Advance Parole??

[EmVee 4]

Hello, I'm new to the forums here. To provide a quick overview, I've been travelling the US for the last couple of months on vacation with my boyfriend, who is American, and recently we decided to get married. We were worried about whether this was allowed or not, so we contacted a lawyer and met with her yesterday. She said we can do something called Adjustment of Status where I don't have to leave again (my understanding was that I would? But she said no). However, I asked her how soon I could return home after we start the process because I have obviously got lots of things to take care of back home - for example, a job I won't be returning to, cats that my mom is currently looking after, and basically a whole life I have to sort out there.

The lawyer said it will be impossible until I have my legal residency sorted out, anywhere from 8 months to a year from now. She said there's something called Advance Parole but it's really hard to get and it involves a lot of messy paperwork and problems. I was wondering if anyone else has obtained this? I want to stay here, now that I know it's possible, because we don't want to be separated again. But at the same time, I feel I can't ignore everything back home for 8 months and hope for the best. Should I go for the AP or just cut my losses, realize it's not going to happen, and try to sort things out over Skype?

Thank you.

[john_and_marlene 162]

Advance parole is neither hard to get or a lot of paperwork

File I-131 along with your adjustment of status (it is just one form). You will not be turned down and you will be able to travel in around 3 months after filing

Unless you have overstayed your authorized stay before filing for adjustment of status, advance parole will not cause any problems

[RebeccaAndPhil 5]

It's definitely not messy and there's actually no additional charge to file for AP if you send it in with your I-485. It recommend filing for it

[EmVee 4]

Thank you very much for your responses. I think I will tell the lawyer I'd like to go ahead and file for it with everything else.

[RebeccaAndPhil 5]

Thank you very much for your responses. I think I will tell the lawyer I'd like to go ahead and file for it with everything else.

Good idea and good luck filing

[SuperDuper! 230]

Thank you very much for your responses. I think I will tell the lawyer I'd like to go ahead and file for it with everything else.

Hopefully soon you can also tell the lawyer: "Your services are no longer required. I am doing it on my own and with the help of the VJ community!" Good Luck.

[RebeccaAndPhil 5]

Thank you very much for your responses. I think I will tell the lawyer I'd like to go ahead and file for it with everything else.

Hopefully soon you can also tell the lawyer: "Your services are no longer required. I am doing it on my own and with the help of the VJ community!" Good Luck.

heehee I love your pumpkin picture!! Happy Halloween

[EmVee 4]

Thank you very much for your responses. I think I will tell the lawyer I'd like to go ahead and file for it with everything else.

Hopefully soon you can also tell the lawyer: "Your services are no longer required. I am doing it on my own and with the help of the VJ community!" Good Luck.

I'm really non-confrontational, so I'll probably be too scared to tell the lawyer this. However, she is charging us $1400 and after reading through this site over the weekend it seems like that's a lot of money to charge us for something we can apparently do alone. I'd be nervous about applying for this alone because I don't know anything about the legal ins and outs of immigration, but at the same time we are both only 23, obviously he's the only one working and earning money, and 1400 is a LOT for us to hand over to her, considering the cost of the visa as well.

I'm just not sure if we need her or not. Is this generally a straightforward process? I wouldn't like to do anything that would jeopardize our chances...

[RebeccaAndPhil 5]

Thank you very much for your responses. I think I will tell the lawyer I'd like to go ahead and file for it with everything else.

Hopefully soon you can also tell the lawyer: "Your services are no longer required. I am doing it on my own and with the help of the VJ community!" Good Luck.

I'm really non-confrontational, so I'll probably be too scared to tell the lawyer this. However, she is charging us $1400 and after reading through this site over the weekend it seems like that's a lot of money to charge us for something we can apparently do alone. I'd be nervous about applying for this alone because I don't know anything about the legal ins and outs of immigration, but at the same time we are both only 23, obviously he's the only one working and earning money, and 1400 is a LOT for us to hand over to her, considering the cost of the visa as well.

I'm just not sure if we need her or not. Is this generally a straightforward process? I wouldn't like to do anything that would jeopardize our chances...

