Expert-Immigration: reviews & investigation
A company claiming 25 years of experience, a 98.1% visa approval rate, and offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Barcelona. Sounds good on paper. The problem: the domain was registered in 2020, the main legal entities were liquidated in 2018, and the founder's lawyer status has been officially revoked. Let's check.
Who is Expert-Immigration and what do they claim to do
Services: Schengen visas, US/UK visas, residency permits (digital nomad, investor), EU citizenship, Latin American citizenship, real estate support, tax consulting, tennis academy placement in Spain
Offices: Moscow (Federation Tower, office 343), St. Petersburg (Furshtatskaya St. 8), Barcelona (Calle Aribau 161, office 134)
Founded: 1998 (company claim) / domain registered December 2020 (verified)
Also branded as: Association of Immigration Lawyers, ADVOCATIOexpert, advocatio.expert
Phone: +7 919 967-72-71
Email: [email protected], [email protected] (both free Gmail)
Website: expert-immigration.com
Active legal entity in Russia: IP Sheyngezikht L.G. (sole proprietorship, registered March 2019)
Key fact: The "Association of Immigration Lawyers" brand belonged to two registered entities, one in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg, both forcibly liquidated by Russian tax authorities in 2018. The company currently selling services under that name operates as a sole proprietorship registered in 2019.
Trust Score
Based on 1.14/5 from verified data points. Risk level: 8/10.
Who's actually behind Expert-Immigration: checking the paperwork
The active Russian entity
The only operating legal structure we could confirm is IP (sole proprietorship) Sheyngezikht Leonid Grigorievich, INN 781624291200, OGRNIP 319784700084070, registered March 12, 2019. Status: active. This is who you'd technically be contracting with if you hired them in Russia.
The liquidated entities
Two organizations called "Association of Immigration Lawyers" previously existed: one in St. Petersburg (INN 7816176788) and one in Moscow (INN 7702265547). Both were forcibly liquidated by Russian tax authorities in 2018. A third entity, "International Legal Bureau of Leonid Sheyngezikht," was also liquidated in 2016. The brand name survives. The legal entities behind it do not.
The domain story
The domain expert-immigration.com was registered on December 29, 2020 through REG.RU LLC. The earliest Web Archive snapshot is from September 24, 2021. The site claims the company was founded in 1998. That's a 22-year gap between the claimed founding and the first archived version of the website. No earlier domain or archived site for this brand was found.
The Barcelona office
Calle Aribau 161, office 134, Barcelona is listed as a company address. A search of the Spanish Registro Mercantil found no active legal entity registered under Expert-Immigration or Association of Immigration Lawyers at that address. Calle Aribau 161 is widely used by virtual office and co-working providers in Barcelona (which, honestly, raises questions about what "office" means here).
The lawyer status
Leonid Grigorievich Sheyngezikht is described on the site as a former and active member of the legal profession. The St. Petersburg Bar Association registry confirms his lawyer status has been officially revoked. He holds no active bar membership. His claimed academic titles (Doctor of Law, Professor of Political Science) are not confirmed in the Russian Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) registry.
One more thing
Some pages on the site were found to display the legal details of OOO "POLIMER SNAB", a wholesale chemical products company with no connection to immigration law. This suggests either sloppy web management or something more deliberate. Either way, it's the kind of detail that belongs in a due-diligence file.
Expert-Immigration risk analysis: 5 things to know
| Area | Risk | What we found | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | high | No public price list on the site. Only two figures mentioned: a consultation fee of €40 and consular fee from €80. All other pricing is "on request after a call." | You won't know the total cost until after an initial consultation. Ask for a written quote with every line item before agreeing to anything. |
| Contract | high | No standard contract is published. Risk that the contract may name a liquidated entity or an unrelated company (such as "POLIMER SNAB") as the service provider. | Read every line before signing. Confirm the named counterparty is IP Sheyngezikht L.G. and no one else. If any other legal name appears, stop and ask why. |
| Timelines | medium | No delivery timelines stated publicly. Visa and residency timelines depend on consulates and foreign agencies, not on the consultant. | Get a realistic timeline in writing from them. Any promise of unusually fast processing should be treated as a red flag. |
| Credentials | high | Founder's lawyer status officially revoked. Claimed PhD and professorship not confirmed in the VAK registry. No active bar membership means no professional liability protections apply to you as a client. | You're hiring a private consultant, not a licensed attorney. Attorney-client privilege does not apply. Confidentiality protections are limited to what the contract states. |
| Refunds | high | No public refund policy found. No stated conditions for what happens if a visa or residency application is denied. The site advertises "guaranteed results," which is legally unenforceable in any immigration context. | Before paying, ask specifically: "What do I get back if the application is denied?" Get that answer in writing inside the contract, not verbally. |
Expert-Immigration: green lights, yellow warnings, and red flags
