Is a lawyer worth it to file for the i130

[Angela1989 1]

I would like to know everyones experiences when it came to filing for the cr1 visa. Did any of you used a lawyer or filed by yourselves. I'm looking into filing by myself to obviously save a lot of money from paying lawyer fees, ive been quoted 5000$ usd 😦. What are your recommendations? I am new on this website and ive heard theres a lot of help when it comes to filing for visas on this website. Let me know your experiences. Thank you in advance.

 

my situation is fairly basic. American and canadian citizens married. Never been deported or had any problems with immigration on both sides. 

[Liam2021 565]

10 minutes ago, Angela1989 said:

I would like to know everyones experiences when it came to filing for the cr1 visa. Did any of you used a lawyer or filed by yourselves. I'm looking into filing by myself to obviously save a lot of money from paying lawyer fees, ive been quoted 5000$ usd 😦. What are your recommendations? I am new on this website and ive heard theres a lot of help when it comes to filing for visas on this website. Let me know your experiences. Thank you in advance.

 

my situation is fairly basic. American and canadian citizens married. Never been deported or had any problems with immigration on both sides. 

You should save that $5,000 for a vacation trip with your spouse. I-130 really simple, spend 1-2 weeks to study it first and gather support documents. After that, fill out the form( paper or online) and submit it.

[Angela1989 1]

1 minute ago, Liam2021 said:

You should save that $5,000 for a vacation trip with your spouse. I-130 really simple, spend 1-2 weeks to study it first and gather support documents. After that, fill out the form( paper or online) and submit it.

You are right hahaha. That's a lot of money and i see a lot of help on how to file online, just making sure. Thank you 

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

As long as you are literate and can ready English you should be able to do it yourself 🙂 Canada is low fraud and If you don’t have any red flags/complications you can definitely educate yourself and complete the process on your own.

[Steffy Stef 122]

2 hours ago, Angela1989 said:

I would like to know everyones experiences when it came to filing for the cr1 visa. Did any of you used a lawyer or filed by yourselves. I'm looking into filing by myself to obviously save a lot of money from paying lawyer fees, ive been quoted 5000$ usd 😦. What are your recommendations? I am new on this website and ive heard theres a lot of help when it comes to filing for visas on this website. Let me know your experiences. Thank you in advance.

 

my situation is fairly basic. American and canadian citizens married. Never been deported or had any problems with immigration on both sides. 

Don’t waste your money sometimes the lawyer is only in it for the money!!!! This site is a family based and you can get an answer to almost every question possible. You case sound simple black and white. Just gather all your information  and evidence. I’m 25 and I did all by my self just waiting to be scheduled for an interview once the embassy opens. 

[Thegirl 224]

Pretty straightforward. Get the form, read it through, read through the checklist and the instructions make a list, of documents you need. Come here if something is confusing or seemingly ambiguous. 

[PaulaCJohnny 712]

23 hours ago, Angela1989 said:

I would like to know everyones experiences when it came to filing for the cr1 visa. Did any of you used a lawyer or filed by yourselves. I'm looking into filing by myself to obviously save a lot of money from paying lawyer fees, ive been quoted 5000$ usd 😦. What are your recommendations? I am new on this website and ive heard theres a lot of help when it comes to filing for visas on this website. Let me know your experiences. Thank you in advance.

 

my situation is fairly basic. American and canadian citizens married. Never been deported or had any problems with immigration on both sides. 

We did with a lawyer and was a waist of money and more problems than solutions. 

If your case is normal and no red flags you don't need a lawyer. 

You will find a lot of good information here and in others places.

Our lawyer make so many mistakes with ours documents that our case took 4 months more to be approved. 

[Lois K 121]

On 10/7/2020 at 7:51 AM, Paula&Johnny said:

We did with a lawyer and was a waist of money and more problems than solutions. 

If your case is normal and no red flags you don't need a lawyer. 

You will find a lot of good information here and in others places.

Our lawyer make so many mistakes with ours documents that our case took 4 months more to be approved. 

Sadly I have to agree with this sentiment. We had numerous phone consults with a lawyer, lots of delays. The I-130 help file and VisaJourney were more helpful. Then, I don't know why we thought it was needed, but we paid to have a lawyer review our file in person. They actively disagreed with some of the content and wanted us to change things that, here on VisaJourney, we had seen were working. For example, the lawyer had not heard of tax transcripts, didn't know these were downloadable online, nor that the I-130 directions said they were preferred over manual copies of your tax submission. I was astounded at her lack of knowledge and so grateful for having done research and validated it with stories from here. In the end we followed the advice from here and the help files, not the lawyer. So far, no RFEs, and a smooth, albeit overlong, process.