Honestly unless there are any complications like an overstay, criminal history or something along the lines that you think might would cause problems I don't think a lawyer is worth the money. My husband and I paid a lawyer to just look over our documents before we sent everything in (as a safety net) and we paid $300 for that. But really, I don't even think it was necessary. There is a plethora of information on the internet and VJ is a GREAT source! These members have helped us out a lot Of course, use your best judgment but I don't think a lawyer is necessary unless there are visa complications.

Oh and a good way to let your lawyer know (if you decide not to use his services) is to just send a quick e-mail...very non-confrontational!

Edited November 2, 2009 by RebeccaAndPhil

[marie09 5]

Honestly unless there are any complications like an overstay, criminal history or something along the lines that you think might would cause problems I don't think a lawyer is worth the money. My husband and I paid a lawyer to just look over our documents before we sent everything in (as a safety net) and we paid $300 for that. But really, I don't even think it was necessary. There is a plethora of information on the internet and VJ is a GREAT source! These members have helped us out a lot Of course, use your best judgment but I don't think a lawyer is necessary unless there are visa complications.

Oh and a good way to let your lawyer know (if you decide not to use his services) is to just send a quick e-mail...very non-confrontational!

I totally agree with what Rebecca said. VJ is such a help - I mean there's even sample forms for you to compare yours against. The paperwork isn't too complicated it just takes time. We spent about 4 weeks on ours and hopefully it's finally going to be mailed this week... All the stuff is so expensive, (the passport photos at the post office cost us $75, $125 for the medical, plus the vaccination costs which we're still waiting for the bill for not to mention the visa costs ...)

My husband and i figured we'd save our money. If we get any major problems, RFE's that aren't easily fixable, delays, etc... Then we'll hire the lawyer... But fingers crossed everything will go well...

Good luck!

[EmVee 4]

Honestly unless there are any complications like an overstay, criminal history or something along the lines that you think might would cause problems I don't think a lawyer is worth the money. My husband and I paid a lawyer to just look over our documents before we sent everything in (as a safety net) and we paid $300 for that. But really, I don't even think it was necessary. There is a plethora of information on the internet and VJ is a GREAT source! These members have helped us out a lot Of course, use your best judgment but I don't think a lawyer is necessary unless there are visa complications.

Oh and a good way to let your lawyer know (if you decide not to use his services) is to just send a quick e-mail...very non-confrontational!

I totally agree with what Rebecca said. VJ is such a help - I mean there's even sample forms for you to compare yours against. The paperwork isn't too complicated it just takes time. We spent about 4 weeks on ours and hopefully it's finally going to be mailed this week... All the stuff is so expensive, (the passport photos at the post office cost us $75, $125 for the medical, plus the vaccination costs which we're still waiting for the bill for not to mention the visa costs ...)

My husband and i figured we'd save our money. If we get any major problems, RFE's that aren't easily fixable, delays, etc... Then we'll hire the lawyer... But fingers crossed everything will go well...

Good luck!

Perhaps it's best not to retain her services then, I could just do as Rebecca suggested and ask her to look over the papers when we're done. There's none of the complications you mentioned, like overstay or criminal history or anything, the only issue I have is that I arrived on a VWP and got married to him. Our lawyer also said she has the power to insist our interview takes place in her office and not at the consulate, and that this is helpful in getting the visa approved, but I haven't seen anyone else on this website mention that at all, so I don't see how it makes a difference.

This whole thing is extremely confusing. I guess that's what we get for acting on impulse, it's not at all as simple as we'd hoped. But at least I found this site, so I know we're not alone in this situation. I really appreciate all the advice so far, thank you very much.

[Jon&Lindsey 0]

I adjusted from VWP as well, without a lawyer. It really wasn't that hard, stressful yes, but the forms aren't that hard to fill out, it's really only basic information that they want. I agree with the others that if you have no other issues (criminal past, overstays etc) and are willing to put the time into learning about the process, you should be fine on your own.

I never heard of anyone having an interview anywhere other than the local USCIS office, seems to me like suggesting your lawyer's office instead (if such a thing is possible!) makes you look like you have something to hide! Also, the interview for AOS will be at the USCIS office, not a consulate, I don't know if you got confused or your lawyer actually told you consulate. Anyway, educate yourself about the process and try to submit everything before the date on your I-94W (before your VWP stay expires), and like you said, if you want you can always just pay for her to look over the forms or if something comes up during the process.

