Did you use a lawyer

[The Humanists 10]

We didn't get a lawyer, although we have what most here would deem a complicated case. Before we sent the petition in, my husband (the USC) and I argued about it. I wanted to have at least a consultation with a lawyer to determine if we would encounter problems and if so, what could be done about them. My husband said, "Baby, both you and I are very intelligent and well-read, so I'm sure that we're also both as capable of reading and understanding the I-130 instructions as any lawyer." I did eventually agree (grudgingly) that we didn't need a lawyer, and I guess my hubs was right because we got through USCIS without even an RFE.

[A & K 42 34]

my parents told me, DO NOT EVER put all trust to:

• a politician
• a lawyer and...
• a liar

The third is like a summary of the first two .. I agree, your parents are wise

[thursdayschild 0]

I did use a lawyer. Sort of. We paid for one, that's for sure. But we didn't follow half of the paralegal's directions since she gave us incorrect information and bad advice (like you don't have to start packet 3 until 2 months before you want to move.... yeah). I never will again for the rest of the process. As someone else said, it seemed a lot more daunting than it ended up being, and it was nice to have someone to bounce questions off. I didn't know about VJ at the time though, so that's what the forums are for, hah! We have an uncomplicated situation, save the military complicating a few things, but all in all it's not a big deal and we basically did it without their help. The guides posted online are a lot more helpful than the lawyer ever was.

[dukeandduchess 141]

After finding this website, I knew we wouldn't need a lawyer because I could ask all of my stupid questions on here.

This site has been so helpful and informative. I would not have survived the process so far without it, and I hope to give advice to others throughout their journeys.

I still have many stupid questions in store for my AOS though, once I move! (prepare yourselves)

[trutolife27 0]

Well we used a lawyer also. everything seems simple after you get your noa2, but sometimes its better to let someone else do it so you don't make any mistakes. Also Mr Phair was 100% money back if any problem. he had me send in all our info and looked it over. and if he thought we wouldn't be approved he wouldn't accepted to do our application for k-1 visa. i spent 400.00 and that includes aos help also when that comes. We sent him everything on my part and her part also for her interview. He books hotel, for her , plane ticket, so lots of things now don't even have to worry about. alot of things in life seem simple but people still pay other people to do. Like cutting their grass, or simple vehicle work.

Peace of mind is always priceless.

[In a tizzy 7]

Everything I've read pretty much sums up what I had wanted to say myself.

Just be meticulous with your k-1.

Take the TIME to review the paperwork.

It took me GOOD 2 months of scrutinizing my k-1, because of that - no RFE's!

No lawyers needed until ABSOLUTELY necessary at the end of the road.

Good luck!

Emily

[meandmybeloved 15]

We started with an attorney before we heard about VJ. It wasn't for months before we found this site, but like some of the other posters have said, they charged us a lot of money and then they were pretty much our go between from us to the USCIS. They reviewed our stuff and then took 3 times as long to submit our paper work then it would have taken us to simply submit.

But Had we of found VJ ahead of time and did all the reading as we have been doing, we would not have been so confused about this whole process.

Our attorney left us in the dark on how this process really works.

Being that we are on this site daily and reading and reading some more about every single question we have we believe now that since we just received our NOA2 this past tuesday, we can from here on out handle this on our own. But really, we aren't on our own, because we know that the VJ members will always be here for us as they have been for so many others. They have given us the confidence to do the rest on our own.

[Visanese 1]

I used an attorney for our K-1 petition. If I knew of this website, I wouldn't have used one.

However, my attorney did find few of my errors on the petition/supporting documents, so I'd say having a second set of eyes always help.

[kapay&kulit 1]

Just a quick question to the group. Did you use a lawyer and would you again ?

I did use one. He way overcharged me ( in hindsight). All he did was review our application to see if we made any errors. Looking back at the K-1 process it is so simple and straight forward, knowing what I know no I would do it myself. I don't plan to use a lawyer for AOS.

never use a lawyer, its just a waste of money.. if your case is not complicated then you can do it on your own, visa journey serves more than a lawyer 'coz most of the member here shares information based on their experience..

[David79 7]

I used a lawyer because I was going to be out of the country for several months between the time I applied and when the visa was approved. I would not have a reliable mailing address or phone contact number during that time so I figured the lawyer would be worth the money to me just in case. Lawyers (as opposed to visa services) are the only ones that can represent you at the USCIS, NVC, and embassy if there are any issues that need resolving.

That being said, I would agree with the other people on here in that they are not normally needed. So long as you can follow instructions I would recommend you do it yourself. Just look at the guides on here and be sure to double check against current USCIS, NVC and embassy guidance. Also, some immigration lawyers aren't the experts they claim to be. I had a good one, but you can find several posts on here relaying how a lawyer pretty much made things more complicated because they didn't know what they were doing.

Edited October 17, 2011 by David79

[amerisian 5]

My husband wants to hire a laywer and even paid him $500. That's for consultation fee I guess and he didn't even advice us which one is better...K3 or Cr1...He just gave us a quoted price for the service fee and visa fee of K3 and CR1. But I insisted not to continue and will do it ourselves. So, we filed the petition without a lawyer's help only VJ and some research. Thanks God, approved within 90 days WITH NO RFE.....

[Scott & Annie 19]

but the chances is lesser that's why i used the term "more likely"

Ms. Teapot, I would respectfully disagree with your statement.

I have not done any scientific study using posts here on VJ regarding lawyers and the "likelihood" of receiving an RFE. But I believe I have seen more RFE issues when members were using lawyers.

In my recollection of reading past posts I have see nothing that indicates you are less likely to receive an RFE using a lawyer. IMHO

[SuperDuper! 230]

Oh Boy...Talk about a hot topic...using a lawyer or not to file immigration papers....You already know what to do from all the impassioned replies here. GOOD LUCK in the rest of your journey.

[brian and aileen 14]

If you have trust in yourself that you can do it , well I think you can, but if you have doubts then let the lawyer do it for you. If you have patience reading, researching and wants to know some information that you don't know, you can ask real people here without charging you a penny. This site is a big help for me in getting our approval of NOA2 without RFE. The process is not complicated if you are well oriented kind of person and well organized. If you read the instruction carefully and you follow the instruction its not hard to do it by yourself. You just need to give time to yourself , give what they ask and they will give you a good response too. God Bless Us all here.

[iwuvcheshert 6]

my cousin hired a lawyer, which amounted to 60,000 php when they filed their IR processes.... he was the one who suggested me to check out visa journey since most of the input of the members are very useful... so we (hubby and i) only worked on our papers ourselves... so far we are on the right track thanks to vj...