Lawyers?

[Dakine 26]

All depends on the lawyer and how knowledgeable and sincere he is. I used a lawyer for the first stages of immigratin. He knew what he was doing but didn't care how long it took. I fired him.

At the same time I used a lawyer for adopting my stepchild after she'd arrived here from the Philippines and he knew what he was doing BIGTIME and at the same time cared about my case BIGTIME and I don't regret paying him at all because he made it easier for me and I didn't have to do anything but write the check.

To me if they know what's up and CARE about their client they are worth a REASONABLE amount. However a LOT stick it to peeps money wise and really don't seem to care about RFEs and delays. Dain't their "da kine" that's about to explode from the old Hawaiian disease "Lack of Nookie".

[HaPPyFeEt 0]

Hey everyone...

I'm in a situation where stress, anxiety and procrastination have met together and immobilized my progress of getting (applying for) a K1 Visa...

I have done hundreds of hours of research...

I feel fairly confident in my ability to cross my t's and dot my i's....

a lawyer wants to charge me a flat fee of $750...

I also want to take a trip to see my baby in Nottingham... which would cost about that much...

What should I do?

Is a lawyer necessary?

What were your experiences? With or without a lawyer?

It really depends. If you seem to be confident and think nothing is too complicated then you can do it on your own. You just have to dig in and do more researching.Visajourney has everything. We nver hired a lawyer.We just followed the guides and read experiences from our vj members. If you dont know what ur doing u can always ask. I heard from a lot of members that lawyers only slow the process.

[defunct 0]

I completed my petition without a lawyer and without VJ and was fine. I wish I had found VJ prior to filing, as it would have helped a lot (at least to have known what exactly to expect), but most of it is just following instructions and filling out forms. If there isn't anything for which you need legal advise, then all a lawyer would do would be to take the info you give them and fill out the forms for you.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

[winifredbee 1]

I say no lawyer. I am flying home with my love tomorrow. I did everything on my own and the one document we used a lawyer was incorrect. Luckely the Embassy here was fine with the typo. If you feel confident and you have no complications like previous marriages do it yourself.

[pasaway na angel 2]

well, we did not have a lawyer but we did just fine. so if you believe that yours is a normal situation without any complication, then go ahead and just file it on your own.

[Tsup2 0]

I paid $750 to a lawyer for my K1. Although he processed the paperwork he hid behind a voice mail and email wall never responding to any voicemails or emails. Dont waste your money. The guides on VJ are very good and you can do it yourself. I filed for the Adjustment of Status of my own and had no problems. The attorney was in California, it may be the same one you are interested in.

[Ning 619]

I paid $750 to a lawyer for my K1. Although he processed the paperwork he hid behind a voice mail and email wall never responding to any voicemails or emails. Dont waste your money. The guides on VJ are very good and you can do it yourself. I filed for the Adjustment of Status of my own and had no problems. The attorney was in California, it may be the same one you are interested in.

You have all these people telling you not to use a lawyer. If you review the forms you can decide if you need one based on your own understanding of the information required. That information can only come from you. This means the lawyer is simply a scribe. The question really is wheather you can fill in the forms or not.

[tuty 0]

Hey everyone...

I'm in a situation where stress, anxiety and procrastination have met together and immobilized my progress of getting (applying for) a K1 Visa...

I have done hundreds of hours of research...

I feel fairly confident in my ability to cross my t's and dot my i's....

a lawyer wants to charge me a flat fee of $750...

I also want to take a trip to see my baby in Nottingham... which would cost about that much...

What should I do?

Is a lawyer necessary?

What were your experiences? With or without a lawyer?

[tuty 0]

no lawyers needed, we have done all by our own and we were approved in 34 days. The forms are not complicated to understand and if you do your homework...the process is quite predictable and not impossible to complete. In addition, I would hate having a lawyer to tell me what the news are while \i could get it faster directly. A good lawyer is needed when you have a real serious problem in which you need to apply some legal knowledge regarding inmmigration, otherways its just a waiste of money and quite frustrating.

