Ryan Benjamin Barshop

I met with Ryan in Manila before my flight back to the US after I spent a week with my fiancée. I contacted him about processing our K-1 visa. Our case was easy; no children or other issues involved. He said he charged $2,000 for this service. I thought it was rather excessive, but he said he charged... the extra because he provided “exceptional service”. He seemed friendly and personable so I retained him. He helped us put together our DS-160 and initial submission. He recommended we write stories and when we were finished he submitted the documentation. All was going well. Problems began when my fiancée’s case was sent to Manila and marked as “Ready”. I asked him about setting up an interview and he said “let’s wait a week until it’s in their system”. I called USCIS and they said I could schedule it online as soon as it showed “ready”. So I called him and asked him to please call the embassy and set up the interview. He did. The fact he didn’t know about the “Ready” and online system was a bit concerning, and even with my call, he set up the interview 2 days later than we could have done it. But, it was set and she flew to Manila for her medical (which went fine) and the Interview. She failed the interview and it was kicked to 221(g) for lack of chat logs and proof of remittances. Of course this caused severe emotional distress, not entirely understanding the 221(g) process and what it really meant. This is when Ryan began his process of abandoning us. He didn’t tell me what the 221(g) process really meant and said I could “contact my senator” and that was about it. I was left to my own devices to take care of things. I also found out chat logs and evidence of remittance is status quo for the interview process and all informed individuals bring those materials to the interview (or even submit them with the initial application). Because he failed to inform us we needed these materials, the interview was essentially guaranteed to fail! A few days later I put together nearly 500 pages of materials and we overnighted them to the embassy. The other big mistake was Ryan failed to inform us we had to register for the CFO class a week or two ahead of time online (my fiancée lived on another island far from Manila). We were lucky to get her into a class during the window she was in Manila, but it was blind luck. When I approached Ryan about failing to inform us about the CFO requirements, he said “that’s not part of our arrangement” or something similar (which was 100% incorrect as the CFO class is required for a K-1 fiancée to fly to the US). So the 221(g) and CFO issue together and his handling of things brought up a huge red flag. Ryan then disappeared for nearly 3 weeks with no communication. Then around the beginning of November he sent an odd Email saying “oh your case is in ready, so they’re processing it!” Our case had been in “ready” mode since before her interview! This reaffirmed my suspicion he really didn’t know what he was talking about. I also sent him a message asking why he didn’t tell us we needed to have the chat logs and remittance and he never replied! When I informed him we were parting ways and wouldn’t be paying the final $500 of the $2,000 fee (he had already been paid $1,500) he threatened legal action and said he would reveal “intimate and quite graphic” details about us in court proceedings. My fiancée had her Visa issued after submitting the “missing” 221(g) materials, which shows she could have passed at her interview if we had provided these materials at the interview. Based on the above experience, I cannot recommend him. His fee is excessive and from what I’ve seen, he is incompetent and becomes hostile when challenged on his mistakes. As such, retaining Ryan Barshop to process a K-1 visa exposes one to considerable risk.