Do not hire an immigration lawyer right off the bat. Do file for an appeal within the 30 Days by following the guidelines provided to you. Then write a reconsideration email to the Embassy in question requesting them to reopen your file and provide all evidence applicable. It can take up to 30 days for an embassy to reply to you so don't wait to file your appeal once you hear from them. File your appeal now without a lawyer. Hopefully the embassy will contact you and let you know that they reopen your case and then you can cancel your appeal. This way all bases are covered and you still have lots of time to hire a lawyer if need be. When you file for your appeal they will have to send the transcripts of your file. So make sure that as soon as you find out that your case is reopened from the embassy... you close your appeal. This is all from personal experience regarding my case with my husband being refused. We were refused for other reasons and I provided more solid evidence and requested them to reopen my file. Be sure to word your letter well and title your email properly so that they know exactly what they're opening and exactly what they're seeing right away. Also I was told by an embassy to write or urgent at the front of the title.
Hello! Just came across your post!
My husband and I are going through similar issues here, our application got refused few days ago, the officer did not believe my intention in moving back to Canada regardless I have provided some evidence. However, I thought I can only upload 3MB files to webform, so I have only picked some of the evidence ( not all, and missing the fact that I actually resigned from my job ), I didnt know I can compressed the pdf via some online apps by that time maybe thats why it is not so convincing. Today I went to the HKVO to seek advise, unluckily, the embassy knows nothing and cannot answer any questions related to the immigration issues. I was disappointed,
we went home and decided to send in a reconsideration letter to the webform again, also send in all the evidence and missing facts of my intention. I hope that the officer will review my letter and documents again....