I'm Kim, and I met my fiance last spring while I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy. His name is Paolo, and while he is currently living in Italy, he's a citizen of Albania. We decided we need to do the k-1 visa so that he can come live here with me. He's going home to Albania for Christmas, and I'm not sure if he's going to stay there until he's able to come here, or if he's going to return to Italy. I would think that he'd have to stay in Albania while this visa is getting processed, since that is where he'd be filing from.
I haven't started any paperwork yet, I'm just trying to get as much information on things as possible. This process is intimidating me :/
I am leaning towards getting an immigration lawyer. I did talk to a law firm near me who handles k-1 visas. The only thing is that their fee is... a lot. And as I understand it, if you do it yourself, it's only a couple hundred to file everything. So I'm really wondering what I should do. The main reason why I want to do everything through a lawyer is because my fiance doesn't speak very good english yet, and I'm worried about being able to tell him everything he'd need to do, and get the forms to him. I couldn't send him any forms I'd get off the internet in english to him; he'd need them in either Italian or Albanese. And also just looking at everything we have to do... well, like I said, I'm intimidated. I think I'd feel much more comfortable doing it through a lawyer who has done this for years.
What do you guys think? You've all done this, or in the middle of doing this, I guess.... I'd appreciate any advice you might have.
Kim.
