Our lawyer charges us 2500$ for CR-1 process.. /RapidVisa..

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

We hired a lawyer during the k-1 visa process and paid 2000 but she was never there to give answers till i found VJ on google then i was the one giving this lawyer information so after the k-1 visa was approved and i got married we did not higher a lawyer we did it ourselve and i got my green card, so what am saying is if you dont have red flag on your case i think you will be fine doing this alone lawyers dont gurrantee you approval

Oh you are right there... I kept telling my husband that we don't need the lawyer but he insisted... and later on he found out that lawyer doesn't helpful at all so before he'll going paid in full that lawyer, he fired. I am confident that we can do it ourselves but I am just giving my husband a benefit of a doubt so whatever he'll decide i support him all the way. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

We hired a lawyer for $1500 because we were intimidated and stressed by the paperwork and process and we didn't know anything about VJ.

How did it go with that lawyer you hired?

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

Well, it's too late to get that money back, so why worry over it. You fired the lawyer... that's good. Don't make another mistake by hiring (paying) anybody else to do the work for you. This process isn't so complicated. The guides here are easy to follow and the people are extremely helpful. We recently started the i-130 process to bring my step kids here. I didn't know ####### about the process, but I read the guide and some threads and we filed the forms this week. Don't worry too much and just invest some time on this forum and you'll be good to go.

Good luck.

Yeah but were thankful to get to know this site. I'll remember that! Thank you for the encouragement. We will start to file 1-130 as soon as my husband receives the copy of our MC. God bless!

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

We only hired a lawyer to review our documents. So far he has been great, when we have needed to ask questions he is always there and at no charge. I am not sure if I can post his info here but if you send me a message I can give you his details. Good luck with your case and try not to spend any more money on shady lawyers.

WOW! no added charge, that amazes me! well, we decided not to get another lawyer... thank you for being nice... God bless!

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

I Hope it wasn't L TODD Schlosser I was ripped off by him and so were many others. He is out of Chicago he's a con man. He will take your money and do nothing. YOU DON'T NEED A LAWYER unless this is your 3rd filing.

This from another visa journey member! I hired L. Tod Schlosser, to help with out K-1 process in May 2011, however he has really done nothing and takes forever to answer me back, I recently found out that he was disbarred in Aug 2011, and he was suppose to inform all of his clients in writing of this fact. He never informed of this. And he only ever answer a few of our questions, I have done all the work in filling out all the forms and spending countless hour scouring the web for any and all information. What tipped me off that something was not right was the other day i emailed Tod and told him that we still had not received packet 4 even though my Fiance has his interview on April 19th 2012, What Tod told me was "Well you don't really need the interview letter as it's only purpose is to let the security guards at the Embassy know that you have business at the Embassy on that date and to let him in the Embassy". Ummmm are you serious?? I told him that is not true as my fiance was told that he could not get his PPC or set up an appointment for his medical exam unless he had a copy of the interview letter. So my suspicion were aroused. I went online ans started searching Tod's name and found all kinds of complaints and I found out he was disbarred by the EOIR and DHS.When I confronted him he said he did nothing wrong and he doesn't need the permission of Illinois to do what he does as he is completely qualified to do this. I asked for a refund as he has done no work and he never gets back to me, he refused saying without him we would not have an interview date.

So my questions is has anyone else had any problems with L. Tod Schlosser? And does anyone have any advise as to what I can do to get my $2500.00 back

Is this the same guy I would really like to know? Sounds exactly like the same guy.

Oh I have no idea if our lawyer and that guy are the same. I had never been ask my husband about the whereabouts of our lawyer, even his name. I'll ask my husband about it and hopefully they're not the same. Usually lawyers does not refunds... oh they're good at it, they're lawyers anyway! Sad you paid him the full amount. Praying for you that you'll get a way to get back the money. If not, well I'll pray that God will provide for your needs. God bless.

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

We hired a lawyer and paid $2000. She was awesome! She kept an eye on everything, when we got stuck at csc she was in touch with our congressman. Once we got to Nvc she was on it like a hawk and we just flew right through there. She always had time to answer all my nervous questions and I felt like she cared.

The reason to why we hired a lawyer was that my husband was on the road working during this process. I didn't want to sit in Sweden wondering if we got anything in the mail without any way of finding out until my hubby came home again. It felt good having someone else taking care of it all.

Oh your lawyer is a woman, maybe that makes the difference! Women are more caring than men. I am happy for you. God bless!

