Looking for a lawyer in the Dominican Rep.

[bladi]

I have a question that I hope someone will be able to guide me in the right direction. I am a Canadian Citizen that is looking for a Dominican Lawyer(who is bilingual in both spanish and english) to help my husband translate and fill out his Canadian Imigration papers. He lives in the San Pedro de Macoris area, but will go where ever is needed to accomplish this. I also need a rough estimate on what this would cost. Please advise. Thanks for you time.

[ricktoronto]

It would be cheaper to fill them out yourself and then just pay FedEx $40 to send the papers to him to sign (or sign for him if you can do that).

I have seen and filled out the same papers and if you can't answer the questions on his behalf, you don't know him very well.

You can prepay the return FedEx fee by enclosing a return envelope and the waybill completed with your credit card #, assuming you don't mind the future Mr. Bladi to know that.

[bob saunders]

Or you can have someone translate the form into Spanish. For my wife's mother we filled in the form and sent it to her to sign. Once the forms have been sent off any correspondance that he receives from the Canadian Embassy will be in Spanish.

[Shelley]

Don't bother hiring a lawyer to help him fill out the papers. Although there are a lot of forms to fill out, they are not that difficult. Anyone you know who can read/write English can help him out and you can review them before you submit them to CIC. Ricktoronto's idea was a good one too. Just make sure you tell him what you wrote in case he ever gets called in for an interview and make sure he signs everywhere he is supposed to so you don't have to send it back. Save your money for the other things (such as pictures, medical & criminal checks instead). Remember, this is a very expensive process by the time it is over. Unless you really aren't concerned about how much this will cost (think thousands), try to do as much by yourselves as you can.

[L101]

Originally Posted by Shelley

Don't bother hiring a lawyer to help him fill out the papers. Although there are a lot of forms to fill out, they are not that difficult. Anyone you know who can read/write English can help him out and you can review them before you submit them to CIC. Ricktoronto's idea was a good one too. Just make sure you tell him what you wrote in case he ever gets called in for an interview and make sure he signs everywhere he is supposed to so you don't have to send it back. Save your money for the other things (such as pictures, medical & criminal checks instead). Remember, this is a very expensive process by the time it is over. Unless you really aren't concerned about how much this will cost (think thousands), try to do as much by yourselves as you can.

Try out this webpage: www.riveratorres.com

It is one of many lawfirms in the capital, Santo Domingo. They are pretty legit and ethical.

Good Luck!

[jwampler]

You can obtain Fabio Guzman's contact information via the internet
at drlawayer.com
Fabio is also the moderator of this forum. He speaks
English and of course Spanish. I highly recommend him.
He's an excellent attorney.

Jack Wampler

[bladi]

Originally Posted by Shelley

Don't bother hiring a lawyer to help him fill out the papers. Although there are a lot of forms to fill out, they are not that difficult. Anyone you know who can read/write English can help him out and you can review them before you submit them to CIC. Ricktoronto's idea was a good one too. Just make sure you tell him what you wrote in case he ever gets called in for an interview and make sure he signs everywhere he is supposed to so you don't have to send it back. Save your money for the other things (such as pictures, medical & criminal checks instead). Remember, this is a very expensive process by the time it is over. Unless you really aren't concerned about how much this will cost (think thousands), try to do as much by yourselves as you can.

I know it's about $1800 to submit our paperwork to the Immigration, but do you know the fees in RD$ for criminal background check and the complete physical he has to get? Thank for all your help. I love this website

[ricktoronto]

Originally Posted by bladi

I know it's about $1800 to submit our paperwork to the Immigration, but do you know the fees in RD$ for criminal background check and the complete physical he has to get? Thank for all your help. I love this website

The fees for the police check are minimal plus those little tax stamps. The specific doctor in the DR is mandated by the Canadian Government and I think it is around US$100 for the exam. I think the immigration Canada site even says who the three or four doctors are in Santo Domingo.

Make sure NOW he has a DR passport as well, that is mandatory as are copies of it, and a proper DR birth certificate.

It is not $1,800 for the paperwork to immigration unless you are including the right of landing fee which is not payable unless the decision is positive. The fees are much less around CDN$550.

As for the documents he does not have to be able to read anything at all (English or Spanish for that matter) , fill out the forms with his information which you ought to know already, the lawyer will mark where he signs and he sends it back and the lawyer here files it in Canada. Just send the forms FedEx. Both ways - never the mail, even registered mail.

You know the interview is not mandatory - when I went through this it took about 3 months and Immigration Canada said they weren't gong to bother with an interview. Once they established I exceeded the LICO by about 2000% they seemed less inclined to worry about legitimacy and so forth.

If you are using an immigration "consultant" it is a good time to stop and use a lawyer versed in immigration matters in Canada.

[rellosk]

Originally Posted by ricktoronto

If you are using an immigration "consultant" it is a good time to stop and use a lawyer versed in immigration matters in Canada.

Ricktoronto is right. Never use a "consultant", and if you plan to use a lawyer, you probably should use one licensed in Canada (not the DR). Hopefully, someone on this board can recommend a good one.

[bladi]

Originally Posted by ricktoronto

The fees for the police check are minimal plus those little tax stamps. The specific doctor in the DR is mandated by the Canadian Government and I think it is around US$100 for the exam. I think the immigration Canada site even says who the three or four doctors are in Santo Domingo.

Make sure NOW he has a DR passport as well, that is mandatory as are copies of it, and a proper DR birth certificate.

It is not $1,800 for the paperwork to immigration unless you are including the right of landing fee which is not payable unless the decision is positive. The fees are much less around CDN$550.

As for the documents he does not have to be able to read anything at all (English or Spanish for that matter) , fill out the forms with his information which you ought to know already, the lawyer will mark where he signs and he sends it back and the lawyer here files it in Canada. Just send the forms FedEx. Both ways - never the mail, even registered mail.

You know the interview is not mandatory - when I went through this it took about 3 months and Immigration Canada said they weren't gong to bother with an interview. Once they established I exceeded the LICO by about 2000% they seemed less inclined to worry about legitimacy and so forth.

If you are using an immigration "consultant" it is a good time to stop and use a lawyer versed in immigration matters in Canada.

I'm not going to use a lawyer, I'm going to do everything myself first and if I start to get the run around then might consider higher one. My worry was that if I fill out all the paperwork, answer the questions myself and we do have an interview. That since I'm more educated then my husband, the answers wouldn't sound quite the same. My husband speaks a bit of English and my Spanish is ok, I don't use the right verbs. I guess what i'm saying is that I want it to look a legit as it can be, don't want to do anything shady, it's going to be difficult as it is.