Wife eligible to apply for citizenship - lawyer raised fees $2000!

[Jmah89 5]

11 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

My wife attained citizenship in 2023, so POTUS proclamation had no effect on our case.  We see lots of members still getting Naturalization Certificates....and I don't recall seeing any denials in years.  The last one I remember was due to early filing.  Some people hire attorneys, and some don't.  Peace of mind is a great thing....but the N-400 isn't normally a difficult process.  The most time consuming part of the N-400, for us, was finding the departure and arrival dates for wife's international travel...LOL.

haha yeah, thankfully i've known to track those departures and arrivals for international travels. THanks for your input Crazy Cat. 

[Caligirl1 229]

18 hours ago, Jmah89 said:

Hello everyone,

 

My wife is now eligible to apply for citizenship after having her green card and living with me in the USA for 5 years. When we first started the immigration process, we went with a laywer because she was here in the USA on a J-1 visa, and the visa said she had a two year residency rule. Turns out, after submitting an advisory opinion to the department of state, it was determined that she actually did not have a 2 year residency rule and she was eligible to adjust her status here in the united States (She was here as an Au-Pair, and received no funding from her government to be here on here J1 visa, hence the rule does not apply. au pair is not even on the exhange vistors skills list).

So we applied for her adjustment of status using the lawyer (fee was 5k!). Thankfully, she was approved fairly quickly. 

Then almost 2 years later, we applied to remove her conditions on her green card (went with the lawyer again and it was 2.5k!)

Now she has had her green card for almost 3 years, living in the USA with me the whole time we have been married (for nearly 4 years!)

We bought a house together over 2 years ago. We have a son who is a year and a half. Joint bank accounts. bought a car together. on each others benefits and life insurance. all that. 

Anyways, at the beginning of the process, i always was told by the lawyer that the legal fee for citizenship would be the cheapest (1.5K) but apparently she raised her prices by 2k! (3.5k total) for the citizenship case because of some presidential proclamation last august about good moral character. 

I know this forum is pro-DIY, but i am wondering what people's recent experiences are? How much are your lawyers, if you have them, charging for citizenships. What would it be like to change lawyers if i did choose to go with a different one, considering the fact i used the same lawyer for the first two cases? 

Thanks in advance! 

 

Why use a lawyer? N-400 is the easiest step, really. Safe the money 💰 

[Jmah89 5]

5 minutes ago, Caligirl1 said:

Why use a lawyer? N-400 is the easiest step, really. Safe the money 💰 

well i listed some of the reasons in this thread lol, main reason being the ROC is still not approved, and just overall general anxiety and being super risk adverse when it comes to immigration stuff with my wife and our family. You should have seen my mental state when we were traveling to ecuador with my wife's extension letter. i worried so much, ended up worrying for no reason at all it seems.

Also, it seems like my lawyer might have been fear mongering me to try and justify her increase retainment fee. 

[Crazy Cat 46,585]

2 minutes ago, Jmah89 said:

well i listed some of the reasons in this thread lol, main reason being the ROC is still not approved,

I forgot to add that our ROC was still pending too, so we had a combination I-751/N-400 interview.  In your case, 3 year rule, the evidence for the N-400 and I-751  will be basically the same. 

[Jmah89 5]

14 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

I forgot to add that our ROC was still pending too, so we had a combination I-751/N-400 interview.  In your case, 3 year rule, the evidence for the N-400 and I-751  will be basically the same. 

gotcha. yes we submitted some convincing evidence on the ROC i would say- Title to the house we purchased, my son's birth certificate who was born a year after we bought the house, all our tax records, the car we purchased together, more pictures of vacations we've been on, more evidence of our joint bank account + credit cards. all that stuff. 

of course, that was last year, so we do have pretty much the same evidence, although more recent bank records and credit card payments? also more pictures from the trips we've been on. not sure how much more convincing you can get of a bonafid marriage besides buying property and having a baby together and being sole benefactors of life insurance policies lol. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Jmah89

[.yana 651]

My entire immigration journey was DIY and one could argue slightly more complicated than your wife's.

For the LIFE of me, I cannot comprehend why you thought you needed a lawyer then, and certainly why you would need one now. 

 

I filed for my N400 after a bottle of sake with one eye closed and bare minimum as evidence.

Good luck.

Edited 1 hour ago by .yana

[Fr8dog 593]

I DIY'ed the K1 without a problem, The AOS without a problem (approved, no interview), The ROC with some minor problems (USCIS lost most of my stuff nothing a lawyer would have prevented) and the n400 without any problem (other then a COVID delay). 

All forms come with clear instructions you just need to read them. Take everything literally and bring everything with you to the interview (you're going to get one for the ROC an the N-400, they may or may not combine them).

Unless there are some issues we are not aware of, I see no reason for a lawyer.

 

 

[JeanneAdil 7,518]

this is the easy part of all immigration forms and no reason to hire a lawyer 

Even if it was only$1000 , its way too much as u provide all the documents and a secetary or clerk files the form online

not hard and is very DIY