CHECK UP ON YOUR ATTORNEY

[Queen Jenn 0]

If any of you have an attorney, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CHECK ANY FORMS THEY SUBMIT FOR YOU!!!!!

My SO and I were going to file our K1 back in January. I hired an attorney because I thought it would give me peace of mind. My attorney had prepared the G325A and given me the copies to send for signature. Then my SO and I had some things we had to work out, so we decided to wait to file the petition.

My SO has now moved and I needed to update the G325A form because I should have everything ready to submit the application next month. I was reading through the one my attorney had prepared and there were SEVERAL MISTAKES. I can't believe that I paid them several hundred dollars and there were so many mistakes on the form. I had given them ALL the information they needed and they didn't do it right. They misspelled my fiance's name. They had two of his residence addresses incorrect. They had the wrong year for one of his employers. They left a black hole between two of his employment entries. They had put the last employment in 2000 and then the next on in 2007. NOTHING FROM 2000 to 2007. That surely would have generated and RFE.

The moral to my story is that if you DO have an attorney, STILL TRIPLE CHECK THE FORMS. They can have typos and they can make mistakes that can generate an RFE and drag the process out several months.

[amiquechu 0]

If any of you have an attorney, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CHECK ANY FORMS THEY SUBMIT FOR YOU!!!!!

My SO and I were going to file our K1 back in January. I hired an attorney because I thought it would give me peace of mind. My attorney had prepared the G325A and given me the copies to send for signature. Then my SO and I had some things we had to work out, so we decided to wait to file the petition.

My SO has now moved and I needed to update the G325A form because I should have everything ready to submit the application next month. I was reading through the one my attorney had prepared and there were SEVERAL MISTAKES. I can't believe that I paid them several hundred dollars and there were so many mistakes on the form. I had given them ALL the information they needed and they didn't do it right. They misspelled my fiance's name. They had two of his residence addresses incorrect. They had the wrong year for one of his employers. They left a black hole between two of his employment entries. They had put the last employment in 2000 and then the next on in 2007. NOTHING FROM 2000 to 2007. That surely would have generated and RFE.

The moral to my story is that if you DO have an attorney, STILL TRIPLE CHECK THE FORMS. They can have typos and they can make mistakes that can generate an RFE and drag the process out several months.

My recommendation would be, to anyone who hasn't already started the process, to do everything on your own and use visajourney as your "free attorney". I hired an attorney and now I realize that I could have saved $800 and gotten responses to questions infinitely faster through this website filled with people who know ten times as much as immigration lawyers do about the processes we are going through. All lawyers do is fill out paperwork that the average person can fill out 80-90% on their own with complete confidence...the remaining 10-20% they are unsure about can be answered within hours by another visajourney member.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

If any of you have an attorney, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CHECK ANY FORMS THEY SUBMIT FOR YOU!!!!!

My SO and I were going to file our K1 back in January. I hired an attorney because I thought it would give me peace of mind. My attorney had prepared the G325A and given me the copies to send for signature. Then my SO and I had some things we had to work out, so we decided to wait to file the petition.

My SO has now moved and I needed to update the G325A form because I should have everything ready to submit the application next month. I was reading through the one my attorney had prepared and there were SEVERAL MISTAKES. I can't believe that I paid them several hundred dollars and there were so many mistakes on the form. I had given them ALL the information they needed and they didn't do it right. They misspelled my fiance's name. They had two of his residence addresses incorrect. They had the wrong year for one of his employers. They left a black hole between two of his employment entries. They had put the last employment in 2000 and then the next on in 2007. NOTHING FROM 2000 to 2007. That surely would have generated and RFE.

The moral to my story is that if you DO have an attorney, STILL TRIPLE CHECK THE FORMS. They can have typos and they can make mistakes that can generate an RFE and drag the process out several months.

My recommendation would be, to anyone who hasn't already started the process, to do everything on your own and use visajourney as your "free attorney". I hired an attorney and now I realize that I could have saved $800 and gotten responses to questions infinitely faster through this website filled with people who know ten times as much as immigration lawyers do about the processes we are going through. All lawyers do is fill out paperwork that the average person can fill out 80-90% on their own with complete confidence...the remaining 10-20% they are unsure about can be answered within hours by another visajourney member.

Not all cases are that simple and I filed my 129 f alone and messed up and I ended up screwing up everything. I ended up losing 7 months of my time when I could have used an attorney and he would have helped me. Now I ahve one and I am not going it allone again. Not all cases without attorneys turn out.. At least with an attoney they sometimes can really help.. I have had some things my attorney had to address and it helps to have them as a choice of agent too sometimes

[MargotDarko 0]

Not all cases are that simple and I filed my 129 f alone and messed up and I ended up screwing up everything. I ended up losing 7 months of my time when I could have used an attorney and he would have helped me. Now I ahve one and I am not going it allone again. Not all cases without attorneys turn out.. At least with an attoney they sometimes can really help.. I have had some things my attorney had to address and it helps to have them as a choice of agent too sometimes

I definitely agree with your point and with the OP. A lawyer is good for complicated cases, and it's good to double check the work your lawyer is doing.

[LvivLovers 39]

I had a hard time deciding whether to use a lawyer or do it myself. In the end, I starting thinking about how every time I use someone else for some work they screw things up. Then I started thinking that for some lawyer it would just be one of many cases they do each day. I was convinced that I would be way more careful than they ever could be due to the importance to me personally. That finally made up my mind to do it myself. Of course if I had not come across VisaJourney, I think I would have decided the other way.

[Jasman0717 8]

I think we will stick to doing it ourselves with VJ's help

[mojorisin 5]

I concur about not needing an attorney. You'll find all the info here.

Keep in mind the attorney you hire is not filling out your forms. He hands it off to one of his lowly legal secretaries who could care less since she is paid pennies while the attorney makes a killing.

[Joe's Wife 4ever 0]

We hired a lawyer too and we undergone RFE not because of mistake with the forms or anything. Its just our lawyer waited for the letter from the NVC and he is really doing it step by step. He once spelled my surname wrong but they changed it before sending it to NVC, I always check every forms they do filled up for me and when I saw some mistake I always report to my hubby. so they can correct it. Good luck to us all.

[Dakine 26]

I had a lawyer on one of my visas. Lawyers don't seem to care about RFEs. No biggy to them as they will eventually get the case done.

They aren't the ones sitting with "a hammer in hand" and want to drive a spike.

I fired mine after the first RFE and did all the other visas on my own with NO RFEs or problems.

Hammer works fine!

Edited October 13, 2007 by Haole