RFE Response

L

longGC

Registered Users (C)
Has anyone responded to RFE by self and not used an attorney?
or Is it necessary to use an attorney for RFE?

I have following reasons to respond myself and not use an attorney. Please feel free to contradict my opinion if I am wrong.


1. RFE gives a time limit of 90 days to respond and most attorneys take their (sweat) time to respond. After reading into this forum, many respond in the last week. They any way get there money and have little interest in expediting your case. For example, see the latest case. w8nc waited for 80 days and finally filed RFE himself and got approved in a week.

It happened to me also. I had only 30 days to respond (appeal) my case or leave country and my lawyer responded on last day after continuous follow up.


2. Most RFEs are about EVL, W2, Pay Stubs, Tax Returns. These are all standard documents. Except EVL, neither content nor format of these documents change so attorney has very little work to do other than drafting a cover letter. Also none of these documents are 'produced' or prepared by attorney. So a notarized photocopy is all that is required.

As far as EVL is concerned, this is too issued by HR. All it needs to state is Salary, Date of Hire, Position, Job Description and 'intent to hire' once GC is approved. The format is also floating on this forum.

Even other RFEs such as Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Medical Records, I-94, Passport, Company Financial Records and your photos are all standard prepared documents which an attorney simply attached to RFE.

3. Unlike other applications like, EAD and AP, this one does not need to be on a standard form. So there are no forms to fill-up and all one has to do is to include a photocopy of RFE letter.

4. Some Attorneys take outrageous money for doing this simple stuff.


After looking into above factors, what other factors I need to consider? Would you hire an attorney or do it yourself?
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I have one more reason to expedite my case. My 3rd EAD will soon expire. I applied for 4th EAD but inadvertently, I e-filed. As you know, e-filed EADs take much more time than manually filed EAD. Had I known this and manually filed EAD, I would have received it by now.

Any suggestions?
 
LongGC,
I am of the opinion that for someone with as much knowledge as yourself, the lawyer is just a highly paid public notary.

For people who do not have the time to find out what needs to be done for thier case, then the lawyer has done it hundreds of times, and it should be second nature to him, and those people do not have to figure out what to do. The lawyer gives these people a sense of security. He wil guide them through the process, even though they are still the ones doing a lot of the leg work anyways.

If you are comfortable without the added "Security" of a lawyer, then go without him. I put "Security" in quotes, becasue in your case your lawyer definitely has not made you feel very secure. For others, the lawyer may have made them more secure.

Its really the individual's descision, (in this case you) and thier comfort level with thier knowledge of what needs to be done.
 
Thanks curiousGeorge

But I am really not knowleageable. If I were, I would not be asking help in this forum. All my knowledge that I have gained so far is from people like you who share experiences, take their valuable time to respond to other's queries, alert users so that they do not make mistakes, put a date trail so that a collective statistics can be generated telling a pattern and share their valuable experiences. I owe all that to people in this forum.
 
LongGC,
I hate to give your any suggestion that turns out to be a bad one at the end since you have gone through a lot. We do not want to add more twists to your case. But let me ask you, if there were not such long delay in your case, say your ND was Apri,May'02, and everything was smooth and well went , were you going to use an attorney for the RFE? I think it is the long delay made you feel so hesitated about many decisions.
I would say if it was me, if the RFE was for 140, a lawyer's involvement was necessary. But for 485, all the RFE we see so far are all standard documents. We really do not need to state in the RFE which law's which section should apply where.
To speak from the experience, I applied all APs and EADs ( so far 3 sets) without a lawyer. We did get RFE for the third EAD and I replied it myself. The it was approved. I know EADs and APs are different from 485, but for the standard documents, they are somehow similiar.
Wait and see what your RFE will be. If you feel comfortable to handle it yourself, then do it yourself. This way, you get more control. If it is some special RFE we rarely see and you don't feel confident to do it, then it is not too late to find a lawyer at that point.
Good luck, LongGC.
 
Quick RFE response, and then what?

Hi, friends,

I just checked out the on-line status changed to "RFE received", but it
is stated that this kind of case will take 900 to 950 days to process. I
don't have any clue how long the waiting will be. My FP will expire in 12
days :mad:

Is it possible that my FP is OK'd before RFE sent out?

Freedom? No way!!!

EB1
I485 ND: 4/29/02
FP: 2/2002 (manually generated FP)
RFE: 4/22/04
RFE rcv'd: 5/6/04
AP: :confused:
 
For example, see the latest case. w8nc waited for 80 days and finally filed RFE himself and got approved in a week.
Click to expand...

