My attorney is a scam... or not?

C

CaViCcHi

Registered Users (C)
Hi everybody

I filed everything through my attorney date march 27. (so all of the forms, but it's not important)

just friday I received a REJECTION NOTICE because the i-485 HE made me fill out is OUTDATED.

now, I opened the USCIS website and they say that the revision is:
Edition Date :
12/03/09. Previous editions not accepted.

I know it's a stupid question but I need to ask... the fact that he gave me the form the day 02/26/2010 means that it was already outdated the day he gave it to me, right? (the one he gave me is Rev. 12/16/08)

I add a note for all of those people who don't understand the word "SCAM", scam is something pretending to be something else (somebody from cambodia asking you for a donation for a school that doesn't exist, somebody from NY selling a car that doesn't exist... etc): therefore... this person pretends to be a professional, but he's not. You wanna argue this? pm me, but the evidences and his admitting prove me right whether you like it or not

It looks totally obvious to me that he messed up 100% by giving me the wrong form and so now I have to file everything again... also... am I gonna lose time?
 
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You definitely lost months of time. The question is whether you also lost money -- did they return the form including your check, or did they cash the check?

Look at the expiration date, not the revision date. On the top right corner of page 1 you will see "Expires xx/xx/xx". If it was already expired when he gave it to you, and USCIS took your money for the I-485, the attorney should pay the fee for you to refile.

What about your I-130? Was it approved?
 
I actually don't know about the I-130 I didn't receive anything... the 765 was anyway rejected (Second letter) because of the 485.

I called the INS this morning and they told me not to look at the expiration day on top. but just at the edition.
 
CaViCcHi said:
I actually don't know about the I-130 I didn't receive anything...
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Nothing? Not even a receipt? Get it from the attorney.

I called the INS this morning and they told me not to look at the expiration day on top. but just at the edition.
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The people on the USCIS phones are mostly useless. Looking at the revision date won't tell you if a form was valid 4 months ago. The revision date can help you figure out if it was the latest form at the time, by checking to see if another version with a later date existed, but the fact that it is not the latest revision doesn't mean it's not valid. USCIS will normally allow an overlap period where they accept both the new version and the prior version; they can release the next one before the expiration date of the existing one.

If a form is filed after the "Expires xx/xx/xx" date, it is outdated unless USCIS has published a notice saying that they have extended the validity for a certain amount of time. So if yours was filed after the expiration date on the form, the attorney should refund the filing fee (if USCIS cashed the check) unless they can show that USCIS published something to extend the validity beyond the stated expiration date, to the point where it was still valid on the filing date.
 
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Unfortunately from what I see on the USCIS website

Edition Date :
12/03/09. Previous editions not accepted.

which gives little space to interpretation, or not?
 
CaViCcHi said:
Unfortunately from what I see on the USCIS website

Edition Date :
12/03/09. Previous editions not accepted.

which gives little space to interpretation, or not?
Click to expand...

You need to know what their web site was saying back in March when the I-485 was filed. If back then it said "previous edition accepted until April 10", then USCIS was in the wrong for rejecting yours which was filed in March. But if it was saying "previous edition not accepted", or "previous edition accepted until Feb 28", your attorney would be in the wrong.

I found the 12/16/2008 revision on my computer. It says "Expires 11/30/2011". So USCIS should have accepted yours, unless they published a notice to invalidate it before yours was filed.
 
I know it says so, I'm trying to ask other people to let me know what was the current version.

The modification date of the page though is 4/12 so maybe something was modified in april... how can I know for sure? and I need to know for sure... I'm gonna see him in 3 hours...
 
I found this:

Wednesday February 25, 2010

Beginning February 25, 2010, most applicants must submit Form I-485 to a USCIS Lockbox facility, depending on the eligibility category under which they are filing, as provided in the form instructions. USCIS Service Centers will forward all Form I-485 applications to the appropriate Lockbox facility until March 29, 2010. USCIS will accept previous versions of Form I-485 until March 29, 2010. After March 29, 2010, USCIS will only accept the Form I-485 dated '12/03/09.' Any previous versions of the the form that are submitted will be rejected. After the transitional period, the Service Centers will return any incorrectly filed Form I-485 with instructions to send the application to the correct location.

I can't post the link on the USCIS website, the forum doesnt let me anyway... you just look for "Beginning February 25, 2010, most applicants must submit Form I-485 to a USCIS" on google (with the quotes)

my ridiculous lawyer allegedly shipped everything saturday 27th; so I am pretty sure that he never read the notice (also because I bothered him to ship everything FAST, he wanted to meet the following week [after 1 month that we started filling out the documents]). I would never send a form 1 day before it expires (and on a weekend) since the new one it's been available for 4 months.
 
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well I paid for those... and I gave him his 50% at the beginning... we agreed and contracted that I won't spend another penny on this, if there's any cent to spend is on him plus I won't give him his last 50%
 
If you don't have a complicated case, maybe try to do everything yourself next time? I've done everything by myself and so far so good, I'll have interview in 3 weeks.
If you're worried about the interview, you can hire a lawyer for this step only. Someone said it costs $400-700 to get a lawyer do interview practice and go to interview with you. The price depends on where you live, but at least it's much cheaper than having lawyer "helping" ou since the beginning (and also less troublesome. I heard cases that lawyer asks for extra money everytime there's any update, or they don't reveal important information to you unless you pay more).
 
CaViCcHi said:
no they sent back all of the submitted fees, is there cases where they keep them?
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Yes, sometimes USCIS takes all the money and then later on they reject the case. So you're lucky they sent it back.

But you still need to find out what happened with the I-130. If they accepted it and began processing it, you'll need to include the I-130 receipt with the new I-485 filing.
 
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CaViCcHi said:
This process is (luckily) once in a lifetime
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Once in a lifetime doesn't mean you couldn't do it yourself either though. EXAMPLE. (You payed a lawyer to do yours, FORUMS MEMBERS didn't. Your case is delayed because of the lawyers error and FORUM MEMBERS wasn't)

I did and it was almost too easy.

I visited different lawyers and they charged anywhere from $1,200-$5,000 for everything. I'm super glad I was able to save all that money thanks to this forum. If I had any questions or doubts I asked away and all of them got answered.

Dont get me wrong though, if your case is complicated by all means getting a lawyer is probably best.
 
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jcrmlaredo said:
Once in a lifetime doesn't mean you couldn't do it yourself either though. EXAMPLE. (You payed a lawyer to do yours, FORUMS MEMBERS didn't. Your case is delayed because of the lawyers error and FORUM MEMBERS wasn't)

I did and it was almost too easy.

I visited different lawyers and they charged anywhere from $1,200-$5,000 for everything. I'm super glad I was able to save all that money thanks to this forum. If I had any questions or doubts I asked away and all of them got answered.

Dont get me wrong though, if your case is complicated by all means getting a lawyer is probably best.
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My point is that if I would've known before hiring him that he would have canned it... then I wouldn't have hired him and I would've probably done it myself.... but would could should... it's easy to be wise after the event... :)
 
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