Laurel Scott's Chat - August 1, 2007

[inlimbo]

Look for the chat here when it's all done.

[inlimbo]

is anyone else able to post the chat? I'm having technical difficulties - my computer won't let me copy and paste. AHHH!!!

[Laura]

Laurel Scott's Free Chat - Visacentral.net - August 1, 2007



Laurel: Hello everyone. I’m here. First, some preliminaries. What I state in this chat does not constitute legal advice as I have not had the opportunity to review your case. Participation in the chat does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Laurel: When you type to the chat, I can view what you’ve written, but it will only be visible to everyone in the main window if I post it. I will not have the opportunity to answer every question. I prefer not to answer questions I’ve already answered, when asked by someone else.

tracimn: Hi laurel, Please tell me you have new info from CDJ?
Laurel: Nothing new, except that cases are being processed as quickly as possible. And I'm getting reports that the consulate has stopped charging the immigrant visa bill a second time for people who get their post-waiver approval visa pickup appointment more than a year after the first appointment.

a79: Trying to test if my messages are visible
Laurel: Their visible to me. They are visible to everyone else only if I post.

Laurel: Please do not type your messages in all caps. Its hard to read. I will not reply to messages that are in all caps.

abc: Is it possible to postpone the pick up date after waiver approval (K1) if legitimate circumstances make it impossible to get there on the date given?
Laurel: Yes, but this is not recommended for Juarez as you might not get a new date for another year.

angela256z: Hi Laurel - I am asking a question for another I2us users. In country waivers that are filed in Chicago how long do they take?She has been waiting for about 7 months and has not even received a receipt.
Laurel: She should get a receipt notice within 30 days. If she doesn't get a receipt notice, be sure to get a copy of the cancelled check or money order to prove that its been filed. How long it will take to adjudicate depends on the local office. There's a whole heck of a lot of variation.

salsa: My husband has two DWAIs (Driving While Ability Impaired - like DUI, but a lesser offense, lower BAL). They are misdemeanors and he got them both in the same month in 2000. What do you think of our chances under the CDJ Pilot Program?
Laurel: Depending on the other factors in your case, it might not make the waiver harder to get approved, but any arrest makes it less likely that you would be 'clearly approvable' through the Pilot Program.

tracimn: you have a rough idea if submitted in november of 06 when we will here something?
Laurel: Depends on where its being adjudicated.

CHRISTIANS-MOM: laurel I am two months pregnant with my second high risk pregnancy. I have waited for the NVC to schedule my appt for 5 months. Is is valid to try to get a appt. expedite
Laurel: I'm having a very hard time getting consular appointments in Juarez sped up for any reason at all, even when we got an expedite on the waiver.

skylarklf: Hi Laurel, We have our first appointment scheduled in Juarez next month, but we need to reschedule it, how do I do that, and if the next appointment is a year past from when we first filed, will we have to pay all the fees again.
Laurel: Just email or mail a request to the consulate asking for postponement. You shouldn't have to pay the visa bill again.


salsa: How much lead time to you like to have for waiver preparation? If our appointment is likely to be in April 2008, when should we retain your services, January??
Laurel: I like to have at least six weeks. But I don't like to collect supporting documents until we're within three months of the expected appointment date.

yeni: w/c is better, to re-apply or try to revive out case even we've missed our appt. over 1 yr ago
Laurel: When its been less than a year since the last appointment, you can usually revive the consular case without too much trouble. Once its been over a year, they usually send the case back to archives in the US and its tough to get the consular case revived without just starting over.

tracimn: CDJ sorry
Laurel: Your case will probably be adjudicated in the next two to three weeks. No promises.

