Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

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Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

Phnom Penh Pal wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 3:49 pm
Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 6:39 pm It really depends on the situation. What's her job? Who's the employer? What's her income? Any assets? Has he/she been abroad before and returned (visas to show)?
Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 2:42 pm PPP, you don't clarify your specific circumstances (country aiming to go to, tourism or immigration, planning on getting married or not etc). It sounds like you're trying to bring her over for good. Are your married/planning on getting married? Or just want her to visit you? Have you guys travelled together? That always helps. Or maybe a small family plot an be put under her name (they have no way of knowing the value, but it helps)?
There's a myriad of questions about my wife there @Bitte_Kein_Lexus, be careful that you don't come across as an immigration official? 😜

As you've taken the time to write two quite long thoughtful replies (which I've cropped to keep the post short) I'll try and answer your questions as best as I can.

When doing the spousal visa for immigration my wife was working at Grand Waterfront Hotel. She worked as the main receptionist, and in a much shorter spell whilst waiting for the outcome of the tribunal as bar and restaurant supervisor. I can't remember her salary, it must have been $150-$300 pcm, anyway irrespective of that with tips you could treble that. Her employer letter obviously didn't state the tips as evidence as those would be hard to show.

My wife has been abroad more than a dozen times (several of which have been with me). Loads of stamps and visas evidence this. We were officially married in the U.K. within 6 months of her arrival and she has considerable assets. For more info on my wife see the link below.

cambodian-culture-and-language/opportun ... 45175.html
Ah ok, I was assuming she hadn't made it over and you were seeking advice. didn't realize it was a hypothetical. Like you say, a lot of income here isn't taxable or anything, so it can't be proven, making matters more difficult when applying for visas.
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Pseudonomdeplume »

Phnom Penh Pal wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:05 am Troll twins @Pseudonomdeplume and @ofparadise .
@GMJS-CEO and @Grand Barong
There are more. I'll expose them later. I'd rather everyone just get on, but unless they behave I will continue to tell them to foxtrot Oscar.
By George! He's on to us. Looking forward to you exposing the others? Monthly cycle? Covidiot!
Scent from Dan's Durians & Perfumierie
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Kammekor
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Kammekor »

GMJS-CEO wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:50 am
Bubble T wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:27 am
GMJS-CEO wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:46 pmThere is nothing that is not straightforward, you only need a lawyer IF you have a criminal past or some other legal issues in the past as they make it harder for criminals to immigrate........

If you know your names, birthdays, employment & address history and can come up with evidence of actually being in a relationship (i.e. pictures), what is there to be flagged?
Sure, if for some reason you cannot produce the very basic documents required you will need some help. What were you missing? Your passport or birth certificate? Divorce paper? A Passport sized photo? Is it that difficult to understand, you do not need to pay a lawyer if you have all of those very simple documents requested and your case isn't unusual due to legal or other serious issues.
Firstly, I'm not a criminal nor do I have any legal issues. Never have. The documents aren't very basic and plenty of people won't have them. You also need to ensure (in the case of documents that are letters, eg from an employer) that the specific wording they are looking for is used. Your assertion that pictures are all that's needed to prove a relationship demonstrate a complete lack of understanding. As far as UK visas go, they want a utility bill with both of your names on it or a statement from a shared bank account. Plenty of legitimate couples won't have either of those.

Everything is supposed to be proven with very specific documentation that many legitimate applicants won't have. A good, experienced immigration firm can help make it a non issue without you having to guess what will suffice.

Again, we met all the criteria and if you don't then no immigration firm will be able to help you. If you do meet the requirements but don't have the very specific documentation required to prove it, a good immigration firm can and will help you find alternate ways to resolve it.
Guess we will just have to say we have vastly different experiences. I am a member of immigration-specific communities such as Visajourney and it would be widely agreed on those forums not to use an attorney unless your case has special circumstances which warrant it. Also, I said you need to include evidence, however, would never say that photos are the sole piece of evidence to be provided. It is rather one example.

As an aside, here is an older guide for what people would include as evidence. You need to prove you met in the last 2 years in person and provide evidence of relationship:

1. Copies of all airline boarding passes, train passes, itineraries, hotel receipts, passport stamps (make sure you can read the dates on the stamps), and other documentary evidence that you have met within the last two years. You may want to highlight or place post-it notes indicating the dates and locations on the copies (to make the adjudication easier) for the person reviewing your file.
2. Color Photo's of you and your fiance together. Make sure you write your names, date, and location on the back of every photo. Provide two to five photo's. If you only have a single copy of the photo, then make a color copy and send that. If it is a digital photo, have it printed at a local photo store such as Walgreens (if at all possible) or if not on a high quality printer. Place photo's in a plastic bag or photo sheet and label the sheet. Note that you may not receive originals of photo's back.
3. The following items will not typically show proof of having met in the last two years however will show proof of an ongoing relationship: Copies of land line and cell phone bills, appropriate letters and emails, stamps on the letters (to document the date they were sent), and other written documentary proof. Provide a reasonable amount; two to four of each type. Pick a range of dates up to and including the present. You can also include a copy of engagement ring receipt (this is something that is a big optional - do not worry if you do not have a ring yet!)
It's not about what you can offer as what you consider enough proof, it's about what's required. Some governments do have strange requirements in their laws which are not straightforward for people dealing with process for the first time - talking from experience of getting my kid a passport. It simply was a fuckup 2.0.
I can imagine some support from real experts can be very helpful and speed up the process.
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newkidontheblock
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by newkidontheblock »

Kammekor wrote:I can imagine some support from real experts can be very helpful and speed up the process.
Apparently some keyboard warriors on CEO are much more knowledgeable than a real expert could ever hope to be.

