Immigration lawyer misses H-1B deadline

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pissedoffman

Registered Users (C)
My girlfriend's lawyer sat on her file for one week and missed the last H-1B deadline by a day, citing they weren't aware of the new deadline. Is there any recourse? We can't believe this happened, this was supposed to be a good and expensive lawyer...
 
You are SOL. What is your dumb lawyer going to do to make restitution for what has happened. For what you paid, your valuable time he has wasted, your lost opportunity, etc.
How good could he possibly be when they miss deadlines. What a lame ass excuse.
 
Yeah, I've read that you're basically screwed when your lawyer screws up. We are supposed to go talk to him next week. I might file a grievance against him (it's not just the 2-3 days he missed the deadine by - he has basically delayed the whole process, my gf went to him months ago) and I will certainly devote a website to him and explain what happened (no insults - just facts). At least it will be a thorn in his side. I am really pissed off, my gf cried her eyes out when she got home... I can't believe how some of these guys play with people's lives so disrespectfully.
 
guess what...

Alka Bahal at Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman www.gghlaw.com was my wife's company lawyer and she sat on the file for 2 months. Worse, she is extremely rude about it and not willing to accept blame.

where are all the good immigration lawyers. Lawyers like Alka Bahal are giving a bad reputation to this respectable profession.
 
Let's post here what we find out about filing grievances with the state bar assoc. There are a lot of weird things that I could bring up about this seemingly good lawyer that he'd have to explain... If anyone has had the same problem this year, please post. Maybe some of us had the same lawyer.
 
pissedoffman said:
My girlfriend's lawyer sat on her file for one week and missed the last H-1B deadline by a day, citing they weren't aware of the new deadline. Is there any recourse? We can't believe this happened, this was supposed to be a good and expensive lawyer...
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There are 20,000 special cap exemptions for people with U.S. masters' degrees and education beyond a U.S. master's degree. These H1B numbers still are available for both FY2005 and FY2006. A full bachelor's degree (not some credits pluse work) + 5 years experience in the field may qualify you, and properly evaluated a 3 Year Indian Bachelors degree will qualify as a full degree. See http://www.thedegreepeople.com/immigration.html

-Shoshana
 
Lots of lawyers blew it! Here's why:

On August 11. 2005, there was an AILA posting that stated that the H-1B numbers were being used rapidly and probably would not last much longer. The posting provided a link to the USCIS website that stated that as of August 4, 2005, there were approximately 6,500 H-1Bs left for Fiscal Year 2006. Late in the day (after normal business hours) on August 11, 2005, AILA sent out an emergency email stating that they had "reason to believe" that the cap would soon be exhausted and may already had been reached. The next morning, on August 12, 2005, USCIS formally announced that the 2006 H-1B quota had been hit as of August 10, 2005!

The mathematics of this is extremely problematic. I have been doing H-1Bs for nearly a decade and I have never seen this happen. There was no notice whatsoever and the official notices that were out were misleading.
 
shoshanad said:
There are 20,000 special cap exemptions for people with U.S. masters' degrees and education beyond a U.S. master's degree. These H1B numbers still are available for both FY2005 and FY2006. A full bachelor's degree (not some credits pluse work) + 5 years experience in the field may qualify you, and properly evaluated a 3 Year Indian Bachelors degree will qualify as a full degree. See http://www.thedegreepeople.com/immigration.html

-Shoshana
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An equivalency is useless for these purposes. The person must have earned a bachelor's degree from a US University to qualify for the 20,000 set aside.
 
Thanks for the info Jim. I had read up on the 8/10/05 'limit reached' news and can understand why some lawyers could have been caught off guard. However, in my GF's case, her lawyer had been negligent and unresponsive (didn't return calls for a week and then left on vacation for several weeks a month before her OPT visa was up). The firm then sat on her file for a week when all they had to do was mail it... It just seems to me that these are grounds for a grievance. She was betrayed by the person whose fiduciary duty was to serve her best interests.
 
pissedoffman said:
Thanks for the info Jim. I had read up on the 8/10/05 'limit reached' news and can understand why some lawyers could have been caught off guard. However, in my GF's case, her lawyer had been negligent and unresponsive (didn't return calls for a week and then left on vacation for several weeks a month before her OPT visa was up). The firm then sat on her file for a week when all they had to do was mail it... It just seems to me that these are grounds for a grievance. She was betrayed by the person whose fiduciary duty was to serve her best interests.

In addition to filing a complaint about the lawyer with the relevant Appellate division Grievance Committee, bring a claim against that lawyer for legal malpractice. There are law firms that agree to commence a legal action for malpractice on a contingency fee arragement, where in you don't have to pay the fee or full fee (only nominal fee needs to be paid) but fee must be paid once the law firm wins the case. Research on whether there are any law firms in your city that accept cases on contingency fee arrangement.

Sue the attorney. Don't leave him. :mad:
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It's really tough for a foreigner to even find a sponsor here, and my gf worked hard for years to get to that point, and now that's been destroyed. I feel so terribly bad for her, it just kills me and I don't know what to do. I did my best to cheer her up but I really feel like crap inside while I want to keep her hopes up. It's hard to put a monetary amount on that, I don't even know if people have sued and won in these types of cases. If we could just pay more and have the file go through or something, we would, but of course that's not possible.
 
pissedoffman,

how long has your gf stayed in the usa? i've read in some immigration lawyers website that there is a certain time needed to wait from the point of entry to the usa before one can file a working visa. from what i understand is you can't file till you reach this "timeframe" so that you can be eligible and not be denied due to technicalities.

i'm not defending your lawyer, if such is the case with your gf, the lawyer should have been transparent to her and mentioned all the available problems that she might encounter during the process of filing the h1b.

now, if the lawyer did not mention those facts, then he is incompetent.
 
regarding what you just mentioned on, and i qoute "it kills me and i don't know what to do"

would like to ask you a very private question, what is your status in the USA?
how much you can help your gf depends on what status you are in now.


pissedoffman said:
It's really tough for a foreigner to even find a sponsor here, and my gf worked hard for years to get to that point, and now that's been destroyed. I feel so terribly bad for her, it just kills me and I don't know what to do. I did my best to cheer her up but I really feel like crap inside while I want to keep her hopes up. It's hard to put a monetary amount on that, I don't even know if people have sued and won in these types of cases. If we could just pay more and have the file go through or something, we would, but of course that's not possible.
Click to expand...
 
rajgup12 said:
is there any way I can complain about Alka Bahal at Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman www.gghlaw.com . It was Alka Bahal's incompetence that caused all the problem for my wife.
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You really have 4 options. In order of increasing severity, they are:

1. Speak to the attorney (Alka Bahal) and draft a letter in necessary/appropriate.

2. Speak to a senior partner and draft a complaint letter to the firm.

3. Speak to a malpractice attorney to see if a case for damages can be brought.

4. File an ethics complaint with the appropriate state bar.

Please note that I am not suggesting that any of the above are appropriate in this situation, nor am I recommending that you take any of the actions listed above. I am also not discouraging you from acting.
 
Jim Mills said:
An equivalency is useless for these purposes. The person must have earned a bachelor's degree from a US University to qualify for the 20,000 set aside.
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Jim Mills is absolutely wrong,
to qualify 20,000 set aside one must have US - MS (Masters) degree or Higher degree (PhD etc) not Bachelor degree.

INS quote
"As directed by the H1B Visa reform act of 2004, USCIS treat as exempt from the cap for any fiscal year the first 20,000 h1B petitions reflecting an alien beneficiary with a US earned master's or higher degree"
 
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