Lawyers are a waste of money!

[Devkpaik 1]

When we first filed we knew nothing about the process and were very intimidated by it so we thought it would be best to hire a "professional" so that things would go smooth without any mistakes...boy were we wrong! Shortly after filing we discovered VJ and realized that we just wasted time and money by hiring him! It has been a nightmare....he even sent our K1 petition to Nebraska!!! We also received an RFE because he told me that I didn't need a passport photo.....I estimate that our case was delayed by no less than 6 weeks by hiring him and most of the time the attorney doesn't even prepare the petition this is usually farmed out to someone on their staff!!!

For new people reading please know this. People here at VJ are the best! You have support for any questions you have and a lot of love to help you through the difficult wait. If your case is simple without any major issues you do not need an attorney in our opinion. Everything is very simple to file and like I say you have all the resources you need here at VJ to get you through the ENTIRE process.

I think it's a bad thing these people take advantage of people due to their fear of this process. They take your money, and don't do anything. If you can file a 1040 tax form, you can make it through this process without a lawyer.

Hiring a lawyer can be a good or bad thing. Some people have had good experiences (myself) while others have had bad experiences. If you do your research on your lawyer before hiring them, and if you interview a handful of lawyers and find one you are comfortable with and one that you trust will do a good job, then you could have a good experience with one.

I don't think jumping into business with the first lawyer you find is a good idea.

However, to claim all lawyers are a waste of time and money is an incorrect statement, as this just isn't true.

[Devkpaik 1]

When we first filed we knew nothing about the process and were very intimidated by it so we thought it would be best to hire a "professional" so that things would go smooth without any mistakes...boy were we wrong! Shortly after filing we discovered VJ and realized that we just wasted time and money by hiring him! It has been a nightmare....he even sent our K1 petition to Nebraska!!! We also received an RFE because he told me that I didn't need a passport photo.....I estimate that our case was delayed by no less than 6 weeks by hiring him and most of the time the attorney doesn't even prepare the petition this is usually farmed out to someone on their staff!!!

For new people reading please know this. People here at VJ are the best! You have support for any questions you have and a lot of love to help you through the difficult wait. If your case is simple without any major issues you do not need an attorney in our opinion. Everything is very simple to file and like I say you have all the resources you need here at VJ to get you through the ENTIRE process.

I think it's a bad thing these people take advantage of people due to their fear of this process. They take your money, and don't do anything. If you can file a 1040 tax form, you can make it through this process without a lawyer.

Hiring a lawyer can be a good or bad thing. Some people have had good experiences (myself) while others have had bad experiences. If you do your research on your lawyer before hiring them, and if you interview a handful of lawyers and find one you are comfortable with and one that you trust will do a good job, then you could have a good experience with one.

I don't think jumping into business with the first lawyer you find is a good idea.

However, to claim all lawyers are a waste of time and money is an incorrect statement, as this just isn't true.

I want to explain more in depth that I am not advocating the use of a lawyer, nor am I discouraging the use of one. Hiring a lawyer comes down to personal preference. If you feel you can do the work on your own, then by all means do it on your own. However, for me personally, although I knew I COULD do the work and go through the process on my own with my fiance, I am a full-time student and carry a heavy workload of school work and other things and I felt more comfortable hiring a professional to assist us on the process.

Also, I made sure I educated myself on the process and made sure I stayed on top of the ball and made sure the lawyer was doing his job and doing it as quickly as the process allowed us to.

We didn't have any delays due to the lawyers incompetence or inability to stay on top of the ball.

[ksa2usa 0]

I agree that hiring a lawyer is up to each individual petitioner, based on their circumstances. Here's my experience, just incase it will help anyone reading.

Hubby and I wanted to hire a lawyer so that things would be "easier". We explained our entire situation, that we were married and living overseas, and we wanted the easiest option for our case. She recomended K3. We spent months getting paperwork ready. Her secretary filled out all of the paperwork WRONG and my husband and I had to sit with white out and fix everything!!! We paid her attorney fees, filing fees, shipping from here to the USA, etc. We eventually found out from VJ that we were able to do DCF here in Saudi, and we asked our attorney's advice on what to do. She, an attorney with 17 years experience in immigration law, claimed that there was no way we could do DCF, that it could take years, that it's not "all it's cracked up to be", etc. She accused us of second guessing "her" decisions about the case, so we fired her for sure. Money lost or not, we took our case into our own hands, and 2 months later we are getting ready for our CR1 interview. I'm glad we trusted our guts and not just our attorney. The fact is, an attorney will not do what is best for you, they will do what is easiest for them...no matter how much money you pay them.

My advice to anyone considering an attorney is unless your case is really out of the ordinary, just do it yourselves!

[SankuNiku 0]

Has anyone had any experience removing a lawyer in the middle of the immigration process? What needs to be done? Could it delay the immigration process in any way?

[joelunchbox 0]

I have legal insurance and thought about using it to help with lawyer expenses. The lawyer I talked to said that unless I have a specific problem, don't pay him to do what I was already doing. Thanks VisaJourney!!

That is the best advice I have heard. Use a lawyer when you have a specific problem.

Filling out govt forms should not be a "problem".

[Old Dominion 26]

I have legal insurance and thought about using it to help with lawyer expenses. The lawyer I talked to said that unless I have a specific problem, don't pay him to do what I was already doing. Thanks VisaJourney!!

That is the best advice I have heard. Use a lawyer when you have a specific problem.

Filling out govt forms should not be a "problem".