[fbibob 0]

I used an attorney ($595) and it made me feel slightly more warm and fuzzy. The biggest thing he did for me was to screw up sending in my paperwork; the IMBRA went into effect and I was able to forward the additional papers to him to all go in at once so there was no RFE.

He also made mistakes in the paperwork that I caught and corrected.

My advice; do not bother with a lawyer if your case is not very complicated.

My additional advice; wherever any documentation (proof of meetings, your ability to support your fiancee') is required, overdo it. If your application is extremely strong and paperwork heavy in one catagory, they may not notice a catagory where it is weak. Bureaucrats are impressed with thick files.

[DrissandAmy4ever 0]

Hi! I would suggest you not to use a lawyer... You just read the guides here in VJ, it really helps you a lot.. This site is very informative and the people here are so friendly.. Just ask some questions and they will answer right away..

Welcome to VJ!!! You may have a speedy journey!

I couldnt agree more. We hired an attorney out of NY and what a disaster. They made sooo many mistakes on our paperwork and we had to keep sending it back to them to fix. They were suppose to call us for a pre interview and when it came time ...they expected my fiance to call them. So we never did the pre interview and he still passed. Dont waste ur money....go see ur honey!

[gensdad515 2]

Provided that your case would be simple, there are no side stories just a straight through , then read up and check all your paperwork various times before presenting and you should be ok. Lawyer wanted to charge me close to 3,000 What a waste that would have been. We did all our paperwork, got all our info, read up on everything prior to presenting and got through it with flying colors.

Welcome and Good Luck, Jorge

[ishack1956 0]

I've been through the process twice already (once for my ex-wife and my ex's step-son (he came two years after her so a separate case)) and am currently doing it again for my current wife. I have not hired a lawyer for any of the three. But I also processed my last divorce without an attorney as well. My experience using lawyers has been horrible from my first divorce. I had two different attorneys during that case. Both were worthless. One even asked me if I had children on our way to a custody hearing. At that point I made a decision to fire him and to avoid ever hiring an attorney again if at all possible.

I've known several people that have hired attorneys for this process, and EVERYONE had mistakes on their forms. In one case the lawyer put the WRONG ADDRESS on the form to mail their childrens GC's and they were lost in the mail. That delayed their whole process by at least six months, and added about $500 to the total cost.

Thus my opinion is very simple I would not hire an attorney unless I felt uncomfortable doing the paperwork or the case was complex. You'll find that you'll save a LOT of money, have control of getting the paperwork done RIGHT the first time (remember any mistake will generate a RFE - which puts your paperwork back on the pile not to be looked at for 60-90 days), and nobody will know your case better than YOU.

If you have questions and want an attorney's advice you can always consult one with a list of specific questions for advice without hiring them to do your case. In that case you can hire one on an hourly basis just for consulting purposes.

Just my opinion.

Iskandar

[minimule 3]

HEY there,

i asked myself the same question, but i ended up getting a do it urself kit, i paid 50 bucks for it, and for that i got, every files i need for the entire process, even after the visa is issued, the blank forms, samples forms to show u how to fill up ur forms , instructions , i mean it is full of details, interview advices, cover letters,picture instruction, vaccination, how to get ur package ready ect....

and im so glad i did, it made the all process sooooo easy on me

if ur interested i can tell u where to get it at.

[John24689 0]

Do it yourself. Get the forms. Start filling them out. Ask questions on VJ. Read, read, read the instructions and then fill out the forms. You can do it, most of the ones on VJ have done it themselves.

In your reading, make a list of all the possible documents you will need to submit. When you are about through, post them on VJ for comments.

If you have a unique problem that VJ can't help you with, then you may want an attorney. Otherwise, do it yourself. If you get an attorney, you will still have to get all the information together and tell them what to put in most of the blanks on the forms. You can fill in the forms yourself. You will save time doing it yourself along with saving money.

Good luck on your journey whatever you decide.