Bad advice in Ciudad Juarez

Roxana finally made it through the long three-step consular processing and got an immigrant visa interview at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez (CDJ). She went to that interview last week, and her husband Jose has been giving me a play-by-play of the process there in CDJ. Jose felt they needed some local assistance, so they consulted with a company called Servicios Internacionales MTZ. This company’s representative — we’ll call him “agent” — incorrectly told them their already-completed I-601 was insufficient and must be redone. Agent incorrectly told them a form I-212 was required. Agent told Jose to send a filing fee of $587, but the correct fee amount is $585. That mistake means Roxana will spent at least a couple weeks longer in Mexico waiting for her immigrant visa and being reunited with her family. Beware non-attorney “experts.”