Bring the dates, the documents and the refusals. Half an hour spent reconstructing your own history answers nothing.
Reviewed by Ekaterina Fitenko, Esq. — Florida Bar #1064536. With 20+ years of experience in the legal field, she advises Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking clients on immigration filings and case strategy, in English and Russian.
Most eligibility questions are answered by dates. When you entered and on what status, every extension and change, every departure and return, when a status expired, and when work began and ended. Half an hour reconstructing this from memory produces guesses; a written timeline produces answers.
Where the dates are uncertain, say so explicitly. "I think 2019" is usable information; a confidently wrong date is not.
Notices and decisions from the agencies, previous petitions and the receipts for them, refusals with their stated grounds, passports with the entry stamps, and any court documents. If a lawyer or an agency filed something for you, bring what they filed, not a description of it.
If you do not have the record, that itself is worth knowing — your own immigration file is obtainable, free, and reading it before filing anything is often the first advice given.
An arrest, a refusal, a removal order, a period of unauthorized work, a marriage that ended, a document that was not accurate. These facts change the route, and they are almost always known to the government already. Disclosed at the start, they shape the advice; disclosed after a plan is made, they invalidate it.
Which routes are actually open on these facts, which of them is realistic rather than theoretical, what the obstacles are and whether any can be cured, what the sequence and the approximate timeline look like, and what it costs — legal fees and government fees separately.
It can establish the route, name the obstacles and tell you what to gather. It cannot review a thick file of prior filings, draft a strategy for a litigated matter, or guarantee an outcome — no lawyer can promise a result, and a promise of one is itself a warning sign.
Our consultation is $200 for 30 minutes, in English or Russian, paid before the meeting and credited against the fee if you retain us.
A written chronology of entries, statuses, departures and work, plus agency notices and decisions, prior petitions and receipts, refusals with their grounds, passports with stamps and any court documents.
Yes. Your own immigration file can be requested from the agencies at no cost, and where the record is missing, obtaining it is frequently the first step advised.
Yes, at the start. Those facts usually change the route, they are generally already in the government's record, and advice given without them is advice built on a case that does not exist.
We can tell you the obstacles, how adjudicators usually treat them and what evidence addresses them. No lawyer can guarantee an outcome, and a guarantee offered is a reason for caution.
Yes, in English or Russian. Immigration cases depend on precise statements about your own history, and that precision is easiest in the language you think in.
$200 for 30 minutes, in English or Russian. Call (305) 315-3425 or email fitenkolaw@gmail.com to schedule, or start with the intake form.
This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules, fees and processing times change; confirm current requirements with the agency or with counsel before relying on anything here.
Fitenko Law PLLC, 11555 Heron Bay Blvd, Suite 277, Coral Springs, FL 33076 (main office); 600 Three Islands Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 (by appointment only). Phone: (305) 315-3425. Email: fitenkolaw@gmail.com