Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 21:16:57 GMT Server: Stronghold/2.1.1 Apache/1.2.4 Last-Modified: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 05:23:31 GMT ETag: "dff22-6aa7-349f4ad3" Content-Length: 27303 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html X-Pad: avoid browser bug FAQ: Business Immigration Legal Fees, Frequently Asked Questions

Search

Welcome
Get Started

Business Immigration
FAQ
Visa Selector
News
Forum
Immigration Overview
Internet Links
Order Handbook

Visa Categories
Complete List
TN | H-1 | L-1 | B-1 | E-2

Citizens

Professions
Computer Professionals
DOT
Management Consultants
Construction
Lawyers


Manager's Toolkit
Rolodex
Tax
HR Checklist
U.S. Jobs
Social Security
Moving


About Our Firm
Peace Bridge
People
Testimonials
Our Fees
Retainer
Building

To Top of Page
Law Office of Joseph C. Grasmick --Business Immigration--
Established in 1979

FAQ: Business Immigration Legal Fees, Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction to This Page
1. How much will it cost ?
2. How do you justify these fees?
3. Why pay in advance?
4. Why not bill hourly?
5. Do you guarantee results ?
6. Can you guarantee fees?
7. Isn't it cheaper if we did it ourselves?
8. How can I keep fees down?
9. How can you keep fees down?
10. Why bill for expenses?

Print Booklet Turn this page into a double-sided digest size booklet. Give to other decision makers in your company or to your prospective employer. Link will take you to an independent Website for a software download. (10 minutes at 14.4k)

To Top Return to the top of this page

Introduction to This Page

This FAQ answers questions about our billing procedures.

Photograph of Joseph C. Grasmick

Our primary goal is to have satisfied clients. Client satisfaction depends on accurate expectations concerning billing amounts and procedures. We hope this plain English FAQ contributes to this accuracy.

Legal fees are a substantial investment. The stakes are high. This report explains the return on the investment. The information should allow you to evaluate any services and how our services can meet your needs. For our existing clients, this information can help you answer questions you may have about your bills.

You may also wish to review information from a client perspective.

To Top Return to the top of this page

Answers

1. How Much Will It Cost?

(See client comments re: costs and benefits of our services.)

Typical Legal Fees
Permit: Fees:
Evaluation of paperwork you prepare. (Includes Handbook) $875
B-1-documentation; no border representation $1,750
B-1-accompany at border $3,375
TN-with required bachelor's degree; no border representation $4,625
TN- Systems Analyst with 2 yr. diploma and clearly qualifying 3 yrs. experience; all TN with required bachelor's degree and border representation $5,625
TN-no bachelor's degree; all management consultants; all Scientific Technicians $7,875
H-1 or O $7,000
L-1-traditional manager-sizeable company $7,250
L-1-functional manager or start up company $7,875
1 Prior Denial-add to all of the permits above $3,750
Green Card-Intracompany Transferee-sizeable company $10,000.00+
Green Card-National Interest Waiver $15,000.00+
Green Card-individual Labour Certification $15,000.00+

These fees may or may not match the cost of your matter. Request an estimate of legal fees. Do not rely on these amounts in your personal and business planning until we accept your Retainer Agreement.

To Top Return to the top of this page

2. How do you justify these fees?

Quality and Value: A Summary Outline

Testimonials:
· Introduction
· Overall Satisfaction
· Communication
· Cost/Benefit
· Speed
· Responsiveness
  • High probability of success
    • 15+ years practice exclusively in immigration---a very specialized area
    • Our clients are almost all Canadian---the law is different for Canadians
    • We concentrate on business and professional visas---your visa---not asylum, or deportation hearings.
    • Petitions are customized to each person, profession, and business to make your situation fit within the law. This takes high-quality, senior attorney time.
    • Our firm handles fewer clients, and can spend more time on each case
  • High degree of efficiency where the stakes are high.
    • Cutting corners leads to higher fees in the long run. Our goal is to do it right the first time, even if we have to work harder. Denials are more likely the second time around. Appeals of denials are expensive and can take years. See how actual clients evaluate these benefits.
    • A quick, careless work permit application---even if successful---can jeopardize permanent residency later.
    • Delays resulting from careless applications can make things more complicated and expensive.
      • Unnecessary renewals of temporary permits while you are waiting for permanent residency.
      • Expensive changes to business and personal plans if you do not get your work permit on time.

