Lawyer vs doing it alone

[JaDe26 0]

Hello I would like to ask if any of you have used a laywer or some kind of serive to file a k1 visa?

here is my situation:

i am a 22 year old filipina, but was born and raised in the U.S. Went on vacation at 17 & met a great guy so decided to go to school in the Philippines to be with him. We've been together for 5 years and now have a 1 year old daughter. I finally graduated so I'm heading back to Virginia with our daughter. Rodel & I are not married because we decided that I graduate first. My question is, is there any way I can file the petition while I am still in the Philippines? & is it advisable to use a service? Pls help me, my daughter and I will really miss him. I'm just really looking for the best route. Thanks

[tijuanahilton 0]

You can really do everything yourself without an attorney, using this website, unless your fiance has some sort of overstay, illegal entry, etc. Just read the forums on this site thoroughly, and save yourself the $$$

[Aly and Randy 0]

Hello I would like to ask if any of you have used a laywer or some kind of serive to file a k1 visa?

here is my situation:

i am a 22 year old filipina, but was born and raised in the U.S. Went on vacation at 17 & met a great guy so decided to go to school in the Philippines to be with him. We've been together for 5 years and now have a 1 year old daughter. I finally graduated so I'm heading back to Virginia with our daughter. Rodel & I are not married because we decided that I graduate first. My question is, is there any way I can file the petition while I am still in the Philippines? & is it advisable to use a service? Pls help me, my daughter and I will really miss him. I'm just really looking for the best route. Thanks

YES you can do it on your own without a laywer!

Best of luck!

[nickm 1]

Unless there are red flags in either of your history then no worries, do it yourself. Just be thourough.

[Kikay K 1]

Hi! We didn't get any lawyer or agency. It's very simple and straighforward. At first, I was scared, too, and wanted to get legal services just to make sure that everything will go smoothly, but I read some info on the net saying that you can really do it on your own, especially if you don't have any legal problems like tijuanahilton mentioned. No offense meant to the agencies/lawyers here... sorry, but just sharing some personal advice :-) If you pay an agency/lawyer, they'll basically just tell you what to do, and you will have to gather all the documents yourself, anyway. The step-by-step process is available on the net, and there are tons here on VJ, and a lot of VJ'ers can give you very sound advice. Then with an agency/lawyer, you will submit your package to them for review, which will take several days, and I've read posts on VJ that their lawyer actually made the mistakes! Either they missed something or mailed the package to the wrong address. Ugh. Meaning, we all make mistakes sometimes. BUT if you complete the docs required and you review all your documents at least 3 times (you and your fiance will review them), you won't have any problems. Just make sure everything they asked for in the K1 list is in the package, properly signed and dated. If you make minor mistakes or miss some documents in your K1 application, USCIS won't reject you, they will just send you a request for evidence (RFE), then you will send the additional docs to them, entailing some delays of an average of 1-4 weeks. But nevertheless, RFEs can be avoided with careful planning and review! Good luck!