| ✅ | Active sole proprietorship in Russia. IP Sheyngezikht L.G. (OGRNIP 319784700084070) is registered and currently active. This means there is at least one identifiable legal entity you could sue in Russian court if needed. |
| ✅ | No confirmed criminal complaints or fraud lawsuits found. Despite extensive searching, no police reports, court judgments, or organized victim groups were found publicly targeting this company specifically for theft or fraud. |
| ✅ | Positive reviews on local Russian platforms. Zoon.ru shows 4.8/5 across 11 ratings with specific mentions of successful document preparation in 2024-2025. Yandex Maps shows 4.3/5 across 4 ratings with similar themes. These aren't fabricated from nothing. |
| ⚠ | Gmail-only corporate contact. Both listed emails ([email protected], [email protected]) are free personal accounts. Any regulated legal or consulting firm uses domain-specific email. This alone doesn't prove wrongdoing, but it's a pattern common among informal operators. |
| ⚠ | Virtual or co-working office addresses. The Federation Tower in Moscow-City is a known mass-registration address used by hundreds of companies with no physical presence. The Barcelona address matches a virtual office provider on Calle Aribau. |
| ⚠ | No refund or dispute policy stated publicly. You cannot know in advance what recourse you have if services are not delivered. This is yellow rather than red only because many small consultancies operate this way in Russia, but it's still a problem. |
| ❌ | Claimed 1998 founding date is contradicted by the domain record. The domain expert-immigration.com was registered on December 29, 2020, and the first Web Archive snapshot is from September 2021. The two entities that used the brand name were liquidated in 2018. There is no verifiable online presence predating 2021. |
| ❌ | Both "Association of Immigration Lawyers" entities were forcibly liquidated. The Moscow entity (INN 7702265547) and the St. Petersburg entity (INN 7816176788) were shut down by Russian tax authorities in 2018. The company continues to use the name as if those entities still exist. |
| ❌ | Founder's lawyer bar status is revoked. Leonid Sheyngezikht no longer holds active bar membership in the St. Petersburg Bar Association. This removes all professional legal accountability protections that would otherwise apply to clients. |
| ❌ | Academic credentials (PhD, Professor) are not verifiable. The site calls him "Doctor of Legal Sciences" and "Professor of Political Science." Neither title appears in the Russian Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) registry. These are the claims of a marketing page, not a verifiable CV. |
| ❌ | Black-hat SEO spam across hundreds of unrelated foreign sites. Investigators found hundreds of identical promotional comments with links to expert-immigration.com posted by bots on irrelevant foreign websites, including kefir blogs, tire shop forums, and animal care sites. This is a known tactic among low-credibility operators trying to inflate search rankings. |
| ❌ | Some site pages display the legal details of a chemical wholesale company. Footer elements on certain pages show the registration data of OOO "POLIMER SNAB," a company that trades in chemical products. This is a serious inconsistency for a firm asking you to trust them with immigration documents. |
Expert-Immigration vs alternatives: a side-by-side check
The highlighted column is the company under review. best worst mixed
| Parameter | Expert-Immigration ★ | Licensed Immigration Attorney | DIY (self-filing) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Consultation €40, rest undisclosed hidden | $200-$500/hr (US); €150-€400/hr (EU) | Consular fees only (from €80) cheapest |
| Public pricing | None worst | Usually quoted on inquiry | Government fee schedules are public transparent |
| Licensed professional | No active bar license none | Yes, verified bar membership verified | N/A |
| Legal entity status | Sole proprietorship (2019); brand entities dissolved 2018 mixed | Registered firm, active | N/A |
| Refund policy | Not published none | Depends on retainer agreement | You only pay government fees, non-refundable by rule |
| Verifiable office | Mass-reg / virtual addresses unverified | Physical office, verifiable bar address confirmed | N/A |
What to check before paying Expert-Immigration anything
- Contract counterparty: The contract must name IP Sheyngezikht Leonid Grigorievich as the service provider, with INN 781624291200 and OGRNIP 319784700084070. If any other legal name appears, including "Association of Immigration Lawyers" or any LLC, ask why in writing before signing.
- Itemized quote: Get a full written breakdown of what you're paying for: consultation, document preparation, translation, consular fees, and any partner/agent fees in other countries. "All-inclusive" promises without a line-item list are a setup for surprise charges later.
- Denial clause: Ask what happens to your money if the visa or residency application is denied. Get the refund terms in the contract body, not just verbally. If they won't put it in writing, that's your answer.
- Payment method: Never transfer money to a personal bank card or phone number. Demand an official invoice from the sole proprietorship. If they push for informal payment, walk away.
- Who handles your case: Ask which specific person will be working on your file, what their qualifications are, and whether they're licensed in the destination country. "Our network of 50+ countries" means nothing if no one can name an actual licensed representative.
- Approval rate claims: That "98.1% approval rate" figure has no verifiable source. Consulates make their own decisions. No consultant legally controls approval rates. Treat any guarantee of a result as a marketing statement, not a contractual promise, unless it's specifically worded in the contract with defined penalties.
