Our services

By virtue of our detailed instructions, questionnaire, and case management procedures, developed and refined over years of practice in the K1 field, we are able to obtain all the relevant information and documents as quickly as possible, sparing the client weeks of researching the law, obtaining information and documents from the fiance, trying to figure out how to answer the forms correctly and assemble the proper documents. We do all this for the client, and in far less time than the client could himself. We have submitted petitions in as little as four days after being retained by the client.

The I-129F petition is prepared and submitted according to the highest professional standards. We have the training and experience to be able to recognize the hidden issues that may lurk in the data and documentation, and we know how to quickly resolve any problems found therein. We know the “unwritten rules” regarding what constitutes a persuasive petition, and what does not. Our whole approach is to identify and resolve any potential USCIS or Embassy issues in the first days of the representation, rather than wait for problems to arise later, where one may get caught in a long, arduous battle with a government agency (to imagine what dealing with the USCIS or Embassy is like, just think of your local Department of Motor Vehicles, but imagine it ten times worse). Finally, when we are confident that the case is ready, the I-129F petition is assembled so to be as complete, accurate and easy to review as possible, so that the USCIS examiner is encouraged to approve the application as soon as possible, with the chances of the petition being returned with a “Request for (Additional) Evidence”, which could cause months of delays, having been reduced to near zero.

Numerous changes in the K visa field have taken place over recent years with little or no advance notice to the public (e.g., the elimination of “provisional files” in consular processing, new rules regarding police certificates,, the obsolescence of the K-3 visa for most visa applicants, the initiation of background checks by the NVC rather than by the embassies, the introduction of new Embassy forms and procedures, the implementation of more rigorous background checks, the requirement of dual parental consent to a child’s emigration in some embassies, the elimination of any interview waivers, etc.). If notice is given at all by the government, it is measured in days, not months. Government web sites have often continued to show the outdated information weeks after the changes have occurred. But our clients are not surprised by such developments because our firm constantly monitors new statutes, legal publications, and other sources of information, and we are constantly learning from our on-going experience with dozens of K1 clients per month, so that we can quickly advise our clients of any changes and adapt to the new environment.

An attorney is available throughout the fiance visa petition process to provide answers and solutions to the client and fiance’s questions. Even though we take the vast majority of the case and it’s complexity out of the client’s and fiance’s hands, and provide detailed instructions and updates throughout, we nonetheless find that every member of our office spends most of his or her day answering telephone calls or emails from clients who have new questions, problems, and concerns that appear as the case moves forward. We typically know the answer and solutions immediately, or if a novel issue is presented, we set about solving it in the shortest possible time.

All forms contained in State Department Packet #3 (initial Embassy mailing to the fiancée) and State Department Packet #4 (final Embassy mailing to the fiancée) are prepared by our office and mailed to the fiance prior to the first Embassy mailing, so that the interview can be scheduled for the earliest possible date.

All required telephone, mail, and fax contact with the U.S. Consulate is handled by our office. Our attorneys have visited numerous other embassies and consulates in recent years (China,Warsaw, Bangkok, Manila, Rome,and Tokyo, to name just a few) and we maintain close contact by e-mail, fax, and telephone with all embassies for which we have cases. This permits us to maintain excellent working relationships with Embassy personnel and make personal appeals to the visited Embassy for clients whose petitions are pending at the time of a visit.

Unfortunately, many members of U.S. embassies have skeptical attitudes toward fiancees, viewing them more as interested in securing an immigration benefit than in establishing a bona fide marriage. This can lead to perfectly good relationships running into problems in the Embassy interview. Our long experience with the embassies give us a nuanced understanding of the staff members’ psychology, and the factors they use in evaluating fiancees, allowing us to present the case in the most favorable light during the Embassy interview.

One of our assistants meets the fiance upon her arrival in Moscow, Kiev, Guangzhou, Manila or Warsaw in order to prepare her for the Embassy interview, check her documents one last time, and make sure she is relaxed, comfortable, and is fulfilling all of her obligations during her stay in the Embassy city. The paralegal assistance spares our clients the need to fly to the Embassy upon the request of the inevitably nervous fiance (a common occurrence for petitioners doing the visa themselves, or without Embassy support from the attorney; the irony is that they can do almost nothing at this stage, and often aren’t even let into the Embassy). Our overseas paralegals have each assisted literally hundreds of fiance get through the interview process, and thus they can provide far greater assistance than can the client. For fiances going to other embassies, we achieve much the same result by having one of our U.S. staff call the fiance directly to prepare her at length for the interview.

We provide free advice for our former K-1 clients who need help with adjustment of status (your wife needs a “green card”), work authorization (your wife needs her EAD so she can work and get a Social Security number so she can drive), travel documents (your wife needs to travel home, or go on vacation outside the U.S., while adjustment is pending), tourist visas (you want to invite mother-in-law or other relatives to the U.S., we have huge experience in this area), et cetera. We have always offered such free advice; nonetheless, thousands of our satisfied ex-clients have asked us to handle these matters fully for them, as we have been doing so for the last seven years at a discounted rate for our former clients. This has given us a very large experience with these issues that benefits both ex-clients who want to hire us, and also those who want to do it themselves and just need expert advice from time to time (by the way, it’s really hard for us to understand the value of free advice offered by firms that limit themselves to K visas and therefore do not practice in these other areas!). With the Law Office of Laurie Y. Wu, you get real “one stop shopping” for all your future immigration needs.