Your Consultation is the most critical step in evaluating Your Case. Do not underestimate the importance of Your Consultation as it is when we determine how to proceed and what to do, or avoid, in Your Case.

Cost

This is an initial evaluation of Your Case and your responses will be recorded in Your Intake Form. If we determine that we are willing to handle Your Case, you will be required to pay a $150.00 consultation fee for a 30-minute telephone or in-person consultation. In-person consultations are held at the Law Office of Nita Kundanmal in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Be prepared to forward any documentation required for Your Case if we request the documentation. DO NOT send us any documents unless we specifically request them by email.

After you complete and submit Your Intake Form, you will receive a text or an email within two business days advising you that we have pre-determined that you appear to have a basis to seek immigration relief AND that we can, and are willing, to handle Your Case. You will then be required to pay the consultation fee. We will also offer you time slots for Your Consultation. These time slots are during business hours (New Jersey time) Monday through Thursday. Your Appointment for Your Consultation will usually be scheduled within two to three business days after we receive the consultation fee.

Reasons for Your Consultation

We will:

  • Determine whether there is any relief available for Your Case
  • Explain the options and the general procedures for each option
  • Recommend for or against various options
  • Confirm whether the attorney would be willing to take the case
  • Provide a legal fee quote, based on the facts of the case

Limitations of Your Consultation

We will NOT:

  • Offer explanations about how to handle the case yourself
  • Review and/or comment on documentation that you or a non-lawyer prepared on how to improve the case
  • Explain what arguments to you may make and/or what documents you should obtain
  • Refund the consultation fee if you are dissatisfied with the recommendations and/or legal fee quote for Your Case

Be sure that you carefully read and understand the questions asked and provide accurate responses so that Your Intake Form is correctly recorded.

It is your responsibility to provide accurate responses when answering questions as Your Case evaluation is based on the information you provide on Your Intake Form. Once we take the case, we refer to and rely on the facts concerning entries/exits, marital history, and arrest history, from Your Intake Form throughout the entire case. We also rely on the information you provide on Your Intake Form during Your Consultation. If you provide incorrect information on Your Intake Form which you do not correct during Your Consultation, it will likely affect the outcome of Your Case and possibly result in unintended negative consequences.

The importance of entry and exit dates

The first thing we do in Your Consultation is to establish a timeline of entries/exits, applications for immigration benefits, arrests, marriages, children, and any other pertinent information. Your Consultation cannot continue until Your Timeline has been established. Before beginning Your Consultation, you should be prepared with as much information as possible. Depending on the responses in Your Intake we will likely send you an additional questionnaire and/or request you email this information before Your Consultation.

When/where the consultation will take place

Telephone consultations must be scheduled and are subject to availability. We are not always able to schedule a telephone consultation within 48 hours of payment. Telephone consultations are 30 minutes.

Email consultations are not available.

In-person consultations must be paid for in advance and will be scheduled in the same manner as a telephone consultation. In-person consultations are 30 minutes. DO NOT BRING CHILDREN TO AN IN-PERSON CONSULTATION. If you are unable to make arrangements for your children, please schedule a telephone consultation.

Who may attend Your Consultation?

The foreign national must be present at the consultation, whether it is an in-person or a telephone consultation. If the foreign national is not in the United States, Your Consultation cannot take place in person.

We prefer that the Petitioner is also present. The foreign national is not required to be on the line on a three-way call if the foreign national is in the physical presence of the Petitioner while the consultation takes place and is available for questions.

Other individuals, such as interpreters, may also be present for telephone consultations. Only the petitioner and foreign national may attend the in-person consultation.

No other individuals, such as children, will be permitted to attend an in-person consultation. If you must have another individual, such as an interpreter, the consultation must take place over the phone. If you need a three-way call and require assistance with conferencing, you must make your request at least 24 hours in advance of the consultation. Otherwise, we presume you have arranged any tele-conferencing of the consultation and when you call in for the consultation you will already have all interested parties on the telephone at the scheduled appointment time.

Time Zone

Consultation times are always on Eastern Standard Time in New Jersey, United States. It is your responsibility to accurately determine the time difference between your location and New Jersey, United States. We recommend that you research the internet to find out the time difference between your location and New Jersey. The current time in New Jersey is posted on the top right corner of our website NKESQ.COM. You may need to refresh your browser to get the exact time.

Lateness

Telephone appointments and in-person appointments are expected to begin on-time. Calling or arriving more than 15 minutes after Your Appointment time, regardless of the reason, will be treated as a missed appointment and you will be asked to reschedule. In-person consultations will end on time even if you arrive up to 15 minutes late.

Consultations – whether in person or by phone – that are scheduled for 30 minutes will have the entirety of the anticipated time as long it starts no more than 15 minutes late.

What to be sure to tell the Attorney

We will endeavor to ask all the relevant questions, but in case we neglect to ask, it is extremely important to accurately describe in detail:

  • Month/year for all the foreign national’s entries and exits from the United States and manners of entry
  • All the foreign national’s arrests (or for the Petitioner if it is a fiancé(e) visa) anywhere in the world at any time even if there was no conviction
  • All current and prior marriages for both Petitioner and Beneficiary (foreign national) anywhere in the world, including common law marriages, “tribal” marriages, marriages that you are not sure were “legal”, and marriages that ended in divorce, annulment or death of the spouse
  • Any prior immigration history, such as a prior asylum claim or attempt to adjust status.

Limited Credit for Consultation Fee

We are offering a credit of the consultation fee against the legal fee for Your Case for a limited time. It is your responsibility to confirm in writing that your consultation fee will be credited towards the legal fee for Your Case.

Refunds

No refunds will be given once Your Consultation has taken place. Refunds requested one business day prior to the scheduled time of the appointment will generally be honored. If the client misses the appointment and requests a refund in lieu of rescheduling, the request for a refund must be made in writing with the original signature (i.e. mailed, not faxed or scanned) and received in our office within 30 days of the date the payment was made. For in-person consultations, if the appointment is cancelled or rescheduled less than one business day in advance, a $75 cancellation fee is nonrefundable under any circumstances.

Expiration of Fee and Rescheduling

Your Consultation must take place within 15 days of payment of the consultation fee. If Your Consultation does not take place in those 15 days and you have not requested a refund in the manner described above, you forfeit the consultation fee. If a consultation needs to be rescheduled, you must make the request more than 24 hours before the scheduled consultation. You may do this an unlimited number of times, until 15 days from the time the consultation fee was paid. You may reschedule less than 24 hours before the consultation – or after having missed the consultation – only once without incurring additional fees. The second time you wish to reschedule less than 24 hours before the consultation – or after having missed the scheduled consultation –you must pay an additional, nonrefundable $25 administrative fee to reschedule the consultation.

Telephone Consultations

You will call the Law Office of Nita Kundanmal, P.C. at 201-883-9800 (unless you are provided a different telephone number) at the scheduled time. The Law Office of Nita Kundanmal, P.C. will not call you.

When legal issues arise that we cannot immediately answer

For most consultations, we do not need to perform legal research in order to give you a legal opinion during Your Consultation. Sometimes however, we are not able to render a legal opinion during Your Consultation. When this occurs, we will render a legal opinion by 5.00 pm Eastern time one calendar week after the consultation. For example, if the consultation takes place on a Monday and it is determined that we must perform legal research, you can expect a legal opinion before 5:00 pm Eastern time the following Monday.