CHRISTIANS-MOM: so you are thinking no
Laurel: Correct.

a79: When my fiance and I go to pick up his visa after waiver approval, we plan to take a current filled out DS-156, DS-156k & DS-157.....We have a couple of questions on how we should answer 3 questions. 1) Has Anyone ever filed an immigrant visa petition on your behalf? Well, besides me filing this one for a fiance visa, no....Do we count me? 2) Have you ever been refused a U.S. Visa? Well, do they count that we didn't get the fiance visa at our first interview as a refusal, but instead had to file a waiver first? 3) And of course the question about misrep. we did not know that he was ineligible for this reason at the first interview so we had previously put no...obviously now we know that the answer was yes and a waiver is being processed for this. So do we go ahead and put yes on this question this time around? Sorry for the long question!
Laurel: A K1 visa is not an immigrant visa so neither you nor anyone else has ever petitioned for him for an immigrant visa and he has never applied for one. As the current visa process is not complete, for purposes of this form at this time, the visa refusal is not final and you answer 'no' to that question. You need to answer 'yes' to the misrep if you were found inadmissible for it previously. He's always going to answer 'yes' to a question like that on any immigration form for the rest of his life and put a little note that he got a waiver for it.

yeni: What exactly is Pilot prog?
Laurel: I recommend you review my memo. There's a link to it on my main page.

confused: Hi Laurel - My husband went for a fiance interview in CDJ a few years ago. He was denied a visa because I wasn't with him. No ban was ordered. No formal denial was sent to him or me. No fingerprints were taken. Will they have any record that he was even there?
Laurel: The USC fiance(e) is not required to attend the consular interview. Your fact pattern is odd. I would want to review your file before answering.

angela256z: Laurel - My question. I have just filed my I-130 so now we are waiting. I need to figure dates for my husbands first entry, but he does not remember. He says it was before his daughters birth (Oct 1998) so I know that he was here for less than a year after april 1997, but I don't want them to think I am just guessing dates before 1997 to avoid the (9)(C) rule. I have his daughters birth certificate showing him on there and in MX you have to be present to be added to it and she would have become pregnant in Jan 1998. What do you suggest. He says the FBI fingerprints will show nothing, but we requested them anyways.
Laurel: Just put the dates down to the best of your ability. There's a certain amount of guessing on dates for the majority of cases.

a79: Since we are not 100% sure that they will not charge my fiance the visa application fee again at his pick up appointment, we plan to just have him take money & credit card just in case. If they decide to make him pay for the visa fee after all, will they let him pay somewhere in the consulate or send him out to a banamex to pay for it like last time?
Laurel: They might make him go to Banamex. But if you're not sure, don't pay until they tell you.

CHRISTIANS-MOM: do you help with the hsl if we pay you.
Laurel: Ah, you've identified one of my pet peeves. Lots of people want to hire me to "help them with the letter", but its not just a "letter", its a whole "packet". The letter is but one of the many supporting documents. If you hire me for the waiver case, guidance on the letter would be part of the representation. Some people say, "no, we have our supporting documents, we just want you for the letter itself and nothing else." I do not agree to such an arrangement.

susan: There has been a lot of discussion about bad lawyers on the immigrate2us forum....How do we know if a lawyer is "good"? Is there some way to find out their past track record? Or do we just have to "interrogate" them before we retain them? I have had "consultations" with 2 lawyers but I was not impressed with their knowledge or their ability to reassure me of their knowledge of the 601 waiver. ?????
Laurel: That's a good question. As many of you know, I actively discouraged you all from posting a list of "bad lawyers" because of concerns over a defamation suit. You can always check with the State Bar to see whether there is any formal disciplinary action against the attorney and I would encourage you to do so. Other than that, all you can do is interrogate the attorney. Most attorneys, such as myself, will not submit to such questioning without a consultation fee since it takes me away from my work on other cases.

