
Contract
A print version of the following contract is sent to our clients after they retain our firm. RETAINER AGREEMENT: K-1 VISA (EMBASSY ONLY) This retainer agreement will confirm the terms upon which you have retained our firm to represent you in connection with immigration and related matters. The services to be rendered will consist of securing the receipt by your fiancé(e) of a K-1 visa to enter the United States. The specific services to be provided are as follows: 1. USCIS Petition Review We will review your USCIS petition to check for potential issues that could cause problems during the Embassy interview 2. Re-Interview of Fiancé(e) A member of our office (including overseas staff) will contact your fiancé(e) to re-interview her to (1) verify that all information in the USCIS petition is accurate and (2) obtain all biographical information required for the Embassy forms. 3. Opening Provisional File We will contact the U.S. Embassy to open a provisional file for your case. We will also request that the State Department background checks be commenced. 4. Supporting Document Advice Our office will provide you and your fiancé(e) with all necessary advice regarding the collection of supporting documents for the Embassy interview. 5. Embassy Forms Preparation We will fill out all Embassy forms for your fiancé(e) shortly after we obtain her biographical information and we will express mail the forms directly to your fiancé(e)'s home address. We will also send your fiancé(e)'s instructions prepared by our office, as well as all the Embassy instructions and other material contained in U.S. State Department Packet #3 (initial Embassy mailing to the fiancé(e)) and U.S. State Department Packet #4 (final Embassy mailing to the fiancé(e)). 6. Contact with U.S. Embassy All required telephone, mail, and fax contact with the U.S. Embassy will be handled by our office. In extraordinary circumstances, we may ask you to voluntarily contact the Embassy to aid our office's efforts to expedite your case. Your voluntary agreement to undertake such contact will not be deemed as a failure by our firm to adhere to the terms of this agreement. 7. Contact with the Fiancé(e) We will honor all reasonable client requests to contact your fiancé(e) by telephone to assist her/him in resolving problems or difficulties associated with the legal process as well as maintaining confidence and composure in the process. 8. Paralegal Assistance in Moscow and Warsaw One of our assistants will meet your fiancé(e) prior to her Embassy interview to prepare her/him for the interview. In the event that our assistant becomes unavailable due to illness or some other exigency beyond the control of our office, a Russian-speaking member of our U.S. office will contact your fiancé(e) by telephone to conduct the Embassy interview preparation. 9. Embassy Interview Preparation for Non-Russian Speaking Clients For fiancé(e)s undertaking interviews in embassies other than Moscow or Warsaw, one of our attorneys will call your fiancé(e) and thoroughly prepare her/him for the interview through telephone consultation. GENERAL SERVICES / PROVISIONS: 10. Client Updates We will keep you closely advised of all significant developments in the progress of your case. We will initiate contact to advise you of the following events, among others: (a) Our successful contact with your fiancé(e) to obtain all necessary biographical information (b) Request by our office to embassy for the opening of provisional file for your case (c) Request by our office to embassy for interview date for your fiancé(e) (d) Interview date for your fiancé(e) 11. Attorney Accessibility You can expect to have access to an attorney during normal working hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, excluding holidays. Should a specific attorney you desire to speak with be engaged at the time of your telephone call, you can expect a return telephone call within 24 hours (not including weekends and holidays), except in such cases where extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the attorney make such a call impossible. 12. Expedited Case Processing Every reasonable effort will be made to expedite your case promptly and efficiently. Please understand, however, that government bureaucracy errors or workload problems beyond our office's control can sometimes slow the processing of a case. We will, however, work proactively with the government agencies involved to minimize the impact on your case of any such government errors or delays. 13. Attorney Ethics We expect that all information given by you or your fiancé(e) to our firm, either orally or in writing, will be accurate to the best of your knowledge. If we discover that any information you supply us is willfully inaccurate or false, we will immediately withdraw from representing you as required by law. 14. Attorney Fee You will be charged an initial retainer of $850 for the K-1 visa services described herein, plus $100 for each child invited as a K-2 beneficiary. We reserve the right to bill for complications that arise from mistakes that you made in preparing the USCIS petition. Any additional fees will be charged based on the prior agreement by the client. All fee agreements are based on the presumption that the facts are as you and your fiancé(e) have represented them and that no material facts have been withheld by you or your fiancé(e). 15. Refunds If either you or your fiancé(e) withdraws the K-1 petition, we will refund you the unused portion of your attorney fee based on the percentage completion of our work at the time of withdrawal, but not to exceed one half the full retainer fee. 16. Expenses We will not bill you for our office expenses associated with processing your case (e.g. express mail charges, telephone charges, copying costs, et cetera). You will separately pay all required government fees and medical examination fees. 17. Translations Should you or your fiancé(e) request that our office perform translations of Russian or Ukrainian language documents, the charge will be $30.00 per document translated. Should your fiancé(e) arrive in the Embassy city without all required translations, as described in our mailing to her, the charge for our assistant to perform a rush (i.e. less than 48 hours) translation will be $75.00. We appreciate the confidence expressed by you in selecting our firm to act as your counsel in connection with this matter. AGREED TO AND ACCEPTED BY: _________________________________
client name _________________________________
John F. Roth
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