Why would one ever need an expert when CEO has these folks around to give advice?
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by GMJS-CEO »

Kammekor wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 5:23 pm
GMJS-CEO wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:50 am
Bubble T wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:27 am
GMJS-CEO wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:46 pmThere is nothing that is not straightforward, you only need a lawyer IF you have a criminal past or some other legal issues in the past as they make it harder for criminals to immigrate........

If you know your names, birthdays, employment & address history and can come up with evidence of actually being in a relationship (i.e. pictures), what is there to be flagged?
Sure, if for some reason you cannot produce the very basic documents required you will need some help. What were you missing? Your passport or birth certificate? Divorce paper? A Passport sized photo? Is it that difficult to understand, you do not need to pay a lawyer if you have all of those very simple documents requested and your case isn't unusual due to legal or other serious issues.
Firstly, I'm not a criminal nor do I have any legal issues. Never have. The documents aren't very basic and plenty of people won't have them. You also need to ensure (in the case of documents that are letters, eg from an employer) that the specific wording they are looking for is used. Your assertion that pictures are all that's needed to prove a relationship demonstrate a complete lack of understanding. As far as UK visas go, they want a utility bill with both of your names on it or a statement from a shared bank account. Plenty of legitimate couples won't have either of those.

Everything is supposed to be proven with very specific documentation that many legitimate applicants won't have. A good, experienced immigration firm can help make it a non issue without you having to guess what will suffice.

Again, we met all the criteria and if you don't then no immigration firm will be able to help you. If you do meet the requirements but don't have the very specific documentation required to prove it, a good immigration firm can and will help you find alternate ways to resolve it.
Guess we will just have to say we have vastly different experiences. I am a member of immigration-specific communities such as Visajourney and it would be widely agreed on those forums not to use an attorney unless your case has special circumstances which warrant it. Also, I said you need to include evidence, however, would never say that photos are the sole piece of evidence to be provided. It is rather one example.

As an aside, here is an older guide for what people would include as evidence. You need to prove you met in the last 2 years in person and provide evidence of relationship:

1. Copies of all airline boarding passes, train passes, itineraries, hotel receipts, passport stamps (make sure you can read the dates on the stamps), and other documentary evidence that you have met within the last two years. You may want to highlight or place post-it notes indicating the dates and locations on the copies (to make the adjudication easier) for the person reviewing your file.
2. Color Photo's of you and your fiance together. Make sure you write your names, date, and location on the back of every photo. Provide two to five photo's. If you only have a single copy of the photo, then make a color copy and send that. If it is a digital photo, have it printed at a local photo store such as Walgreens (if at all possible) or if not on a high quality printer. Place photo's in a plastic bag or photo sheet and label the sheet. Note that you may not receive originals of photo's back.
3. The following items will not typically show proof of having met in the last two years however will show proof of an ongoing relationship: Copies of land line and cell phone bills, appropriate letters and emails, stamps on the letters (to document the date they were sent), and other written documentary proof. Provide a reasonable amount; two to four of each type. Pick a range of dates up to and including the present. You can also include a copy of engagement ring receipt (this is something that is a big optional - do not worry if you do not have a ring yet!)
It's not about what you can offer as what you consider enough proof, it's about what's required. Some governments do have strange requirements in their laws which are not straightforward for people dealing with process for the first time - talking from experience of getting my kid a passport. It simply was a fuckup 2.0.
I can imagine some support from real experts can be very helpful and speed up the process.
Agree to disagree. With the immigration process there are millions upon millions of people who go through it and plenty of step by step guides. Like this
https://www.visajourney.com/guides/k1-fiance-visa/

There are countless discussions over the lawyer topic on forums specific for immigration https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topi ... -a-lawyer/

There’s a number of horror stories with lawyers, if you get the wrong one they are a form factory and could care less about your case.

There is no truth at all to a lawyer changing speed of the process.

As I’ve said before, there are countless discussions over lawyer on immigration specific forums and the majority agree that it’s a waste. I connected with 100s of people on those forums and a few of them did have an issue. One had a legal issue in the past. One forgot to put their passport photo. My 5 years on immigration forums doesn’t make me an expert, but it has definitely influenced my opinion that a lawyer is almost always a waste.

