My immigration saga, or beware of lawyers!

O

ooa

Registered Users (C)
    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)
 
No Title

Seems like a crazy roller-coaster ride!! It\'s quite admirable that you decided to hang-on and fight till the end. I do agree with your comment that one should stay abreast of the law and not simply rely on what the lawyer dishes out. Many of them know a lot less than some of us veterans at least on specific aspects of our individual cases.

Congrats on the approval once gain. Good luck on the AOS/CP process.
 
No Title

I agree that most of these lawyers are useless. I had hired a one of these blood suckers to respond to my RFE. The blood sucker who works from Newport Beach, California (John C. Nelson) took $1000 from me and then stopped responding to me. When I found that he was not paying any attention then I took my case away from him and gave it to another law firm. John C. Nelson did not return my money.

GUYS! BE CAREFUL ABOUT THESE IMMIGRATION LAWYERS.
 
No Title

There is another immoral Attorney in Detroit Michigan. His name is Amarnath Gowda. He takes money from people to do Green Card and takes bribes from bloodsucking companies to delay and mess up the applications. His website is www. gowda.com. He is totally hopeless.
 
No Title

Message regarding Lawyers.

To OOA:

I\' had similar experiences with Thomas C. Jones. He told me that he sent my NIW petition to TSC. I\'ve heard nothing from him or TSC.
Has anybody else had dealings with Thomas C. Jones.

Regards

Ross
 
No Title

Dear OOA:

I am sorry to hear about your problems. I too may have fallen into the Thomas C Jones\' trap. He claims to have filed my NIW in September to the TSC and I have not heard from him or the TSC. He takes the money and does not respond!!

I am so worried as I do not know what my step should be.

I keep e-mailing him and he ignores my e-mails.

I would appreciate advice!!

Regards

Ross
 
No Title

Ross,

In fact, I still don\'t know how to protect myself from a fraud other than to hire a well-recommended lawyer.

First thing you can do is to ask the attorney to give you your receipt # so you can track you case by phone. If he still does not respond (which is very suspisious), try to call the INS and talk to live person, Immigration Information Officer (IIO). Some of them are nice and may help to find your case by name. Tell them you filed in September and still don\'t have a receipt notice. Not all of them are cooperative but it is worth to try. If they did not find you, it may be just the INS screw-up (misspelled name, computer glitch, etc.), but most likely it means that your case has not been filed by 2-3 weeks ago.

Then... You can either take your chances and wait if anything comes out from Thomas Jones (may be he does submit at least some number of petitions, if he knows the process so well?); or you can find another attorney and run from this one as soon as possible (this is what I would do). I am not sure if you can generally get your money back.

My situation was unusual in that I had a firm deadline. When your lawyer just starts your immigration process, there is no way to check or prove wheather he is a crook or not. He will always tell you he is working hard on your case. Even if caught, he can always quickly file your petition - and you lose the last ground to complain.

For those just starting to work with an attorney:
1. My experience tells me that if he or she does not respond you after being paid - you have reason to worry. Particularly, if he was very responsive before.
2. Another advise - don\'t give your lawyer original documents unless it is necessary. A copy is usually enough (notarized, if needed).
3. When asking for recommendation letters, ask your experts to sign 2 originals. In my case, the first attorney asked for original letters, and I still had some to file another petition on my own. (Also, you don\'t have to submit any originals to the INS, send photocopies only!)

May be AILA could create a list of reliable attorneys? They can benefit from this since money will go to their lawyers instead of crooks.

ooa
 
No Title

Thomas Jones has certainly earned a bad reputation for himself. He is quite knowlegeable about NIW cases, but he is extremely slow. His business with me started in Nov. 1999. The I-140 was filed in July 2000 (But ND is the end of August at TSC). He gave me the case number. After reading your this article I think may be it is necessary to verify my case by calling TSC and talk to an IIO.

Without the ability to promptly process all of them, Jones just wants to take as many cases as possible to earn the initial payment. Maybe 80% of his income comes this way.

I have paid $975 to him including the INS fee. If the case is approved I need to pay him another $2750. However, by that time my another I-140/EB2/RIR may have been approved. But I\'ll have to pay the money even if I don\'t need the approval. Another very likely possibility is that additional information may be asked after my RIR case is approved. Should I still make effort to prepare the additional information?
 
No Title

When did you file the petition? TSC is slow in responding to petitions, according to this board. So allow one month.

My suggestion is: don\'t hire a lawyer in another geographic area except some famous ones (e.g. Shusterman, Gother, Rajiv, etc.).
 
No Title

The comment on lawyers in a different geographic region is not necessarily valid. They come in all shapes and sizes; the ideal case would be a real good, reliable lawyer down the street from where you work. But unfortunately, that\'s just the ideal. There are no immigration lawyers in the town where I live. But my lawyer who lives two time zones away from me has been quite prompt in replying to my calls, emails, etc. I think that\'s the most important thing. Especially in EB1 and NIW cases where the lawyer has to work collaboratively with the applicant.

That\'s my two bit for the day!!
 
No Title

You\'re in a tough position. It seems like a waste of time until you know whether you need this. One more thing, Jones claims you do not need ref letters, did you send in ref letters with your I-140?

ahm
 
No Title

To be safe, I submitted letters. Attorney Jones did give valuable suggestions for the letters. For example, he suggested that the work I did in my current company should not be mentioned in a ref letter, because it only gives the INS examiner a more reason to reject my NIW case.

I think Jones is one of the best individual lawyers specialized in EB1/NIW cases (best if you consider the fees). And his response time is improving considerably.
 
I totally disagree with zyt. Jones has cheated people by giving some nice advice, but you never know whether they are worth or not. He will talk to you nicely till he gets the money. Please do not ever say Jones is one of the best lawyer. As far as I read this form, several people are affected by Jones. I am one of them. I lost money and time. He is a number one cheat.
 
Cold anyone recommend Rajiv? I appreciate his web site and this nice board, but what's his reputation?

After 4 yrs of postdoc, I'm relocating to Philadelphia area to work at a large pharmaceutical company. Anyone knows a good lawyer in Philly area for EB1/OR filing?

Many thanks in advance.
 
I have used a law firm out of Houston for my NIW petition. They are terrific and very ethical. Whenever any letter of recommendation needed changes/modifications, they were very quick in turnaround time (and you gonna do that a lot in NIW petitions... :) ). In fact, after my 485 got approved, I wanted to consult them on a few things and they never charged a dime. If anybody wants a reference, I can send it to you privately.
 
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