Hi, everybody.
My story started in spring 1999 when I started to investigate my immigration possibilities.
Someone from our department recommended me a local lawyer (who has done successfully a NIW for another postdoc from our university). The lawyer charged only 500$ for the I-140 and only if it\'s approved, he would get the rest of 3000$. It looked like a good deal (I would not mind to pay more but thought this way the lawyer will be more interested to win the case).
He advised to file EB1-OR petition instead of NIW. He did not advise to file both at the same time. Then… he stopped responding after he got the money… However, I was persistent, and turned all the documents for I-140 to him by the end of July 1999. The attorney promised to file the petition to the INS "next week". Then he stopped responding again…
By that time I felt confident enough to file a second, NIW petition on my own. I did it in early august 1999.
Then there was a lo-ong wait. In June 2000 the OR petition was denied. I received a copy from the lawyer with a note that he "does not think the decision is correct". I also learned that he did not file the petition in one week, but only after… 5 months!! Still, I feel some kind of respect for him since he did file the petition at all o)) -read below!). At least I learned from him about immigration process. His name is Edward Lau, Columbus, OH. I think he still is capable of some work, but I would not deal with him again, may be if I have a few spare years…
Soon I received the RFE for my second, self-petitioned NIW application which asked for more evidence on 2 of 3 NIW "points": that my work is national in scope and the "labor certification point". I did not know how to deal with it better than I did in the initial petition and turned for help to Ron Gotcher office (imminfo.com). They seemingly accepted my case, started to work with me (I had to get 2-3 more recommendation letters from people who don\'t know me personally). They responded each and every phone call and E-mail, always quick and to the point, gave me sample letters, lots of advise… Suddenly, about 1 month later, after ~10 days of silence, they sent me E-mail that they cannot take my case because of the mistake with the petitioner in my application (for those interested in details see P.S. at the end) . It was quite a shock, and I had just one month left before the RFE deadline. So, it took them 40 days of studying my file to figure out they cannot take it!
[To be honest, this delayed decision is the only complain I may have to them. They did not charge me anything and I got a lot of help on how to deal with the RFE, reassurance that my case is strong and approvable, and the INS does not ask very much, just a few more documents. I still believe Mr. J.R.Gotcher\'s office is a good and reliable choice to start a new petition. Hope, my situation is not a rule but rather an exception.]
What do I do now? I hurriedly shopped around for an attorney who will take my case. I thought I did a good research on the web and contacted lawyers I knew a lot about and could trust... (what a mistake!). A few of them did not take my case by different reasons. The first to accept my case was Thomas C. Jones (immigrationassociates.com). We exchanged several e-mails, he sounded very knowledgeable, I paid him for the RFE response with a follow-up and - guess what? - of course, he stopped responding me the day he got my money!
(To be continued)
My story started in spring 1999 when I started to investigate my immigration possibilities.
Someone from our department recommended me a local lawyer (who has done successfully a NIW for another postdoc from our university). The lawyer charged only 500$ for the I-140 and only if it\'s approved, he would get the rest of 3000$. It looked like a good deal (I would not mind to pay more but thought this way the lawyer will be more interested to win the case).
He advised to file EB1-OR petition instead of NIW. He did not advise to file both at the same time. Then… he stopped responding after he got the money… However, I was persistent, and turned all the documents for I-140 to him by the end of July 1999. The attorney promised to file the petition to the INS "next week". Then he stopped responding again…
By that time I felt confident enough to file a second, NIW petition on my own. I did it in early august 1999.
Then there was a lo-ong wait. In June 2000 the OR petition was denied. I received a copy from the lawyer with a note that he "does not think the decision is correct". I also learned that he did not file the petition in one week, but only after… 5 months!! Still, I feel some kind of respect for him since he did file the petition at all o)) -read below!). At least I learned from him about immigration process. His name is Edward Lau, Columbus, OH. I think he still is capable of some work, but I would not deal with him again, may be if I have a few spare years…
Soon I received the RFE for my second, self-petitioned NIW application which asked for more evidence on 2 of 3 NIW "points": that my work is national in scope and the "labor certification point". I did not know how to deal with it better than I did in the initial petition and turned for help to Ron Gotcher office (imminfo.com). They seemingly accepted my case, started to work with me (I had to get 2-3 more recommendation letters from people who don\'t know me personally). They responded each and every phone call and E-mail, always quick and to the point, gave me sample letters, lots of advise… Suddenly, about 1 month later, after ~10 days of silence, they sent me E-mail that they cannot take my case because of the mistake with the petitioner in my application (for those interested in details see P.S. at the end) . It was quite a shock, and I had just one month left before the RFE deadline. So, it took them 40 days of studying my file to figure out they cannot take it!
[To be honest, this delayed decision is the only complain I may have to them. They did not charge me anything and I got a lot of help on how to deal with the RFE, reassurance that my case is strong and approvable, and the INS does not ask very much, just a few more documents. I still believe Mr. J.R.Gotcher\'s office is a good and reliable choice to start a new petition. Hope, my situation is not a rule but rather an exception.]
What do I do now? I hurriedly shopped around for an attorney who will take my case. I thought I did a good research on the web and contacted lawyers I knew a lot about and could trust... (what a mistake!). A few of them did not take my case by different reasons. The first to accept my case was Thomas C. Jones (immigrationassociates.com). We exchanged several e-mails, he sounded very knowledgeable, I paid him for the RFE response with a follow-up and - guess what? - of course, he stopped responding me the day he got my money!
(To be continued)