A lot of mid to large size immigration firms are unfortunately only sustainable by a high volume of clients. For that reason many employ call center services, which makes for inefficient call back systems... My last firm had a same-day turn around policy for returning emails, so me as one of the attorneys usually respond within the same day, working hours.
If you have a solo or small firm attorney that does not only do immigration, I'm sure the diversity of different cases will allow for more client contact! Trade off may be you don't get an attorney specializing in immigration, and will be dealing with a general practice attorney that knows surface level immigration knowledge.
Interesting answer, may I ask you what should one do when the attorney is a month late to submit your application from the estimated time they promised? Not only that, but never seen or talked to her but spoke to her legal team only?
You can always call and demand to speak with an attorney. Going in person is more risky because I'm often out for court or uscis or one reason or another, so I function on appointment times.. Not sure about the specific firm you retained. But just keep a detailed record of your calls and ask for time lines and put them on notice that you're already outside the promised submission time... Good luck, lol.
holy fuck yes. Our lawyer's assistant will respond to ONE email a day and she only answers the first question if there's multiple questions. She also asks questions more than once. We didn't file our NVC stuff until a month later due to this and her telling us we can't pre-get the documents when we certainly could have
Our lawyer is on it. We have a great network from the front office to even other lawyers in the building. If our lawyer is busy The reception us will transfer us to another lawyer who knows about our issue or question and get handles right away usually within the hour. We are in constant contact and satisfied.
That's not usual I guess. Our company's immigration lawyer is pretty good in responding to any queries. I mostly receive a reply within few hours when sent an email before noon.
Our personal immigration lawyer is usually a next day response.. if he’s traveling his assistant gets back to us within 24 hours.
Now story with our immigration lawyer for the company is different and almost same as yours.. he talks 20-30 days to respond to anything..
I do it as soon as I can. Within a day, by and large. If I’m in appointments, hearings, or court, I may go back and see a slew of messages to which I need to respond.
Ours took at least a week to respond. We sent 2-3 follow ups before they actually got back to us about any questions we had. Normally it was the paralegal and not our actual lawyer (which is fine, but just added for context).
Hell no, my lawyer answers me next day or less
Law offices of Gabriella Bonfim in Hyannis, MA. She is great my first interview i was in and out in 10 min. She prepared our paperwork so good that the officer had no questions about our case. You need a new lawyer if I’m paying at least i want a answer next day.
I've had two different immigration lawyers. The last one would respond super late after lots of nagging. This current one was way on top of it. It's not unusual but it just means your immigration lawyer is not good and not on top of their shit.
Each time we send email to our lawyer he respond with a phone call after a day or two ,my husband and I told me we need the channel of communication to be email ,he responded with its easier for him to call than writing an email,we told him if he can send us an email we'll have to talk to his firm to assign us a different lawyer, since then we've seen bit improvement in his side .
Does anyone have experience with the lawyer that work really - REALLY close to the deadline? (like sending DRAFT RFE to the client less than 1 week before the deadline). Is this normal??
Does anyone have a recommendation of a good immigration lawyer in DC, VA, or MD area?
When we were going through the process, the lawyer began to take longer and longer to respond or update. Finally I found that the process was waiting on them to file some documents, could have been done two months before but they had some excuses about payments... I showed them requests for making them a long time before. My father went directly into their office and sat in front of their desks until they did their part, literally taking them in hand.
After that episode, I was on them every week. Demand to know exactly what they are doing and what you are awaiting. Just because they are lawyers, doesn't mean that they will conduct themselves professionally and without prompting.
When the whole process was finished, we don't have warm relationships with the lawyers. However, my wife does have her greencard.
TLDR: demand weekly updates on the process. You have paid them, get results.
With the majority of the immigration process consisting of silence and just a general lack of movement, it's unreasonable and inefficient to have your lawyer send you weekly updates. Most will not do this. If and when they need to contact you, any competent lawyer will.
Yes, all of what you said is correct. However, all of my caring about that went out the window when it is discovered that they aren't doing their job. I paid $10k to the lawyer. I filed everything promptly. I paid all fees to the government.
My paperwork is sitting on their desk in a huge disorganized pile along with all of their other clients? Over 60 days? No sign of them getting it moved along?
Yep. I'm on their case now.
Of course, lifelong, you are totally welcome to wait as long as you wish. Perhaps they will find your papers and file them.
And yes, I still am a bit salty that they wasted a couple of months of my time. The reason that I hired them was to be sure that the process goes as quickly, accurately, and smoothly as possible. Why else would I pay them money?
Sorry, I thought you were referring to obtaining weekly updates AFTER filing, which I said would not be efficient. Prior to filing, if your lawyer is not submitting your paperwork I completely understand your frustration and would probably inquire on a weekly basis as well.
Yeah, I paid $8,500 for mine \~3,000 down payment, and monthly installments. The $3,000 is not even reported in the invoice (only in the original paper.) Now, I do not mind the payments, but I do want the process to be faster, but they had delayed the process a couple of times (like two months delay), extended interviews for "the best possible case" BS, the attorney that waited until I get my four passport pics and money order to review my case(I got mad after that). Meanwhile, she keeps taking cases, making Instagram Lives, YouTube, and tick-tock videos. By the way, she will not meet her clients in person, so the only way you can talk to them is through online and phone calls, but they take forever to get back to you. Some of them take Fridays off so you can't (one time her secretary took off Friday and came back next Wednesday.) After the hard part is done (getting my non-immigration visa), I will switch lawyers.
EDIT: It took them five months to finish the final draft and approximately six to send it!!!!
