Immigration Lawyer?

[katie3234]

Hi there,

From what I gather most people don’t recommend hiring an immigration lawyer and find it to be a waste of money. But I am so paranoid about not dotting my i’s or crossing my t’s so I am going ahead and hiring one to calm my nerves. I just need some advice, I have 2 in mind and would like people’s opinions on which sounds best? A little odd – yes, but I am new to everything and unsure on how to do even the basics such as choosing an immigration lawyer.

Option 1: Lives an hour away from me – not that it matters since I work every day of the week and I refuse to drive in Calgary! haha, costs $3000 none of which is refundable if the visa was denied, all correspondence would be through fax and email, claims he will get my husband here in 9 months (my husband is Albanian). Also he said that his office has a 90% approval rate.

Option 2: Lives a province away from me, $2500 I get $1000 back if the visa is denied, and the last $500 seems to be negotiable. She has worked in an Embassy before and therefore feels she knows what immigration officers are looking for, all communication would be through an online things where the forms are already loaded and I just fill them out, doesn’t have an estimated time of when my husband will be here as she can’t control how fast things are moved. She is technically an immigration advisor – not sure how much that differs from immigration lawyer.

Now I realize that nobody can choose for me (although that would be nice ) But I would love if people would give me their opinions on who they would go with.

Thank you!

 

[katie3234]

Or if anyone used an immigration lawyer in the Calgary area and succeeded with things it would be lovely to get the contact information of the lawyer.

 

[toby]

If there were a saliva test to show the good ones, life would be so much easier. Failing that, I would try to get the consultant (lawyers do the same job as consultants, but charge about $1000 on average), to agree to progress payments: $1000 now; $1000 when the forms are ready for submission, etc.

Most will balk at progress payments: it is so much better for them if they have all the money in hand before you discover how good/poor a job they will do for you. But there are a few sufficiently confident that they will let you pay as you go. Their big fear is that they will do the bulk of the work, and you will take over at submission of the application. After all, once the application is submitted, there is very little to do. They will say they 'represent" you, but when I asked for specifics of what that entailed, not one had a specific example apart from forwarding to the applicant any requests for additional documentation. You don't need an expert to play middleman for this type of request.

I was dealing with a very nice lawyer in Vancouver: Des Friedland. He was willing to refund a certain portion of the fee if the visa was denied for specific reasons, he seemed knowledgeable, BUT he charges about $3000.

One reason to use an expert is IF he/she has considerable knowledge dealing with clients from Albania, and can help you locate essential resources like translators etc. The expert I hired (and later fired) told me he had such experience, but it wasn't true, ad I spent considerable time finding these resources. Maybe this woudl be easier in Albania; your call.

In hindsight, I'd decide where I really needed help, and make the contract specific enough to specify such help, as part of the service. Otherwise, the expert can provide really poor service (you don't need an expert to complete the forms, once you read them) and still satisfy the terms of their general (self-serving) contracts.


Good luck.

 

[canadianwoman]

Because your husband's application has complications - he has been deported, right? - I would suggest a lawyer.

 

[katie3234]

Yes! That deportation and all the gazillion other things are really stressing me out. I have never required a lawyer before, so I have no clue what to look for.

How does this one sound? Its from an email they sent me when I asked about their services
“An immigration lawyer will be the one signing all your immigration forms and legally presenting the application on your behalf. An immigration advisor will take you step by step in the process and will assist you in filling your immigration forms and advising you on how to move forward with your application (where to sign, what supporting documents to gather, how to obtain medical results, police clearances, etc).Please rest assure that at RSS every case is reviewed by an immigration advisor, the immigration director and the immigration lawyer handling the application prior to submitting in order to ensure that the file is complete. This will save us time and will avoid confusions.”

 

[toby]

I repeat. If the expert has enough confidence that his service will please you, then he should be willing to accept progress payments. ANyone can say what he/she likes in a self-promotion piece; it's the actual delicveryof services that counts. If they have all your money up front, they have no incentive to provide great service; you have very litttle leverage to ask for better service.

 

[JimM]

Have you inquired with the lawyer who sponsors this site?

 

[minna]

you might also check with the local bar association groups and/or immigrants groups to see if any names are particularly recommended or are to be avoided (i.e. complaints filed against).

A reputable lawyer should also be willing to share information about application success rates (of course every case is different, and lawyers have no control over CIC, per se - but if they have a number of rejections, perhaps you would consider someone else).

With lawyers as with many many other professions - the best will likely charge more -- something to consider. Of course that does not mean that the cheapest quote you get won't be perfectly good, but it's just something to consider if one lawyer/consultant is offering to help at a much lower price than the others...

 

[rjessome]

you might also check with the local bar association groups and/or immigrants groups to see if any names are particularly recommended or are to be avoided (i.e. complaints filed against).

A reputable lawyer should also be willing to share information about application success rates (of course every case is different, and lawyers have no control over CIC, per se - but if they have a number of rejections, perhaps you would consider someone else).

With lawyers as with many many other professions - the best will likely charge more -- something to consider. Of course that does not mean that the cheapest quote you get won't be perfectly good, but it's just something to consider if one lawyer/consultant is offering to help at a much lower price than the others...

Just a couple of comments.

