [Bah] that [the] case had already been transferred to New York and that a new hearing date would be set," a communication that David again claims never happened. Indeed, David says he told Jobe through Bah that he would have to attend the hearing on May 22, 1996 in Boston regardless of the outcome of the change of venue request.

In reality, David's request for a change of venue, submitted on April 12, 1996 with no supporting evidence or affidavits, was never adequate to win a transfer. A change of venue request may be granted by an IJ for "good cause." 8 C.F.R. 3.20. In seeking a change of venue, "the mere fact that an applicant allegedly resides . . . in another city, without a showing of other significant factors associated with such residence, is insufficient." Matter of Rahman, 20 I & N Dec. 480 (BIA 1992). Yet that residence in another city is all David offered to the IJ to support the change of venue request. Furthermore, it is difficult to credit David's insistence that he told Jobe he had to appear in Boston on May 22 under any circumstances, ready, apparently, to represent himself, after Jobe had retained David to represent him in his asylum proceedings. Jobe hired David because he could not effectively represent himself. Yet Attorney David did not attend the May 22nd sitting in Boston. Moreover, if David was so sure that the May 22 hearing would take place, and he told Jobe to be there without David's representation, did he give Jobe any advice on what he had to do to protect his interests? Apparently not. David says he just told Jobe to be there, an ineffective contribution even on David's version of the facts.

David characterizes the events surrounding the transfer request and missed hearing as "an unfortunate miscommunication." Indeed, it was an unfortunate miscommunication, depriving Jobe of the opportunity to present his asylum claim and resulting in the issuance of an in absentia deportation order. It was also another miscommunication that seemed to plague the David-Jobe attorney-client relationship.

We also do not know from this record what Jobe understood about the information given to him by Bah concerning the decision of the IJ after Jobe failed to appear in Boston on May 22. In his affidavits, Bah only indicates that he "contacted Mr. Jobe regarding this notice," and states his impression that "a ruling from the Immigration Court . . . was done in Sulay's absence." Bah does not say that he told Jobe of his imminent deportation. In addition, it is not clear from the record that Jobe ever took possession of the correspondence. The best evidence that Jobe did not understand the effect of the order is that he sought out the Immigration Office in December regarding his employment authorization, a risk an immigrant would be unlikely to take if he understood his deportation was imminent. If Jobe did not actually receive notice of the IJ's in absentia decision, he then learned of his deportation status only on December 4, 1996 when he sought employment. The timespan between this notification and the February 11, 1997 filing of motions to reopen and to stay deportation cannot be characterized as a failure to take action, as the majority suggests.

Meanwhile, having advised Jobe "to see an Attorney immediately," Bah, Jobe's only liaison to his attorney, leaves the country. As noted, Jobe states in his affidavit that he was relying on Attorney David to represent him in his asylum proceedings. David apparently had a more limited view of his obligation to Jobe, possibly leaving Jobe to rely on an attorney who felt no obligation to help him even after the issuance of the in absentia deportation order. There is some evidence that David himself learned of the deportation order. He writes that, apparently after issuance of the IJ decision: "I tried to reach my client by mail and by the number I had in my file but it was to no avail." While David had failed to file a EOIR-28 "Notice of Entry of Appearance" form with the INS,(10) another suggestion of ineffective representation, the fact that David's address appears prominently on the request for change of venue may have been enough for him to be listed as the attorney of record in Jobe's immigration court proceedings. If David did know of the in absentia deportation order, there is no evidence that he made any effort to file a motion to reopen in a timely fashion, despite his apparent awareness that an "unfortunate miscommunication" between himself and Jobe contributed to Jobe's failure to appear in Boston. Without clarification of David's obligation to protect Jobe after the issuance of the in absentia deportation order, and David's apparent inaction despite any such obligation, a real issue of ongoing ineffective assistance during this critical period exists, which would further account for Jobe's delay in seeking relief from the in absentia deportation order.

In summary, without the support of Bah to comprehend the English language, and perhaps without the support of a reliable attorney who Jobe thought was protecting his interests, it may have been difficult for Jobe to understand his peril and to press his claim more diligently. Yet the majority sees no relationship between these facts and the equitable tolling doctrine. Whether a party is reasonably diligent in ascertaining their claim is a matter of fact. See Salois v. Dime Sav. Bank, 128 F.3d 20, 26 (1st Cir. 1997). In this case, there has been no fact-finding on the diligence issue because the BIA concluded that the 180-day time limit was not subject to equitable tolling. As a legal proposition, that conclusion is wrong. See Lopez v. INS, 184 F.3d 1097, 1100 (9th Cir. 1999). Equitable tolling does apply to the 180-day time limit. There is conflicting and inadequate evidence as to Jobe's notice of the IJ decision, his capacity to pursue a timely motion to reopen, and the burdens imposed by ongoing ineffective assistance of counsel. There has been no chance for Jobe to make a showing as to his diligence, and the case should not be disposed of on the basis of one fact which, upon fair examination, may show little about Jobe's reasonable diligence in pursuing his rights.

III.

I think it important to focus on the situation that led to this case. Jobe was a native and citizen of Gambia where he had been employed as a chauffeur for a deposed president's Minister of Education and Agriculture. According to the record, Jobe claimed that he had reason to fear that he would be hurt and/or killed if he were to return to Gambia. Jobe overstayed his visa and though he was undetected by the INS, he presented himself and sought political asylum. When the INS received this request, they denied the request for political asylum and put him into deportation proceedings. The INS issued an Order to Show Cause and told him that he could request political asylum at his deportation hearing. We know the rest: he failed to appear at his May 22 hearing and was ordered deported. Therefore he never had the opportunity to request political asylum at a deportation hearing; his ultimate goal when he presented himself before the INS.

I do not think it fair or just to deport an individual and put his life in danger on the basis of appellate fact-finding. We should rule, as the panel did originally, that the 180-day time limit for reopening is subject to equitable tolling, that ineffective assistance of counsel may provide a basis for the application of the equitable tolling doctrine, and that there should be a hearing by the IJ to determine whether the running of the 180-day period for filing a motion to reopen should be equitably tolled on the facts of this case. If so, there should be a hearing on Jobe's motion to reopen, giving him an opportunity to make the case that he should be given a new hearing on his asylum application.
 
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