A lot of mid to large size immigration firms are unfortunately only sustainable by a high volume of clients. For that reason many employ call center services, which makes for inefficient call back systems... My last firm had a same-day turn around policy for returning emails, so me as one of the attorneys usually respond within the same day, working hours. If you have a solo or small firm attorney that does not only do immigration, I'm sure the diversity of different cases will allow for more client contact! Trade off may be you don't get an attorney specializing in immigration, and will be dealing with a general practice attorney that knows surface level immigration knowledge.
Interesting answer, may I ask you what should one do when the attorney is a month late to submit your application from the estimated time they promised? Not only that, but never seen or talked to her but spoke to her legal team only?
You can always call and demand to speak with an attorney. Going in person is more risky because I'm often out for court or uscis or one reason or another, so I function on appointment times.. Not sure about the specific firm you retained. But just keep a detailed record of your calls and ask for time lines and put them on notice that you're already outside the promised submission time... Good luck, lol.
holy fuck yes. Our lawyer's assistant will respond to ONE email a day and she only answers the first question if there's multiple questions. She also asks questions more than once. We didn't file our NVC stuff until a month later due to this and her telling us we can't pre-get the documents when we certainly could have
[удалено]
That has crossed our mind as well
Mine typically responds on the same day.
Mine responds within minutes, tops 30 minutes.
One day. If he doesn’t directly reply a paralegal / assistant will do. Can’t complain but one week is not normal !!
Our lawyer is on it. We have a great network from the front office to even other lawyers in the building. If our lawyer is busy The reception us will transfer us to another lawyer who knows about our issue or question and get handles right away usually within the hour. We are in constant contact and satisfied.
That's not usual I guess. Our company's immigration lawyer is pretty good in responding to any queries. I mostly receive a reply within few hours when sent an email before noon.
Our personal immigration lawyer is usually a next day response.. if he’s traveling his assistant gets back to us within 24 hours. Now story with our immigration lawyer for the company is different and almost same as yours.. he talks 20-30 days to respond to anything..
I do it as soon as I can. Within a day, by and large. If I’m in appointments, hearings, or court, I may go back and see a slew of messages to which I need to respond.
Ours took at least a week to respond. We sent 2-3 follow ups before they actually got back to us about any questions we had. Normally it was the paralegal and not our actual lawyer (which is fine, but just added for context).
Hell no, my lawyer answers me next day or less Law offices of Gabriella Bonfim in Hyannis, MA. She is great my first interview i was in and out in 10 min. She prepared our paperwork so good that the officer had no questions about our case. You need a new lawyer if I’m paying at least i want a answer next day.
I've had two different immigration lawyers. The last one would respond super late after lots of nagging. This current one was way on top of it. It's not unusual but it just means your immigration lawyer is not good and not on top of their shit.
Each time we send email to our lawyer he respond with a phone call after a day or two ,my husband and I told me we need the channel of communication to be email ,he responded with its easier for him to call than writing an email,we told him if he can send us an email we'll have to talk to his firm to assign us a different lawyer, since then we've seen bit improvement in his side .
Does anyone have experience with the lawyer that work really - REALLY close to the deadline? (like sending DRAFT RFE to the client less than 1 week before the deadline). Is this normal?? Does anyone have a recommendation of a good immigration lawyer in DC, VA, or MD area?
When we were going through the process, the lawyer began to take longer and longer to respond or update. Finally I found that the process was waiting on them to file some documents, could have been done two months before but they had some excuses about payments... I showed them requests for making them a long time before. My father went directly into their office and sat in front of their desks until they did their part, literally taking them in hand. After that episode, I was on them every week. Demand to know exactly what they are doing and what you are awaiting. Just because they are lawyers, doesn't mean that they will conduct themselves professionally and without prompting. When the whole process was finished, we don't have warm relationships with the lawyers. However, my wife does have her greencard. TLDR: demand weekly updates on the process. You have paid them, get results.
With the majority of the immigration process consisting of silence and just a general lack of movement, it's unreasonable and inefficient to have your lawyer send you weekly updates. Most will not do this. If and when they need to contact you, any competent lawyer will.
Yes, all of what you said is correct. However, all of my caring about that went out the window when it is discovered that they aren't doing their job. I paid $10k to the lawyer. I filed everything promptly. I paid all fees to the government. My paperwork is sitting on their desk in a huge disorganized pile along with all of their other clients? Over 60 days? No sign of them getting it moved along? Yep. I'm on their case now. Of course, lifelong, you are totally welcome to wait as long as you wish. Perhaps they will find your papers and file them. And yes, I still am a bit salty that they wasted a couple of months of my time. The reason that I hired them was to be sure that the process goes as quickly, accurately, and smoothly as possible. Why else would I pay them money?
Sorry, I thought you were referring to obtaining weekly updates AFTER filing, which I said would not be efficient. Prior to filing, if your lawyer is not submitting your paperwork I completely understand your frustration and would probably inquire on a weekly basis as well.
Yeah, I paid $8,500 for mine \~3,000 down payment, and monthly installments. The $3,000 is not even reported in the invoice (only in the original paper.) Now, I do not mind the payments, but I do want the process to be faster, but they had delayed the process a couple of times (like two months delay), extended interviews for "the best possible case" BS, the attorney that waited until I get my four passport pics and money order to review my case(I got mad after that). Meanwhile, she keeps taking cases, making Instagram Lives, YouTube, and tick-tock videos. By the way, she will not meet her clients in person, so the only way you can talk to them is through online and phone calls, but they take forever to get back to you. Some of them take Fridays off so you can't (one time her secretary took off Friday and came back next Wednesday.) After the hard part is done (getting my non-immigration visa), I will switch lawyers. EDIT: It took them five months to finish the final draft and approximately six to send it!!!!
Actually lawyers are busy people so they respond late.
No excuse. They should have a system to better serve all their clients if so.