There are non-lawyer businessmen on the Internet who pretend or imply that they are attorneys, when in fact they are not. Other immigration "consultants", "specialists" or "professionals" claim to be able to do anything a lawyer can do, when in fact this is not true. INS regulations clearly prohibit non-lawyer business firms from representing an immigration petitioner or beneficiary in any manner before the INS, the embassies, or any other governmental institution. Click here to read the INS regulations. Many states have made “immigration consulting” by non-lawyers illegal due to the extensive history of deceit or incompetence by such firms. Click here to see legal citations. Furthermore, if you hire one of these non-lawyer firms and something goes wrong, there is no bar association or any other entity to whom you can seek redress, nor are such firms restrained in their conduct by fear of a bar association complaint or malpractice action by their “clients”.

You should always check a lawyer’s credentials. You can check John F. Roth’s credentials, or those of his associate attorney Michael P. Poles, by calling the New York State Bar Association at (518) 463-3200. You can check the credentials of any U.S. attorney by clicking here. Some bar associations even have on-line lookup of attorney credentials (not yet available in New York).

Our law firm stands by every fact stated in this web site and our office is open to anyone who wants to check any fact stated herein.