Has anyone hired this immigration lawyer?

[Danilu 11]

Although I've told my fiancé that we can do the entire process by ourselves, he wants to hire an immigration lawyer to help him with the petition, but I have my doubts about it after all the stories I've read here!...

I want to know if someone here in VJ has hired this immigration lawyer in the past : his name is David Gonzalez and his office is located in CA.

Thanks in advance!

[brightskte 18]

Unless you've got a complicated case, hiring ANY lawyer is a waste of money and time. Does your fiance know that chances are, that lawyer is going to take longer to send your petition out than it would if you did it yourselves? Seriously, think about it. We're all so excited to get that petition out TODAY, like RIGHT NOW. But the lawyer is thinking that maybe he'll ditch out early today to get dinner, then tomorrow he's got meetings, but maybe the next day after that he'll finally have his assistant send your packet out. Every single piece of information that his assistant(cause lets face it, he's not going to do it himself) inputs into that form will have to come from you and your fiance. There's nothing they can do to make it go smoother, or faster and they can't even attend the interview with you. So basically, you're paying someone hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars to type some words onto a form. You, on the other hand, aren't going to get paid diddly squat and you'll have to be doing all the running--getting the birth certificates, divorce decrees, passport photos, evidence of relationship, and gathering all of that other precious information. What's the point? You could save yourself hundreds, and go on a really awesome honeymoon once this is over.

I would never, ever tell a person that truly needed one to not get a lawyer. But for 95% of us, and maybe even an additional 3% who didn't need one, but got one(and maybe got scorned), lawyers are a useless waste of time and money.

[Cathey & Paul 0]

obtaining a immigration lawyer is not necessary. if you have prior visa issues yes by all means retain them. If you do not if you follow the steps and look at the forum you will be able to compile the information and get it done... do you really want to spend that much more ?

[GJen 9]

No lawyers!.. love, patience, faith and Visa journey is all you need.... At first this process seems scary and a bit complicated! but believe me things will be okay.. and even if something comes up on the way.. you can always come and ask whatever you need here.. we've got some real good and smart folks here willing to help!.. so dont feel alone!

like other people have mentioned before.. if you have a complicated case.. then yeah a lawyer would be needed.. if not!.. GET STARTED!

GOOd luck!

[Robert B 1]

I consulted with a lawyer since I was thinking about getting one. It cost us $300 just to speak to her, she gave us some good pointers, and she gave us a checklist of what we needed to gather. It was pointless for us, all the information is on this site.

Also think about this. Who knows you best? You.... So when a paralegal is typing your names in, he/she doesn't know if it is spelled correctly, there is just so much information to be transfered there are bound to be some mistakes made in the transcription from what you provide them, to the USCIS forms.

I say, unless you've got a more complicated case than most (and you would know if that was the case), you can do it yourself. Also I have heard of stories where the lawyer is horrible at getting back to you etc.

When I was at the interview today, there was a lawyer there with her clients (and I don't know their story). But she was just prepping them through and through for all the questions (I think they think that they have to make you believe that what your paying for is worth it) and through all this prep I think a lot of people overestimate the interview and work themselves up. If your marriage is legit, and you have nothing to hide...easy case.

[KayDeeCee 4,895]

If you have a straight forward average run-of-the-mill case, then you won't need a lawyer to go through Juarez. If you do have a case where you need a lawyer, such as you need a waiver, then you should check with the immigrate2us.net site. I have no experience with hiring an immigration lawyer, so I am no help to your actual question, sorry.

[J&N* 68]

You don't need a lawyer, unless you really know you'll be denied, we'll all help you here! I've read some horror stories about lawyers, they give you wrong information, they don't update you on things, they file your forms with lots of mistakes and they'll cost you an arm and a leg!

K1 is EASY! It really is once you're done with it, it's a few paperwork and a few trips for the beneficiary... show our replies to your fiancé.

Go ahead and start learning about the process, it'll grow on you. Good luck. We'll all be here for you.

