RFE received

[Son of Clyde]

Ok, jb told me how I could have saved a bundle by doing this myself without hiring an attorney. Tonight I received an email telling me additional evidence is needed in my case.

My question is, how common is this and is there a deadline to secure the evidence? Will they start the clock over again so I will need to wait an additional 30 - 45 days after I submit this additional evidence?

Will USCIS tell me over the phone what is needed so I can start gathering the evidence before the actual letter arrives in the mail? The RFE was mailed to me March 30.

[Son of Clyde]

Is it possible they may need additional evidence from me and not from her?

It would be a relief to me.

[Voyageur]

Clyde,

That is really bad, getting an RFE when you had an attorney that is supposed to "helpp" you. I think that we share the same well-known immigration attorney. I used him on my first K1 (which did not work out). This time, I did everything on my own.

Good luck.

[RacerX]

no they won't tell you over the phone what was wrong, but you will get a letter soon.  The good news is after you respond to the RFE they usually approve the petition fairly soon (less than a month).

I would fire your lawyer and demand my money back if he f' -up.  It is remotely possible the RFE is for some obscure reason, but probably not.

Well Son, I would think that you should look to the lawyer that you have paid big $$$ to help you out. Obviously he didn't do his job (which many of us poor, uneducated slobs have done by ourselves successfully) and now you are here on the internet looking for answers from total strangers. Maybe your lawyer can call that "special" phone number (that only immigration attorneys have ) and get some answers for you.

I will resist the temptation to say... and offer you the hope that since the USCIS is requesting more information that your case is already in the process of review and once you have supplied this information the approval process will continue where it left off. Good luck.

[Son of Clyde]

I want to become an immigration lawyer so I can sit on my royal a$$ all day and take people's money.

What makes this lame is that if it were the lawyer's own K-1 it would have been done flawlessly. If some slob is paying him big bucks he couldn't have cared less.

 You live and learn. This experience has been very unpleasant and I'm sure my lady will be pissed if I have to ask her for even more documents.

Two lawyers two f--- ups.

I am tempted to post their names here so another poor slob is not foolish like me.

I phoned USCIS, the woman said it may take up to 30 days to receive my letter.

[Bruce]

Sorry to hear the bad news.   Lets hope the lawyer can earn his stripes with what may be a more difficult case.  If it was a straight forward case and the lawyer messed up I agree that you should demand some sort of satisfaction.  Things are moving along faster now so you may still get her here within six months.  I hope this gets you to examine what is really needed carefully.  That way you will be all the wiser.  The adjustment of status paperwork is not much different than the fiance visa packet.

[Son of Clyde]

The lawyer sent me an email:

"I am actually happy to read they have already requested additional evidence, as there is no Premium Processing option with fiance visas.  And your case was filed this month.  Some Petitioners unfortunately wait over half a year to even receive a request for additional evidence.  At this point we just have to wait to receive the RFE."

There, doesn't that just make you warm and fuzzy all over! Lawyers are such slime buckets it makes my skin crawl everytime I hear of how they have screwed somebody over. If it had been done correctly there would be no need for a RFE in fact,  the only people that I have known who have had a request for more information (2) had used an attorney. They even used that as a reason for me to get a lawyer to handle my K-1 (go figure). This is looking more and more like an intentional ploy on the part of attorneys to justify their services.

My heart really goes out to you Son as we can all feel your (and your fiancee's) pain. Please, if it is not too personal, let us know what exactly what the request entailed. I would think that if you got a notice of a RFE that the actual RFE should be coming rather shortly. I fail to see why they would send a notice first, just ask your dang questions and get on with it! Hang in there Son, it will all be worth the effort and pain.

[BC]

I'm not a lawyer, but have noticed that lawyers tend to give as little information as possible in hopes that the other party does not pick up any excess baggage from evidence presented.

They try to 'squeak by' with as little info as possible, which in this endeavor seems quite counterproductive.

It's in their nature, but I would be all over this guy's @ss.  He may be a lawyer, but obviously not a good immigration lawyer.

Underpaid underpowered mmigration clerks are probably looking at the application and saying to themselves: "hmm.. I wonder why this guy is using a lawyer to fill out forms and make copies.. lets find out and RFE this joker.. He's obviously got more than I do chasing these foreign barbie dolls and paying fat @ss lawyers that come and give me so much sh!t so I'll show him how much his bucks are really worth...  (Nothing personal intended Clyde, just describing the 'mindset')

[RacerX]

After you get the letter, btw, they usually come quickly, if it is the lawyer's fault, I think it might do a service for the other members to have his name.  If you want, just PM it someone and let them post it for you.

[Son of Clyde]

If it was not his fault I would rather not post his name. If he f---ed up I will gladly post his name for all to see.

I work for the federal government and I know there are at least three ways to process cases. The correct way, the incorrect way and your way.

Believe me we foul up a lot of work because the managers want speed and not quality.

[jb]

I told you so...........

[Son of Clyde]

I told you so...........

Yes you did and I was a stubborn fool.

 I don't know who was the bigger fool, the lawyer who forgot to send the Russian copy of her divorce decree, but sent the translated copy, or me for not insisting to see the package before he sent it away.

 

[RacerX]

OMG, only a total idiot would make a mistake like this... not only should he give your money back, but hari-kari would be a good career move for him!

[Son of Clyde]

Harry Carey that is his name.

[Turboguy]

Hi Clyde,

I just got off the plane from Moscow a few hours ago.  Sorry to hear you got an RFE.  I agree with everyone that it will not hold you up too much. 

Now I am not meaning to rub this in, really not but I think we had some discussions about lawyer or no lawyer and you used one, I did not.  I believe our ap's were mailed the same day although mine got there faster.   Well what I don't want to rub in Clyde is that when I got home from the airport my approval from the Vermont Service Center.   YEA. 

I think you will find that when they get the info they need you will get your approval fast.    Good luck.

 

[Turboguy]

Sorry, I forgot the part about how frequent.   I went though some tracking on another site and really did not get firm statistics but it looked like about 5% or less of the cases get an RFE.

[jb]

LOL, and probably all are a result of a lawyer's screw up?

[Son of Clyde]

If you want to hear something funny but sad, I had the document right at home and I mailed it today on my own.

 I just hope the USPS priority mail is not lost. I am tracking the documents online.

 After I sent the mail I read Conner's statement about how he never trusts USPS and others agreed.

 I'm fortunate to have never had anything lost or delayed by USPS.

[jb]

Son of Clyde,

I really hope you get it all together soon, I personally know the pain of not having your loved one with you.

[Son of Clyde]

I received an email on April 7th indicating that the documents I mailed to VSC were received and since the premilinary review has already been done it will take less time now than the usual 30 - 45 days.

[Jack]

Well Clyde, as you are probably already aware of, the Vermont service center is the fastest and usually most effecient of the four service centers. She'll be here soon enough. Hope you have started working on networking, trying to find other RW/AM married couples close to you. Or in your case RW/CM married couples might work just as well.

[Turboguy]

I think you will be happy with how fast it gets done Clyde.   They may tell you 30 to 45 days, but they are doing much better.   You and I  both mailed our K-1 applicactions to Vermont on the 7th of March.   Mine was received on the 9th.  I had my NOA-2 and approval on the 24th of March so they processed the whole thing in about 11 business days from the time they recieved it.    I would not be surprised to see you have an approval date in the next few days.

[Son of Clyde]

In Baltimore we have ethnic festivals every summer. I'm going to attend the Ukrainian festival and hope to leave with plenty of contacts.

I've already found a Russian Orthodox church and a Ukrainian Byzantine church.

We have a large population of jewish Russians also.