Just starting the K-1 process. Lawyer needed? Fees?

[baron555 934]

Hi, all. I'm new, and confused! I live in the US and my fiancé is from Canada. We just visited an attorney and were given the fees as follows:

Attorney flat fee: $2100

Adjustment of status: $1080

Filing fee per person: $1300 (=$2,600)

In the end she is expecting over $6,000 from us.

Does this make any sense? I've not seen anywhere where any site says that it will cost over 1,000 dollars per person to file. Our case is pretty straight forward and we're wondering if we would be better off hiring someone to prepare the documents, or do it ourselves, rather than hire a lawyer.

I've done a fair amount of research so far, but am still having trouble with these particular concerns.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I'll charge you 1/3 that price ! If you do it yourself, you can charge yourself whatever you want!

Big scam just to have your overall petition delayed.

[jose_leti 7]

I'm thinking of becoming a k1 lawyer, exclusively handling straight forward i-129f petitions/AOS. They make a bunch load of money on sending the papers you filled out and documents/evidence you collected for them.

With lawyer, the petition(i-129f, the first stage only) and lawyer fees will cost you.. 3740 dollars or something similar.

Without the lawyer, the petition(i-129f, the first stage only) will cost you.. 340 dollars (plus shipping it through mail). PLus you'll get the notifications directly from USCIS.

When your case is straight forward, save that lawyer fee, put it into an account and use it for the later fees you're going to run into. Medical, a neat honeymoon, AOS, an extra car after arriving in the US, or anything unforseen.

However, if you're more comfortable with having a lawyer, then go for it. From my own personal aspect, I'd be freaking out if somebody else was in control of my immigration journey. If anybody makes a mistake, I'd rather I'd be me not checking a box instead of an attourney.

if your fiance has no criminal record and you dont have any criminal record. do it yourself. check out the guides here on visajourney. i filed my k1 myself with no lawyer. the visajourney team is here to help. were a great family.

[tigey 10]

I did mine myself following the guides here, its very simple, just make sure you check and recheck and you will be good. WARNING: A good friend of mine used a lawyer for his AOS. The lawyer charged him over $2k and made a mistake, so it was sent back. the lawyer charged him AGAIN for an additional submit as well as extra bogus fees. The lawyer wrote his address as the mailing address for the green card. So when it came, it went to him, and he withheld the GC until my friend paid all the extra unjust charges because at that point he was so frustrated he just wanted to get the GC.

[BB2012 0]

Hi Saralan,

My partner will also be filing for a K-1 visa from Portland, Oregon. We're still tossing up to hire a lawyer or do this ourselves. Who was the paralegal you used? I'm in Perth, Australia and can't wait to get to Portland again.

Thanks

Belinda

[JNC69 0]

Hi there,'I also hire Lawrence R Holmes, Immigration Attorney for my CR1 visa we almost reach to the end now. Now we are at the NVC reviewing our case and waiting to call upon for interview. What is next for the fee bill? My wife still not yet go through her medical check up. Please advise. Thanks

[TBoneTX 46,276]

Two-year-old thread closed. The most recent poster above can look in the CR-1 Guide (link to the Guides is atop any VJ page) and for relevant threads in the CR-1 Process forum.