a79: I had all my questions ready today.....Sorry! Last opinion, which really doesn't matter know since we are at the end of our waiting! ahahah Basically, my fiance and I had to legitimately guess all the visits he has made to the U.S. he has been traveling legally to the U.S. since a child with his family and a tourist visa.......We have no idea of the months or length of all his visits. After his denial in 2004 and cancellation of his visa, he has not been back. He has never EWI......So anywhere they asked about previous visits on forms, we have always put 1979-2001, 2002, 09/2003-02/2004....We always wrote "these are the dates to the best of our knowledge" So far this has worked fine and it is the best we can do. What do you think?
Laurel: This situation occurs most frequently with Canadians who live near the border. I ask them to list all their entries and exits to the US and their jaws drop. There are just too many to recall. In such a situation, I write "too many lawful entries to list" and make some sort of explanation regarding them being Canadian and coming across the border weekly or monthly or even daily. Similar with a Mexican living near the border with a Border Crosssing Card. Some Mexican children cross the border every day to go to school in the US, using a border crossing card.

Dee: If allowed to enter at a POE with visa after an overstay of more than 1 year on said visa and granted visa extension after an overstay of more than 1 year, can 9C be invoked at consular waiver interview? All entries and extensions validated with immigration. On last entry allowed to withdraw petition to enter and visa stamped invalidated.
Laurel: Great question. This was a matter of debate at the AILA Conference in Orlando in June. Some attorneys thought that (9)(C) applied. I do not. There was a cable from Madeleine Albright in 1998 that I think clarified the matter at least for the Department of State, indicating that (9)(C) would not apply in such a situation.

yeni: Would it make difficult when the time comes for the interview especially we missed our first appt by a year?
Laurel: Probably not. But - you know - I can never guarantee that someone won't have problems at the consulate.

ROXY: Hi laurel!
Laurel: Hi

ROXY: iwa wondering my husband has the 3 year bar for drugs he hasnt been able to do anything to show rehab except for one drug test since he got there which has been about 8months will this hurt him at his second interview?
Laurel: Possibly. I would recommend enrollment in a drug treatment program.

tracimn: if the nvc has all the paper work for the premant residency when you go back after your waiver is approved will they give you a permant residencey visa or a k-3, now that the nvc schedules those appointments
Laurel: If you filed your I-601 based on a K3 visa application and interview and while the I-601 is pending your immigrant visa case is complete, you are wondering whether you will be issued a K3 or an immigrant visa. In my legal opinion, the consulate can issue the immigrant visa at their discretion when you come back for the second appointment, but they are not required to do so and may issue the K3.

ROXY: i was wondering if you would have any idea what the consualte means when they say cannot request medical revaluation til sept 2016. i wrote them a letter asking for info on my husbands case and when they wrote me back thats how they closed the letter
Laurel: That's odd. I don't now. Is he inadmissible under 9C?

petal07: Hello Laurel...when we turn in our I-601 and HSL letter I understand we are to turn in a new Biographic form also...is it the G-325, G-325A, Etc...I am confused to which one we need to use?
Laurel: G-325A

ROXY: my questions are the ones in red sorry first time to this chat and im kind of in rush
Laurel: Maybe its red on your screen, but its all black on my moderation consule and blue in the main chat room.

lindita82: hello laurel !! I was woundering now that theNVC is taking all of the importnat documents for CDJ for example: court/prison records do we need to take the records again for the interview and the infopass appt thank you !!
Laurel: I would.

susan: What is a ballpark figure that someone could expect to pay an attorney, to assist them with the preparation of a 601 waiver packet?
Laurel: $2000 to $10,000 for just the waiver portion, not the whole process

Laurel: Less than $2000 and you have to wonder whether this attorney knows what they're getting into and how much experience they have. More than $10,000 and you're getting robbed. Within the $2000 to $10,000 range, price is NOT NECESSARILY an indicator of the quality of the work that will be done on your case.

angela256z: Laurel - If my husband is not listed on his son's birth certificate and I want to file an I-130 for him is there any other supporting document that I can get to prove that he is my step son? I can not think of any. They have the same name, but that doesn't mean much. I have asked the Civil Registry in MX about adding my husband to the acta, but he has to be in Mexico to do it. I don't want to have to wait that long to bring my step son here if I don't have to. I would like to apply the I-130 now if possible. Do you help with cases that do not require I-601? It would be an immigrant visa for a minor do they take 2 years like the waiver cases?
Laurel: Get a DNA test. Also, you might try doing a K3 visa for your husband and K4 for the son since you wouldn't have to prove he's your husband's son until the consular interview after he's already in Mexico. He can leave a bit earlier for the interview than he otherwise would have and get the birth certificate fixed after arrival. I rarely take cases that are neither I-601 or marriage-based AOS, unless its a returning client.

