DO WE NEED TO HIRE A IMMIGRATION LAWYER

[Krishna2 0]

I sm Green Card Holder and got married in USA in February 2rd and left to Malaysia on February 11th with my wife. My wife is from Malaysia and I am from Sri Lanka. She came to USA under student Visa and her visa was going to expire in February 13th. She did not want to enroll in another program.I have just returned from Malaysia.

Now I am planning to File 1-130 form. Is it necessary to hire a immigration lawyer? I had very bad experiences, when I applied for my Employment based Green Card.

Members opinions are highly appreciated.

Krishna

[aaron2020 11,651]

Most people here do not use a lawyer.

It's up to you to decide between educating yourself and file on your own or hire a lawyer to file for you.

It takes 2-3 years for an LPR to petition for a spouse.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I sm Green Card Holder and got married in USA in February 2rd and left to Malaysia on February 11th with my wife. My wife is from Malaysia and I am from Sri Lanka. She came to USA under student Visa and her visa was going to expire in February 13th. She did not want to enroll in another program.I have just returned from Malaysia.

Now I am planning to File 1-130 form. Is it necessary to hire a immigration lawyer? I had very bad experiences, when I applied for my Employment based Green Card.

Members opinions are highly appreciated.

Krishna

If you are of reasonable intelligence, can understand the forms and instructions, and are willing to invest the time required to learn how to do this properly, then you don't need a lawyer. In fact, most people who spend the time to educate themselves usually do it better and faster than a lawyer could because they pay close attention to the details and catch mistakes that a lawyer might miss, and they don't have to deal with the three-way transmission of documents; you <-> lawyer <-> USCIS.

Another issue with some lawyers is that they are extremely busy, and focus their energies on the most difficult (and highest paying) cases. They leave the routine cases to their administrative and paralegal assistants. Many VJ members who have hired attorneys have ended up getting RFE's for some really boneheaded mistakes that a competent lawyer should never have made.