No hard feelings against those that want to pay a lawyer.
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Grand Barong »

Pseudonomdeplume wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:21 pm
Phnom Penh Pal wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:05 am Troll twins @Pseudonomdeplume and @ofparadise .
@GMJS-CEO and @Grand Barong
There are more. I'll expose them later. I'd rather everyone just get on, but unless they behave I will continue to tell them to foxtrot Oscar.
By George! He's on to us. Looking forward to you exposing the others? Monthly cycle? Covidiot!
Oh well I guess he has to be shared around and its our turn to be exposed by him ... @Phnom Penh Pal @Kamou Caphe @Rambo Cambo,
posting the same boring stories on any forum he can access.
I suppose as a former 5 year TEFLER in Vietnam he has a war chest of new stories ready to unleash on us unsuspecting trolls.. :facepalm:
Come on Alan don't leave us hanging old chap... :Yahoo!:

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/readers ... iss-right/


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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Cambo Dear »

newkidontheblock wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:51 pm
Kammekor wrote:I can imagine some support from real experts can be very helpful and speed up the process.
Apparently some keyboard warriors on CEO are much more knowledgeable than a real expert could ever hope to be.

Why would one ever need an expert when CEO has these folks around to give advice?
Forum

noun
1.
a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.
"we hope these pages act as a forum for debate"

Sharing thoughts and opinions on lived experience has been shown to be a pretty useful way of upskilling communities for the last few thousand years at least. Blindly paying an expert is perhaps the greater folly. Was my Moto driver an expert because he has a Moto and has lived his entire life in Phnom Penh? He still had trouble finding nearly every street I ever asked him to take me to.
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Phnom Penh Pal »

Grand Barong wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 9:45 pm Oh well I guess he has to be shared around and its our turn to be exposed by him ... @Phnom Penh Pal @Kamou Caphe @Rambo Cambo,
posting the same boring stories on any forum he can access.
I suppose as a former 5 year TEFLER in Vietnam he has a war chest of new stories ready to unleash on us unsuspecting trolls.. :facepalm:
Come on Alan don't leave us hanging old chap... :Yahoo!:

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/readers ... iss-right/


[Khmer440 link removed]
@Grand Barong or should I say Sherlock Barong.

▪︎copy of sentence
▪︎paste it into google search engine
▪︎scroll text for gist
▪︎come across a name or an email address
▪︎search for social media accounts
▪︎abuse and direct insults at that person

The mere definition of a troll.

Your detective work is as lame as your memes.
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newkidontheblock
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by newkidontheblock »

Cambo Dear wrote:Blindly paying an expert is perhaps the greater folly. Was my Moto driver an expert because he has a Moto and has lived his entire life in Phnom Penh? He still had trouble finding nearly every street I ever asked him to take me to.
Let’s use a real world example of experts, shall we? I used a fixer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a marriage license. Fixer goes through the folders of requests for his services.

Rejects those that he cannot help, no matter how much is offered. Those that he can help, he offers a pretty fair fee for his guidance through the system.

First he gave a comprehensive list of forms to fill out, and documents needed. In the US, some documents only come as certified copies, never originals. Impossible for the Cambodian system to accept. Impossible without the fixer.

Then when I was at the Department of Sex Trafficking, officials there declared I cannot be an American, no matter what my passport says. Only this expert saved me. When one uppity official decided to reject the application declaring that missus was a taxi girl and I was a spy, it took the fixer to smooth that over, too.

Back to the immigration visa. The lawyer I hired gave a comprehensive list of documents needed, especially the proof of relationship. Also needed documents proving missus existence, education, financial resources, etc., as well as the same for me. He left nothing to chance. He left no doubt in any immigration officials mind about the validity of missus’ application.

Why submit just the bare minimum needed and risk the chance of rejection? A well yeah, but .. kind of grey area of visa decision making.

The right expert is worth his or her weight in gold.

Please don’t confuse a motodop with an expert. They are not the same.
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Re: Would you pay an immigration specialist to handle your partner's visa?

Post by Grand Barong »

Phnom Penh Pal wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:44 am
Grand Barong wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 9:45 pm Oh well I guess he has to be shared around and its our turn to be exposed by him ... @Phnom Penh Pal @Kamou Caphe @Rambo Cambo,
posting the same boring stories on any forum he can access.
I suppose as a former 5 year TEFLER in Vietnam he has a war chest of new stories ready to unleash on us unsuspecting trolls.. :facepalm:
Come on Alan don't leave us hanging old chap... :Yahoo!:

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/readers ... iss-right/


[Khmer440 link removed]
@Grand Barong or should I say Sherlock Barong.

▪︎copy of sentence
▪︎paste it into google search engine
▪︎scroll text for gist
▪︎come across a name or an email address
▪︎search for social media accounts
▪︎abuse and direct insults at that person

The mere definition of a troll.

Your detective work is as lame as your memes.
Don't give me too much credit, you put your FULL name & email address at the bottom of your Bangkok stickman post.. You even use your wife's photo as your avatar on this forum whilst writing about previous conquests you have had.. does Mrs Phnom Penh Pal like her husband posting rambling stories of past adventures for all to read? :nono:
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