Would it be faster processing with a lawyer

[lsantiago 0]

i filed a I-130 for my husbad on may 3, 2013 and iam waiting for the NOA2. People tell me that having a lawyer speeds things up. is that ture

thanks for your responses

[Mark88 184]

USCIS does NOT give priority to an application filed with a laywer. All of the immigration stuff is pretty much straight forward, and you save a lot of $ doing it on yourself with help of VJ.

[BethAnn and Omar 42]

No!!! In my case it delayed things. My lawyer held on to my I130 petition for a few months before filing it. Then he made a mistake of not sending in payment to the NVC when he sent in my AOS package which set us back as well. We would have gotten an October interview date instead of November.

I think he was helpful in terms of filling out the paperwork but that's it. Definitely doesn't speed up the process in my opinion but other's may feel differently. Oh we still got an RFE on our I130 petition. He never advised me to frontload my application. Ugh!!

[dwheels76 5,469]

i filed a I-130 for my husbad on may 3, 2013 and iam waiting for the NOA2. People tell me that having a lawyer speeds things up. is that ture

thanks for your responses

There is a thread now on this very subject and no a lawyer doesn;t speed things up. Has nothing to do with having a lawyer.

here's a thread on your very question.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/463758-what-are-some-experiences-others-have-had-with-using-a-lawyer-does-it-make-the-process-faster/page-2#entry6627141

[HK12 273]

Lawyers do not speed up anything. If you do a bit of research, you will see lots of threads on here where lawyers have actually delayed cases. Save the money and DIY.

[Jon and Krissy 452]

No. Don't get a lawyer. If anything it will slow you down, and cost you a lot of money into the 'bargain'.

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

No.

But you may need a Lawyer for highbrow raising raising situation.

[Ms Hogan 295]

The advice above is all based on you not needing a lawyer. If for some reason you do need a lawyer for your process due to previous bans or criminal charges that need to be addressed, then yes, you may very well need or at least benefit from having a lawyer. However, if you have a straight-forward case with no extraordinary concerns then it is most often found to be faster to do it yourself. The information on this site gives you everything you need to know in order to prepare and complete your process. Again, this is if you have a straight forward case without any complications to deal with. Most of the posts regarding lawyers will show you that it often takes longer for them to process anything simply because they don't know YOUR answers without asking you. They also don't have the personal sense of urgency to be reunited with their loved one. You can get ahead of the game and prepare along the way whereas they likely won't address something until it's right in front of them waiting.

Most people on the boards here will support the idea of doing it yourself, if of course, your situation allows for it!

Good luck with your journey!

[Avery Cates 1,141]

Unless you have red flags to contend with, there is 0 purpose to having a lawyer. All they will do is take your money, and probably slow down the process if anything. Don't but into any promises that one can speed things up for you. They cannot. Any "inquiries" they make regarding your case is just them calling the same phone number and talking to the same people you would. The only thing they really do is fill out paperwork. That's literally it. If you want to pay someone thousands of dollars to do that, and in all likelihood not do it very well, that's a decision you have to make, but I join the others in advising against it.

[Dave & Letty 1]

I wouldn't profess to understand all of the ins and outs of how these various agencies work, but I would expect that the key is to provide complete and accurate information, and follow all of the instructions carefully. Be meticulous about your application, check and double check everything. If you're not the meticulous careful type, a lawyer or a close friend with good organizational skills could be helpful.

Finding the "instructions" was our big concern until we found VisaJourney. We found the information here to be more clear and complete than what I got from a local lawyer, so we decided to do it ourselves with the help of this community. We followed the checklist for the I-129F package to the letter, and so far things have gone very smoothly.

I'll also echo some advice I've seen on here several times - try to prepare ahead of time for each step. Some of these forms and requirements require you to gather a lot of information or evidence (or to get some advice about how to answer - not all of the questions are clear) and it can get pretty stressful if you're trying to do it in a rush.

Good luck and best wishes!