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Showing 11 - 15 of 21 reviews | Cost of Services

Posted by anonymous | April 09, 2013

My Vote for Attorney of the year!!

We applied for my visa in the 1st week of November 2012, We had our interview in the end of January 2013, We received my green card and work authorization card in the 1st week of February. For those of you whom don’t have much time to read, all we can tell you is that you will not regret workin...g with Ed! He is very reliable, responsible, and trustworthy. And he is simply a nice man that we enjoyed talking with! We highly recommend working with Haitham Edward Ballout! Here comes the long version! I am a Japanese woman and my husband is from the US. I was in the US on F1 student visa. I graduated from my grad school in Dec 2010. At this point, my husband and I were talking about getting married in about 1 year after I worked in Japan. Right after I graduated, I went on a vacation to the Caribbean’s with my friend. When I left the country, I automatically lost my F1 status and entered back into the country with ESTA. My intension was to go back to my apartment, pack up everything and move back to Japan just for 1 year. However, my husband proposed to me before I went back to Japan! So, we got married at the end of January, 2011, and I still had to go back to work, so I moved back in February, 2011. This year alone, I went back and forth to see my husband 3, 4 times. Twice, immigration officers at SFO Airport held me for about 2 hours in a separate room, went through everything in my suitcases and asked me all kinds of questions in a rude manner. At the end, I got released and let into the country as I had valid documentation and I had no issue with my status each time. The officers told me that even though I am not breaking the law by going in and out of the country often, or staying for 2, 3 months in the US each time with my ESTA, still, they did not like it, and I have to either get my proper visa and live in the US, or my husband getting his Japanese visa and move to Japan, and I cannot keep staying in the US for a long period of time even though it was within 90 days. How strange is that? Also, one officer told me that when I came back into the country after my Caribbean trip, my intention was to get married in the country which was not true, but he just assumed so and that was all it took to give me a hard time at the airport. Therefore, we finally decided to proceed with my visa application process. Originally, we were trying to apply for my visa on our own and spend as little as possible. My husband and I are very pleased with Haitham Edward Ballout’s work. All his advice was accurate and informative. (It was contrary to what most people I know and most people in the online community suggested. We are so glad that we listened to the right professional!) He was sincere and very informative. He answered all our questions in detail. Also, it was convenient for us that we could see him both in his San Francisco and Burlingame Office. As far as the consultation fee goes, it was not the cheapest, but we are still glad we worked with him. Ed was open and explained to my husband and I the cost of his services from the very beginning. His fee never changed at all. It was a one flat rate which we appreciated. He was there with us for our interview and helped us with the process. Ed working as an immigration lawyer in San Francisco for 23 + years, it seems like he has a good relationship with many of immigration interviewers which has to be helpful! We must say that Daisy, one of Ed’s staff was very helpful to us, too. She always corresponded with us via telephone or Email and made sure we had everything right. We enjoyed working with her. At the very end, she mailed us a big envelop of copy of the entire document that we put together and sent to USCIS for the record. We thank Haitham Edward Ballout for all his great work and we highly recommend working with him to anyone who is struggling in immigration issues. He is simply the best!