The benefits of hiring a lawyer

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

Unless you have some very special circumstances, hiring an attorney does nothing but drain funds better spent on yourselves and your future together. An attorney stands in the same line we do, with no time savings what so ever. The paperwork is far from complicated if you can read and follow instructions. Have a question? There are tons of folks here that are in your same shoes.

Too many here have tossed hard earned money on overpriced useless attornies. Do not feed the lawyers. It only keeps them strong causing them to breed out of control and further weakening us.

Edited January 3, 2008 by Kazan' Tiger

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

I am a firm believer in doing it yourself!!

If you have a straight forward case, no overstays, no criminal backgrounds, etc. etc. Save yourself the money!!!

Read everything and work together. It will be so rewarding!!!!!

VJ is an amazing resource, everything you need is right here.

Best of luck to you

[JenK 0]

We hired a lawyer before I knew about this site! Now I'm tied into a contract so there's really no way out of finishing the case with her. But now that I found this site and all the great information, I find I'm telling HER what is happening with our case. I know more information about it than she does! Now all I'm using her for is to confirm what I already know. I must admit at first I was very glad to have her, as I had not the first clue how to start or what to do. I just wish someone had told me about this site first, I'd have saved myself a lot of money. Now, she has done a great job, and hasn't slowed anything down, and she is very fast at answering any question I may have, but I also see that we could have done this without her. You live and you learn I guess!

Jennifer

[panamania79 2]

Hi Everyone! First of all my best wishes to all of you for a prosperous New Year and may all your requests work out in a positive way. I am new to this forum, and I have to say, thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and knowledge I feel more positive of what I am about to do. I am engaged to Cris, he lives in Ecuador. I have seen him twice this year and we have decided that the best to do is for him to come to NY and get married here in NY. I am hoping to file I-129F by February after I visit him for Valentine's Day. My questions is can somebody advice me whether hiring a lawyer will be better than to go through the process alone. I will appreciate it if anyone can tell me how the process went or is going thorugh with a lawyer and also without a lawyer. Thanks to everyone.

I went to a "notaria." This is one of the offices in the Hispanic community that helps people with their immmigration papers.I ended up spending half of what a lawyer charges.

[Steve'sGirl 0]

I agree with the previous posts. Don't hire a lawyer unless there are either special legal circumstances involved in your case or you feel too uncomfortable filing the petition yourself.

We hired a lawyer because my fiance felt that we would be on the safe side if we did so. He has an extremely busy work schedule and wanted to make sure that everything is in order. We hired a lawyer with an excellent reputation, however, it seems that he/his office is not interested in properly handling straight-forward cases like ours. We were assigned a paralegal who is not very reliable. First, they delayed our petition for an entire month because they couldn't get their act together. Our latest negative experience is that our paralegal has still not forwarded our original NOA1 to our attention. I've spent so much time with follow-up calls and emails. Apart from the money we've spent, it has been very time-consuming for me.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll be making the right decision. Good luck on your journey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!