Peter Messersmith

I consulted Peter Messersmith regarding my deportation case from the U.S. due to an OPT-related issue. Initially, he charged me $15,000 to appeal the decision. However, throughout the process, I found myself having to constantly follow up and provide suggestions as he appeared to lack experience with... cases like mine. Despite multiple attempts, the CBP refused to reopen my case, and we were forced to submit a TRIP request. When we received the TRIP response, Mr. Messersmith misinterpreted it, claiming that a key provision (212(a)(6)(C)(i)) had been removed from my case. For clarification, I submitted another TRIP request and received a response that showed nothing had changed. When I shared this information with Mr. Messersmith, instead of addressing the mistake, he blamed me for seeking clarification. Additionally, I was preparing to apply for an H4 visa, and Mr. Messersmith's office charged me $10,000 for a waiver. While filling out the DS-160 form, I had questions regarding deportation-related queries and was asked to pay $5,000 just for advice on completing the form. I ended up completing the form myself. When I went to the U.S. consulate, the officers informed me that the waiver should have been filed with USCIS, not through them. They also handled the waiver themselves during the visa interview. It was a frustrating revelation, as I had already paid a significant amount to Mr. Messersmith for this process. In the end, after spending over $30,000 and three years, my case was not successfully resolved. I was particularly disappointed with the lack of transparency, the re-use of old paperwork, and the fact that I was charged additional fees for every minor task or clarification. I would not recommend Mr. Messersmith if you are looking for effective and informed legal representation in immigration matters.

I was referred to this firm by my friend who had managed to resolve his EB1A RFE with the help of this firm six years back. I approached the paralegal in this firm for my profile evaluation to check if the firm would take my case. I had a PhD degree and less than 50 citations. Paralegal informed me ...that they would take up my case and their firm has 90-95% success rate and had secured many EB1A approvals for cases similar to mine. Paralegal also informed that lawyer fees for initial filing would be between $8000-$9000 while excluding the I-140 filing fee. The fees would include the firm filing up my I-140 form but I had would have to entirely draft all the 5 recommendation letters by myself with the lawyer only checking my draft and suggesting edits. I had some of my recommendation letters already prepared up so this point was not a major effort for me. Paralegal also informed me that the lawyers fee would be non-refundable even if case outcome comes negative. I agreed to all these terms, paid fees and proceeded with this firm. I submitted all my requested documents such as transcripts, journal paper publications, presentations, awards, I-140 application, etc. to the firm. After submission of my documents, the lawyer did not discuss the case with me, directly prepared and submitted final petition on my behalf. The lawyer only communicated to me over email and not on phone usually took a day or two to respond to my concerns via email. The lawyer did provide me a copy of the final submitted I-140 EB1A petition but only after my repeated requests. I received a RFE on my initial petition as it had met 2/3 criteria. To fulfil the remaining 1 criteria, I hired this firm again with the lawyer charging me between $2000-$3000. The lawyer spoke with me on phone to answer all my questions regarding RFE. The lawyer suggested I submit 2 more additional recommendation letters as evidences to RFE responses. I submitted all my requested additional evidences and 2 additional recommendation letters to the lawyer. I had to draft the new 2 recommendation letters by myself with the lawyer offering to draft me with additional fees of $500-1000 per letter. Since, I had already paid over $10,000 in total lawyer fees I did not want to spend more money on drafting letters. The lawyer prepared my RFE response and submitted it along with my letters. The lawyer did provide me a copy of the final submitted RFE response but only after my request. The USCIS denied my EB1A petition saying it met only 2/3 criteria. The RFE response was not able to convince them that the third point on major significance was also met. I was disappointed with the outcome and so was the lawyer. The lawyer suggested refiling the case and this time his fees would be $4000 since I had hired him for my initial filing and RFE response. This fees would be non-refundable as well. He would also use the same initial petition and reco. letter drafts. I was disappointed on hearing this and felt this firms only goal was to extract money from me and did not care about getting my petition approved. I understand that at the end the success of the petition usually depends luck and nature of the visa officer that is due to unclear requirements of EB1A category which is subjective in nature. PhD holders who have <10 citations have been approved for EB1A but for other PhD holders with more than >100 citations have been denied. Eb1A application seems a matter of rolling the dice and trying the luck and this firm is an extremely expensive one which I would not hire again. Pros: 1. Takes up not so strong EB1A cases. Cons: 1. Very expensive initial EB1A filing costs - $8000-9000. This excludes USCIS I-140 petition fee of $1,500. 2. RFE response additional charges - $2000-3000. 3. Fees does not include drafting recomendation letter (Extra $500-1000 per lette

They really need to work on their communication skills and customer service and care. This attorney is extremely expensive. To be honest he ripped me off. I have very strong credentials for EB1-- Alliens of extraordinary abilities-- but he doesn't know how to put things together. He is no more kno...wledgeable than a 100-buck do-it-yourself kit for EB1 yet he'll cost you $ 10000. I wish I had done my research before hiring him. On this site there are several comments on his bad performance for eb1 and eb2 . Do not let him trick you.

I hired Peter Messersmith. He failed to represent me suitably because of the following reasons: he made several mistakes on a couple of forms that caused several months of delay; he didn't stick to the terns of the client-arrorney agreement, in the middle of the work and after withdrawing several tho...usand dollars from my bank account, he requested more than what was explicitly stated in the agreement, he didn't continue working on my case when I refused to pay more than the amont that was agreed; He was representing my case for 3 years, but never talked to or consulted me on the phone, he never returned my calls; His paralegal was not helpful at all I could barely understand her

I hired Peter to file a NIW petition, hoping that I will get the best service (after reading the other reviews on here). He said he was highly confident my case will be approved. During the application process he responded to my emails very briefly, and I felt he didn't really care about my case. Sin...ce I am from another city, most of the communication was done via email. After he submitted my petition, I asked him kindly to send me the cover letter he wrote on my behalf, and he refused to do so. He said he doesn't send the cover letter through mail or email, and I would have to go in person to Chicago to see it (550 miles from where I live). I later found out that, according to the Illinois State Bar Association attorneys are obligated to provide to their clients access to their files and promptly respond to reasonable requests for information Long story short, after one year and one RFE letter, my petition was denied. Peter said he is confident that the USCIS decision was a mistake, and he had encouraged me to reapply. His fee for reapplying would have been "only" $2000 -- to basically resend the same documents). After speaking with two other very experienced immigration attorneys, I decided not to reapply as they told me that NIW is not a category suitable for musicians, and applying for NIW was a mistake to begin with (Thanks, Peter for misleading me and taking my money!). Please do yourself a favor and find an attorney who is knowledgeable and actually cares about you.