Negligent solicitor

Muzi5434

Hi all,

Long story short, last year (Dec 2015) I got married to a non EU citizen. Pre-marriage we decided to consult a solicitor to do the spousal visa application process.

The solicitor advised the following:
1. The visa will only take 6-8 weeks
2. The application must be sent from Ireland to an Irish embassy in India
3. I move out from my parents' place (I did that in July 2015)

The solicitor gave me all the documents I needed to gather so I did that and gave all the information. She applied in Jan 2016 and did not know the process at all.

1. The process can easily take up to 6 months which we found out after she had submitted the online application
2. The documents relating to the application don't go to India which we found out after she had sent them to India (They go to the appropriate visa application centre in the country you are applying from)
3. Once my wife obtained her documents from India, it was too late to make an appointment at the visa application centre to submit them as the time had passed
4. We noted that her passport was expiring within 12 months and that she needed to have at least 12 months left on her passport when applying
5. Since then, no contact from the solicitor to even assist with doing a new application

Due to the solicitor, I was extremely stressed on a daily basis and my wife went into depression. Also, I moved out based on the fact that she advised the visa would only take 6-8 weeks.

I moved to the UK in April and applied for my wife's EEA family permit and that got approved and we are now together. We didn't do the Irish spousal visa as it takes too long. Had we known it takes 6 months from the start, I would have moved to the UK a lot sooner than April, probably even before my marriage.

I feel my solicitor has acted in a very neglient manner and shown incompetence.

I want to sue the solicitor, could anyone point to me what my next step would be? Should I contact a negligence solicitor? If so, does anyone have recommendations?

Thanks for the help

hullaballoo

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