To hire a LAWYER or not to hire a LAWYER...that is the ???

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

I am not the only one that repeats, whenever this issue is brought up, that most cases hardly require a lawyer if you can read and follow instructions. This is why I state ...unless you have some very special circumstances...

But of course, holler at me (again). I see plenty of other folks on this thread saying the same as me... Save your money!

It would have never crossed my mind. Unless you have some very special circumstances, hiring an attorney does nothing but drain funds better spent on yourselves and your future together. An attorney stands in the same line we do, with no time savings what so ever. The paperwork is far from complicated if you can read and follow instructions. Have a question? There are tons of folks here that are in your same shoes.

Too many here have tossed hard earned money on overpriced useless attornies. Do not feed the lawyers. It only keeps them strong causing them to breed out of control and further weakening us.

Do you have this in notepad so you can copy and paste it?

This post is about HCMC!

It's gonna be the same piece of cake for this woman to get her I129F petition approved as it is for most of us. Yeah, the paperwork is relatively simple. The bar is also extemely LOW to get that far along in the process.

Get this thing over to the consulate and it's a completely different kettle of fish! If you don't believe me, hustle your little self on over to the Regional Forum. Troll around for about 10 minutes and you will see what I mean.

This consulate is so tough - as I mentioned above - that there are practioners of the law who focus solely on this consulate. One guy I can think of is highly respected. He is published in AILA and ILW journals both in print and on the web. And he's MARRIED to a woman from HCMC. He's hardly what I would call a shark or 'breeding' to weaken us - whatever the heck that means anyway.

YOU may have the opinion that an attorney is not necessary for cases. But that doesn't make you right, across the board, to make those kind of sweeping categorical statements. Especially when your opinion could adversely affect someone's case.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Kazan' Tiger

[rebeccajo 14]

I'm hollering at you in the most loving of ways!!

ie - In our household we use the term 'duma$$' as a term of endearment.

Seriously - all the other people posting along with you - just because there is a mob doesn't make the mob right.

It's EASY to get an I129F approved. Even a cavemen can do it. It's a different flavor at the consulates. And some are way worse than others.

I realize you have an aversion to lawyers. I work for one but that's not the reason I get in their corner. Even my boss says the 'rep' ain't so great. I advocate for the advocates because WE ON VJ ARE LAYPEOPLE. We don't know the nuances of things that a good qualified lawyer does.

Yeah, I talk about this a lot. I don't do that unless something is important.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

As long as you're giving out the love!

Of course we are laypeople, otherwise I'd be Kazan' Tiger, esq.

I'm hollering at you in the most loving of ways!!

ie - In our household we use the term 'duma$$' as a term of endearment.

Seriously - all the other people posting along with you - just because there is a mob doesn't make the mob right.

It's EASY to get an I129F approved. Even a cavemen can do it. It's a different flavor at the consulates. And some are way worse than others.

I realize you have an aversion to lawyers. I work for one but that's not the reason I get in their corner. Even my boss says the 'rep' ain't so great. I advocate for the advocates because WE ON VJ ARE LAYPEOPLE. We don't know the nuances of things that a good qualified lawyer does.

Yeah, I talk about this a lot. I don't do that unless something is important.

[britty 1]

We did use an attorney. We are both very organised people and although quite capable of doing the paperwork ourselves, we both felt we wanted a dedicated immigration lawyer to oversee our paperwork. We also used the same attorney for AOS. Our case was very straightforward and our timeline was very short indeed both for K-1 and AOS. Whilst I think the timeline was just good fortune and pure luck on our part, I have no regrets using an attorney.

[ILoveTan 0]

are there any statistics posted anywhere about success rates doing it yourself vs. hiring a lawyer? I guess that would be most concrete.

Those of you saying Vietnam/HCMC is the hardest to work with are not wrong... I have lawyers actually say they didnt want to do it because of this cosulate. They are mean and unfriendly (in the words of the lawyer). I wish there was a way I could speak with them directly. All they would have to do is hear me speak vietnamese to know I am not BSing. They even put me on the news in Vietnam once because its soooooooooooo ultra rare to see a white american speak vietnames like a native. I am really something of a freak/celebrity here. How can I convey that through a few pictures and one stupid written paragraph about how we meet??? ARGH.

Linda

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

We did use an attorney. We are both very organised people and although quite capable of doing the paperwork ourselves, we both felt we wanted a dedicated immigration lawyer to oversee our paperwork. We also used the same attorney for AOS. Our case was very straightforward and our timeline was very short indeed both for K-1 and AOS. Whilst I think the timeline was just good fortune and pure luck on our part, I have no regrets using an attorney.

If you had a straight forward case like you say, a good attorney would have told you you could do it yourselves instead of wasting that money on something you could have done together.

I just can't fathom spending up to 2,000 dollars for something you can do yourself for free. Oh well.

