Recommendation For Immigration Lawyer In Portland, OR???
Q: My fiancee who is a citizen of Australia and I desperately want to get married and have been waiting ever so patiently for the INS to process our Fiance VISA but it's always one excuse after another. I believe they have lost our Fiance VISA application twice now causing a delay of 1 year 6 months since January 2000. My fiancee has an acquaintance who provided the name to an immigration lawyer in Huntsville, Alabama. I called this lawyer's office left a message and one of the lawyer's associates called me back. We spoke for a good 27 minutes and he more or less said my fiancee and her family need to visit the USA with a regular visitors VISA of 3 months and make the immigration officials at LAX think they are just visiting and will leave the country after 3 months. Please remember my fiancee and her family will be visiting me with a regular tourist VISA stating their intentions are only to visit when they arrive for inspection at LAX. The lawyer stressed that it is important NOT to lie to the immigration officials at LAX, to get fully inspected and something about an I94 form being completed? This sounds like so everything is fully documented. After wedding arrangements have been made we will probably wed 2-7 days after she arrives and the attorney said he can help us apply for her citizenship (including social security card and being able to work) after she gets married but the tricky part is the immigration officials at LAX legally allowing her entry to the USA. The lawyer said since they are located in Huntsville, Alabama and I'm in Portland, Oregon we can do everything via the US Postal Mail and we do not have to physically be there. The cost is $1,200 for their services plus $455 in INS filing fees equalling roughly $1,700 final cost. Time is of the essence because I have two weeks off from work, the last week of July and first week of August 2001. That only gives us exactly 4 weeks for my fiancee and her family to arrive here in Portland. I have a few questions for you immigration experts: 1) Does my scenario sound like it will work? I know the INS has better things to do than hunt down my fiancee and deport her back to Australia but that chance does exist. We do not want to knowingly break any laws, maybe bend but not break. The NON-REFUNDABLE round trip plane tickets for my fiancee her parents sister and sister's boyfriend will most likely exceed AUD $12,000 which is a lot of money. I do not want them to fly over here and potentially be rejected at LAX wasting all that time, money and emotions only to be returned back to Australia. 2) Are there any lawyer organization websites which offer background information and feedback on immigration lawyers? I would like to check out this Alabama lawyer to see her credentials, see what past clients have said about her, etc. I only want to protect my investment of paying her nearly $1,700 and waiting a few months for processing. 3) The whole point of this thread is so my fiancee and I can deal with a local immigration lawyer who is based here in Portland, Oregon. I have searched for previous threads but they were all outdated (1998 and 1999) and I was hoping for fresh current recommendations. Please only recommend immigration lawyers which you have personally worked with on a similar issue if they are familiar with fiance visa's and Australia that is a big plus. 4) My other option is to submit yet another fiance application (this time with USPS registered mail with delivery confirmation AND a signature return card) and wait another year to get married in 2002. I really cannot stand being away from the love of my life for another year.
A: -I assume your fiance is still outside the US- if so can you apply at an embassy (possibly by having you outside the US at the time. They do lose applications, or info inside- I entered the US on a fiance visa back in 1992- my husband had been stationed in England at the time and I was working there. The London Embassy "lost" my Australian police clearance- after 5 months- eventually I got a new one, only to discover the original was in the file all along but someone had forgotten to tick the box on front. We almost had to change oue wedding date which had been planned well in advance with assurances from the