I-130 Immigration Lawyer takes 2-3 weeks to file

[hannac 37]

15 hours ago, zeven1 said:

Hi everyone!

 

The paralegal managing my relative petition case I talked to (because you rarely speak to an actual attorney) said that it takes 3 weeks to prepare the I-130 while I already gave them all my bona fide documents and the biographical information from my wife (US Citizen) and I. Afterwards we are going to meet to review it before sending the package and sign it.

 

i know that most of you did not choose to hire a lawyer and that it is not necessary. But, does it really take 2-3 weeks to file the I-130? Perhaps an immigration lawyer put this kind of stuff as low priority and doesn’t really work on it?

 

i now have to change the Return flight ticket date to a later one in order to be able to meet with my lawyer in the U.S. to review the I-130 together and sign before leaving for my home country and wait for the petition to be approved.

I hired a lawyer and he worked on ours pretty fast, we sat in his office and prepared the file in one day. Once you have all the relevant documents that's needed to send the I-130 in, it really shouldn't take that long.

[hannac 37]

11 hours ago, JB209 said:

Obviously the literal time that it takes to file an I-130 is not that long, but for an immigration lawyer office to take 2-3 weeks is totally reasonable. We hried a lawyer and he took about that time. We didi for the extra security and even though its extra money I will keep him all the way through Naturalization because the peace of mind is priceless

I agree with you, peace of mind is priceless. You don't have to hurt your head if your filling everything out correctly.

[Roel 7,191]

It literally takes couple of hours to fill the paperwork, and that's when you're already typing really slow. Gathering the evidences can go pretty fast if you know where your paperwork is. I'm working on my RoC now, and I had everything filled and copied and gathered in a binder in one day (I was taking breaks).

 

Personally I'll never understand why people who don't have any red flags or whatever use the lawyer at all. Waste of time and money.

All USCIS forms comes with really clear instructions. Once you read those, you shouldn't have issues with the forms themselves.

 

[hannac 37]

Just now, Roel said:

It literally takes couple of hours to fill the paperwork, and that's when you're already typing really slow. Gathering the evidences can go pretty fast if you know where your paperwork is. I'm working on my RoC now, and I had everything filled and copied and gathered in a binder in one day (I was taking breaks).

 

Personally I'll never understand why people who don't have any red flags or whatever use the lawyer at all. Waste of time and money.

All USCIS forms comes with really clear instructions. Once you read those, you shouldn't have issues with the forms themselves.

 

Yes a couple hours. Are you doing the ROC yourself, or you have help?

[jakelake 222]

If someone is here illegally, has a criminal record and needs waiver, then a lawyer is needed. More specifically, an experienced immigration lawyer who just deals with that.

 

What I find amusing is that many times a lawyer never even looks at these petitions. It is his or her assistant who deal with those "simple" issues. A lawyer will look at your case if there is a potential legal issue. However, the lawyer will most likely not turn down free money that you're willing to pay because you think that will get you "peace of mind".

[Roel 7,191]

11 minutes ago, hannac said:

Yes a couple hours. Are you doing the ROC yourself, or you have help?

I did everything alone.

K1. AoS. And now RoC.

[hannac 37]

Just now, Roel said:

I did everything alone.

K1. AoS. And now RoC.

Ok thanks. We already hired a lawyer for the I-130 process. I guess after that, we can do everything on our own.

[Springrain22 427]

I prepared all my papers for I-130 in 4-5 hours. Yes, hours. There's nothing you can't do unless you're lazy or busy with something else. The same goes to the NVC stage. I can understand when people hire lawyers for their complicated cases but I don't know why do you even need a lawyer to prepare any common stuff.

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

It depends on the person.  If you are organized (probably the most important skill) and are good with understanding directions on how to fill out forms and what is required, it should take at most 2 hours.  An I-130 is not a long form. 

 

But not everybody is that organized or has the patience.  Also, many people comment on the wasted money.  To many people, a few thousand dollars is not a lot of money.  Again, everybody's situation is different.

 

[Unlockable 7,306]

I have to admit, over the years on this and other forums I have seen a great deal of posters who shared how their lawyers messed up or delayed their case.

 

Agreed that it should take less than a week to complete and file a petition. However, you have to look at it another way. A lawyer is still a business and you will not be the only client. It is like going to a restaurant, the more people the restaurant has, the longer it will take you to be seated or receive your food. With multiple clients that needs tons of documents to go over, I can see the 2 - 3 week claim as being a safe buffer.

[Dianalorena 1,153]

I have to agree, a lot of people have the idea or hope that hiring a lawyer can ''speed up the process'' my mom sure thought that, and that's why they hire them.

But we didn't feel like spending 2-3 grand on one, so we decided to try on our own while the case remains fairly simple. The truth is, lawyers mostly help as an extra pair of eyes, and in cases where people don't know about immigration they guide them through, so I have to agree, it is mostly for peace of mind and in a way simplifying the process. But they are human and can make mistakes. My first CR1 was a few years ago, before Trump. My ex hired a lawyer, it was expensive but we got approved in 6 months or so. (first stage, dropped before NVC)  No front loading, no hassle. Now that we're going through this again I can see the differences, five months waiting and 2-3 to go , at least. But It does't have to do with the lawyer but how a lot of people filed las year, as well as the fee increases. They just have too many petitions and not enough people to handle them, especially in the black hole that is Nebraska and I don't get why they can't distribute the workload better. 

 

 

 

[Yeonin 127]

19 hours ago, zeven1 said:

Hi everyone!

 

The paralegal managing my relative petition case I talked to (because you rarely speak to an actual attorney) said that it takes 3 weeks to prepare the I-130 while I already gave them all my bona fide documents and the biographical information from my wife (US Citizen) and I. Afterwards we are going to meet to review it before sending the package and sign it.

 

i know that most of you did not choose to hire a lawyer and that it is not necessary. But, does it really take 2-3 weeks to file the I-130? Perhaps an immigration lawyer put this kind of stuff as low priority and doesn’t really work on it?

 

i now have to change the Return flight ticket date to a later one in order to be able to meet with my lawyer in the U.S. to review the I-130 together and sign before leaving for my home country and wait for the petition to be approved.

it doesn't take that long, it's a couple of hours work and it doesn't really say anything about the quickness of it being approved once at USCIS, so let's that that myth out of the way. Most of the service centers have massive backlogs. I filled in all the paperwork myself and send everything to my wife to sign/print and mail. We were send to the Potomac and got approved within 140 days. I have people from other service centers already passed the 6 months in the January 2017 filers group. 

[Frank1420 6]

Patience is key with USCIS & LAWYERS.

all cases are different, so my suggestion is do not rush your lawyer and review the information on your form. I hired a lawyer yet I caught like two mistakes that could have caused them to send me the infamous RFE letter which delays the process.

 

goodluck to you on your journey!

[__immigrant__ 58]

We didn't hire a lawyer at first but our case got stuck at the uscis for a year and 10 months so we decided to hire a lawyer and after that everything has gone smoothly. FYI lawyers sometimes make mistakes.

[RO_AH 1,625]

There are a lot of comments on having a lawyer vs. not having a lawyer, but I think your main question is the amount of time. Remember you are not the lawyers only customer so you will be in a lineup of others using their service. Does what they need to take long? No not really, but again, you are not the only one they are working for. I would say that 3 weeks is reasonable. I will be doing all my filing on my own because 1) To save money and 2) Nobody I could hire cares more about the end result than me.

 

Best of luck!