I didn't respond, I left it for my lawyer to respond. In my case, it was the right thing to do. My lawyer was concerned about the sensitivity of the RFE (court records) and wanted to be sure that our response was the best it could be. By leaving it in his hands, he was also considering contingency plans in the event that my case was denied. I didn't agree with his decision to delay responding, but I still believe it was in my best interest to not bypass the lawyer by responding myself. As you can see, my case was approved.
:)
 
LongGC,

I will suggest that you should make your decision after you get the rfe. I totally agree with you that most lawyers suck! They just want to make profit from our hardship. If your rfe is a simple one like you stated in your post then just do it yourself; if it's something complicate, I won't suggest you to risk. You have already gone through so many difficult times and this is the last mile.

If you decide to use an lawyer and he charge you extra, then I will suggest you to negotiate a timetable with him. My lawyer sucks too. After we got our LC, it took her almost two month to file our I140. We were very upset, so after I140 filing, I told her if she can't promise to file my I485 within 5 business days after we provide all required documents, we will find someone else and we insist pay half in advance and the second half after filing, she finally did what we asked although very hesitately. Hopefully this will be helpful to you.
 
ND: 08/2001
FP:04/2003
FP:05/2004

LongGC,

In fact, you don't actually pay the laywer for doing it for you but for the piece of mind you create for yourself. The laywers cost if of course outrageous, they are just 'milking' the system and taking advantage of us, I mean really!
The fact is that you do not need them in most cases.
I would do it myself, with no hesitation.

But if you want to ask the laywer then
Since you worry about EAD expiration, I would make it clear to the lawyer that you are asking him for minimum delay rfe reply time. Be specific about how many days. Have him reply by email. Finally Kiss goodbye $one grant of wasted money. If he does not seem up to it, or evasive take matters in your own hands and do it yourself you will be glad you did.

Oneginee.
 
I strongly agreed with v8nc opinion, not to bypass Attorney.

someone shared with me that the sending doc through attorney will be treated more carefully then you send personaly. simple is .... there is difference between you send and your attorney even same paper. I got experience sending any kind of inquery/request through attorney, return more quick response response then applicant personaly do.



One of california filler shared... and I am pasting his happy movement

He wrote.......
---------------------------------
"Lawyer called me around noon and informed me about our APPROVALS
and then emailed me the scanned .pdf versions of the approval notices."

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=130434

---------------------------------

Now I like to ask to you all "Is Your attorny like his attorney?"

I learned very hard way........ few rules which I always share if it helps ppl.


The simple rule is few "$$" helps to solve all delays atleast from attorney's desk.... its up to you how smart you are.

I already shared one of my friend who had similar lazy response from his attorney, and now he is very happy to share how much he is welcome by him and staff :D :D

This is the country where everthing is for sell what would u like to buy?

Here I strongly say NOT all Attorney are like that.... some are good nice and coperative too.

You know it very well, you have stuck , and trust me........spending $$$ will be worth.

Good Luck
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This thread floated on top after sitting at bottom of time for a while. Actually, here is what happened.

My RFE went to attorney and I just got a notification letter in the mail that RFE is sent to attorney. I wish TSC would have sent me the same copy. The RFE went to attorney because last year he had filed my MTR. This compelled me to go to attorney.

I asked attorney but he denied receiving any letter. I waited one more week after receiving my notification letter. Meanwhile, I sent FAX to TSC that they should send RFE to me as my attorney could not locate the letter. I also went through Congressman. Till this date TSC has not replied with another copy of RFE.

After waiting in frustration, I went to attorney's office and just showed up. The staff immediately admitted receiving a letter in the mail. The mail had arrived ONLY a minute before my arrival. (well you know the correct answer!!)
Then they gave me a copy. Luckily, the staff told me that because I had filed MTR and had paid I do not have to pay as this was a response to MTR. Staff explained to me that it is NOT a RFE but they are asking further evidence to justify my case of Motion to Reopen. I was happy that I did not have to pay any.

It took another 12 days for attorney to preapare draft because he used to be out of town. Along with RFE, he prepared the draft for AC21 and sent.

Most RFEs are responded in 15 days of RFE Ack. Mine is still under review. I do not have an officer assigned ( like most have officer #). This tells me that it is treated as a reply to MTR and not RFE.

Later I followed up through Senator who got a reply from TSC. TSC is asking 30 days more before the case can be assigned to the officer.

Meanwhile, I got my 4th EAD approved so I am not as eager as I used to be. Will keep you guys posted.
 
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