Lawyers and "green"card

[bowflex 0]

My wife and I used a lawyer throughout the entire process and he really helped a ton, but he was unable to do anything once we went outside the timelines. I only got help when I called my Senator (Levin from Michigan) and luckily he's on the immigration board and he managed to help get my wife's permanent resident card 3 months after we should've instead of whatever the horrible $(% Consul would've had us wait. I found that calling the office of the Senator helped a lot more than emailing and faxing and they were always helpful and polite. Good luck!

[SpiritAlight 1]

Hmmmm, that is interesting.

Last year when we were in our K1 process, my USC fiancé called/wrote (I'm not sure) his senator in Illinois and that guy told him that his office does not handle cases to do with immigration.

Buggers!

[jedinite 0]

All I paid a lawyer was $100 for him to sell me on the remainder of his $5000 service. From what my friend tells me that used him, he didn't fill out any forms or do anything except check that the T's were crossed and the I's were dotted. You need patience, a whole lot of it. My I-130 finally got approved 2 weeks ago, and I filed in Feb. So that's about 6 months. Some people are really lucky and their I-130 gets approved in 2-3 months. Just hang on there. There's also not much a Senator or Congressman can do for you if your petition lies within the date specified on the USCIS website for processing times. Example, if you check out the processing times for your office and it says they are on Feb 2008 cases and you filed yours in May, then they will just tell you that they haven't got to your case yet and until the web page says June 2008 they won't do much for you.

Don't get a lawyer unless you have an unusual case that requires legal council. Just follow Loto's Guide or James' Shortcuts for how to fill out forms and what to expect after your I-130 is approved.