Immigration Attorneys
K1 Visa Application Assistance
Expert Tip # 2
Don’t try to get a waiver to avoid the requirement to meet your Fiancee in person. Unless it is incontrovertible that you are not physically able to meet her, attempting to avoid the meeting reflects poorly on whether the relationship is truly sincere. The Fiancee Visa eligibility rules require that you have met your Fiancee in person within the two years prior to your filing your application. The regulations provide a loophole allowing a waiver to the physical meeting. This waiver has been written to allow couples with special circumstances to skip the meeting, specifically if the meeting will cause “unusual hardship” or violates strict cultural or religious practices. If your religion arranges marriages and the bride and the groom are not allowed to see each other till the wedding day, or if you are in an iron lung, then by all means apply for the waiver. However, hating to fly or not wanting to pay for a plane ticket or having a busy work schedule will not result in the waiver being granted. Remember, USCIS needs to be convinced of the seriousness and sincerity of your relationship in order to approve the visa application. One expects a sincere suitor eagerly anticipating spending his future life together with his Fiancee to not miss any opportunity to meet and be with her as early and as often as possible.
More Expert Fiancee Visa Tips
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Deciding whether to hire an immigration attorney is an important decision. Some immigration matters can be relatively straightforward. Many times, however, it is useful to hire an immigration attorney--for three reasons. First, immigration law is one of the most complicated areas of U.S. law (second only to tax law). Second, U.S. immigration law is changing all the time, and it is hard to keep up, even for many immigration lawyers. Third, immigration lawyers can help make sure that your application goes through the immigration bureaucracy smoothly and quickly. However, inquire with the residency program you are joining about the possibility of someone from the system handling immigration for you (big hospitals and universities often have such offices).
If you decide you want to hire an immigration attorney, there are many ways to find a good one. You should do research. Ask your colleagues from the program (they went through the same process just last year or two years ago) about good immigration lawyers (they do not need to be located in the area in which you will be working). Your employer may know of a good immigration lawyer. Many immigration lawyers are members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). You can find out whether there are any AILA immigration attorneys in your area by checking the AILA web site at www.aila.org.
Before hiring an immigration attorney, ask the following questions:
1. Will I be charged by the hour or a flat rate? If by the hour, what is the lawyer's estimate of his or her legal fees to do my case? If by a flat rate, what exactly does that include or exclude? For example, if the original petition is denied and the lawyer needs to file an appeal, will that be included in the flat rate?
2. How much experience does the immigration attorney have with this particular kind of immigration case? - This information is very hard to get because all of them claim to be very experienced. Like other attorneys, immigration attorneys specialize, and you want to have a specialist in your type of application.
3. Try to find out the names of some former clients (these may be found in your own program). Then call those clients to find out what they think of the attorney.
4. An important question is determining who pays the immigration attorney's legal fees. That can depend. In business visa cases, sometimes the employer will pay. Sometimes the foreign national will pay. Sometimes they will split the fee.
Immigration Lawyers in the United States work with many government agencies to help you with all of your immigration problems. Immigration lawyers can work with you on issues dealing with immigration, emigration, visas, green cards, political asylum, and other important immigration and naturalization issues. The United States of America is a free nation that accepts a certain amount of people to immigrate within its borders every year. This freedom to immigrate into the United States is a special privilege given to a select few. To expedite the process, every immigrant should seek counsel with an immigration attorney to facilitate residency and citizenship proceedings.
The standard immigration laws are very complex and difficult for a person to understand. An immigration lawyer will explain in detail to you all of the immigration information required that suits your case. They will translate immigration law and policy, and interpret these laws and policies to better your case. Lawyers and attorneys practicing in immigration also advise cases in all areas of Immigration and Nationality Law.
These are some options if USCIS denies your application. There is an administrative review process for those who are denied naturalization. If you feel that you have been wrongly denied naturalization, you may request a hearing with an immigration officer. Your denial letter will explain how to request a hearing and will include the form you need.
No immigration matter is more personal or more sensitive than a fiancee or marriage visa. And that's how we treat them. Our 13 years of experience has taught us that each case requires individual attention and careful, insightful analysis and close monitoring from beginning to end. There's a fair bit of paperwork to get done during the immigration process, and you may feel overwhelmed when you first sit down to prepare your immigration forms. However, if your case is fairly straightforward, you should be able to manage the process yourself.
There are good reasons, though, to hire an immigration lawyer to handle your case. If you run into a snag partway through the process, you might need legal assistance to work through the issue. If your immigration situation is complicated, or if you simply don't have the time or confidence to prepare the forms yourself, you might benefit from the help of an immigration lawyer. If you're going to hire an immigration lawyer, you need to do your homework. A good lawyer can be worth his or her weight in gold, while a poor one may just add to your problems.
