go with a lawyer or do it myelf

[fastinjun 1]

Need to file for my wife and son, both are living overseas, son was born last year in finland, we were both living there at the time and now decided to move back to the USA because of some family matters etc. My wife and son came here for a few months and are now back in Europe. At this point I need to file for my wife, get US citizenship for my son etc. Should I go through a lawyer? Can a lawyer handle this while Im here in the US and my wife and son are overseas?

Any suggestions???

Thanks in advance

[Ryan H 3,790]

The choice of whether or not to hire a lawyer is up to you. Are you comfortable filling out the required forms?

The short answer to your question, can a lawyer handle it while you are in the US and your wife and son are overseas is yes.

Now here is the but; you will have to gather all the paperwork and give it to the lawyer. The lawyer will then file the forms. Furthermore, I don't know how often lawyers deal with CRBA's (Consular Report of Birth Abroad), the document you need for your son to obtain a US Passport.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Ryan H

[Anh map 2,098]

See this info from the Helsinki Embassy website regarding the Consular Report of Birth Abroad >> http://finland.usembassy.gov/birthreport.html

[Terca 6]

Those of us that have straight forward cases, and have the patience to fill out the forms decided to forgo lawyers and do it ourselves. That depends on your pocket, I couldnt afford to pay a couple thousand dollars to a lawyer to fill out forms that i can do myself.

I had the time and didnt have the means for one so the decision was simple for me.

[saraio 1]

When we filed our I130 we had a lawyer, she was always busy never returned phone calls, sometimes when my husband was actually able to talk to her she would tell him things like well if you want to do it your way, then go ahead but don't comeback asking me to fix your mistakes.

After USCIS approved our case, we got NVC case number and invoice quite quick we paid ritght away ans she told us to wait for the instructions in the mail. What she didn't know is that our case was a Required Eletronic Processing, so we ended up losing 3 months just right there because her lack of responsibility to stay updated.

My husband filed our case at NVC, since he works, it was me the one that would ask questions on visa journey and also Saylin helped us so so much with her blog.

Our case was approved with no RFE's at all and got our interview next bussiness day after the final review. I am very thankful for all the visa journers that helped us as well and that are still helping us since our interview is next month.

I say that if you are willing to invest time to do it yourself is totally worthy to do it yourself besides you can save the money you are going to pay the lawyer for other things.

But of course it's up to you, if you feel comfortable do it yourself.

To get your son's birth certificate, I think it's better if you are there. It's easy actually just gather all requested paperwork and get evidence of your relationship.

Good luck!

[NHKx2 43]

Naturally it's up to you and what your circumstances are...how busy are you? Do you have any issues to overcome such as overstays, bans, or criminal history? If no, I'd skip the lawyer. The forms are straight-forward once you've read the instructions thoroughly. I figure, I've got ONE case to work on, a lawyer has how many? I don't want my paperwork to get held up because a lawyer got sidetracked by another client. This forum is amazing. Think of it this way: you're not doing it yourself. You have a whole VJ community helping you!

[Brusik 11]

From what I have read on these forums it seems for the money and effort it takes for a lawyer, if you can read and follow directions save yourself a few thousand dollars.. I think people from this forum have more smarts then some lawyers I have heard about.. The only time I think a lawyer is beneficial is complex cases and issues with NVC and USCIS...

[LADYDARE 28]

So Far, I have filed four petitions without using a lawyer and everyone of them went thru USCIS and NVC with any RFE. You don't need a lawyer if your background is clean.

Good luck with your journey.

[Mellie&Irvin 0]

I had someone who helped me with my uscis papers they called em an attorney.....

First of all he had no clue what I need ect.... I found out everything on my own what kind of papers I needed ect.

I was paying him 150.00 dollars for what? nothing....

Going on to my NVC I called NVC asking them how can I remove him for being the attorney all they said to write an email and he will be done. All he did was Kept telling me wrong information and making me all Stress......

If I waited for his help I would still be waiting and waiting and I probably would of been done with NVC in Sept.

37 days later My case is complete and now all that is left is my husbands interview and we are all DONE!

[fastinjun 1]

Thanks everyone for the very useful information. Ive spoken with at least 3 lawyers and get figures anywhere from 2000 to 6500 and thats just their fees. There is no overstays, no criminal history, no bans. My wife is stressed out being back in europe by herself with our son, thanks God shes got friends and family there to help out.

Im shocked at the fees they charge, it really blows my mind, I shouldve been an immigrations attorney!

Anyway, thanks again for the advice.

[vamoai 0]

Thanks everyone for the very useful information. Ive spoken with at least 3 lawyers and get figures anywhere from 2000 to 6500 and thats just their fees. There is no overstays, no criminal history, no bans. My wife is stressed out being back in europe by herself with our son, thanks God shes got friends and family there to help out.

Im shocked at the fees they charge, it really blows my mind, I shouldve been an immigrations attorney!

Anyway, thanks again for the advice.

If your case is quite simple, go without a lawyer. You'll do it better and faster. We had a lawyer for the USCIS part of the process, she was always busy, never called or emailed back and we wasted a week here and a week there which added up to months of delay. She then made multiple mistakes on the forms, puting random names for the names of my parents, making mistakes on birth dates and mispelling my husband's name. We wouldn't have made those for sure! She had to correct the forms and resend to the USCIS. She wasn't too up to date on the process either, she told us the USCIS part of process would take 6 weeks while the NVC would take 6-8 months so when ISCIS took over 4 months, we were crushed until we found this website. Once we got the USCIS approval, our lawyer told us that we had to wait for instructions, but by then, using info from this website we went ahead, got our case number, gave them our emails and did everything on our own and got rid of her. Now waiting to hear back if we need anything else or if our case gets completed soon. We would still be waiting otherwise for her to have time for us. Good luck

[Darnell 8,478]

VJ is a great DIY immigration portal, with an emphasis on 'Y' and 'D'.

The guides are great, mostly (if only they'd kill the K-3 instructions)

and the mentoring here is great, also - we tend to 'pay it forward', most of the time.

Getting a lawyer sometimes is necessary, here's my guidelines about it:

I'll suggest a coupla things, maybe (maybe...) help you to decide whether you need an attorney or not.

a. read the VJ guides. map the steps out on paper and pencil. See if anything doesn't make sense to you.

b. Read the USCIS web portal about the forms. Map out the steps on paper and pencil. See if anything doesn't make sense to you.

c. Practice filling out the forms, at least 5 times. See if anything still doesn't make sense to you.

d. Have any red flags? Practice writing up attestation letters about each red flag.

Now, after doing (with major emphasis on DOING ) all of the above, if you do NOT understand the forms and the process and potential red flags for your petition,

then I'd suggest getting a good IMMIGRATION lawyer. You are concerned with time, I am concerned with your 'knowledge acquisition', as knowledge is power. You can have 'it' good, fast or cheap - pick 2.

[Done--Really 331]

Hey fast--

It's all very simple if you follow the directions, but if you are one of those people who just can't follow directions, or want to question every little thing, then you will be frustrated and your stress will flow over onto your wife, and you will both be an emotional mess.

But if you can follow directions even when they don't always make sense, DIY is the way to go--that's why we are all here.

[fastinjun 1]

All very good information and I thank all of you for taking the time and giving me your honest opinions, thank you thank you!!!

[Darnell 8,478]

bump