To Lawyer or Not To Lawyer?

[Cathi 5,849]

If you think you will have difficulty with forms it's good to get one. I can't understand government forms to save my life so my fiance and I got one. We did however get one RFE due to his error but was quick to respond now we have our NOA2; but to tell you the truth without the lawyer we probably would've got ten RFEs. And before deciding to get one check in with the bar association to make sure you aren't hiring a scammer.

Btw don't rely 100% on VisaJourney for everything if you decide not to lawyer. A lot of people can be wrong here as much as they can be right. For example when my fiance faxed his statement of intent over for the RFE and then had it sent to USCIS; we had a plethora of people tell us that only "originals" were accepted and that we would be totally screwed. Well time did tell. And 5 days later we got the NOA2 (approval).

No one here who knows anything about the process would tell you only originals at USCIS, it must have been newbies. If you were to read the directions for your petition it says in black and white NOT to send originals, you can't blame people on VJ for that, even says it in the guides here. The fact of the matter is, unless your case is a difficult one and you can't read, the process can be done very easily on your own. My husband and I had a difficult case with many red flags and we got through the entire process on our own with no rfe's. Don't scare people into spending thousands on a lawyer when there is no need.

[slowlyman 118]

$800 up to now without filing fees. For a CR 1 I think they charge $1800 for the stage up to the issue of a green card. I don't know what adjustment of status will cost, but I think its over a $1000. Hope that helps!

As for comments on here about being lazy or too busy with regard to individuals hiring a lawyer, well I beg to differ. I think it's a very personal choice based on each individual case. Could we have done this alone? Yes we could had we found this site a bit earlier. What happened with us is we decided to marry in Miami last year and there was so much conflicting information out there that we consulted a lawyer who advised us not to do that on a visa waiver as it could be construed as fraud. We didn't want to commit any kind of fraud, so engaged their services. I personally find the process of all the form filling a complete minefield and my fiance and I have many other demands on our time, so again it was a personal choice and I guess it gives us peace of mind to know that if we have missed something crucial then our lawyer will hopefully pick it up!

This is key. Some people just don;t have the time or interest to deal with it and can afford the outside help.

This is a DIY site, so people will tend to say "Do It Yourself". I think either option is valid, but I tend to speak up when attorneys tell people they can expedite the case, or make it sound so scary that they would be foolish to try it alone.

Bottom line, with no exceptional issues with the case, anybody with a moderate reading skill and attention span can do this. Weather or not they want to is a personal decision.

Edited March 9, 2014 by slowlyman

[slowlyman 118]

No one here who knows anything about the process would tell you only originals at USCIS, it must have been newbies. If you were to read the directions for your petition it says in black and white NOT to send originals, you can't blame people on VJ for that, even says it in the guides here. The fact of the matter is, unless your case is a difficult one and you can't read, the process can be done very easily on your own. My husband and I had a difficult case with many red flags and we got through the entire process on our own with no rfe's. Don't scare people into spending thousands on a lawyer when there is no need.

I think the poster was referring to the letter of intent needing an original signature.

[isabooo 27]

We paid 1800$ for ours for the whole K1 process. I have to say, having found this site if I had to do this again, I wouldn't pay. I guess at first since we didn't know anything about the process it made us feel safer to do this. But basically we paid them for them to fill forms. They also didn't have a good understanding of the Australian side process, I ended up finding most info here or by asking consulate

[Soloenta 2,218]

Processing times for the 130 is longer then the K-1. The big advantage with the 130/CR-1 is once you get here you are finished. No AOS to file like you do with the K-1. You have a green card and can start work from day one.

Thank you Slowlyman makes me feel better, the waiting to see if they will accept is just nerve racking. Ty again.

Buy the way if I had the money I would go with a lawyer, my papers where returned to me because I forgot to sign

the forms. Yup I forgot and that is the only thing I did wrong and lost a lot of time going back and forth. So for peace of mind no laziness I would go for it.

[Jon York 156]

I knew absolutely nothing about the fiance visa process before all this started for us. I spent two or three weeks off and on searching the internet for info. Found this site, found their I-129F guide and followed that to a T. I have an attorney friend who said he'd be happy to look it over at no charge. When I took it to him he said it was amazing how perfect it was! He said, "how did you know how to do it?" I told him, VJ!

Putting the actual petition together - I probably spent about eight hours total over three days. Most of that time was spent figuring out how to organize a Word file so I could have the entire document with all attachments in one file. Then problems with the printer took up more of the time. The actual process of filling out the forms probably took about an hour and a half. 30 minutes to actually fill them out and an hour carefully reading the instructions from VJ over and over again to make sure I was doing it right.

I did interview a few immigration attorneys during this process... and they all turned me off so badly. They all told me scary stories of what would happen if I did it myself. But like you my case is very simple and straight forward. No complications. No divorces, no prior petitions, no nothing. I would say definitely do it yourself if you have the time and want to save the bucks.

My take on attorneys is that they charge the least they can to stay competitive - usually around $2,000. And for that, they plan to do the least amount of work possible. I get the feeling that for that price they'll fill out the forms (only after you give them all the information - which is most of the work right there - so you still have to do most of the work). They mail the form in (which you can easily do yourself!), and they let you know as your case progresses. BUT, if you have any need for more of their time than that - for instance you need 30 minutes of their time to ask a few more questions - I'm sure they would conveniently be in court every time you call or they would charge you more. It's definitely a racket.

Plus, the lawyers I interviewed - literally knew less than I did about certain aspects of my case. They had a general idea, but I knew the specifics as they related to my case - because it was my case and I took the time to learn about every aspect of it. It was all very easy to do.

[Mike-eeh and Odie 193]

I went with a lawyer and was charged $1500.00 for everything including AOS. And it was worth it just for the peace of mind I had someone knowledgeable and competent filing my paperwork as I am the type of person that will still make mistakes no matter how much I proof-read and go over something.