Immigration service recommendation please

[2step 0]

Hello, I live north of Boston and would like a recommendation of an immigration service. I see many offering this service (especially on this site). I am on a tight budget, so cost is also a factor. I am not sure how important having a local service is. Perhaps it is not. My fiance lives in the Philippines. thanks!

[Inky 1,111]

You will not find someone cheap. They are lawyers.

You can do it yourself cheaper. This website is a self help website. It has all the guides and information listed as well as links and you can post questions if you have them.

Unless you or the beneficiary have some kind of criminal history or drug history or anything that may be considered a red flag. Save yourself thousands of dollars, screw ups, and time and just use VJ to file your papers etc.

A lawyer does not have the time that you do to check things over and make sure everything is there and correct. There are many posts on this forum about how badly lawyers messed up and caused huge issues or very long delays even getting paperwork denied.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Unless you have issues with you or your fiances ( criminal backgrounds or overstays ) you can probably do a better job yourself using guides here. No one cares more about getting the petition right than you and you are way cheaper.

[Otto 83]

Most folks (here on Visajourney) are the DYI kinds - the immigration process doesn't necessarily require a 'service' - you can do it yourself if you follow the Guides outlined in the links above.

Is there a particular reason you feel you might need professional assistance?

[DoneWaiting 15]

I will assume you are looking to process/request a K-1 visa for your fiance? or what type of services you need?

Money is really tight everywhere and if you can save it by doing it yourself this is the right site. As long as you and your fiance status require no special attention.

This is the site and people that can guide you. You will need to dedicate some good time to read thought and ask as many questions.. Many will give you answers but it requires dedication from you..

Hello, I live north of Boston and would like a recommendation of an immigration service. I see many offering this service (especially on this site). I am on a tight budget, so cost is also a factor. I am not sure how important having a local service is. Perhaps it is not. My fiance lives in the Philippines. thanks!

[Sarah&Michael 2]

We did hire a lawyer and what he said was that it was going to be as fast as possible. It took less than 4 months to get our NOA2 and we didn't have any RFEs, that's what he said it would happen. But I agree, you can do it on your own, in fact, if we had found this site beore sending everything, we wouldn't have had a lawyer I think.

Good look with your application, everybody here is so nice and the experienced people are always willing to share and help

[yellow_flower 2]

Hello, I live north of Boston and would like a recommendation of an immigration service. I see many offering this service (especially on this site). I am on a tight budget, so cost is also a factor. I am not sure how important having a local service is. Perhaps it is not. My fiance lives in the Philippines. thanks!

hi 2step,

my name is Julie aka yellow_flower in VJ. pls advise your fiancee to look up the group PRETTY LADIES (VJ members) in Facebook. there are a lot of us there and we guide the newbies on what to do (whether its K1 or CR1). its like a mini visajourney.com but specifically for Filipinas.

OR, you may let me know your fiancee's name in Facebook so I could look her up. don't worry, no charges here. we just want to see a fellow Filipina happy

you don't need to spend anything. we'll help you all the way. plus your fiancee will be able to find friends even if she hasn't arrived in US soil yet.

regards!

Julie

Kirksville, Missouri

[baron555 934]

Most folks here used the firm of "Me, Myself & I"

They are very helpful and reasonable. They are guaranteed to provide the quickest and cheapest way to do the filings.

[pushbrk 12,979]

People who do not know YOU, don't know what YOU are capable of. If you have excellent English skills and the time patience and ability to read carefully, interpret literally and answer questions accurately, there's a good chance you'll be successful managing your own process. If you decide to hire professional help, IMO, there is no real advantage to them being local. Most of your interaction will be by phone and email anyway.

[Casprd 167]

If you decide to hire professional help, IMO, there is no real advantage to them being local. Most of your interaction will be by phone and email anyway.

I agree 100%. If you hire an immigration service/lawyer, look at what is available in the Philippines. The immigration services there will have more country specific knowledge than one in the US and be significantly less expensive. The attorney we are using in China is about 1/3 the cost of even the cheapest attorney here and he has kept us from making a few mistakes already. The folks on VJ are very helpful but sometimes you get conflicting info that makes it more confusing. If you have a problem that requires their help later it will be more expensive to try to engage them in the middle of the process. But, even with the service, you have to be actively involved. Double and triple check everything.

Good Luck.

[2step 0]

Wow, I am overwhelmed with the many responses. Thank you all for doing so. I have lived in the US all my life and have a perfectly clean criminal record. It was my understanding that a service was more likely to get the job done quicker and with less problems. Based on comments here, I will proceed on my own.

Julie, thanks for the tip on FB group Pretty Ladies. I will have my fiance look into it.

thanks again, Paul

[jkelly07 120]

a good printer adobe reader,you can down all the example forms,read the vj guides, wiki guides, ask the vj members questions,save yourself hundreds of dollars.

[Daniel&Theary 30]

Like most people who use an attorney had I found this site before hiring him I would not but if you feel you can not do it yourself(try first) I used http://www.californialawyerspro.com/lawyer-attorney-1354278.html every thing is done online but he charges 550 with out filing fees. He is good answers all my questions and if your visa is not approved he refunds your money as long as you do not try to deceive the USCIS. He does ask alot of questions up front to find out your chances of being approved. (save on refunds) That is only for k1 initial filings and then the packet 3 and 4. He charges another 900 to do AOS plus fees But know that I am on here I will do that part myself with the help of some very smart people on here Its nice to see so many people willing to help each other kinds reminds you of how America use to be back in the day lol

[Richie Rich 70]

Hello, I live north of Boston and would like a recommendation of an immigration service. I see many offering this service (especially on this site). I am on a tight budget, so cost is also a factor. I am not sure how important having a local service is. Perhaps it is not. My fiance lives in the Philippines. thanks!

If you are filing for a k1 VISA --I can do it for u for a 12 pk of Corona