1. Make sure that the "Immigration Advisor" is actually a licensed "Immigration Consultant". You can check at www.csic-scci.ca. If they are not listed, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY. You have no method of complaint if they don't do a good job. Also, check the complaints and discipline section. You might not want to hire someone who has a complaint lodged against them or was subject to discipline because of practice concerns. I wouldn't worry about someone who was late paying membership fees as much as someone who has a client complaint.

2. More work means more money. If your husband was deported from Canada, an ARC must be requested and these are a lot of work and would factor into the total cost.

3. Back to the ARC, without knowing the reasons for the deportation, there may be some inadmissability issues to be overcome in the case of criminality. Again, more work.

4. Without knowing your background AT ALL, the deportation could carry the red flag of a marriage of convenience. Very high likelihood of an interview. Make sure interview preparation is included in the retainer agreement.

5. No one can guarantee ANYTHING when it comes to immigration. I hate it when I hear about guarantees. A good lawyer or consultants should get ALL of the details of your case and then provide you with an evaluation of where they believe there will be difficulties and what they will do to overcome them. Some will put it in the form of a Legal Opinion and you might have to pay for that. Some will include it in the total fee.

6. CSIC members (immigration consultants) are NOT ALLOWED to advertise success rates. It's in the Rules of Professional Conduct for Immigration Consultants. They are also not allowed to guarantee success. They can provide a money back guarantee if the visa is not issued EXCEPT for reasons that were not disclosed to them. For example, if your husband had a criminality issue that was never disclosed to the consultant but the embassy found out about it and refused them, this is not the consultant's fault and their money back guarantee becomes null and void. Any type of guarantee should be clearly outlined in the retainer letter.

7. Immigration consultants often (not always) are sole practitioners who do all the work themselves or may have one administrative support person. They do not have the high cost of overhead if they don't rent a downtown office or have several support staff salaries to pay. So what one charges vs. another could have more to do with the cost efficiency of their office as opposed to their skill.

8. Having experience with a particular visa office certainly helps but is not always necessary. There are research tools available and colleague communities among consultants and lawyers where information like this is traded to help other professionals. The Act and the Regulations as well as the Manuals are consistent for ALL applications. Learning the idiosyncracies of a particular embassy is not difficult if you look for it. Just like what we do here on this forum.

Choose wisely. Make sure you feel comfortable and that you are being "heard". You will know if you feel like the lawyer or consultant is right for you. But do research as well. Given how the Minister is trying to crack down on the crooks with immigration, a Google search could provide you with information about whether any complaints or charges have been lodged against someone with regard to immigration. Lots of the crooks are lawyers and licenced consultants, I'm sorry to say.

 

[jillandmat]

At first glance i would go with #2.. #1 sounds like he is a wheeler and dealer...
BUT if you have complications i would go with a lawyer...

 

[minna]

6. CSIC members (immigration consultants) are NOT ALLOWED to advertise success rates. It's in the Rules of Professional Conduct for Immigration Consultants. They are also not allowed to guarantee success. They can provide a money back guarantee if the visa is not issued EXCEPT for reasons that were not disclosed to them. For example, if your husband had a criminality issue that was never disclosed to the consultant but the embassy found out about it and refused them, this is not the consultant's fault and their money back guarantee becomes null and void. Any type of guarantee should be clearly outlined in the retainer letter.

I typed quickly before and now, reading over what I typed I want to clarify -- I specifically asked the lawyer I consulted (but who did not, in the end prepare our application) what she thought of our case, and our chances of success, based on her past experience. She told me that she thought our case was straight-forward and had never had a straight-forward case such as our denied before. That was not so much 'success rate' as her educated and informed opinion. This is a very well-respected lawyer who came highly recommended to me by numerous acquaintances and family members as well as my parents' lawyer. So - I guess what I meant to say is that a lawyer should be able to pretty quickly and easily make some recommendations for your case, or inform you of where you will run into trouble -- based, of course, on you telling him/her the truth about the situation.

 

[toby]

Just a couple of comments.

1. Make sure that the "Immigration Advisor" is actually a licensed "Immigration Consultant". You can check at www.csic-scci.ca. If they are not listed, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY. You have no method of complaint if they don't do a good job. Also, check the complaints and discipline section. You might not want to hire someone who has a complaint lodged against them or was subject to discipline because of practice concerns. I wouldn't worry about someone who was late paying membership fees as much as someone who has a client complaint.
....

Choose wisely. Make sure you feel comfortable and that you are being "heard". You will know if you feel like the lawyer or consultant is right for you. But do research as well. Given how the Minister is trying to crack down on the crooks with immigration, a Google search could provide you with information about whether any complaints or charges have been lodged against someone with regard to immigration. Lots of the crooks are lawyers and licenced consultants, I'm sorry to say.

I believe you are an "Immigration Advisor, are you not, Rjessome? ;D (unpaid, unsolicited promotion)

 

[rjessome]

I believe you are an "Immigration Advisor, are you not, Rjessome? ;D (unpaid, unsolicited promotion)

Shhhhhhh... I just come here to help out. 8) Don't blow my cover. And I'm not the only one....

minna, now that makes sense. A professional "opinion" is exactly the right thing to look for if you are getting legal advice. And yep, the truth helps!

 

[katie3234]

Wow, thanks for all the advice! Thats great. Whats an "ARC" ?

 

[bobshynoswife]

Wow, thanks for all the advice! Thats great. Whats an "ARC" ?

Authorization to Return to Canada. This is if someone has been deported to Canada. Not in your case, where he was deported from Greece. (correct?)