should i get an attorney to handle the K-1 visa.. or do it myself?

[confusing 5]

reading through this thread, it seems most of you did all the paper work/processing yourself. i was thinking of going through an attorney that specializes in this type of thing - do any of you veterans have an opinion on that? good idea, if i want to make sure it's done correctly / followed through?

if it's a good idea, do you recommend a specific place to go through for a K-1?

[canadian_wife 1,822]

We started with a lawyer because we hadn't heard about VJ yet. They slow up your case substantially because they have no vested interst in turning documents around quickly or even following up beyond a phone call (which you can do yourself)

After we found VJ we fired our lawyer and the process went MUCH smoother after that. Many veteran VJ members are well versed on the process.

Unless your case is particularly complicated, a lawyer is not necessary. This is a great community for support and advice

Good luck.

[confusing 5]

We started with a lawyer because we hadn't heard about VJ yet. They slow up your case substantially because they have no vested interst in turning documents around quickly or even following up beyond a phone call (which you can do yourself)

After we found VJ we fired our lawyer and the process went MUCH smoother after that. Many veteran VJ members are well versed on the process.

Unless your case is particularly complicated, a lawyer is not necessary. This is a great community for support and advice

Good luck.

i dont think the case is overly complicated or anything... im just not a great person to sit down and do paperwork (missing my t's and i's), so i was just looking for the easiest/best solution.

thanks for the advice... i assume most people here feel the same? you'd think for the $$$ these places charge they would have a semi-vested interest in getting the case turned around quickly.

[Jesserry 0]

For me, much better if you will get an attorney to help and to guide you bout the paperworks... Even us, we get an attorney who is working bout this matter for few years to help us regarding the paperworks because we really don't have knowledge bout these things of what are really needed... you need this, you need that.. what we are really avoiding is to get mistakes because one wrong move, then everything will be messed up and you need to start all over again... But it is up to you, if you know already bout what you are going to do, then you can work those paperworks by yourself but if you don't know, much better if you will get an attorney... God bless and good luck!

[baron555 934]

reading through this thread, it seems most of you did all the paper work/processing yourself. i was thinking of going through an attorney that specializes in this type of thing - do any of you veterans have an opinion on that? good idea, if i want to make sure it's done correctly / followed through?

if it's a good idea, do you recommend a specific place to go through for a K-1?

I highly recommend you go through the USCIS for your visa petition.

And the very experienced legal firm of You, Yourself, and VJ will make your process as smooth as possible.

Accept no other offers.

[sachinky 465]

If your case has no red flags and you can read/understand English and can follow instructions you can do the paperwork yourself.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

reading through this thread, it seems most of you did all the paper work/processing yourself. i was thinking of going through an attorney that specializes in this type of thing - do any of you veterans have an opinion on that? good idea, if i want to make sure it's done correctly / followed through?

if it's a good idea, do you recommend a specific place to go through for a K-1?

Here is my opinion

Attorneys who specialize in this can do nothing for you unless you do nearly all yourself anyway. There are no court actions, no appearances, no motions, no hearings, basically nothing for an a attorney to do. The process is very cut and dried and is handled completely anonymously by USCIS. There is no one to talk to (unless you count bubble brained telephone operators) and no one for an attorney to negotiate with.

You will need to fill out TWO forms. The I-129f and the G-325a (one G-325a for each you and your fiancee) Download them from this site. Start yo fill them out. You will see it is really quite easy. You know yourparents names, right? Does ANY attorney know your parents names? You will have to tell him, right? So instead of writing it down on a piece of paper for an attorney, why not write it don on the G-325a? Same for your date of birth, your address, etc.

You will then have to attach some documents to the petition. Your bbirth certificate for example. You have it, your attorney does not. You will have to collect all these documents and bring them to the attorney. he will make copies (8 cents each at Staples if you don't have a copy machine) and gove back you originals. Have we come across something you CAN'T do yet? Tell me when we do, OK?

Do you think an attorney can do this faster than you? You can stay up tonight and get it ready to put in the mail on Monday. You think an attorney will stay up late on Saturday and work on Sunday to get your petition ready for Monday?

You have to attach some evidence you have met your fiancee. Does the attorney have this? Or do you?

It is impossible for an attorney to do anything worth what they charge you. They will pay a secretary to fill out these forms using the information they get from you. You will make copies of all the documents (or they will charge you extra fees to use their copy machine) .

Now some people will say you need an attorney if your case has "problems". This is possibly true. IF your case has problems, you know this and don't need to ask. IF your case has problems it will cost you FAR MORE for an attorney than the basic "fill in the forms" cost.

My suggestion is to try it first. Download the forms, start filling them in. Read the guides and instructions. When you have done that (and you should do that even if you have an attorney, you need to be aware of this process as it will be a big part of your life for several years) and you have some specific questions...then ask them here. You will get an answer 24/7/365 in just a few minutes. Your attorney will never call you back faster.

IF any attorney even suggests they can get the petition or visa for you faster than normal, RUN!!!!!!

Good luck.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

For me, much better if you will get an attorney to help and to guide you bout the paperworks... Even us, we get an attorney who is working bout this matter for few years to help us regarding the paperworks because we really don't have knowledge bout these things of what are really needed... you need this, you need that.. what we are really avoiding is to get mistakes because one wrong move, then everything will be messed up and you need to start all over again... But it is up to you, if you know already bout what you are going to do, then you can work those paperworks by yourself but if you don't know, much better if you will get an attorney... God bless and good luck!