- Independent verification: Before committing, run the INN through egrul.nalog.ru yourself and check the active status. Takes two minutes. If the entity on your contract doesn't match what you find, stop.
Frequently asked questions about Expert-Immigration
Is Expert-Immigration a legitimate company?
There is one currently active legal entity: IP Sheyngezikht L.G., a sole proprietorship registered in Russia in March 2019. Services can legally be provided through this structure. But the company trades under the name "Association of Immigration Lawyers," which belonged to two entities that were forcibly closed by Russian tax authorities in 2018. The domain was registered in 2020, contradicting the claimed 1998 founding date. So: there is a real person and a real registered entity behind it. The branding and credentials around that entity are another matter entirely.
Who is Leonid Sheyngezikht and what are his actual credentials?
Leonid Grigorievich Sheyngezikht is the founder and director of Expert-Immigration. The site describes him as a Doctor of Legal Sciences and Professor of Political Science. His lawyer bar status in Russia has been officially revoked (confirmed via the St. Petersburg Bar Association registry). Neither academic title was found in the Russian VAK (Higher Attestation Commission) database. He does operate a legitimate sole proprietorship and has a mobile app on Google Play for his advisory service. His son, Leonid Leonidovich Sheyngezikht, is a professional tennis player and co-founder of Tennis Community LLC, which is separate from the immigration business.
Is the "98.1% visa approval rate" claim accurate?
Almost certainly not in the way it's presented. Visa and residency decisions belong to foreign consulates and government immigration agencies. No consultant controls those decisions. No independent data source confirms this figure, and Expert-Immigration doesn't publish one. The company itself warns on their site that "99.99% of fast-citizenship offers on social media are scams." The same logic applies to unverifiable approval rate statistics. Use caution.
What happens if my application is denied?
There is no publicly available refund policy for Expert-Immigration. You'd need to negotiate terms before signing the contract. Without a written refund clause, you have no automatic recourse. Russian consumer protection law gives you some baseline rights in service contracts, but enforcing them takes time and money. The cleaner solution is to negotiate denial terms before you pay, not after.
Is the Barcelona office a real physical location?
The listed Barcelona address is Calle Aribau 161, office 134. Calle Aribau 161 is a well-known location for virtual office providers and co-working spaces. No legal entity matching Expert-Immigration or Association of Immigration Lawyers was found in the Spanish Registro Mercantil at that address. A representative named Alfiya is mentioned on the company website, but no verifiable professional details about her are available. "Office in Barcelona" and "licensed Spanish immigration practice" are very different things.
Why do Expert-Immigration staff use personal Gmail accounts for business?
Both listed contact addresses ([email protected] and [email protected]) are free Gmail accounts. Any registered business can set up domain-based email for under $10 a month. Using free Gmail for legal correspondence is unusual for a firm claiming 25 years of operation and 5,000+ visas processed annually. It limits your ability to formally document correspondence and creates traceability issues if a dispute arises.
Where can I leave a review about Expert-Immigration?
You can read and submit your experience at proverj.com/expert-immigration/. That's the main review page for this company. Migration US at migration.us.com also publishes investigative reports and welcomes factual tips from former clients. If you've used Expert-Immigration and want your experience documented, both platforms are good options.
Expert verdict
I've been in the US immigration business since 2011, and before that I watched how the consulting market worked in Russia and former Soviet countries. What I see here follows a familiar pattern.
The gap between the claimed founding date (1998) and the domain registration date (2020) is 22 years. That's not a clerical error. That's a claim designed to make a newer operation look older and more established than it is. Companies that have been operating since 1998 have a paper trail. This one's trail starts in late 2020.
What concerns me most is the lawyer status issue. When someone's bar license is revoked, that's not a minor administrative detail. It means they can no longer legally call themselves a lawyer, cannot represent clients under attorney-client privilege, and are not subject to the disciplinary oversight of the bar association. If something goes wrong, your only recourse is a civil contract dispute, not a bar complaint. That's a real reduction in your protection as a client.
The black-hat SEO spam is worth flagging too. Hundreds of identical promotional comments on kefir blogs and tire forums aren't how legitimate firms build their reputation. They're a shortcut, and shortcuts in SEO often correlate with shortcuts elsewhere.
On the positive side: the local reviews on Zoon and Yandex aren't uniformly bad. Some clients mention specific, concrete outcomes. The sole proprietorship is real and registered. This isn't a pure phantom operation. But "not a phantom" is a very low bar for handing over money to process your immigration documents.
My advice: if you're considering this company, start with the contract. Get it in writing before paying anything. Confirm the counterparty's legal name and registration number. Ask point-blank what you get back if the application fails. And check the entity status yourself at egrul.nalog.ru before you sign. Five minutes of verification could save you a lot of trouble later.
Don't get burned
Marketing promises don't always match reality. A 1.14/5 rating and a risk score of 8/10 are numbers worth taking seriously. Read what real clients say before committing.
Read real reviews about Expert-Immigration