Fiance Fears...

[Pmt 0]

My Fiance and I have met and I am starting to gather everything I need for proof of meeting fill out the I-129F and send her the proper form for her to fill out (G-325A) with instructions for her. I have been reading this site for quite a while as we have been serious about this for a year but have only recently had a chance to meet in person.

I feel like this site is very thurough in its suggestions and guides on how to proceed and I plan on calling the Government office in charge of immagration to confirm that the steps I am doing are what I need to do in order to proceed but my fiance is a bit nervous and feels like if we make one little mistake she will be denied and never be able to come here.

So here is my question, I think we can do this on our own as long as I triple check and double check things before I send them but I would like opinions from you all. Is a immagration lawyer the way to go? Also if we do make a mistake (doing it ourselves) is there any chance that she could be denied from ever comming to the USA? I realize these are very broad questions so any suggestions or observations would be appreciated.

One more thing, I am under the impression that the paper work and visa processing is mostly on the USA side what does someone who is immagrating from Russia to the USA have to do with regards to the Russian government?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Paul and Anna

[Chuckles 0]

My Fiance and I have met and I am starting to gather everything I need for proof of meeting fill out the I-129F and send her the proper form for her to fill out (G-325A) with instructions for her. I have been reading this site for quite a while as we have been serious about this for a year but have only recently had a chance to meet in person.

I feel like this site is very thurough in its suggestions and guides on how to proceed and I plan on calling the Government office in charge of immagration to confirm that the steps I am doing are what I need to do in order to proceed but my fiance is a bit nervous and feels like if we make one little mistake she will be denied and never be able to come here.

So here is my question, I think we can do this on our own as long as I triple check and double check things before I send them but I would like opinions from you all. Is a immagration lawyer the way to go? Also if we do make a mistake (doing it ourselves) is there any chance that she could be denied from ever comming to the USA? I realize these are very broad questions so any suggestions or observations would be appreciated.

One more thing, I am under the impression that the paper work and visa processing is mostly on the USA side what does someone who is immagrating from Russia to the USA have to do with regards to the Russian government?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Paul and Anna

Lawyers are not necessary if your case is strait forward. If there is complicated divorces, criminal records, or anything else out of the ordinary, a lawyer may be helpful. If not, they will actually be more of a hinderance because YOU care about your case a ton more then they do, and will be more dilagent when filling out forms and including all information. A lawyer has no influence to speed up the process with any of the government agencies. So, my opinion, skip the lawyer. Waste of money.

Russian citizens have nothing to do with their government when immigrating with a K1 visa expect for collecting police records from the local militia in all areas they have lived, and a Russian international passport.

[Tex'n'Brit 0]

So here is my question, I think we can do this on our own as long as I triple check and double check things before I send them but I would like opinions from you all. Is a immagration lawyer the way to go? Also if we do make a mistake (doing it ourselves) is there any chance that she could be denied from ever comming to the USA? I realize these are very broad questions so any suggestions or observations would be appreciated.

One more thing, I am under the impression that the paper work and visa processing is mostly on the USA side what does someone who is immagrating from Russia to the USA have to do with regards to the Russian government?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Paul and Anna

Hi and welcome to VJ's Immigration Forums.

The lawyer issue is a difficult question to answer - actually most of the perfectly reasonable questions you asked are hard to answer definitively!

You'll probably have already noticed that most people here don't use an immigration lawyer to file their paperwork for them, unless - as Chuckles mentioned - they've got some kind of complicated situation, (perhaps certain criminal histories, medical issues, or a previous long overstay in the USA, for example.) Again, as Chuckles said, they can't make a simple case move any faster, in fact they sometimes seem to slow things down and screw things up! However, if it makes you more comfortable to use one, it's vital to keep looking until you find the right one with expertise and experience in immigration issues ... By the way - don't just pick someone advertising at the top of this site - Google adds the ads and they're not recommendations from VJ.com!

I think it's pretty unlikely that a simple mistake would ruin any chances, but then again, anything's possible, depending what the issue was, of course. The most important thing is to check and double check everything you do. It's a really good idea to compare what you're doing with all the examples and guides located thorought this site and then ask if there's something you're still worried about.

Regarding information about Russian issues ... I suspect you might find lots of help in the Regional Forum for Ukraine and Russia.

Good luck and keep reading the guides!

All the best,

Sheila

Edited May 15, 2006 by Tex'n'Brit

[iceyspots 0]

If you are missing or lacking anything, the USCIS will let you know with an RFE... however, double, triple, quadruple check everything... even for spelling.. just to be safe !

Good luck on your journey!