Dee: Yes, Albright's memo seems to make it clear that it does not constitute 9(C). A member here was recently charged with 9(C) at the Lima consulate and waiver was not adjudicated. Is there any recourse? Is this a case you would be interested in? Waiver was filed initially by a Boston lawyer.
Laurel: I know of the case. Madeleine Albright works for the Department of State. The finding of that applicant in the case you mentioned was made by CIS. We could have a difference of legal interpretation between one CIS office and DOS. We could try reconciling the discrepency with the AAO, but personally I think that's a bit risky because we could get an adverse decision that every CIS office around the world would then have to follow. I made a different suggested to that applicant, which I can't post here because it reveals too much about the case and there's confidentiality issues.

angela256z: The thread on bad lawyers would it be ok to start one of recommended lawyers? That may help some people who are now a little skeptical about lawyers.
Laurel: Sure.

ROXY: I'm also wondering what can my husband do about attending progrmas he's in oaxaca and that state is in the middle of political chaos presently he's afraid to go out at night because its dangerous
Laurel: That's really something you and your husband will have to figure out. As an attorney I can only say that if he doesn't attend a rehabilitation program, he may still have problems at the consulate after three years.

cm21om25: Laurel, When my husband goes for his K3 visa interview and the I601 interview, do I need to be in Juarez with him?
Laurel: No. In fact if you're there, its unlikely that they'll even let you in.

chilanga: So, they're not re-charging everyone who has waited longer than a year for the visa fee again... is there any recourse for those of this who already had to do that, or are we just SOL?
Laurel: That issue has crossed my mind. Normally, trying to get your money back from the government is a lost cause.

cm21om25: Laurel, how much is a face to face consultation with you?
Laurel: Same as telephone, but I'm thinking of requiring advanced payment for any in-person consultation because while no one has ever stood me up for a telephone consultation, I get stood up on in-person consultations more than half the time. I'm not kidding. Because of this I'm always hesitent to schedule in-person consultations.


laura_fern.: Laurel - Say a person EWI and is caught at the border in 2004. Instead of being "caught and released," they were given what sounds like voluntary departure. They had to sign papers and see a judge, but it doesn't sound like there was formally detainment and removal. Then that person immediately re-enters EWI and stays in the U.S. for 10 months and then leaves and remains out of the U.S. until now. Does the voluntary departure (if it was indeed VD) count as being "ordered removed" and therefore invoke 9(c) - or is that person eligible for a waiver for the 3-year bar?
Laurel: You'd have to see what was actually signed. Voluntary departure followed by EWI would not trigger 9C (absent one year prior unlawful presence). But frequently aliens in detention are being asked (some say forced) to sign a waiver of their right to a trial and they're being rapidly deported with no opportunity to consult with an attorney. This is no voluntary departure.

susan: I know that it is necessary to be honest about all information when filing a peition but I was wondering if you are aware of negative reprocuctions from revealing the EWI's place of work, residence, use of fake SS#, etc.
Laurel: I've revelaed that sort of info lots of times and nothing bad has come of it to either the alien or the former employer, but beware of the 30-60 day rule. As for fake socials, right not its not too much of an issue, but I can't promise CIS and the consulates will continue to treat that particular crime with a light hand in the future.

angela256z: Laurel - Question on your set fees. Since the fees at INS have increased should we expect yours to go up or do your set fees do not include the filing fee? Right now I am budgeting you in for about $7000 (webiste shows $6750 or close to that for I-601) should I plan on more?
Laurel: My legal fees have never included the filing fees.

