Is It Recommended to Get a Lawyer for AOS?

[GatorFan96 0]

My fiancee just had her K1 visa approved in Japan on Monday so the next thing we will need to deal with is the AOS for the green card. A guy I work with moved to the US from Holland and he said he had an attorney help him out for his green card. I used this great website as a resource for the K1 process and was wondering if people on here would recommend getting a lawyer for the Green Card process.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[JenT 0]

Not necessary.

[moondancer627 0]

Unless you have something going on with your marriage or paperwork don't waste your money. AOS was overall very painless and quick.

Moondancer

[Badgerbabe 0]

Hi

Unless your case is complicated then you can do it yourselves with help from this site for anything you don't understand on the forms.

We did it and had no RFE's or trouble at the interview - everything was plain sailing.

Only thing that happened to us is my son's Green card had Female instead of male on it !!!

Good luck and don't waste your money ! It's costly enough !

[shirlJ831 0]

not needed at all

[Pat4316 0]

My husband and I didn't hire any lawyer, we did everything by ourselves. We had so much trouble because of RFE. We did so many things such as made some infopass, wrote a letter to our congressman, called 1800 number uncountably and etc. Some forms are fillable, you just have to be patient for writing the same things on every application. And about the medical check by the civic surgeon, every clinic has different cost, but the result is gonna be the same, try to call them and find out, which one is the lowest cost. Mine was only $200.-(included everything such as vaccination, etc.), it took only three days to get everything done for this process. My total AOS process was "7 months". If we had hired a lawyer, he/she would have done the same thing as we did. One friend of mine finished her AOS only three months, her husband and she did everything by themselves. In my opinion, if I were you, I wouldn't hire a lawyer to do the things that we can do, unless your case is very complicated. I heard a lot of stories about hiring lawyers to finish AOS case, they just gonna ask you to fill out those forms first or they gonna ask you to prepare everything and send it to them, then they gonna fill out your information on all forms and you just sign all forms and send the packet to USCIS by yourself. The cost probably about 2,000-3000$ plus Immigration Fee.

What I sent before are as the following:

1. 70$ fingerprint fee

2. I-485 - Application for Adjustment of Status or to Register Permanent Residence.

3. Fee as required by check or money order, stapled to Form-I385($325)

4. G-325A - Biographic Information(14 yrs. and older)

5. A copy of Birth Certificate(w/certified English translation)

6. Copy of I-94 or other evidence of current immigration status

7. Copies of passport pages with photo, identity data, visas and US entry stamps.

8. Copies of any other INS documents pertaining to applicant, such as extensions of status(I-797), change of status, I20, IAP-66, CDL/CID forms, etc.

9. I-864 - Enforceable Affidavit of Support from pettitioner, notarized and including:

-Proof of citizenship or lawful permanent resident status

-current and/or recent letters of employment

-Federal Tax Returns for las three years(most recent on top)

10. I693 Medical and vaccination form(in sealed envelope)

11. I130 relative visa petition($190) or approval notice of I130/I360/I129F with supporting documents

12. G325A of petitioner, if applying for a spouse

13. Proof of Petitioner's permanent resident or US. citizen status

14. Documents establishing relationship - marriage

15. Completed from WR-702 or WR 703

16. Appropritate photos in an envelope stapled to from WR 702 or WR 703

17. I765 with $180 filing fee

My case took so long, because my husband was requested for an additional evidence(The proof of income for I485). We had so much stress during that time, never gave up and then we made it. My case got approved at spot on Monday. Hope my post's useful for all you guys. Thanks everyone for posting good threads, they're very helpful and useful. Good Luck!!!

[danzi 0]

I certainly wish I would have had an attorney. My friend did and had absolutely zero problems. Me on the other hand - well, lets just say that I'm starting the entire process over.

[perfect 39]

Personally if you have a straighforward case with no "red flags" I would save my money. We had no problems with the K1 AOS which was approved at interview and the K2 other than being asked for a new medical and vaccination supplement which technically were not necessary, (but which we sent again anyway) had no problems and was approved without interview.

If you refer to the information on VJ and follow all the instructions which are very clear, you should have no problems doing it yourself.