If an attormey tells you a mistake will cause you to start over again...RUN Many of the mistakes we read about here anre made by attorneys. This poster is (clearly) the foregin benficiary. I do NOT recommend you allow a foreign beneficiary to have much to do in this process other than sign where needed. YOU, the US citizen, a person who reads and understands English should do all necessary paperwork and ask all questions before proceeding.

However this poster has one thing correct. IF, after studying the process and reading the guides and instructions, you are still confused and determine you are unable to do this, then YES you should pay someone a lot of money to do it for you.

[Guitarlo 2]

reading through this thread, it seems most of you did all the paper work/processing yourself. i was thinking of going through an attorney that specializes in this type of thing - do any of you veterans have an opinion on that? good idea, if i want to make sure it's done correctly / followed through?

if it's a good idea, do you recommend a specific place to go through for a K-1?

I hired one of those online VISA attorney outfits called John Roth Associates. They were totally a waste of money. Not only did they screw up my forms but I wound up following and handling my own case. I basically tossed $1800 out the window for nothing. In my opinion there's no reason to hire an attorney unless you got a problem then it's questionable you even need one then. If you're unsure about the forms I suggest to hire a para legal service that will do the forms but take note they can screw it up to. When you hire an attorney all they do is take your money and pay a small hourly wage to a secretary to fill out the forms while they play golf. Maybe the most cost effective way if you have the time is tackle the forms yourself as best you can then hire a para legal to look it over before submitting.

Good luck

[sara..... 371]

we can not advise you not to use an attorney as none of us are attorneys here and can not give you legal advise........

with that being said.......we used an attorney for a couple of issues we THOUGHT we needed an attorney for neither of those issues were addressed in the petition.....we ended up being the ones that have aggressively fought for our case......our attorney has not helped us with anything other than send the original petition to csc...that we filled out and gave him....because those two issues were not addressed in our original petition we are now on AP at embassy after the interview.....my fiance was grilled over the issue and no attention was really given to our case.......we have contacted the attorney MANY times feeling he could earn his money at least at this stage of the process and never heard back from him or anyone in his office.......if i had found vj before hiring the attorney i fully feel that we would already be married here in the USA and our life would be moving forward...........

just my opinion

sara

[SuperDuper! 230]

I consulted an immigration atty at one point, just because I have a pre-paid legal plan, and can sue at the drop of a hat

But let me tell you, this atty was USELESS and even didn't catch a simple error that caused an initial RFE on the 129f.

It's so true and consistent here when folks tell of their USELESS and EXPENSIVE experiences with immigration lawyers to help you file a visa petition.

Only if you have complications, legal convictions, questionable character or going thru a difficult consulate with mind-numbing cultural requirements and guranteed AP/AR, then consider getting an immigration atty.

Just DYI here, but ignore the windbags, weirdos and blowhards.

Good luck and happy life!

[cca 13]

Do it yourself!!!!

I did, you just need to take the time to read through it and understand it all. Lawyers are a waste of money

[belinda63 3,038]

You will have to provide to the attorney every piece of information required for the forms and all copies of required documents. All the attorney, or usually his office staff does is copy the information you provided onto the proper forms and submit it with the required documents you provided.

So why not put the information on the forms yourself, avoid the middle man, and save the money for a vacation when your fiance gets here?

[confusing 5]

thanks so much for the information everyone. i will attempt to do this myself.. given all the advice here.

i was reading over the wiki here, and it seems our case is straight forward... the only thing im concerned about is the "medical exam" what exactly are they looking for during the exam? she has lupus, will that hinder our application in any way?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

we can not advise you not to use an attorney as none of us are attorneys here and can not give you legal advise........

Actually, there are a few attorney's trolling these boards and other people in the legal field, however they will NOT give you personalised legal advice, just general interpretation of the laws etc. Just an FYI.

Whether you hire an attorney is up to you but I know that the secretaries that do the job usually have many other cases, phones to answer, mail to respond to and clients to talk to. Depending on the firm they can also have set timeframes for things and so "rush" to make sure things are completed in the time allotted for such a project. If you get a firm that's use to handling the forms then they will know what they need, the information they need etc BUT as stated, they're taking the information probably from a pre-filled form that the attorney filled in during your consultation. YOU provide them with the information but THEY make sure that you've included all the documents that they're used to handing in. If your case is a little bit different, they don't always notice that in your case X should have been included but the good ones do.

Also as stated, you will work on weekends and they won't. They will fill in your paperwork in the order in which the work is given to the secretary. S/he might have a Will to type up, or a letter or something for another case. You paperwork COULD sit in her in tray for a couple of days (depending on her workload). If there's a deadline they will of course make sure it's in by the deadline, but they won't be thinking "lets get this done ASAP" like you do. They WILL slow you down, not because they're bad at their job, or malicious, but because you are not their only client and they have obligations to their other clients too.

If time is not a problem for you, then employ one. Maybe you could fill in the paperwork yourself and instead speak with the attorney for advice on your case and to "proof-read" what you've done, but again, they only know if it's wrong if you TELL them your info in the first place... maybe they could confirm what documents you need to include specific to your case but as stated, unless you have a difficult case then they're really not worth it.