The cost of operating a specialty legal practice is unusually high. Immigration legal materials are very expensive, and we must have a complete library. The library consists of not only published materials, but hundreds of memos, opinion letters and telephone messages from our sources. The library must be updated daily. To save legal research time, most of our materials are now on expensive CD-ROM services.

Without this information, we could not maximize your chances of success. Immigration practice changes swiftly. Information about these changes is often secret, informal, or hard to find out. We often use crucial new information in a petition that we have received on that same day.

To Top Return to the top of this page

3. Why Pay In Advance?

In the practice of law it is common to bill in advance. It is not simply a matter of credit risk. At a small specialized firm it is even more important:

  • We cannot spread out expenditures over many clients. We are a small, specialized firm working on important business and professional matters. We work intensively---over short periods of time---on a very few select and time sensitive matters. This means that we are dependent on a few matters to cover our operating expenses.
  • The system saves you money. We use this payment system to avoid financing our receivables---costs that would have to be passed on to you.
  • It represents a commitment. In many organizations authorizing a payable invokes a formal decision making process committing all parties to a course of action. Clear communication within the organization results---a necessary prerequisite to effective legal representation.
  • Payment prevents delaying your case. Immigration processing involves many government fees and incidental costs which we must pay on short notice. Without payments as we go along, we will be using funds supplied from another client to cover the costs incurred by your matter.

To Top Return to the top of this page

4. Why Not Bill Hourly?

We usually bill for fixed amounts. This allows you to evaluate the real cost. (95% of our clients affirm that they did indeed understand fees and billing policies before the work started.)

We occasionally bill hourly when it is the fairest method to both the attorney and the client. The client pays for exactly the time spent on the matter---no more and no less. There is no chance that one client will be subsidizing another client. In case a matter ends prematurely, there is no question as to how much is owed.

When we bill hourly the rate depends on the efficiency of the attorney or paralegal---the more experience, the less time spent on a matter, and the higher the hourly rate.

To Top Return to the top of this page

5. Do You Guarantee Results?

See topic on Links page:
Representative Clients

It is not appropriate to use contingency billing or to guarantee results in an immigration matter.

As an alternative to such a guarantee, we suggest that you select an attorney who will most likely represent you successfully. It is little consolation to get a refund if your application is denied. Too much is at stake. (97% of our clients are satisfied with the results they received.)

To Top Return to the top of this page

6. Can You Guarantee Fees?

Yes.

With our Satisfied Client Rule we stick to our estimates. Exceptions are clearly listed in writing on our Retainer Agreement.

With our Satisfied Client Rule we stick to our estimates.

We know the importance of your budget. One of the questions we ask on our concluding questionnaire given to all clients is "Are your fees what your lawyer said they would be?"

If the answer is no, we immediately review the past bills and call the client to see where the confusion lies. If an error is on our part, we will credit the account.

It is in our interest to keep your fees as low as possible. Why?

We must be competitive. To succeed we must have satisfied clients.

This goal is impossible to meet when clients are not happy with their fee arrangement. We want our clients to use our services for future matters. Satisfied clients are the best source of referrals for new matters.

To Top Return to the top of this page

7. Isn't It Cheaper If We Did It Ourselves?

Perhaps---if you can guarantee a quick approval from the Immigration Service in the midst of complex law and frequent legal changes.

