Questions about lawyers and the military

[carolineden11 2]

Is a lawyer really necessary to apply for a K1 visa? My fiance is convinced that we can do this ourselves but I am not so sure. He's in the military so he is used to filing government paperwork and thinks we will be fine. What is the advantage of a lawyer? Are there common mistakes that people make when they try to file the forms themselves? Also, does anyone else have a military fiance? What happens if he cannot be contacted for a chunk of time while he is deployed?

[Dodi 69]

If you look at my post "Immigration Attorney Rant" you'll see some of the pitfalls of hiring an attorney.

Of course if you have special circumstances requiring a waiver of any kind, criminal history, etc., then by all means hire an attorney. But I hired an attorney, not realizing how easy this process can be, and I'm regretting it. If you've got a pretty straightforward case, there's no reason to waste the money.

There are so many helpful people on this forum going through the same thing you are, and with the guides and sample forms, it is such an easy thing to do on your own. Don't waste hundreds, or maybe even thousands of dollars on an attorney to have them do something you're perfectly capable of doing on your own. You're going to give them all of the information they'll use to fill in the forms, and that's if they don't make you fill them in yourself.

Save your money for your wedding and your future. Do your homework here, and other forums online if you like, and ask plenty of questions if you get confused on anything. We're all available to help anytime, and there's probably no situation you could be in that hasn't been seen here at some point. Feel free to add friends and send messages if you don't feel comfortable posting everything here.

Welcome to Visa Journey, and GOOD LUCK!!!

Edited July 25, 2010 by Dodi

[Indy90 21]

Is a lawyer really necessary to apply for a K1 visa? My fiance is convinced that we can do this ourselves but I am not so sure. He's in the military so he is used to filing government paperwork and thinks we will be fine. What is the advantage of a lawyer? Are there common mistakes that people make when they try to file the forms themselves? Also, does anyone else have a military fiance? What happens if he cannot be contacted for a chunk of time while he is deployed?

The general consensus here is that a lawyer is not necessary, unless you have a complicated case. A GOOD lawyer can be helpful if you do not want to spend the time learning how to do it yourself. Sure, there are far too many common mistakes that it would be impossible to name them all, but a GOOD lawyer could help you avoid them. But, if you do your homework here on VJ, you should avoid those mistakes. I will tell you that many people here initially hired a lawyer who subsequently messed everything up...just because someone is a lawyer does not mean that they are well versed in immigration law. If you pick the wrong one, that lawyer could very well end up making a lot of mistakes.

In summary, it is entirely possible to do the K1 by yourself, mistake free, but if you do not mind spending the money and do not want to spend the time, a good lawyer could be helpful.

[lesleysizeland 0]

My fiance is in the military and we completed all the forms ourselves. Is your fiance due to be deployed? A lot of the information (after the NOA2) he could get off the internet and post to you. For example i needed W2's, pay slips which Patrick emailed to me. Again, is he due to be deployed cause if so i could think of a couple of things you may need to get off him before he goes. If he is not due to go anywhere do not hire an attorney, use the knowledge of VJ, we have all gone through this and can talk you through the forms.....trust me they are pretty simple.

We looked into hiring an attorney and when i found this site i decided to tackle them myself and i am so glad i did and saved the money to go towards my wedding :-)

[carolineden11 2]

Thank you all for the reassurance. People I have talked to made it sound impossible to do this if you didn't hire a lawyer. My fiance is pretty smart though (and so am I) so I'm sure we can do this ourselves especially with the support of this website. I just wanted to see what the majority of people are doing.

To answer your question lesleysizeland, my fiance is about to be deployed in about a month and a half. He's a pilot so he is usually gone for 2 months then back for 3. I heard there is a way to speed up the process if your fiance is about to deploy. Have you heard anything about this? He should have internet access at the deployment location but sometimes it's very limited.