Visa Service?

[misswhy 0]

I am here to learn how the whole K-1 process gets done.. for if and when I get there.. just want to know what to expect. So far, what information I've seen from the experiences of others has been informative.

However, I've heard of people hiring attorneys or a "visa service".. although I'm not quite sure what either of these are supposed to provide that the person of average intelligence can't do on their own.

I wondered if anyone has had good results with these, of if there is any true benefit to using them at all?

[rsn 135]

I am here to learn how the whole K-1 process gets done.. for if and when I get there.. just want to know what to expect. So far, what information I've seen from the experiences of others has been informative.

However, I've heard of people hiring attorneys or a "visa service".. although I'm not quite sure what either of these are supposed to provide that the person of average intelligence can't do on their own.

I wondered if anyone has had good results with these, of if there is any true benefit to using them at all?

If your case is not extremely complicated and littered with red flags, you should be able to do this yourself. As far as a visa service is concerned, based on the services I've seen advertising on the internet, I'd suggest you stay far away from anything like that. I suspect dealing with one of those organizations will turn out to be a huge mistake. I've seen some of them advertise: "guaranteed approval!" Seriously, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

[M_n_M 1]

If your case doesn't have anything crazy involved with it then I suggest NOT to get an attorney. I know a lot of people that have gotten attorneys' for no reason, people that have not helped their case and in fact somewhat hurt their case (because they would stretch things out for the money)... (not to say that there aren't some people that have chosen to go the attorney route and are satisfied, but it was not something I saw necessary for myself) This site will help a lot with the applications and forms and proofs that you should provide. And in response to your question on another thread... granted your case isn't put on administrative processing (AP background checks) and granted you provide everything correctly and on time, the average processing time for a K1 visa is now 5 months. When I was applying for my husband, it was averaging at 6 months, and that's about as long as it took (I was a bit slow at the NVC stage). Every case is different though. 5 months is not a definite number, it's an average... for MOST people. Exceptions always exist. By the way, welcome!!!! Let me know if there's anything I can help with!

Good luck,

~M

[KGH 0]

why attorney when you can do it your self? unless you or your fiance(e) has so much money to waist you don't need an attorney, unless your case is complicated.

[endoftheroad 1]

We used a consultant service because of the unfamiliarity of the USA process in China for my fiancee, it worked fine and costed little. But this was a specialty service (www.visaschina.com) for Chinese marrying foreigners and we asked everyone about this service and got glowing reviews. Check around if you have the same problem as we did. We got no RFEs and it looks like our visa interview will happen within 6 months of filing. Lawyers tend to be way too expensive.

Edited August 30, 2009 by endoftheroad

[misswhy 0]

If your case doesn't have anything crazy involved with it then I suggest NOT to get an attorney. I know a lot of people that have gotten attorneys' for no reason, people that have not helped their case and in fact somewhat hurt their case (because they would stretch things out for the money)... (not to say that there aren't some people that have chosen to go the attorney route and are satisfied, but it was not something I saw necessary for myself) This site will help a lot with the applications and forms and proofs that you should provide. And in response to your question on another thread... granted your case isn't put on administrative processing (AP background checks) and granted you provide everything correctly and on time, the average processing time for a K1 visa is now 5 months. When I was applying for my husband, it was averaging at 6 months, and that's about as long as it took (I was a bit slow at the NVC stage). Every case is different though. 5 months is not a definite number, it's an average... for MOST people. Exceptions always exist. By the way, welcome!!!! Let me know if there's anything I can help with!

Good luck,

~M

yeah.. I get what you mean. The more I read about on this site, the more it makes sense to keep the attorneys out of it unless it becomes a real problem. i think for me, one of the most important things i'm trying to figure out is what kind of plan to come up with since he has 14 months of his stupid military obligation. i don't want to do things too soon if he can't exit the country for a while anyway, but i don't want to waste time either... ugh. thanks so much for the info - you have been most helpful!

[misswhy 0]

why attorney when you can do it your self? unless you or your fiance(e) has so much money to waist you don't need an attorney, unless your case is complicated.

no, neither one of us has money to waste, or wants to waste money.. and should not have any real complications that i can think of right now. since i am going into this without knowing much about it, it's good to hear from people who have done this on their own and can help walk me through. this gives me a good idea that maybe i can do this on my own.

thanks for your comment..

[misswhy 0]

We used a consultant service because of the unfamiliarity of the USA process in China for my fiancee, it worked fine and costed little. But this was a specialty service (www.visaschina.com) for Chinese marrying foreigners and we asked everyone about this service and got glowing reviews. Check around if you have the same problem as we did. We got no RFEs and it looks like our visa interview will happen within 6 months of filing. Lawyers tend to be way too expensive.

thanks for sharing that - it's good to know there is other help available if we get stuck with this and have problems. i will keep all of that in mind when/if i get there!

[M_n_M 1]

He still has 14 months left of service? Well then why not get married within that 14 months sometime? It'll make things faster, only because once you apply for him, you could apply a CR1 visa, and he would get his greencard right away as opposed to having to get married in the US and applying for adjustment of status. If it's possible to do that, I would suggest it... the overall process takes the same amount of time as a K1 visa (roughly) and is so much more convenient in the long haul. Hopefully they'll take some months off his remaining service time. Another thing would be to gather all the info you need for each step of the way (check guides) except for those items that are date specific, so that you won't have much to gather when the time comes to send everything at each step. Good luck though and let us know if theres anything else we can help with!

