Immigration Lawyer question

Jeppe,

Why don't you just go home, this great country don't need any stinking Swedes. Americans are sick and tired of Volvos, IKEA and meatballs

 

Tufft snack fran en annan svensk

Mats, have you gone through this yet?

The funny part is that I vork for Volvo!! and someone have to bring some food culture to this country. meatballs and halv special just too bad you cant get a pucko here!

 

Man, no wonder I can't find a decent single girl around here ... seems as if they are all going the easy route, and marrying their mail order grooms ... were y'all ordered out of a catalog or something?

 

does that mean you can help me fix my sick volvo??? seriously??

 

There's a guy in California who handles a lot of the racer's visas and he gets them fast, too. Did the work for all the Goberts. He races at Willow and his name is Steve Hewitt. If you call the track they would probably give you his phone number. A friend of mine used him to get his passport back, some other attorney was running a scam where they take a person's passport and paperwork, periodically bill them, and never do anything with it. Steve got the guy's paperwork and passport from the attorney, got a refund of money paid for nothing, and got it back on track.

Despite that paranoid poster's fears, a good immigration lawyer can make a big difference. That CJ guy in Florida may be good, too, I've talked to him, he races with CCS Florida and I think he ran for some local office, too.

 

i am two years into it and there is just a lot of waiting around, whatever you do dont file in Phoenix, AZ like i did, 35,000 Mexicans apply a month and you have to be lining up outside the ISN office at 4am to get in

my last I-765 work visa was deemed 'undeliverable' as the postman had dislexia that day, they sent it back to the head office and it was destroyed and i had to submit the paperwork all over again, bastards!

i have filed everything myself and i really suck at government paperwork, i paid for a kit that takes you through each step nd i think it cost me about $50, well work it. when i was here on my sporting visa my freak'n INS lawyer charged me $1500 a year just to submit a $200 application

 

Ummm agreed a GOOD immigration lawyer may be able to help you. But they are rare. I know for a fact that there are hundreds if not thousands of scam immigration "help" operations that operate in the Boston metro area alone. Preying on people who have little ability to discern honest and legitimate operations from the thieves. I have extensive personal experience with this and anyone who pays one penny to any lawyer or service firm without finding someone who has had success in dealing with them previously is asking for trouble.
Even using the supposedly "reputable" firms buys you little. I sponsored and went to initial consultations with two people who both paid $12,000 in three $4,000 payments and after 3 1/2 years they both were denied due to missed filings. The lawyer tried to cover it up and blamed the INS. The firm was a large well know firm from State Street in Boston but as you have little if any recourse they were left with nothing. Others I knew personally paid money to offices that disappeared overnight a few months later. All I am trying to say is that there is a large and thriving market making a lot of money off of scamming people in this exact situation and you need to be very careful when choosing who to trust. Asking for a list of clients that have been successful in being cleared or naturalized would be a minimum.

 

Speaks from experience after being involved with the INS during a friend's (Western European, EU member country) imigration process.

When it was all done I can best sum it up as "Darn glad I was born here and can prove it!".

 

Prbably not! Im an electrical engineer with Volvo Trucks

Thanks to everybody for your insight in this.
I will take you up on the offer abouth help!
Right now I am in the information gathering state, trying to make comprehensive listat of all suporting documentation and photos an stuff that is required.

Thanks again!!

Swede

 

Dont Volvo help you out? My company is helping me out with the lawyer and whatnot, and its not being done the marriage route - its based on my value as a worker (hard to put a precise value on me as a worker, but I figured $1.75 ought to cover it.....)

And Rick - I took one of those Vermont women, so I wouldnt be dipping into the local pool - so you can't blame anything on me there

 

Im a contractor so Volvo wont help me at all with this

 

Gives us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breather free. But don't give us any more of those Damn Albanian Hagasan, we've got too damn many now (with one).

Good luck all, soon they'll show you the secret handshake and the password to get to the real American dream (work yourself to death and leave a worn out corpse).

 

Hi Dave.

I think you guys are a bit overreacting. Although the process is long, and a sheer pain in the ass I don't think you have to go postal to get your papers.

I'm guess I might be less paranoid because I've been here for over ten years now, and I married my wife because I actually love her.

 

Each lawyer charges their own set of legal fees for their services. But the INS filing fees remain constant. They do not change whether you have legal representation or not.

BS! I do corporate immigration and all our company's cases have legal representation. That doesnt mean all our 100+ software engineers & programmers are high risk. I went through the same process myself (family-based) with a lawyer and my case progressed smoothly.

You are more subject to scrutiny and additional security clearances if you are a citizen of certain countries than if you had a lawyer - China, Middle East countries, mostly communist states, etc) or other countries deemed as Special Registration countries you are subject to additional clearances.

It's really not a matter of choice. It depends how you are immigrating. If you are already in the US, you will be processed here as an Adjustment of Status applicant. If you are still outside the US waiting for a visa number to be available, you will normally be processed through the US Embassy/Consulate in your home country. Employment-based petitions work a bit differently. You have an option to do Consular Processing.

One disadvantage of being processed at a US Consulate in your home country is this becomes a Dept. of State decision matter, not INS. There is a difference. Sometimes, the Dept of State adjudication cannot be repealed so you get stuck there

It's not a matter of choosing where to file. The INS Service Center that will work on your case depends on your state of residence. Right now, cases move faster in the California Service Center (includes most west coast states). Texas Svc Ctr is the slowest (covers southeast states).

My suggestion is, if going through a lawyer gives you peace of mind - DO IT. It's worth the investment. Sure, they do all the paperwork but a reputable lawyer also knows the ins and outs of the law. They know how to position your case in case the INS feels it needs more supporting evidence to your case for any reason. If you wanna go cheap and do the paperwork yourself, then be ready to be organized and keep track of documents (tax forms, W2's, pay stubs, titles, joint accounts, marriage certificate, etc) because during your interview, they will want to inspect the original documents. Be ready for the headache as well

I can refer you to a few lawyers if you need it. Feel free to PM me or email me as well if you have questions.

 

It sounds like you might as well just move the whole company offshore!

What happened to the talent pool of unemployed computer geeks who are already in country?

Or do the imports work cheaper cuz you'll have them deported if they ask for a raise?

 

Before this turns into a 'foreigners take away American jobs' argument, these foreign workers started way back when the IT boom occurred years ago. I work for a global software company in the Silicon Valley area. So most of them are either already at the end of their tenure or have already immigrated. Most of these employees are on temporary visas with full intent to return back to their home country when their work authorization expires. The number I gave you is across the US, however not just in our CA operations. Youd be surprised what other companies have as a number. PeopleSoft, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. have bigger numbers.

I think youre thinking of farm workers from Mexico Before a US company can hire a foreign worker on a temp work visa, we have to guarantee to pay them at least the Prevailing Wage, which is the average wage of a certain position in a geographical area. These wages are set by the US govt (Dept of Labor) in order to protect the American jobs and not adversely affect the US labor market & displace a qualified US worker.

This might be more info than you need but before an employee can immigrate through employment-based green card petitions, theres a recruitment phase that must be done. If a willing, qualified and able US worker becomes a viable candidate, it kills the case of the US worker. We just had 3 that failed.

 

Didn't Larry Ellison just testify that PeopleSoft was run by Al Qaeda?

 

Damn it, I mean it kills the case of a FOREIGN worker.

There ya go LOL Theyre right across the street from us. No signs of hostile gunfire yet