QUEENS -- Queens woman Melva Roach, an immigrant from Barbados, needed a replacement I-94 form, which tracks a person's comings and goings from the United States.
A friend recommended an immigration "consultant" named Richard Edwards. She paid him a total of almost $6,000 to help. But the only thing he did was take her money.
So Roach and I paid a visit to the Jamaica storefront where she dealt with Edwards. He wasn't there. A guy who said he was one of the owners told me he gave Edwards the boot.
I thought we'd hit a dead end. But Edwards left a phone message for me. I called him back the next day and we briefly talked. He agreed to do an on-camera interview and explain himself. Of course, he never called back and every time I tried to reach him his voicemail was full. Wonder why?
Anyway, there's a lesson here. Don't pay everything upfront and get a real attorney, not some supposed consultant. As for Richard Edwards, if you see him tell him I'm still waiting for his phone call.