Immigration Attorneys - Advice?

[Wilton23 2]

Hi there... Just wondering if anyone has any experience using an immigration attorney to help them with either the K-1 or CR-1 process? I am American but also have EU citizenship, I've been living and working in Europe for nearly three years with my British fiance and I am struggling to navigate the best way to move us both to the US. There are a few different routes, a dozen obstacles and unsurities, and I was wondering if anyone has used the help of a lawyer and would recommend it? Thanks.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Wilton23

[cazzers 83]

Do you have a difficult case? Cause if you don't, then I don't see why you would use a lawyer. My fiance has dual citizenship(European and American) and has been living in Europe for the last 10+ years. When we send in the papers he was still in Europe, he got back to USA in November 2012. We didn't used a lawyer and we got approved. We followed the guides here and everything was ok.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

This is a DIY site, so most people here do everything by themselves, with the help of the Guides on this site and asking questions in the forums.

A lawyer/ visa filing service can be useful if you have a complicated case (criminal background, previous overstay, lots of red flags), or are just not comfortable filing out lots of detailed forms. Keep in mind in the latter case, you may not need a lawyer but just a filing service- they tend to be cheaper and often faster (looking at cases here where people have used lawyers, they tend to slow down the process quite a bit).

[TLlanos 4]

My husband and I actually thought long and hard about hiring a lawyer, but came to the conclusion that if so many people do it on their own... why can't we? The expenses of this whole process is already high, and Im not just talking about the fees. Add on to that the DHL shipping, photocopies, ordering documents ( in my case, I had to change all of my documents because I needed to get a new passport, since it would expire in June of this year ), the doctor's fees, flight fees ( round trip to Rio )... and the list goes on...

Like Penguin said, if your case is a bit complicated then perhaps a lawyer might be advised. But I must admit, even my case is a little complicated ( my parents took us to live in the states on a visitors visa and overstayed ) and I'm confident all will go well ( I have been in Brazil for over 5 years ).

Regards,

Thalita & Manuel

[Boggy1974 124]

I would say if you're not comfortable dealing with government paperwork or any negative past brush with the law by one partner or both then hiring a lawyer is advisable. Good luck on your journey!

[Wilton23 2]

Thanks everyone... The reason I am considering hiring an attorney is not because I have a specifically complicated case, I suppose, but just because I keep thinking of small specific questions. For example...

To summarize, I met my fiance in Spain. He is British but had been living there for 10+ years. I dragged him to England because I had better job opportunities here. Now I want to marry him and start out lives together in the US. So here is our tentative plan:

1) August 2013: Get married here in the UK

2) September 2013: File CR-1 through DCF here in London

3) October 2013: I move back to the US to look for a job so that I can meet the sponsorship requirements (co-sponsor is not an option for me unfortunately)

My fiance will also have to move because he could not afford our flat on his own. He will probably move back to Spain, where he can make more money in his old job, have more friends, etc

Here's where my question lies... Can he move to Spain after we've filed for the CR-1 through the Embassy in London? He could come back for his medical exam and interview. If so, can we use his sister's permanent UK address as his address so all correspondence will be sent there? Does that pose problems filling out the forms if we put his sister's address where it asks for his address. Do we write an extra note asking correspondence to be sent to his sister, etc?

My other question, which I've mentioned briefly in another post, is does anyone know any US citizen who has done this? i.e. moved back to the US after filing a visa petition in order to get a job to meet the sponsorship requirements before their spouse's interview. Has anyone been successfully accepted as a sponsor after recently starting a job?

Thanks!

[NikLR 13,220]

DCF goes so fast you likely won't have time to do either of those things.

But yes, people are accepted as sponsors after recently starting jobs as long as there aren't any restrictions. Some jobs make you have a temporary status for an specific amount of time (in most of Canada it's 3 months) where they can let you go for no reason at all.

Sounds like you wan to do a spousal visa, not a K1 but are unsure about if you can DCF or have to do the consular processing route.

[R and J 2]

Those sound like questions it might be helpful to ask an attorney. One option which doesn't commit you to hiring an attorney for the entire process is to go for a one-off consultation with a US immigration lawyer in the UK (there are quite a few), to go through your options, where to file, etc. Then if you're happy with how to proceed you can do the actual filing yourself.

[Wilton23 2]

DCF goes so fast you likely won't have time to do either of those things.

But yes, people are accepted as sponsors after recently starting jobs as long as there aren't any restrictions. Some jobs make you have a temporary status for an specific amount of time (in most of Canada it's 3 months) where they can let you go for no reason at all.

Sounds like you wan to do a spousal visa, not a K1 but are unsure about if you can DCF or have to do the consular processing route.

Hi there. Thanks for you reply. How do you know DCF is so fast - did you do that yourself? Are you saying that you don't think I would even have time to move back to the US, and get a job with enough months' payslips to be approved as a sponsor? Sure there are ways to elongate the process if necessary, i.e. don't submit documents immeditely..?

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

DCF can be very fast (took us 6 weeks), but right now the US embassy in London is backlogged so it would be at least a few months. And yes, you can simply take your time sending back documents, booking the medical etc and delay the process for up to a year.

[Wilton23 2]

DCF can be very fast (took us 6 weeks), but right now the US embassy in London is backlogged so it would be at least a few months. And yes, you can simply take your time sending back documents, booking the medical etc and delay the process for up to a year.

Oh wow that is fast... And so with regards to delaying the process, after they've approved the I-130, do they give you a deadline by which you need to complete the next step? And after I've sent in the I-130, does the rest of the process go through my foreign fiance? (I ask this because obviously I will have moved back to the US and will no longer be at the UK address that I'll have written on the forms).

[NikLR 13,220]

You have a year within each contact to the NVC if you do normal processing. Any DCF specific questions will be best asked in the DCF forum.