Principesca
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I'm posting to find out if there is anything I can do, if I can take legal action or get my money back.
I recently married an Italian citizen in the U.S. and hired an immigration lawyer to help us through the process of immigration. Before agreeing to anything I spoke to the lawyer in detail, he outlined many ways in which he could and would help us, and what his fee's were. He gave vague information about the process and immediately returned my calls (or within a few hours) until we hired him. His fee was $1600, $600 up front then $500 for the next two months. This was to cover filing of all documents, interview preparation, and the like. Since we paid the initial fee I have not spoken to the lawyer directly a single time. His paralegal was the only one to ever contact me, and it was always via email. The emails were very unprofessional, and I got so upset that I called out the paralegal and attorney. I emailed both pointing out my dissatisfaction and the unacceptable nature in which the case was being handled. The emails she was sending were copy & pasted without so much effort as to remove the guides such as (client's name). Example::
If your [[How to refer to beneficiary - lower case]] does not already have a social security number, [[Beneficiary he/she]] will be able to present [[Beneficary his/her]] EAD card to your local social security office and apply for [[Beneficary his/her]] SSN. In most cases, an SSN is available within 48 hours. The SSN will also allow your [[How to refer to beneficiary - lower case]] to apply for a driver license at your local DMV.
After my upset email to both the paralegal and the lawyer, the lawyer emailed me to say that I was right, this is unacceptable, and that the paralegal would be calling me to work something out. Three days later I still had not heard anything so I emailed the lawyer again. This time I got a phone call the next day from the paralegal saying she is sorry, she has been busy because her kids were home for a school break. I explained that I understand personal circumstances however I am paying for peace of mind during a highly stressful situation and instead of getting help they are adding to the stress. The lawyer had expressed an urgency to file all paperwork and yet anytime there was an issue creating a delay I didn't get any response for anyone for several days usually not until after I sent a follow up email inquiring about the previous one. Other than the one apology phone call from the paralegal there has been 0 phone communication.
Now we are less than a week away from the interview date, I am in desperate need of legal advice. I emailed requesting a phone call for more thorough interview preparation (they sent a generic "sample question" email from 2009 that had less than 10 questions on it, a quick online search revealed 10x the information). The paralegal responded saying she would see if the lawyer could call me, and days later I have still heard nothing from either. My husband and I both feel that we have been ripped off. It feels like the lawyer has not actually done anything for us. When we were filing the paperwork we were asked to fill out all of the forms manually, then they sent the complete versions to us for us to sign and send to immigration ourselves. I'm wondering what merits the $1600? Do we have any legal grounds to get our money back?
I'm posting to find out if there is anything I can do, if I can take legal action or get my money back.
I recently married an Italian citizen in the U.S. and hired an immigration lawyer to help us through the process of immigration. Before agreeing to anything I spoke to the lawyer in detail, he outlined many ways in which he could and would help us, and what his fee's were. He gave vague information about the process and immediately returned my calls (or within a few hours) until we hired him. His fee was $1600, $600 up front then $500 for the next two months. This was to cover filing of all documents, interview preparation, and the like. Since we paid the initial fee I have not spoken to the lawyer directly a single time. His paralegal was the only one to ever contact me, and it was always via email. The emails were very unprofessional, and I got so upset that I called out the paralegal and attorney. I emailed both pointing out my dissatisfaction and the unacceptable nature in which the case was being handled. The emails she was sending were copy & pasted without so much effort as to remove the guides such as (client's name). Example::
If your [[How to refer to beneficiary - lower case]] does not already have a social security number, [[Beneficiary he/she]] will be able to present [[Beneficary his/her]] EAD card to your local social security office and apply for [[Beneficary his/her]] SSN. In most cases, an SSN is available within 48 hours. The SSN will also allow your [[How to refer to beneficiary - lower case]] to apply for a driver license at your local DMV.
After my upset email to both the paralegal and the lawyer, the lawyer emailed me to say that I was right, this is unacceptable, and that the paralegal would be calling me to work something out. Three days later I still had not heard anything so I emailed the lawyer again. This time I got a phone call the next day from the paralegal saying she is sorry, she has been busy because her kids were home for a school break. I explained that I understand personal circumstances however I am paying for peace of mind during a highly stressful situation and instead of getting help they are adding to the stress. The lawyer had expressed an urgency to file all paperwork and yet anytime there was an issue creating a delay I didn't get any response for anyone for several days usually not until after I sent a follow up email inquiring about the previous one. Other than the one apology phone call from the paralegal there has been 0 phone communication.
Now we are less than a week away from the interview date, I am in desperate need of legal advice. I emailed requesting a phone call for more thorough interview preparation (they sent a generic "sample question" email from 2009 that had less than 10 questions on it, a quick online search revealed 10x the information). The paralegal responded saying she would see if the lawyer could call me, and days later I have still heard nothing from either. My husband and I both feel that we have been ripped off. It feels like the lawyer has not actually done anything for us. When we were filing the paperwork we were asked to fill out all of the forms manually, then they sent the complete versions to us for us to sign and send to immigration ourselves. I'm wondering what merits the $1600? Do we have any legal grounds to get our money back?