To-Do List with Lawyer

[senzaflash 0]

Hello everyone, I am at the very beginning of the K-1 process. I am very happy to have VisaJourney in my life - I've learned so much by reading this forums and the FAQs in the past few weeks. My fiance (from Denmark) and I (USC) have decided to hire a lawyer, who we trust and who comes highly recommended.

I've been reading the forums for a few weeks now. I know that many people think that retaining an attorney is a pointless expense, and while I understand that opinion, I'm happy with our decision. However, since this places a layer between us and the K-1 process, I was hoping people who have been through this, with or without a lawyer, might let me know about things that we - the USC and the K-1 beneficiary - should do / check up on during the process in addition to our lawyer's work. For example, I've seen in some of the forums that you can register on the USCIS website to track your case there - can someone link me to a description of how to do this?

I'm very interested in any advice about moving through this process with an attorney, or really any advice at all if you feel there's something that's not well covered elsewhere on the site!

Thank you, I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Lisa

[pushbrk 12,618]

Hello everyone, I am at the very beginning of the K-1 process. I am very happy to have VisaJourney in my life - I've learned so much by reading this forums and the FAQs in the past few weeks. My fiance (from Denmark) and I (USC) have decided to hire a lawyer, who we trust and who comes highly recommended.

I've been reading the forums for a few weeks now. I know that many people think that retaining an attorney is a pointless expense, and while I understand that opinion, I'm happy with our decision. However, since this places a layer between us and the K-1 process, I was hoping people who have been through this, with or without a lawyer, might let me know about things that we - the USC and the K-1 beneficiary - should do / check up on during the process in addition to our lawyer's work. For example, I've seen in some of the forums that you can register on the USCIS website to track your case there - can someone link me to a description of how to do this?

I'm very interested in any advice about moving through this process with an attorney, or really any advice at all if you feel there's something that's not well covered elsewhere on the site!

Thank you, I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Lisa

USCIS.gov and go to the case status link. Unless there's a problem, all you're going to get is an email and/or text that your petition is approved.

[Miranda&John 0]

We have a lawyer for the AOS process. While I enjoy the piece of mind having a lawyer brings, I did find it useful to check up on the case myself. Before we filed, I was in regular communication with the lawyer to make sure that everything was put together. I signed up on the USCIS website to keep an eye on the progress. If I had any questions, I would contact both my lawyer and USCIS and usually the truth lay between what each of them told me

[twowls 217]

Once you get your NOA1, you can use the WAC number found on it to register for updates through USCIS.com. The tabs are on the left for checking case status. Once your case is in the system, you can click the number and it will show your timeline of events. Just don't get married to the idea you'll get a reliable text every time something happens. It'####### or miss, although I received an email when my NOA2 was on its way.

Not going to fight with you about the lawyer thing, but may I ask why you decided on one? Is it a more complex case than most?

[senzaflash 0]

Once you get your NOA1, you can use the WAC number found on it to register for updates through USCIS.com. The tabs are on the left for checking case status. Once your case is in the system, you can click the number and it will show your timeline of events. Just don't get married to the idea you'll get a reliable text every time something happens. It'####### or miss, although I received an email when my NOA2 was on its way.

Not going to fight with you about the lawyer thing, but may I ask why you decided on one? Is it a more complex case than most?

It's definitely not a more complicated case than most (at least I don't think) - neither of us has ever been married before, no kids, and we met when he was in the US on a J-1 visa, so we had about 7 months together before he had to go back to DK. Basically, our situation is that we consulted 2 attorneys to figure out what our options were, and the first one strongly suggested we plan a visa waiver marriage. We really didn't know how illegal that was then, and it was our plan until we consulted a second lawyer and found VisaJourney. I think a lot of immigration lawyers advise visa waiver marriage which is just bad - the lawyer we spoke to came highly recommended and didn't mention AT ALL that what she was suggesting was fraud. But the whole experience and the fact that we almost went through with it shook us both up a bit. We're anxious people and just want everything to go smoothly, so we've made this decision. I know we could probably do it on our own, esp with the help of VJ, but this is the decision we've made.