[mrswooten4ever 0]

Most of us have filed our petititions without the aid of an expensive attorney it's a personal choice but if you follow the guides and use the forms here on VJ you'll do just fine

Adele

[Pmt 0]

Thanks for all the responses.

I agree with what everyone has said but after talking to my fiance another reason has come to light as to why it would be helpful to use a lawyer. I think her English is great and darn near perfect but she is not as confident of her english skills so we have found a lawyer who is fluent in English and Russian. This way she can ask questions in her native language and be very confident that she understands everything that is going on.

While I feel the lawyer is an uneeded expsence, given that it will give her piece of mind it is worth ten times the cost. She is giong to be stressed enough with such a big change so anything to lessen the stress is well worth the expense.

Paul and Anna

[Erik 0]

Thanks for all the responses.

I agree with what everyone has said but after talking to my fiance another reason has come to light as to why it would be helpful to use a lawyer. I think her English is great and darn near perfect but she is not as confident of her english skills so we have found a lawyer who is fluent in English and Russian. This way she can ask questions in her native language and be very confident that she understands everything that is going on.

While I feel the lawyer is an uneeded expsence, given that it will give her piece of mind it is worth ten times the cost. She is giong to be stressed enough with such a big change so anything to lessen the stress is well worth the expense.

Paul and Anna

If having a Lawyer will resolve some of the stress, and you are financially able to do it, then go for it.

On a side note however, her speach is really not much of an issue. The employees at the American Consulate in her country should speak fluent Russian, and English (although sometimes they speak the foreign language a little rough). From what is sounds like, she would not have a problem either way.

In terms of paperwork, you can typically do all the paperwork for her when it comes time for that. For example, I am already completing the papers my fiance in Brasil will receive from her Consulate. I'm doing them now to make sure we have all the information needed, and that they are completed correctly. That way, if she needs to transfer the information over to the original documents when she gets them, it will be as simple as copying the information over from the forms I completed ahead of time (most of the documents you can use right off the Internet also).

On a personal note, if your case is straight forward, and does not contain any of the issues as mentioned in the previous posters responses, I would use the money you are going to spend on a Lawyer, and fly out there when it's time for her to go for her interview. That way you'll be there to support her, comfort her, and it always looks better to the Consulate if the other half is present (although it is not necessary). I'm not sure if you were planning on doing that anyway, but maybe it's some food for thought if nothing else.

Best of luck to you both!

Regards,

Erik

[Larry and Maria 0]

The USCIS site has a section dealing with assembling and submitting the Petition.

I used an advisor who specializes in this for a few hundred dollars.

He's been successfully married to a Russian lady for over seven years.

The final decision about the order and what and how to submit I made personally based on much research, advice, and what made sense to me personally.

It seemed to work, that is the process I personally used.

My NOA1 Receipt Date on the I-767C is 3/1/06 and the NOA2 Notice Date is 5/8/06.

I might add that the reason I specifically did not use a lawyer was I had concerns about the value.

After all, it is MY petition, not the lawyers and I read about problems of lawyers having made mistakes.

At least if the mistake is made I made it and didn't pay someone else to make it.

If I could have been 100% certain then I'd have had no reservation about engaging a lawyer.

[Tex'n'Brit 0]

Hi again Paul,

I hear what you're saying about the language concerns, and I wish you luck with your lawyer ... s/he may be the best idea for you both. However, if it's mainly just language issues that are worrying Anna. ... well, that's partly why I supplied a link to the relevant regional forum in my previous post. Particularly if Anna has internet access and joined VJ.com hreself too, I'm willing to bet that most, if not all of her concerns and questions could be answered there by other VJ'ers who have personal experience and knowledge to share. 'Larry and Maria''s response to you here is a prime example of the sort of helpful advice one usually gets - I suspect that you would both be able to get all the support and guidance both there, and here in the 'K1 General Discussion' forum too.

I do agree with Larry's suggestions, plus you could ask the bilingual lawyer to provide a one-off consultation before you make your final decision - if s/he is reputable, s/he should be prepared to advise you whether or not your case has any obvious problems/issues that would actually benefit from legal assistance.

IMHO, if you don't have any specific complications that might pose a problem with USCIS, it just seems a waste to pay for for a lawyer to send off the (pretty straightforward) forms for you. Don't forget that, even if you do use a lawyer to file for you, it's you and Anna that have to research all your own facts, figures, supporting evidence, etc and then sort it all out and supply it all to the lawyer, many of whom simply delegate all the paper shuffling - which is what this process is almost all about - straight to a clerk/'case worker' anyway, so ...

Still ... it is, of course, up to you both to make this process as easy as you can on each other. So if the lawyer is right for you, well ... VJ.com members will still be here to help if needed!

Good luck anyway!

All the best

Edited May 15, 2006 by Tex'n'Brit