Battle with Esq.

I am one of the millions of immigrants in the U.S. A legal immigrant who pays taxes and works hard to pursue a career. While some people are lucky enough to win a Green Card lottery without spending a dime, I have spent thousands of dollars to stay and work in this country, legally. Even if someone offered me a job, I'd still need to file paperwork and pursuade the government to issue me a visa. Money, timing and luck are not easy to get all at one time, and I need them all along with a lawyer, one of the most unfaithful creature.

H1-B, a non-immigrant working visa, is what I have. For this type of visa, the employer files a petition on behalf of me. After all, the company has to prove to the goverment that they couldn't find another qualified citizen, but only me, a foreigner, for the particular position. My position must be related to what I majored in school as well. I need to make as much money as a citizen would have made for the position. $2,000 for the lawyer. $1,000 for the government. And after the first three years of period, I have to go through this process again, paying the same amount of money, in order to continue my work at the sponsoring company. At least I was lucky enough to have my company take these costly steps.

My initial visa expires at the end of August, 2006. Now I have to file an extension for the visa I was once approved for. It's usually not hard to get it approved for the second period. But I still needed to meet and work with my lawyer, a mid-town suspender esq. Almost all the immigration lawyers are bloodless, mean money-suckers.

I've heard bad reviews about my lawyer. But he was experienced enough to get me a visa for the first three years. And now for the second and the last period of the six years allowed for any H1-B applicants, I decided to use the same lawyer. The other day, they sent me a draft of my renewal application. The supporting letter, which states all the details to establish the fact my company legitimately needs my continuing serivice, had many typos and incorrect details. I instantly emailed my lawyer with some questions that I needed to confirm and clarify before my employer signs. The response was outrageously rude. I guess he misunderstood what I wrote in my email and furiously accused that I 'complained' about them making a 'mistake.' I didn't, however, make any accusations. I learned that lawyers get easily freaked out when their clients mention anything negative about their services. But if they get upset so easily, how come they don't make sure to proof the document that they file on behalf of the client in the first place? It's simply a contradiction. He couldn't even write an email using proper English.

The assistant who primarily hanldes the actual writing was calm and made the necessary changes. But I still needed to write back to my lawyer in order to establish the fact that his response to my email with questions was not appropriate. This time, I wrote as if I were a lawyer. I paid meticulous attention to the words I used, explaining there was a misunderstanding, without offending him, while conveying that I deserved better legal service from him. I am sure if the correspondences were not made by means of emails, my lawyer wouldn't have reacted so furiously; they hate the paper trail that could harm their career. That's why I chose to email. I won't give up, after paying him couple of grand. They know the law well but don't care at all about immigrant workers.

As boring as it sound, that's what I and many other immigrant workers have to go through.