To the OP: My opinion is to save your money, but reading RebeccaJo's post...it seems you may have a battle on your hands with the consulate. If you believe a lawyer will increase your chances, go for it.

I would say the majority of people on here did not use a lawyer and were just fine.

[britty 1]

We did use an attorney. We are both very organised people and although quite capable of doing the paperwork ourselves, we both felt we wanted a dedicated immigration lawyer to oversee our paperwork. We also used the same attorney for AOS. Our case was very straightforward and our timeline was very short indeed both for K-1 and AOS. Whilst I think the timeline was just good fortune and pure luck on our part, I have no regrets using an attorney.

If you had a straight forward case like you say, a good attorney would have told you you could do it yourselves instead of wasting that money on something you could have done together.

I just can't fathom spending up to 2,000 dollars for something you can do yourself for free. Oh well.

To the OP: My opinion is to save your money, but reading RebeccaJo's post...it seems you may have a battle on your hands with the consulate. If you believe a lawyer will increase your chances, go for it.

I would say the majority of people on here did not use a lawyer and were just fine.

As I said before, we have no regrets using an attorney. Being together was the most important thing in our lives and with a claimed 100% K-1 visa success rate, our attorney made us feel more confident about the process. That was worth any amount of money to us.

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

As I said before, we have no regrets using an attorney. Being together was the most important thing in our lives and with a claimed 100% K-1 visa success rate, our attorney made us feel more confident about the process. That was worth any amount of money to us.

Cool then You are one of the lucky ones. I've seen so many people get messed around by "immigration" lawyers who have no idea as to what they are doing.

Edited February 5, 2008 by ~Laura and Nick~

[britty 1]

As I said before, we have no regrets using an attorney. Being together was the most important thing in our lives and with a claimed 100% K-1 visa success rate, our attorney made us feel more confident about the process. That was worth any amount of money to us.

Cool then You are one of the lucky ones. I've seen so many people get messed around by "immigration" lawyers who have no idea as to what they are doing.

My lawyer was very good. He kept in constant contact with us, regularly updating on our case. He was very efficient with all the paperwork and very reassuring. I know we were very lucky as there have been some horror stories about some supposed immigration lawyers. We might attempt the removal of conditions ourselves though !

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

As I said before, we have no regrets using an attorney. Being together was the most important thing in our lives and with a claimed 100% K-1 visa success rate, our attorney made us feel more confident about the process. That was worth any amount of money to us.

Cool then You are one of the lucky ones. I've seen so many people get messed around by "immigration" lawyers who have no idea as to what they are doing.

My lawyer was very good. He kept in constant contact with us, regularly updating on our case. He was very efficient with all the paperwork and very reassuring. I know we were very lucky as there have been some horror stories about some supposed immigration lawyers. We might attempt the removal of conditions ourselves though !

That's super awesome

Best of luck!!!

[BigCityDave 0]

I feel pretty confident with the help of all you VJers. Honestly would be lost without you all. That is why I opted out of the Lawyer, plus it would have been financially straining on my situation.

[Uncle Wally 2]

I hired an immigration attorney. As easy as it may be, I've never done this before. If something goes wrong, if there's a snag, if they suddenly change the process in the middle of our petition... I want someone who knows the ropes to go to bat for us.

I'm not trying to adopt a cat from the animal shelter, I'm trying to get my wife into the country.

[Team J and B 2]

Dude!

Interesting point about the HCM US consulate.

I'm really bad with keeping track of paper work and dotting all the 'i's and crossing all the 't's. But if I had found VJ before getting all freaked out (about asking to withdraw my application for entry to USA at the airport), I prolly would still have filed with a lawyer, just not the current one. Most people on VJ are much smarter than me so trust them when they say do your own research!

But again, if you got some cash, don't care to save it, don't want to bothered by ANY paperwork, stamps, post office, etc., then go ahead and file with a lawyer. But you might end up like so many of us, and that is you'll be tracking your visa journey yourself, getting all freaked out, ranting and b1tching about your incompetent lawyer, writing curt emails to them, getting mad cuz they didn't send you a Christmas card, calling them worthless and useless, etc. But that's just me.

Lawyer=bad.

DIY=good.

I posted a bit of a rant in the Canada forum about our lawyer.

[LynnandAhmed 0]

We used a lawyer.

Gave me peace of mind that things would be done with no errors and less chance of things being sent back to redo.

I didn't have to worry as much and felt more confident.

I would do it again.

[bora bora 1]

I've read too many cases saying "my lawyer messed up", "s/he forgot this", "why did I hire a lawyer"...

If you want to give away money then I can send you my bank account number - I could use the money more than your lawyer. The K1/AOS process is not difficult - we did it ourselves from start to finish (hubby has his GC) and never received even an RFE. We did of course use VJ .