Basically the same thing happened to us. The paralegal advised that we could do everything ourselves, but that she would be available if needed to review our submissions. She and her boss, the attorney, are committed to working with tough immigration cases, such as trying to keep families together in the U.S., and half of each day is spent entirely on pro bono cases for a local non-profit. There should be more attorneys with that ethic, but they aren't to be found online. The onlines are assembly-line lawyers who are trying to strike gold.

[amaciar 0]

My husband and I talked to a lawyer when we were very confused in the beginning. We told him everything including the fact that I had residency in my husbands country. He didn't even know that we could do DCF. So I moved back to NZ with him and we took the long route. Wish I had found this site earlier in our process it would have saved a lot of money (plane tickets) and heartache. We are done now til we have to remove his green card conditions. We did talk to a lawyer in New Zealand though and she told us what to do, how to do it and basically said don't pay her for what we could be doing ourselves. She was awesome and we were able to skip NVC and we were back in the states 1 month after talking to her.

Edited November 17, 2008 by amaciar

[Amy&Aldo 2]

It sucks that so many have had bad experiences with their lawyers. So far so good with ours. He charged us a flat fee of $495 to get us through the entire K-1 process. And he guarantees approval or he will refund his fees and appeal for free. He has been fast and thorough from what I can tell, and anytime I email him with a question he always responds within a couple of hours. I'm so glad we got so lucky. If anyone feels like they need to consult an attorney I highly recommend ours. He consulted with me for free through numerous emails prior to me retaining his services. The website is www.k1visalaw.com and his name is Cal Knickerbocker. Good luck to everyone!

[ksa2usa 0]

Has anyone had any experience removing a lawyer in the middle of the immigration process? What needs to be done? Could it delay the immigration process in any way?

as i mentioned above, my husband and i fired our attorney, after we had already filed our I-130 and recieved NOA1. we simply had our attorney (before we let her go for good) type up a letter withdrawing our petition, and herself from our case. pretty simple. If you do not want your attorney anymore it is your right to get rid of him/her. simply ask them to withdraw their representation, and don't forget to ask for ALL of your documents and forms back before you cut ties for good!!!

[Laura+Tom 2]

It sucks that so many have had bad experiences with their lawyers. So far so good with ours. He charged us a flat fee of $495 to get us through the entire K-1 process. And he guarantees approval or he will refund his fees and appeal for free. He has been fast and thorough from what I can tell, and anytime I email him with a question he always responds within a couple of hours. I'm so glad we got so lucky. If anyone feels like they need to consult an attorney I highly recommend ours. He consulted with me for free through numerous emails prior to me retaining his services. The website is www.k1visalaw.com and his name is Cal Knickerbocker. Good luck to everyone!

I'm curious how a laywer can guarantee approval, it's not like it's up to them whether you get a visa or not.

[Amy&Aldo 2]

It sucks that so many have had bad experiences with their lawyers. So far so good with ours. He charged us a flat fee of $495 to get us through the entire K-1 process. And he guarantees approval or he will refund his fees and appeal for free. He has been fast and thorough from what I can tell, and anytime I email him with a question he always responds within a couple of hours. I'm so glad we got so lucky. If anyone feels like they need to consult an attorney I highly recommend ours. He consulted with me for free through numerous emails prior to me retaining his services. The website is www.k1visalaw.com and his name is Cal Knickerbocker. Good luck to everyone!

I'm curious how a laywer can guarantee approval, it's not like it's up to them whether you get a visa or not.

Because he gets all of your info/backgrounds and asks lots of questions before he takes the case. I don't really care HOW he can guarantee approval. I'm only concerned that I will get my money back if we don't get approval. At least I'm not out anything for attorney fees if we aren't approved.

[sara..... 371]

i think our lawyer is gonna dump us on tues i got a call from his assistant that he wants to talk to me at 2:00 on tues.....the way i figure it if it was about getting noa2 or a denial he would have just sent an email answering one of my many that i have sent to him in the last few weeks.................

i will let u all know if he gives back the money like he said he would or finds a reason that this is all our fault lol

Edited November 17, 2008 by estadia

[jom 4]

K1 - 6 months ( No RFEs)

AOS - 8 months.( No RFEs) First green card had my incorrent name and we filed I-90. Received my new GC with corrent name on it in 30 days.

No lawyer involved, we just followed the guideline here in Vj and of course the wisdom of the VJ members concerning some issues.

I have to disagree though with the statement that lawyers are golddiggers because there are many good lawyers out there. It is just really a matter of finding and researching the one who has a good record when it comes to immigration processes.

Goodluck!

[LemonGrass 0]

I've had some good experiences and some questionable. The only lawyer I ever hired is licensed here in the US and his partner is licensed in the country my wife is from. They have family and legal connections back to country also, so they know the about little things that happen in the country and the embassy there. They have also provided me with translation services for family documents at a much cheaper price than any of the other local companies that I contacted. They have done some odd things like having 3 copies of each set of documents on different colored paper and provided me an account to FTP photos, forms, affidivits, etc. Overall they have done a great job. Because they can not push the documents through NVC or USCIS, they have been just as frustrated as myself. I believe I contacted 3 other lawyers previously and they all seemed to be arrogant and greedy. If I knew of this website beforehand, I would have kept my money and spent it on all the little misc expenses like DHL costs, multiple copies of forms, certified copies, etc. If you read and dig through all the information in these forums, you can get your answers from experienced forum users. The only time I can see really needing the lawyer is if you have some really odd circumstances.