Immigration is too important to take chances. What's at stake:

  • Business. The key to expansion plans, millions of dollars in revenues, and the very survival of some companies.
  • Profession. Immigration can determine the choice of profession and degree of success in one's professional life.
  • Family. Immigration can impact the future of immediate family and descendants for generations.
Immigration is too important to take chances.

Smart HR managers discover that outsourcing immigration work is less expensive in the long run. HR managers must now handle an incredible variety of employment issues. Using business immigration lawyers, managers can focus their efforts on areas in which they excel. Immigration needs are usually one-time or occasional events. It is difficult to acquire expertise in this complex area with this limited experience.

Many times we inform our clients that their immigration route is relatively simple. We advise them that it is in their best interest to file the particular application on their own. We also advise the client of procedures to follow and give them a list of sources for referral.

For more information see Do I Need a Lawyer? in the FAQ. Also see how other clients feel after using our services..

What's important to you are results. No matter how inexpensive, without positive results, the outcome will be costly.

To Top Return to the top of this page

8. How Can I Keep Fees Down?

Yes.

A way to save fees is to move quickly. For example, do not wait until your visa is about to expire to apply for permanent status. This will require renewals of your temporary permit and more legal work.

Like life itself, it costs more to fix a problem than to prevent it in the first place.

If you are going to retain our office, do it quickly. Use our expertise before there is a problem. Like life itself, it costs more to fix a problem than to prevent it in the first place.

Our fixed fees are already reviewed and adjusted based on the time it takes us.

To Top Return to the top of this page

9. How Can You Keep Fees Down?

We take measures to constantly increase efficiency in our office.

We are prepared to use the Internet from start to finish. Since "one internet year equals 23 normal years" this results in an incredible time advantage for our Internet clients. We are moving to full internet representation, from initial "do it yourself" fee proposals on the Web, to the final e-mail approval notification message. Time savings are even more remarkable where both the employer and the applicant use e-mail.

Our office is now "paperless". All new client matters are stored digitally. Papers coming into the office are scanned, indexed and returned or discarded. Records are duplicated with on-premise and off-premise (using cryptography) storage.

We maintain quick reference files on an extensive intranet to save research time.

Quick communication also saves time. We now use electronic mail and fax for almost all communications with clients. Our goal is to return telephone calls within 24 hours. (97% of our clients confirm we do this.)

By limiting our practice to border immigration, we give you the advantage of repeated experience on similar cases.

By limiting our practice to border immigration, we give you the advantage of repeated experience on similar cases. This tight focus over the years has produced numerous form letters and check lists which are available only in our office. We do not have to draft requirements letters or common application documents from scratch.

If it is more efficient for the primary attorney to do the work, he or she does it. For example, we draft and send many communications directly from the attorney desktop computer to clients. Using special software, lawyers often prepare immigration forms right on their computers. This speeds the message and bypasses the typist. It eliminates the need for rewriting drafts.

We also maximize your chance of quick success. If we do not strive for perfection, denials or INS requests for more information will result in more fees and expenses. Read client reports which evaluate our success.

To Top Return to the top of this page

10. Why Bill For Expenses?

Most predictable expenses are absorbed into the hourly fee. We often bill variable expenses to each client.

Almost all lawyers bill for out of pocket expenses. This is because it is fair. Expenses vary greatly from client to client. One client would not want to pay the expenses of another.

While estimates of time to be spent on a case are predictable, expenses are not. Some of our clients require expert evaluations. Some do not. Some require international courier services. Others do not. We telephone some clients who live in Buffalo. We must call others in Macao.

To Top Return to the top of this page

Search | Home | FAQ | News | Order Handbook | E-mail

©1997 Law Office of Joseph C. Grasmick
Law Office of Joseph C. Grasmick, Business Immigration
Cyclorama Building, 369 Franklin Street, Suite 300
Buffalo, New York 14202-1725 USA
Tel: 716/842-3104 Fax: 716/842-3105 jgrasmick@grasmick.com

This Internet Web page is http://www.grasmick.com/feesfaq.htm