AOS Cost

[jkminney 30]

First of all, you can fire a lawyer at any time.

Second of all, you will owe him for any unpaid services already performed

Thirdly, I would personally make sure that what they sent you wasn't sent by mistake by a paralegal in the office. He is supposed to check these things because he is accountable for the mistakes that they make

next, if the form you mentioned hasn't been filed yet then the mistake hasn't really been made yet, unless you have already paid for the filing of the form. If you have then the proper place to air this dispute is with your lawyers office

I will go out on a very small and stable bridge and suggest that someone in the office made a mistake and will correct you

Lastly, although yes you could do it alone. A lot of people do, what one of my law school proffessors told me was this is something that if done right is very simple, if not it can be a nightmare. You don't always pay a lawyer because what he does you could do, ie file a paper. You pay him so that if something goes wrong in the AOS you have someone who knows the laws, who is accountable for what he does, to fight for you. If you think that service is worth it, then you pay. If not then you don't. There is no right answer to that, everyone has to make that choice on thier own. That being said, my lawyer charged less for the the whole process and has a lof of experience handling these issues.

What it basically comes down to is that I have filed for an AOS before for my EX husband. He was here on a work visa so that DID require us to do the I-130...I get that. I know the costs. I know I can do the forms on my own the hardest part is gathering dates and things of that nature which we've already had to do for the I-129f. The invoice states:

An additional legal fee of $500 will be required for

attorney representation at the AOS interview.

Please note that the legal fee of $1,500 and the filing

fee of $455 are due to begin processing this case and

the remainder will be due when I-130 and I-485 petition

are prepared following your marriage in the US.

**PLEASE NOTE THAT PAYMENT OF ALL USCIS

FILING FEES MUST BE RECEIVED BY OUR

OFFICE PRIOR TO OUR FILING THE CASE WITH

THE USCIS AS THIS IS A DIRECT COST.**

and also:

**PLEASE NOTE THAT CASES CANCELLED

PRIOR TO COMPLETION WILL INCUR A LEGAL

FEE FOR WORK DONE TO DATE**

I've already paid them for the I-129f. So the work done for that I have paid for already. It says in that first paragraph that the remainder would be do when they prepare the I-130 and I-485 following marriage. Which we obviously haven't done yet because we are still waiting on the K1 ha! They wouldn't be working on my I-130 or my I-485 yet. They never asked when we were planning on getting married or anything like that. I know they sent them the NOA1 first and I'm assuming they will send them the NOA2 first as well but when they send Packet 3 to John how will they know when all is said and done and he's been approved? How will they know when he's finally come into the country? How will they know when we actually GET married? The lawyers are in California and I'm in Iowa. The only reason I used them is because they handled my previous AOS case with my ex husband. They were the corporate immigration lawyers that the company my ex husband worked for used and they just finished our AOS.

I'm not sure when I should tell them I'm not going to want them to do the AOS because right now they are going to be getting my NOA2 receipt? I dont want me firing them during the first petition screwing up anything ya know what I mean?

[Jasman0717 9]

Lawyers have to pay their office help and keep up the payments on the nice cars

[NutMagnet 2]

I have my corporate taxes handled by an accountant/CPA because I prefer to do other things with my time. I am certain that many people hire attorneys to fill up their Immigration paperwork for the same reasons.

We have a choice and so we pick our own battles.

Trust that the USCIS would rather deal with Petitioners and not attorneys. You can get copies of the NOA's regardless to where they were previously sent in c/o of.

You have to ascertain that you are not breaking a legally binding agreement with your present attorney, should you decide to dump him/her. It does not help that the attorneys are 1/2 way across the country, but satisfy yourself that you made your best decision at that time, and now you are ready to pick up and hoof it on your own.

Educate yourself with the guides on this site and also the instructions of the forms your are filling up from the uscis.gov site.

Its a pretty straightforward process. I wish you luck in your pursuit. If you wanted to takeover the process on your own from that attorney you hired, write the USCIS to cancel the G-28 Representation form that he submitted and to further direct them to send all correspondences to you, with your explanation.

Best to ya,,

NM

[jkminney 30]

First of all, you can fire a lawyer at any time.

Second of all, you will owe him for any unpaid services already performed

Thirdly, I would personally make sure that what they sent you wasn't sent by mistake by a paralegal in the office. He is supposed to check these things because he is accountable for the mistakes that they make

next, if the form you mentioned hasn't been filed yet then the mistake hasn't really been made yet, unless you have already paid for the filing of the form. If you have then the proper place to air this dispute is with your lawyers office

I will go out on a very small and stable bridge and suggest that someone in the office made a mistake and will correct you

Lastly, although yes you could do it alone. A lot of people do, what one of my law school proffessors told me was this is something that if done right is very simple, if not it can be a nightmare. You don't always pay a lawyer because what he does you could do, ie file a paper. You pay him so that if something goes wrong in the AOS you have someone who knows the laws, who is accountable for what he does, to fight for you. If you think that service is worth it, then you pay. If not then you don't. There is no right answer to that, everyone has to make that choice on thier own. That being said, my lawyer charged less for the the whole process and has a lof of experience handling these issues.

So when do you all think would be the "BEST" time to do this? I HAVE paid them for the I129-f which we are waiting for. When I send them a letter should I advise them that when the K1 is approved we will no longer be needing the services of their firm? If I have paid them for the k1 visa there shouldnt be any other fees at this point that have come up because they can't move forward with processing anything else until the K1 is approved so I'm not too worried about having other fees to pay them. I just want to make sure that they finish working on any K1 stuff that may come up since I HAVE given them the money for that.

[sweetFM 0]

My hubby did the same. The first time he filed for the visa, he used a lawyer and was also told that in filing for aos the fee is $2000.

Good thing he said no and when I arrived here, my husband and I filed for the aos, ead and ap ourselves without consulting any lawyer.

All we did is read and ask questions here in vj and other site and I can say that we are doing well and our application is going smoothly without any delay.

My advise is do it yourself. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to post here in vj. All the members here are helpful and have good advise.

[jkminney 30]

My hubby did the same. The first time he filed for the visa, he used a lawyer and was also told that in filing for aos the fee is $2000.

Good thing he said no and when I arrived here, my husband and I filed for the aos, ead and ap ourselves without consulting any lawyer.

All we did is read and ask questions here in vj and other site and I can say that we are doing well and our application is going smoothly without any delay.

My advise is do it yourself. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to post here in vj. All the members here are helpful and have good advise.

When did your husband tell them NO to preparing the adjustment of status?