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

I used Rapid Visa for the K-1 Visa and the AOS. I do not think that you will be disappointed with their service. They also have an office across the street from the embassy which will be very usefull to you when it comes time for your interview as you can go there to have them check your paperwork before your interview. Good luck in your journey.

That's what i am waiting for -your response Hehe... Hopefully. Thank you! God bless too.

[Shenzhen 34]

I am glad it wasn't him. He does nothing but steal.

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

I am glad it wasn't him. He does nothing but steal.

Oh i heard from my husband, it wasn't him. Then the lawyer said he understand us. He's giving back our documents and just few $. that's good then. better than nothing

[Kehinde 45]

I don't understand either why people hire lawyers for CR-1 visas, if everything is leggit. File your own papers that is the only thing they are doing. They can't speed up your process cause every petition goes through the same process. Read my review. We went through hell and still did not use a lawyer.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Olami

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

I don't understand either why people hire lawyers for CR-1 visas, if everything is leggit. File your own papers that is the only thing they are doing. They can't speed up your process cause every petition goes through the same process. Read my review. We went through hell and still did not use a lawyer.

For one reason, because the process is so stressful for us. We need someone to guide us for this whole thing, were not doing it to speed up the process but to make sure that were doing the right thing...

[Morningmist 76]

I didn't hire a lawyer but I got one free hour consultation with one and she gave me information specific to my case that neither VJ nor some of the other lawyers addressed. I was tempted to hire her just for being helpful, but I didn't. Some lawyers really don't know what they are doing to be honest.

[Natsukiii 35]

Hi Dhazzel Silvaroli, wow thats too much...yes what you heard from someone is true our lawyer charge only $500 to process our papers,...$2500 is more than enough for the whole process from the beginning to the end...I wish I can give you his website so you can contact him but I don't know if the admin allow me? goodluck and may God Bless You.

Virgogirl and I share the same lawyer. Sorry to hear about your lawyer, I'm so glad you guys fired him though.

It sounds like RV is working out for you guys God bless!

[Matt & Dhaz 4]

Virgogirl and I share the same lawyer. Sorry to hear about your lawyer, I'm so glad you guys fired him though.

It sounds like RV is working out for you guys God bless!

Yes Eunice were working out now for the papers to be send to USCIS for initial filing..RV was so accommodating and very attentive to our needs. Thanks!

[kimazz 0]

I have found that having a lawyer has slowed the process down considerably and has cause way more stress than had we done this ourselves.

We were thrown unexpectedly into this whole process when immigration "cancelled" his previous status (pending condition removal) while were out of the country for 10 days on vacation. We had visited our local office a month prior to leaving the country to verify that everything was still okay, they stamped the passport and we were on our merry way. When Air France didn't 'like the look' of his passport at CDG, my husband was told that he would have to visit the American embassy and was then told about his status being cancelled/revoked or whatever (to THIS DAY we still have received no notification of what happened). Anyway, with my husband being kept from returning home we needed help immediately, so we contacted an attorney. We ended up having to start all over by re-filing the I-130.

The first 6 weeks that my husband was stranded in Paris, the I-130 application was sitting on the lawyer's desk. When I received the NOA1 and that it was dated a month after I expected, my lawyer explained that it was delayed "due to the holidays". That was my first indication that this was going to be a very long and stressful process.

Then in April we received an RFE because the lawyer neglected to include any of the evidence of Bona Fide marriage. (I had since read on visajourney that it is now a requirement to submit all the evidence with the I-130). When we sent all the bank statements, photos etc to him immediately, they didn't get forwarded back to the local immigration office for another 2 weeks. The worst part has been being told that "We are processing lots of applications with deadlines and we will process yours as soon as we are able". Meanwhile our world has been turned upside down, my husband has been stranded in a foreign country for 6.5 months and, of course, has lost his job here in the US.

We paid $2000 in fees for the I130 processing. Part of that fee is because he recommended that we file the fiancé visa at the same time (just in case it get's processed first). Of course, after reading this site, I see that it was a waste of money.

Now, they will want an additional $1,000 to move forward with the NVC processing.

In addition to all the money I've paid them, I feel that I have been doing most of the legwork on this anyway. Our attorney has never even sent us a listing of the documents that we will need for NVC (I guess to insure that we give him an extra $1,000). Thankfully, visajourney has been a terrific resource and we've already obtained the police reports etc that we will need for the next step (ELSE, we would have been further delayed by the lawyer processing).

I would NEVER recommend hiring a lawyer for this since there is this great site here for guidance. I wish that I would have had the opportunity to make an educated decision before hiring the attorney.