Do I really need a lawyer?

T

tessiekenela

Registered Users (C)
I feel as though my lawyer hasn't done much at all. with the exception of filing my I-130 and a motion for bond. Even for the bond hearing/first MH, she had a personal emergency and sent a criminal attorney who not only was not familiar with immigration court proceedings, she wasn't entirely familiar with our case either. My husband almost got his bond rejected because the lawyer could not furnish a copy of his passport or didn't know where one was. I had to interject the hearing because I was holding the original expired passport my husband had when he entered the US.
Every time there's a hearing scheduled, I have to find out on my own by calling the 800 #. She had also asked if I wanted to change the venue to deal with a nicer judge (rather than judge Rex Ford). She wanted 500.00 more. I said no. Then I find out that we have another hearing Dec. 1st with judge Sanders. I emailed her and told her I had just found out that we had a diff judge and she said that she did the change of venue without having to file a motion and therefore, for free.
Is that possible??? I don't know for sure and I wish there was a way for me to find out, but I think judge Rex Ford (here in Broward county, FL) only oversees detainee cases...I feel like she isn't being truthful. I feel like everything she is doing I could do myself. and with my hubby not working, having to pay her 1000.00 a month is way too much for NOTHING it seems. Luckily, I was able to talk her into lowering the monthly payments to 500.00.

Soooo my question is, how difficult will be to handle this on our own?. My hubby entered with a visa but overstayed. Hes been here 8 years +, has tons of family and we got married before he was detained by ICE. We have tons of proof that we have a real relationship. Our I-130 is still pending but I don't see why it wouldn't be approved.
 
tessiekenela said:
usc
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by chance I got to know a lot of immigration lawyers when I was running my own business..and almost all of them told me that they don't actually care much about immigration cases at all .. it appear to be some sort of "industry standard" that US immg. lawyers like to do AS LESS AS POSSIBLE FOR THEIR CLIENTS ;;most of them actually have a HUGE BIAS AGAINST IMMIGRANTS IN GENERAL ;;;so my advice is to avoid using them any way you can .. or you gonna be "paying them to do nothing "
also they have such a load of cases they lost interest way back ...:D
 
tessiekenela said:
My hubby entered with a visa but overstayed. Hes been here 8 years +, has tons of family and we got married before he was detained by ICE.
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Should have had filed I-130 with I-485 right after marriage and you would not have been on this forum todayand paying for this good for nothing attorney.
 
IMO this could be done on your own if you are pretty savvy with Immigration Laws, if not get a competant attorney, not the kind that send out rookie criminal attorneys on a immigration case as she was trying to possibly get more clients to give her a retainer so she can do the same thing with them. I will be honest those attorneys don't come with a $500/month payment plan and usually like to start with at least $5K retainer.
Although it's none of my business but let me be honest one more time, I hope you were not holding his I-130 and I-485 hostage over this guys head after getting married, it is quiet disturbing for IJ's to look at a case where a person was eligible to apply but doesn't specially if the marriage is old, they start to smell a rat in those cases, now all of that is not true if you got married and two weeks later ICE got him then obviously this guy just simply has a luck of a Irish men.
 
tessiekenela said:
Soooo my question is, how difficult will be to handle this on our own?. My hubby entered with a visa but overstayed. Hes been here 8 years +, has tons of family and we got married before he was detained by ICE. We have tons of proof that we have a real relationship. Our I-130 is still pending but I don't see why it wouldn't be approved.
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Is he out of custody yet? If not your first goal is to get him bonded and released. Also which visa did he enter under, visit or student?
 
hi guys thank you all for the response. A little background:
we got married june 13. we were waiting for the marriage certificate to arrive in the mail so we could file the paperwork. On July 5th, he got arrested for driving w/o a license and consequently detained by ICE where he remained detained for 1 month. We posted bond on his master hearing. We didnt get the marriage certificate until July 25 or around then. We filed the I-130 on July 25 but the attorney advised me not to file the i485 because being that he was already under removal proceeding and under the court's jurisdiction, USCIS might reject/deny the petition and we would be losing the filing fees. Made sense to me not to try to AOS while in deportation proceeding.

he came into this country on a tourist visa in 2002 and overstayed. got married to a USC in 2006 - got a work permit, SS and license but the marriage ended up in divorce before he could get his green card. The case was simply closed and he wasnt under any deportation orders.

But again, back to my original question, how do IJ see defendants representing themselves? Will it adversely affect our case? This lady seems like a waste of money to me..but i dont want to fire her if i am jeoperdizing our case.

Much THXX and have a wonderful holiday weekend.
 
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