AllForOne

I wanted to share my experience in obtaining a Green Card for my wife. I remember our anxiety for months before and through the process. Maybe this will help and provide hope.

My wife and I met June of last year through a mutual friend. After a whirl wind romance we were married in October. We spoke with several lawyers for information on the process we need to go through. The cheapest being $3,000 to do our paperwork. I actually knew an immigration lawyer through a mutual friend who was adamant that not only we get a lawyer but that we get an immigration lawyer that only handles immigration issues. Specifically one from a large city. His reasoning was that we were only together for a short time and it will surely throw up red flags. The other problem we thought might affect us was that we went on a vacation out of the country. With her visa she was not allowed to come into the country with intent on immigrating. I posted this problem on VJ and was told that is not a problem, but still nervous.

Thankfully I found Visa Journey. Nearly every post I found said a lawyer was a waste of money. I was nervous doing the paperwork ourselves because losing the woman of your dreams because of an error in paperwork is a scary thought. But we proceeded to do the work ourselves. With this website and USCIS we were able to do the paperwork. We worked on it for hours everyday for two weeks straight. There were arguments and some difficulties because this site has almost no information about J1 visas and actually says to get a lawyer if HHR applies. Lucky, printed on her visa says that two year condition does not apply.

After applying the paperwork, USCIS received it December 9th. Two weeks after that we received the letter for biometrics on January 10th. After this we saw that the average wait time is 7 months for interview. This made us extremely nervous. My wife had not seen her family in 1.5 years and she is very close to her family. But for some miracle or diligent paperwork, we got an interview at the end of February.

Interview was a scary thought. Someone was not in control of our happiness. The paper mailed to us with interview listed everything we needed. But we took everything we ever sent to the USCIS. In the interview nearly every question was directed at my wife. After 45 minutes he showed us what a green card looked like and we should receive an email in the next couple of days.

We had the green card by mid-March. My wife is now in her homeland visiting her family for 3 months before she comes back to begin her career. Looking back on the situation it was very stressful, but hours and days of googling and researching, printing and coping hundreds of pages, it may not have been as scary. Hard work yes, but the USCIS was helpful and not a big scary machine that was ready to attack us.

If you have any question please ask. I will be glad to help. I hope this helps to at least calm nerves. Good luck!

There seems to be little info on J1 visa's here. The wife and I were married 2 weeks ago and her visa specifically says it does not have the 2 year requirement to go back home. The guides say to consult a lawyer if you have a J1 visa, but it seems to me this is only for the waiver of the 2 year requirement. Since she does not need the waiver would it be wise to continue the process on our own? Lawyers are expensive (lowest quote for everything, including government fees, $3800), and the paper work does not seem incredibly difficult thanks to this website and you fine people willing to help! And plenty of forums suggesting lawyers are not need so I would like to do it ourselves! Please let me know if you think we should continue to do it ourselves or if a lawyer is a better option! Thank you!