Laurel: Even though some of my attorney friends are pressuring me to increase my fees, telling me I can command double my current fee, I don't think that just because I CAN charge double, that I SHOULD charge double. I can't promise I won't increase my fees in the future, but at this point I'm making an effort not to bankrupt my clients.

briza: My BIL was caught in Arkansas back in 1994 driving a car full of people, all EWI's (including himself). He received a 5 year bar and now would like to apply for a border crossing card. He was told (back in 94) that he would have to file a waiver. Any idea what waiver would need to be submitted?
Laurel: There's a possibility that he'll be charged with human trafficking as some aliens have recently been charged with in situations similar to the one you described. However, if he is not charged with that at the consulate, he shouldn't need a waiver since its been over five years since his expedited removal. BUT I doubt they will give him a border crossing card.


susan: Some of the documentation, I will be submitting at the K-1 interview includes photos of me and my fiance's (EWI/Mexico) friends and family who are also EWI. We are afraid that including those photos might raise questions about his friends and families legal status and end up getting them into trouble....any thoughts??????
Laurel: Extremely unlikely that those pictures will cause problems for the unnamed people in them.

Miss_Liss: For ROXY-the rehab program is absolutely necessary. Just get it over with. Have him go to the Centro de Salud and let them direct him.

angela256z: That is sad about the in-person consults. I would def. make them pay in advance.
Laurel: What's frustrating is that when I'm waiting for someone to arrive for a consultation, I'm hesitant to get started on anything because I'm afraid I'll just get interrupted, so I end up sitting around. Big waste of time.

Laurel: Ok, guys. Its noon. I didn't get to everyone. But I'll be back next week. See you all then.

[inlimbo]

yes, I'm copying it! :)

Oh, good! That's a relief. I don't know what's going on with my computer! Argh!

[Azul y Vampy]

Thanks Laura! :wave:

[joy&pain]

:Thanks Laura! :wave:



:ditto: :D

[Laura]

No prob!

[aprilstorm]

Thanks for posting!!! I wish we could get our money back...we had to pay 3 !!!!!! Repeat 3 times!!!! March 05, May 06 and May 07!!!! :(

[angela256z]

Thanks for posting!!! I wish we could get our money back...we had to pay 3 !!!!!! Repeat 3 times!!!! March 05, May 06 and May 07!!!! :(


That is sad, but worth the money right?

[agarrard]

[QUOTE=laurafern11;10698]Laurel Scott's Free Chat - Visacentral.net - August 1, 2007

susan: I know that it is necessary to be honest about all information when filing a peition but I was wondering if you are aware of negative reprocuctions from revealing the EWI's place of work, residence, use of fake SS#, etc.
Laurel: I've revelaed that sort of info lots of times and nothing bad has come of it to either the alien or the former employer, but beware of the 30-60 day rule. As for fake socials, right not its not too much of an issue, but I can't promise CIS and the consulates will continue to treat that particular crime with a light hand in the future.


What is the 30-60 day rule?

[agarrard]

[QUOTE=laurafern11;10698]Laurel Scott's Free Chat - Visacentral.net - August 1, 2007

susan: I know that it is necessary to be honest about all information when filing a peition but I was wondering if you are aware of negative reprocuctions from revealing the EWI's place of work, residence, use of fake SS#, etc.
Laurel: I've revelaed that sort of info lots of times and nothing bad has come of it to either the alien or the former employer, but beware of the 30-60 day rule. As for fake socials, right not its not too much of an issue, but I can't promise CIS and the consulates will continue to treat that particular crime with a light hand in the future.


What is the 30-60 day rule?

[Mishu]

30-60 Rule (http://immigrate2us.net/forum/showthread.php?t=962)

The above link should take you to the thread about the 30-60 rule. I also had the same question.