Donald Wayne Garner

I wish to tell, as briefly as possible, my story about the way Mr. Donald Garner helped me acquire my United States citizenship. Many ears ago I came to the US on a J-1 visa (cultural exchange) and met my future and present husband. We married while I was on J-1 and soon after graduation I went ...back to my country to discharge the two-year home country duty. Upon my return, I initiated an application for the US residency based on a marriage to a US citizen. And this is when my troubles began. My papers had been lost twice in the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, INS (as it was called then). Any time that happened I had to go back in line and wait as if applying for the first time. It took about 5 years to become permanent resident. Then, I applied for the US citizenship and that process took a number of years. I hoped, that my daughter from my previous marriage who lived with us in the US will become a US citizen based on my citizenship. It had to happen, though, before her 18th birthday. When I began applying for my legal status she was 11. By the time my citizenship application slowly moved though the INS offices she was getting close to 18! Do the math yourselves… Then I approached Don Garner, a young lawyer out of University of Illinois College of Law. He immediately took the matters in his hands, got in touch with INS officers and expedited the interview at the INS in Chicago. Soon after, my citizenship was granted. But then, the issue of taking an oath in front of a US judge had to be addressed, too. The next naturalization oath ceremony was going to be called in three or four months. By then my daughter was going to turn 18 and be disqualified from gaining a citizenship as an underage child of a citizen. Again, Mr. Garner stepped in and intervened directly reaching to the federal judge's office, advocating on my behalf and arranging a private ceremony for me. After the naturalization ceremony he continued working on getting my daughter's legal papers in order, which was part of the process and could also go on for months. So, she celebrated her 18th birthday as a new US citizen only thanks to Don Garner's swift and decisive actions in discharging his legal duties. He showed himself to be a well-qualified, responsible and caring immigration attorney. Thank you, Don Garner!

Don was our Immigration lawyer for more than 15 years. He helped my husband and I to process our Green cards and then -when we have waited the required time to get our Citizenship, we started the process with his help. For people who have no idea as to how long it takes to become a US Citizen -fifte...en years may seem not much, but it is! We were very pleased with Don's services as he always followed up with everything whether if it was a phone call or an email. Don was always very attentive. We're glad we hired him as he was very understanding of our process needs and requirements. We are now two proud US citizens. Thank you Don! Maribel

Wasted two years with him. Don Garner and his assistant Karen Davalle are who I hired to assist in getting my wife into the USA. Told me to provide a truck load of documents. Eighteen months later he said he never received it. I proved to him he did and then told me that the application has completel...y changed. Then told me he got sick and would pass my case on to other lawyers. Then he couldn't find any lawyers and he would do it himself. I had been receiving an email for three months saying he had only five more hours to work on the application. I pressed him to finish the application and I received an email with him resigning three weeks later. He mailed back the submitted paperwork and refunded the deposit. No partial application or any indication that any work that was done was returned to me. It's as if he pretended to be a lawyer.