Is my lawyer an idiot?

[corazoncita]

OK... here's the story.

I called an attorney yesterday, and he is not a pro bono attorney... however, I guess he felt sorry for me, so he took my case for only $100. Hopefully I am a tax write off!

He really wasn't very nice, and he pretty much laid it on the line. He said that since my husband did not enter with a visa, he really has no form of relief. He said there was a very slight chance that the judge would issue a bond, so we changed our plan a little bit. Now we are pushing for voluntary departure.

The lawyer said I needed to do anything I can to scrounge up money for a plane ticket. He said the judge would not even consider a VD unless we already had proof of a *purchased* ticket. He said to purchase it at least 30 days out, so I did. I even asked if it needed to be a direct flight, and he said that if I could not afford one, not to worry about it. SO I BOUGHT THE TICKET.........

Today, I talked to my husband's immigration case manager who said that if they allowed my husband a VD, he would need to have a "Y class" ticket, which means that my husband needed to be able to fly at any time. The officer said it was a very expensive ticket, but it was the only type of plane ticket they allowed. He also said it needed to be a direct flight from Atlanta to Honduras.

So, who is full of crap here... the lawyer, or the immigration officer? I feel totally retarded for acting on my attorney's advice and buying this ticket. I guess I just assumed that he's had years of experience in the immigration law field, and I trusted him. Does anyone have any input?

[Sabrina022203]

Can you pay a little extra to change the ticket? That is horrible when you get mix information. I think it does need to be a Y Class but I am not a 100% sure.

[Pooh79]

I wouold go with what the immigration officer told you and it makes more sense too.

[y14gemini]

Okay I think they are both full of crap. Because you can request a bond! I thnk the lawyer wants to take ethe easy way out! The IO is full of crap, because it is easy for your husband to do the VD thing versus doing the forms etc with a bond. All the IO has to do is give the form to your husband to sign and his job is done with. He is being lazy. If he is in Atlanta, there is Delta since that is their hub. If you try Continental it will route you to Houston first since that is their hub, etc! Fight this if you can!

[rabbit]

That's pretty much what the two attorney's I talked to said... one of the two said that he could be there with him in court but he would charge $2500 just for that! We are also going to try the voluntary departure thing... I got some good info here http://www.lirs.org/InfoRes/PDFs/FlorenceProSe/VolDep-E.pdf
around page 19 they have some good info on what to provide to the judge as supporting evidence. I sent him a notorized letter and a copy of our bank statement showing we have the funds available to pay for him to go. I dont know if it will be enough but it was worth a try. He showed it to the immigration officer and he said just to show it to the judge.

[alkhalil]

My husband was in this same situation in 2004. After all the lawyering the judge asked to $50,000.00 bond and the lawyer did not ask if we could pay he made the dicision for us that we couldn't pay. Anyway he was granted voluntary departure and we purchased his ticker from Pueto Rico to new york and then to his homeland. He was escorted out of the US by immigration officers. I do not know if this has changed since 2005 but I would ask questions at the immigration office.

[corazoncita]

OK-- update

I called my lawyer's paralegal, and she said she had never even heard of a "Y-Class" ticket. She said that my attorney had been practicing law for 28 years and he knew what he was doing. I also called the head of the Immigration Board of Law (or something like that) and he was familiar with my lawyer and that he was one of the best people I could have representing me.

y14gemini-- I think you are right and that he is taking the easy way out, and that still sort of angers me, but beggars can't be choosers. I can't find anyone else to help me... and I am MUCH happier with him getting a VD than having him wait in that really crappy prison for 3-6 more months.

[nineten]

I don't remember which thread it was in but I absolutely do recall it mentioned about a 'Y' class type of ticket and the only airline that offered it and I think they said that was Delta. I wish I could recall the thread or the OP that talked about it. I've not had a reason to inquire about it but that is something to check into. It was talked about on the board somewhere. (IMO any professional organization isn't going to slam another atty. They might tell you if they have received complaints on the atty and if those complaints were followed through in their process but I don't see them saying anything negative if they can prevent it.)

[tasksgirl]

So what happened with this? Did the lawyer end up being right?