So, you’re just about to log onto Fragomen Connect, and maybe you’re wondering, and you’re wondering if they are working within reasonable standards. Maybe you’re considering hiring Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy to handle your H1B petition or green card sponsorship cases. Or maybe you’re a candidate for any of these and has your employer informed you that they will have Fragomen handle your case? If any of these apply, then this article is for you. We’re not going to make any disparaging comments about another firm, but as the world’s largest immigration firm, it is certainly going to garner some attention. We’re volunteering our firm, the American Visa Law Group, as a point of comparison. The purpose of this article is to provide you with fully objective information to help you decide who to hire for your immigration casework or to assess if your counsel is giving your case the attention you can reasonably expect, even if your counsel is not for Fragomen.
Scope of the Firms
Established in 1951, Fragomen is the largest immigration law firm in the world. They focus exclusively on employment-based immigration. With more than eight hundred immigration professionals, they have a workforce than can handle the immigration volume of any major corporation.
Established in 2015, the American Visa Law Group is a small boutique immigration law firm dedicated to providing the best possible client experience. They focus exclusively on immigration law, with a significant focus on employment-based immigration. With a team of three attorneys supported by a growing staff of immigration professionals, their team can accept and accommodate new clients with case volumes of up to one hundred H1B petitions per year on short notice. For clients larger than this, the firm might not be able to accommodate immediately without some preparation to recruit additional staff.
To recap, Fragomen has no limit case volume they can take on for a client, the American Visa Law Group can adapt to accommodate most new clients except the very largest of businesses.
Reviews on Yelp
We’ll look specifically at the firm’s rating on Yelp at the location nearest to Fragomen’s current review score at their San Francisco location is 1.2 stars on Yelp with a total of 53 reviews. The American Visa Law Group’s rating on Yelp is 4.9 stars on Yelp, with a total of 76 reviews as of the date of this publication.
Yelp reviews are highly reliable, as they use a trust algorithm to filter out reviews from questionable reviewers who appear suspicious based on a variety of factors. We’ll refrain from commenting further about this, however, you may want to peruse the reviews to understand what makes clients happy and unhappy with the services at each respective firm.
Case Workflow
We’re not familiar with the inner workings of Fragomen, but will share details about the American Visa Law Group so you can understand our workflow. We will use H1B as a particular case type to discuss. Typically, there will be a consultation to assess whether an H1B petition is a valid case, which requires a discussion of the nature and scope of the employer, the H1B job offer details, and the candidate’s qualifications for the job.
Once it’s been assessed that there is a valid H1B case, we invoice the client for the fee and send a retainer. The client signs our retainer and sends it back, typically over email, and covers our fee, typically online on our website. We then send detailed questionnaires for employer and employee, and wait for the client to send the completed questionnaires to us.
Once we receive the questionnaires, the case goes into our case assignment queue, to be assigned on the following Monday or early on Tuesday to a caseworker who will work under supervision of a supervising attorney. We can accommodate more immediate case assignment for an additional fee.
During the first week, the caseworker prepares and reviews the forms, and inquires with the client about any issues found. We also prepare support letters and the Labor Condition Application (LCA) gets filed. The caseworker is at the ready to accept supporting documents from the client and assists the client on their questions. Turnaround time on emails is one business day for the caseworker, and one to two business days for the supervising attorney in the event of any escalations. This point is emphasized so that you can have some gauge to measure what you should reasonably expect in terms of responsiveness.
The following week, the LCA gets certified, and if we receive all needed supporting documents early that week, we should be able to compile the petition and have it ready for supervising attorney review. The supervising attorney may need up to three business days to review, though we strive to review quicker than that, and accommodate depending on urgency.
The week after that, the case is typically filed early that week, or if there is some rework needed, we typically get that completed early that week and it goes again for a review and is typically filed.
Note that the overall process described above can be fast tracked for an additional fee, but it is typically sufficient for most cases.
Attorney Fees
We’re not aware of the fees Fragomen charges, but if you’re a current client of theirs, you will know. At the American Visa Law Group, our rates are posted on our fee schedule.
Conclusion
Now you have some points of reference about fees, case workflow, and working capacity of Fragomen and a potential alternative in the American Visa Law Group, and perhaps something to think about next time you’re at the Fragomen Connect Login screen. Will they be happy thought or thoughts or reconsideration? We’re not sure, and if you’re happy, that’s great, but if not, our door is open.