[jeshel 0]

we hired a visa service to process our petition. After they send our petition to the uscis we didn't hear anything from them. We ask them what's going on our case now they said they dont know, they said there is now way we can find out but thru vj I know we can call uscis....Now we are the only one who always call uscis asking about update on our case... that visa service we hired is useless.

Vj members are big help.

Whatever questions you have you can post it here and get a quick repsonse

Goodluck on your journey

[misswhy 0]

He still has 14 months left of service? Well then why not get married within that 14 months sometime? It'll make things faster, only because once you apply for him, you could apply a CR1 visa, and he would get his greencard right away as opposed to having to get married in the US and applying for adjustment of status. If it's possible to do that, I would suggest it... the overall process takes the same amount of time as a K1 visa (roughly) and is so much more convenient in the long haul. Hopefully they'll take some months off his remaining service time. Another thing would be to gather all the info you need for each step of the way (check guides) except for those items that are date specific, so that you won't have much to gather when the time comes to send everything at each step. Good luck though and let us know if theres anything else we can help with!

Get married in Iran? I think we have to find out if we want to spend our lives together first.. He just went in to start his military obligation, but they gave him less time. I think while he is there, he cannot leave the country, and I doubt I can get a visa to travel to Iran. I think the closest I can get to him will be Kish island, and I can probably pull that together by late winter or maybe early Spring when he gets time off for Norooz... I am scared to death... Never in my life did I think i would find myself in this situation!

[k.loveh 0]

I am here to learn how the whole K-1 process gets done.. for if and when I get there.. just want to know what to expect. So far, what information I've seen from the experiences of others has been informative.

However, I've heard of people hiring attorneys or a "visa service".. although I'm not quite sure what either of these are supposed to provide that the person of average intelligence can't do on their own.

I wondered if anyone has had good results with these, of if there is any true benefit to using them at all?

I used one called 'Immigration Docs' and from our experience, it was a total waste of money because they weren't any help at all except for helping with paperwork which we could have done on our own. You find more authentic info here at VJ than we got from them and the best part is the advice is free that come from those who've been through this.

I wouldn't hire an attorney either unless they have direct experience with the Embassy/Country you're going through and you need the legal help. It won't help you in getting the visa by just hiring an attorney for the sake of having an attorney.

[cactuscake 0]

Get married in Iran? I think we have to find out if we want to spend our lives together first.. He just went in to start his military obligation, but they gave him less time. I think while he is there, he cannot leave the country, and I doubt I can get a visa to travel to Iran. I think the closest I can get to him will be Kish island, and I can probably pull that together by late winter or maybe early Spring when he gets time off for Norooz... I am scared to death... Never in my life did I think i would find myself in this situation!

14 months ahead is a decent time to start - with the initial petition taking about 5 or 6 months, approval notice valid for 4 months, and once issued the visa itself valid for 6 months. Perhaps (if things get processed way too fast) you may need to ask for an extension during the embassy interview period, but this isn't supposed to be troublesome.

You might ask yourself seriously about whether you want to spend the rest of your lives together first though (or was that a joke?) because one of the requirements of applying for K-1 is declaring yourself engaged and intent on marriage very soon after your fiance's arrival.

[marklovetina 52]

we hired a visa service to process our petition. After they send our petition to the uscis we didn't hear anything from them. We ask them what's going on our case now they said they dont know, they said there is now way we can find out but thru vj I know we can call uscis....Now we are the only one who always call uscis asking about update on our case... that visa service we hired is useless.

Vj members are big help.

Whatever questions you have you can post it here and get a quick repsonse

Goodluck on your journey

same here... but i think the purpose only of this visa service is to guide us that's all... and think its a good thing too.. bcoz they will check all the docs to be submitted no error....

[misswhy 0]

Get married in Iran? I think we have to find out if we want to spend our lives together first.. He just went in to start his military obligation, but they gave him less time. I think while he is there, he cannot leave the country, and I doubt I can get a visa to travel to Iran. I think the closest I can get to him will be Kish island, and I can probably pull that together by late winter or maybe early Spring when he gets time off for Norooz... I am scared to death... Never in my life did I think i would find myself in this situation!

14 months ahead is a decent time to start - with the initial petition taking about 5 or 6 months, approval notice valid for 4 months, and once issued the visa itself valid for 6 months. Perhaps (if things get processed way too fast) you may need to ask for an extension during the embassy interview period, but this isn't supposed to be troublesome.

You might ask yourself seriously about whether you want to spend the rest of your lives together first though (or was that a joke?) because one of the requirements of applying for K-1 is declaring yourself engaged and intent on marriage very soon after your fiance's arrival.

Of course. I found this site to explore the options and requirements if we do agree to pursue a marriage, but we're not there yet. Since I've been here, I've found a lot of good information and helpful advice from others who have gone through the process. The situation on my end will come into focus with time, but I'm certainly thankful to hear from all those that have done it so I can have a sense of what may be ahead! Thanks so much for your input!