Do NOT use AG Immigration for EB-2 NIW Visas

[Attila]

Fellow Pilots,

This is a heads up for anyone considering to use an immigration law firm to apply for an EB-2 NIW visa in the US, NOT to use AG Immigration. I'm an airline pilot and made the mistake of choosing them, leading to more than 8 months of hell. Their founder and top attorney, along with their best lawyers and many other employees, left the firm as it is very shady. I lost my entire team working on my file, including my assigned lawyer. I was never notified of this and left in the dark for months. I only found out after calling them. Their web site and sales pitch state that they are experts in immigration and located across the United States. This is not true. Most of their staff are in Brazil. They use inexperienced people with limited English to complete key government forms. Even after multiple attempts and corrections they were filled with outrageous mistakes. They were so careless they even pasted the bullet points from my resume into the forms, freezing them. They are not following USCIS guidelines to complete them. It's so bad it's almost a guaranteed refusal. If anyone is stuck with this firm, read-up carefully the instructions for forms such as the I-140 and ETA-9089 and then verify them carefully before signing. Safer yet, get your money back! Word is from someone who works there they're facing going out of business. Employees and clients are leaving, including me without filing. I've been told for nearly a month that I will be refunded, it's been nothing but lies. Communications is practically non-existent. A rare time they reached out to me was in Portuguese from someone in South America. I doubt I'll see my $15,000 USD again. If I can save others from this same fate, that would have been a good thing.

As for the EB-2 NIW, after this experience, I'd recommend to anyone interested in it to research doing it yourself. There are some great resources on YouTube on how to self-file. If you pick a firm, please research them carefully. I've never been scammed before, this is a terrible experience. Ultimately, it's my fault for having picked this fraudulent firm. Please be careful with these cash grabs. Happy flying!

[Phlyer]

Sorry for your troubles. Very good of you to post this!
Chin up

[Jiffy]

It is a bad deal. Tough go. My kid has mentioned about applying for U.S. work one day, later in his career. I had know idea these types of companies existed. Thanks for the warning.

[olivierw]

Sorry to hear this happened to you. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Will you be finishing the application on your own or are you gonna try with a different firm?

[k947007w]

If its any consolation, you're not the only one to get fleeced by a shady immigration law firm. I used Arce Immigration in Florida. Long story short, they advertise and pitch themselves as experts in immigration particularly for airline pilots. They told me during the initial consult/pitch that they have people on staff that have experience in the US airline industry and also connections within the airline world that would prove to be very helpful. They also told me that no offer of employment from a US carrier would be necessary. After I made the deposit and started working with the paralegal it became very apparent that I'd be sold a bad bill of goods. The lawer I was assigned would not return calls or respond to emails after I had paid and the paralegal I was assigned wasn't even living in North America. As for having expertise in aviation, A) they didn't know that a First Officer has the same licenses as a Captain, they thought a FO was there to operate radios B) they asked me how many flight attendants work aboard a DHC-3T and also a King Air100 3) they told me I should become a member of ICAO, like its an association that a pilot can sign up for like COPA. They insisted I obtain a conditional employment offer even though they initially said this would not at all be necessary. They put my case on "hold" for 2 months because they said they had other cases that were more time sensitive. They made a bunch of mistakes on the I-140 immigration forms including my income and employment dates. The result was a RFE from US Immigration. Arce said it would be an additional 2500US to respond to the RFE and then after a telephone conversation they said it would actually be closer to 5500 because they would need to get some "experts statements" at a cost of 800-1000 a piece. I did not continue with them. 18,000 dollar lesson learned.