[EmVee 4]

I adjusted from VWP as well, without a lawyer. It really wasn't that hard, stressful yes, but the forms aren't that hard to fill out, it's really only basic information that they want. I agree with the others that if you have no other issues (criminal past, overstays etc) and are willing to put the time into learning about the process, you should be fine on your own.

I never heard of anyone having an interview anywhere other than the local USCIS office, seems to me like suggesting your lawyer's office instead (if such a thing is possible!) makes you look like you have something to hide! Also, the interview for AOS will be at the USCIS office, not a consulate, I don't know if you got confused or your lawyer actually told you consulate. Anyway, educate yourself about the process and try to submit everything before the date on your I-94W (before your VWP stay expires), and like you said, if you want you can always just pay for her to look over the forms or if something comes up during the process.

She said consulate, but maybe she just got confused?? This is my other issue - even though she seems to be a well established lawyer, she said the AP was hard to get, she said she could have the interview at her office even though I've never heard of that, and she seemed to be unsure about our wedding. My boyfriend is an EMT so when he asked his boss for time off because we had decided to get married, he was only able to secure a day close to the end of November. (i.e. we're not married yet) When we said that to the lawyer, she started going on about how I should overstay and then get married, which I've heard is a bad idea? It made me a little uneasy that she said we should basically break the law so they won't be suspicious. Suspicious of what? We didn't plan to get married, it just happened, so why would we deliberately incur an overstay?

Anyway, basically I'm just not entirely comfortable with her and I also think she's charging an astronomical fee for something we could do on our own.

Edited November 2, 2009 by EmVee

[marie09 5]

Hmmm it does sound strange. Is she specifically an immigration lawyer? I wonder what type of cases she typically deals with? I guess at least it's a fixed fee, not a per hour charge... I guess it depends what you guys feel comfortable with.

Good Luck - i'm sure you'll come to the decison that's right for you.

I'm confused by her advice to delay the wedding... My work visa expires in a couple of weeks... My husband and I got advice from a bunch of immigration websites (before we found visa journey - this one is the best!) We were originally going to see if we could switch my visa to a tourist visa to give us more time to plan a big wedding... All the advice we got is marry asap even if it's a court house... Then have a bigger wedding later. Just make sure to file before the visa expires to avoid overstay problems.

Good luck... and btw everyone on VJ are amazing at answering any questions you have as you fill out the forms...

[RebeccaAndPhil 5]

I adjusted from VWP as well, without a lawyer. It really wasn't that hard, stressful yes, but the forms aren't that hard to fill out, it's really only basic information that they want. I agree with the others that if you have no other issues (criminal past, overstays etc) and are willing to put the time into learning about the process, you should be fine on your own.

I never heard of anyone having an interview anywhere other than the local USCIS office, seems to me like suggesting your lawyer's office instead (if such a thing is possible!) makes you look like you have something to hide! Also, the interview for AOS will be at the USCIS office, not a consulate, I don't know if you got confused or your lawyer actually told you consulate. Anyway, educate yourself about the process and try to submit everything before the date on your I-94W (before your VWP stay expires), and like you said, if you want you can always just pay for her to look over the forms or if something comes up during the process.

She said consulate, but maybe she just got confused?? This is my other issue - even though she seems to be a well established lawyer, she said the AP was hard to get, she said she could have the interview at her office even though I've never heard of that, and she seemed to be unsure about our wedding. My boyfriend is an EMT so when he asked his boss for time off because we had decided to get married, he was only able to secure a day close to the end of November. (i.e. we're not married yet) When we said that to the lawyer, she started going on about how I should overstay and then get married, which I've heard is a bad idea? It made me a little uneasy that she said we should basically break the law so they won't be suspicious. Suspicious of what? We didn't plan to get married, it just happened, so why would we deliberately incur an overstay?

Anyway, basically I'm just not entirely comfortable with her and I also think she's charging an astronomical fee for something we could do on our own.

Yes, exactly..she sounds like a piece of work! Honestly, VJers are here to help...for free! And since we don't get anything out of helping you except sheer satisfaction of helping, we won't twist the rules around, unlike lawyers! At the very most I would have her (or actually..maybe a different immigration lawyer altogether..) look over your forms before you send them in. If you'd like I could PM you the info of the lawyer we used. He's based in texas but we actually faxed over all our forms and went over them together over the phone. He was very nice and helpful and caught a few last minute things that I missed! Just let me know