[keka 1]

Dont do t!!!! im with my almost husband in Boston and we dont need a lawyer to do this! Just concentrate in what are you doing . . i post a lot of questions in VJ and they help me a lot!!! We are doing everything like the guides said and we are so good now!! Looking for places to the wedding!!

you can do it with VJ guides and the help of all of us!! Im mexican too , so i can understand you!!! If i can help , ask me! Im sure that many people here want to help if they can too

Good luck!!! :luv:

[twowls 217]

I don't know anything about the lawyer you're considering, so can't help you there.

If you insist on having a lawyer, just remember that you need to be on top of the process--potentially even moreso than if you were doing it yourself, because there's another link in the chain where mistakes can happen.

You are essentially doing all the work you'd have to do anyway, then delivering it to an agent who will fill in the boxes--hopefully correctly, who knows--and seal the envelope. The lawyer simply cannot handle most of the legwork--it's all stuff you must do personally.

So get one if you're going to get one, but just make sure you don't think, "There, I don't have to worry now." Expect to monitor and review your lawyer's work, expect timing to be outside of your control, and don't be surprised if there are hiccups, errors or delays.

Everyone makes mistakes, even seasoned lawyers. People like to use VJ instead of a lawyer for simple cases because the collective body of experience here covers every knowledge gap and the wisdom and information tends to be much more comprehensive than that of any single individual. Also because having a lawyer does not reduce the workload to any significant degree.

Basically, you're outsourcing the portion of the work that is least burdensome, but that is most vulnerable to careless errors. Very few people here think that makes sense. Have your fiance read these responses and see what he thinks.

[dakay ♥ 10]

The general advice is that "normal" cases (relatively simple cases with no obvious red flags) do not normally need a lawyer. Red flags include previous criminal records, previous encounters with USCIS/CBP/ICE that were in some way complicated or ended badly.

If your case is nice and simple, a lawyer is 99.999999999% not necessary.

[UKGirl123 24]

My fiance and I used a lawyer for the k-1 but are doing our AOS alone.

Our lawyer did make some spelling errors but it was our responisbility for us to check for errors.

I think the initial preperation of the forms would have taken longer if we had done them ourselves and some of the forms I filled out our lawyer told me I did wrong and I had to redo them - so I guess we avoided a RFE.

Yes it is costly, yes it is an extra link in the chain, yes you can do it yourself but my fiance and I used a lawyer to help with the stress and the piece of mind that they had templates etc and we got through the process without any issues.

Hope this helps, you just have to weigh up the pro's and con's I guess, but VJ does have the answers to 99.9% of questions you could possibly ask and the guides are great.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

It all comes down to whether or not you want to spend money to have someone fill out some paperwork for you. Yes, they have templates, and that's excellent ... however, there are example forms here on VJ. And a lawyer that doesn't know you or your fiance isn't going to catch little errors, like a missing letter in a last name or an address spelled incorrectly, or details of your relationship. You are essentially trusting someone else to fill out questions that only you know the answers to.

I am not sure how this gives peace of mind to anyone, in fact I'd probably be more paranoid because it wouldn't be ME preparing the package, but to each their own, I guess. I see it as an unnecessary expense and the chance of someone else making an error regarding your life is greater than you making the error yourself.

[lucky Jimmy 7]

Lawyers are scum and useless in your situation. Dont give the greedy b@#$%rds a penny.

[nickbits 43]

I am helping a couple with their K1 becuase their laywer had told them wrong info, and even w/o the mistake, they they have not been happy with them at all.

I think if you are the type of person who files their own taxes, you should have no trouble doing it yourself.

[Ryan H 3,819]

When my fiancee and I were about to start the K1 process and even though our case was straightforward, I considered hiring an attorney. Maybe I was overthinking things, but I had arrived at a point to where I was feeling behind in the game, overmatched, and needing reinforcements. That feeling was based on reading the experiences of others. Ultimately, I was not able to afford the attorney I was considering hiring. As a result, different course (CR-1 instead of K1) was charted; that course will be navigated without the use of an attorney.

To the OP, I wish you the best on yoru journey.