Looking for a lawyer in the Dominican Rep.

bladi

New member
Oct 11, 2004
6
0
0
46
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

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
0
0
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

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,503
5,932
113
dr1.com
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

New member
Oct 16, 2004
79
0
0
save your money

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

New member
Jun 6, 2005
3
0
0
I know one!

Shelley said:
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

New member
Feb 5, 2004
72
0
0
I recommend Fabio Guzman

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

New member
Oct 11, 2004
6
0
0
46
Shelley said:
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

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
0
0
bladi said:
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

Silver
Mar 18, 2002
4,169
58
48
ricktoronto said:
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

New member
Oct 11, 2004
6
0
0
46
ricktoronto said:
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.
 

Shelley

New member
Oct 16, 2004
79
0
0
bladi said:
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

I can not remember what the criminal check was. Maybe around $20 USD. The medical is now $ 135 USD. The cost of the processing fee is only $ 550 CDN but the permanent resident fee is $ 975.00 CDN. It's better to pay this right away so that if you're approved, you will not have a delay in having to pay it later. If you're declined, they will issue a refund for that amount. There are also costs involved for getting documents such as his birth certificate and the marriage certificate translated into English (if you haven't already) someone can correct me but they're around $20 USD each, pictures for him to submit with his application, a DR passport (if he doesn't already have it), and the costs of him travelling to Santo Domingo a minimum of 3 times (first for his medical, then to drop off his passport and then to hopefully pick up his visa). If they require more information, he may be required to take the trip more than that. I wouldn't worry about an interview unless there is something really out of the ordinary in your relationship. Don't worry about filling out his papers for him either. My husband filled in most of his but left some stuff out. I filled in the rest so there was two different hand writing but I don't think they cared or noticed.
 

ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
0
0
IIRC the questions about him he ought to know like his name, age, where he was born, etc. I doubt they form much of the interview if there is one.
 

bladi

New member
Oct 11, 2004
6
0
0
46
ricktoronto said:
IIRC the questions about him he ought to know like his name, age, where he was born, etc. I doubt they form much of the interview if there is one.


I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the information they have given me, it's actually going to cost less then I have planned for ;) . My husband already has his passport,our marriage certificate and his birth certificate have already been translated by the DR Services and the consulate in Toronto. Does anyone know how the decision process works? Is there a minimum requirement we need to have in our bank accounts? We have a joint account in the DR that we've been saving, but it's minimal. I've read the requirments for sponsoring my husband and I exceed the income they require. I was told they approve the application on a points system, but I don't know how that works?
 

ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
0
0
They approve applications on the points system for independent applicants who want to immigrate without a sponsor (e.g. they have work skills, education, language skills, etc.) , but not for family-class where the LICO is about it, howeveer they still will have to be satisfied as to the legitimacy of the relationship/marriage.

I suspect however that if the LICO is say $20,000 and you make $21,000 they won't be as quick as if you make $200,000.
 

Riu

New member
Jun 11, 2004
202
0
0
I also recommend Fabio Guzman

bladi said:
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. ;)

I recommend Fabio Guzman.
 

Embajador

New member
Aug 10, 2005
17
0
0
bladi said:
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. ;)

Talk to Fabio Guzman, a very good lawyer
 

DominicanScotty

On Vacation!
Jun 12, 2004
1,300
2
0
64
I have a good immigration lawyer

bladi said:
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. ;)


PM me and I will provide you with the info you need.
 

jwampler

New member
Feb 5, 2004
72
0
0
Fabio Guzman's Website

You can view Fabio Guzman's website and
contact information at
drlawyer.com