Any reason I might want an attorney to file for CR-1?

[hahktep 0]

I am not sure if I'll have a difficult case, so I wanted to run this by this forum, as it seems to be a very helpful place.

I'm a US citizen who is planning to get married in Korea in February. My fiancee and I first met many years ago through work (I was visiting Korea on a business trip) but we had no idea we'd ever be planning to get married one day. Three years ago she visited the US for business and we were able to spend a few weekends together, and had a nice time, but still had no idea that one day we would be engaged. We exchanged a few facebook messages over the past few years. This past August, I visited Korea for a family reunion and made plans to met her again for fun, and over the course of a few nights hanging out we discovered we *really* liked each other, even after those 3 years of not meeting. We decided to try a long distance relationship, and in the course of about a week, she decided she wanted to move to America so we could try to make a life together. A month later she visited the US and I proposed to her, and she accepted. We are planning to get married in February, and I am planning to apply for a CR-1 visa (i.e. send out the I-130) after we get our marriage certificate, wedding photos, and paperwork ready.

I'm fairly confident I can handle the paperwork and process being a detail oriented person, so I just want to get people's opinions on whether I would want to hire an attorney to help? I'm a little worried about proving the validity of our marriage, given that we will have only spent a total of maybe 5 weeks together total by the time we are married. In terms of evidence of a bona fide wedding, at the time of submitting application we will have:

- Korean marriage certificate

- wedding photos

- travel photos together from her recent trip to America

- travel photos together when I visit her and her family in December

- travel photos together when I visit her and her family in February for the wedding

- Boarding card and airline ticket info for when I visit Korea in February and December

- daily chat transcripts from instant messaging

- emails about planning for immigration and marriage

- affadavit of bona fide marriage from my parents

I can't think of much else that we can use as evidence. Has anyone had experience with applying for CR-1 for a spouse they had only briefly met before deciding to get married? Will this be enough evidence to make a case? Is Korea a high fraud risk country?

Some other notes: I am learning Korean but am still very beginner status. She uses English in communicating with her managers, and is quite capable of communicating herself but has some trouble with understanding. Could this cause difficulties in the future?

Thank you for your feedback.

Edited November 4, 2014 by hahktep

[Ryan H 3,812]

My answers in bold and red regarding your evidence list.

In terms of evidence of a bona fide wedding, at the time of submitting application we will have: Just an FYI on semantics, you will be submitting a petition, not an application.

- Korean marriage certificate You will only need a photocopy; be sure that it is accompanied by a translation

- wedding photos

- travel photos together from her recent trip to America

- travel photos together when I visit her and her family in December

- travel photos together when I visit her and her family in February for the wedding

- Boarding card and airline ticket info for when I visit Korea in February and December

- daily chat transcripts from instant messaging Don't overdo here, select a few transcripts spanning the length of your relationship

- emails about planning for immigration and marriage

- affadavit of bona fide marriage from my parents skip these, they carry little to zero weight in the overall evaluation of a file and you plenty of other evidence

I can't think of much else that we can use as evidence. Has anyone had experience with applying for CR-1 for a spouse they had only briefly met before deciding to get married? Will this be enough evidence to make a case? Is Korea a high fraud risk country? South Korea is typically not considered a high fraud country

Some other notes: I am learning Korean but am still very beginner status. She uses English in communicating with her managers, and is quite capable of communicating herself but has some trouble with understanding. Could this cause difficulties in the future? Unlikely

Thank you for your feedback.

[hahktep 0]

Thanks for the replies Ryan H.

Does anyone have a similar timeline? My fiancee and I have been on a quick track to marriage (knowing each other for a few years only very casually, starting a relationship in August, getting engaged in October, then married in February). Is this enough time to make a successful petition?

Thanks for the help, all.