Did you guys hire someone to help with the AOS?

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

Well this is going to sound weird coming from me considering I am in my first year of law school with intentions of becoming an immigration lawyer myself but...

No, I do not think you need a lawyer.

AOS isn't any more complicated than the K-1 process really, and unless you have some out of the ordinary situation, just submit the right forms and you should have no issues.

I'm glad certain people have had positive experiences with their lawyers, since I have heard many horror stories from others, but as mentioned before it will not get you through the process any quicker.

For the average person filing for AOS from a K-1, the main function of a lawyer is reassurance and basically a placebo sort of thing. A very expensive placebo.

My advice is to start the process yourself, ask for help on the forums and consult other sources, and then if at any point you really REALLY feel like you need professional assistance, then seek out someone.

Don't waste the money for something that may be easier than it seems in the end.

And yeah, youtube and google. Seriously, I use both of them as often as I ask my legal professors for advice.

Edited January 29, 2016 by MorganandMichael

[Tina&Seb 10]

We did the entire process ourselves from the K1 to AOS. As someone said above, if you are careful and meticulous it is very possible to do this on your own, it just takes time and some research.

[Ischnura 285]

It isn't too difficult to assemble the whole package yourself. After hours of sifting through threads on here for all the millions of questions I had, lots of post-its and plenty of printer ink later I'm about finished assembling ours. Just be sure to triple check you've filled in all the appropriate boxes (the guides and example forms help tremendously), that you've signed and dated everything and included all of the supporting documentation you have and you'll be set

[BirdyGirl85 23]

My husband and I did everything ourselves.

From K-1, to AOS, ROC and now Naturalization. (Which my husband is almost done with, his naturalization interview is next Tuesday, we're guessing his oath will be in March)

To be honest it was all pretty easy... You just fill out some forms, gather documents (and make photo copies of them to send in) and photos... Then you organize everything with a cover sheet and send the package off in the mail with a check or money order... I did some research at times of course, pretty much mostly here on Visa Journey, and if we ever had any questions, it was great to be able to post here and get answers to your questions! (Or sometimes I would find the answer to our question by just searching here on Visa Journey, finding other people who asked the same question in the past) But to be honest I thought all of this was fairly easy. We never had any RFE's, so I feel we did everything right so far, haha.

[Dashinka 24,110]

As many have said already, using a lawyer is a personal and financial choice and it is hard to make a comparison as those that did it themselves without a lawyer and those that used a lawyer don't really know how things would have turned out if they had done it differently. There are horror stories and successes both ways so to me it seems to really depend on your specific case (complicated or not) and your own level of self-confidence or anxiety. I tend to side with the DIYers and in fact completed everything ourselves up to this point with no issues. I don't know if a lawyer would have done anything for me other than to double check my work, but at the time, I had my fiancé/wife that was able to do that for me.

Good Luck!

[okko 1]

I'd rather be responsible of my own mistakes than have to blame a third person for doing something wrong. Yes, there are good lawyers but there definitely are bad lawyers - communication is the key.. Also, I do not need to spend any more money in this whole process than what is necessary and hey, I can also allow myself to be proud of my capabilities - I'm technically doing what a lawyer is, and so far it's been going smooth!

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

People ive been asking have been charging a ton for the AOS services.

Id like to know if this is possible to do it myself. Im pretty street smart and Im looking into these papers and it looks pretty easy.

Is it possible to do it by ourselves?

Thanks!

iammrhappy

We did the entire process, from I129 - N400 without a lawyer. The guides, specimen forms and letters on VJ are excellent. There are many knowledgeable VJers who can provide sound advice along the way. So, you can certainly do this yourself.

If you are more comfortable trading cash for expert assistance, using an experienced immigration attorney is also a viable option.

Wending your way through the immigration process is a lot like eating an elephant. When it first appears, you are looking at a whole lot of pachyderm; but ,with planning and endurance you can certainly consume the critter one fork-full at a time.

Good luck!

[Mike-eeh and Odie 193]

Like others have said, the guides are pretty straight forward, and if you have the time and not the money, DIY may be a good choice for you. This community is pretty helpful in answering questions and can help you if you do decide to DIY.

Myself however, we used www.easyfiancevisa.com for both our K-1 and AOS. They are like 1/3rd the price of a lawyer and are just as accurate if not better. The people over at easyfiancevisa are a law office and can also answer your immigration questions. That said, I think they were worth the price of their services. They gave me peace of mind and worked hard for my money. My paperwork was accurate and they have a system where you can upload all your evidence & info onto their cloud server so they can put together your front-loaded packets. We are even considering using them for my wife's ROC and Naturalization.

So if you have money to burn, a visa site like easyfiancevisa.com or rapidvisa.com may be a good option for you as well.

Good Luck!

Edited January 29, 2016 by Mike-eeh and Odie

[aliyaan 0]

If case is simple and straight without any complexity, then better to do it by your self.

If something serious is there then lawyer only can help you only.

[Boiler 44,855]

I assume that most people DIY.

If you want to use a Lawyer, fine, your money.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Boiler

[francais_usa 74]

I personally think the K1 guide was much better than the AOS guide. The guides are more of a starting point--for instance, the AOS guide never mentions that EAD, AP, and AOS are treated as separate applications after being sent. It also leaves out details like the fact that if a birth certificate has an attached translation, that translation should also be accompanied by a letter of certification for the translation. Leaving out these little things may result in an RFE. I've found the USCIS instructions for each of the forms to be immensely helpful, and I've also found the questions asked by other VJ-ers helpful.

[KazuriSana 324]

Why waste money on a lawyer on something so simple? Filling USCIS forms is nothing close to rocket science. The forms even come with line by line instructions!

[Sean and Kristina 24]

We hired a lawyer for the AOS and it's nice to be able to e-mail/call him and use him as a sounding board. It also really calmed my nerves in the beginning. We'll see how the process finally ends, but as of now I believe I'll file for ROC and Naturalization myself. We wanted to get the entire immigration journey started on the right foot. Everything just depends on how complicated your situation is.

[catlover31 8]

If case is simple and straight without any complexity, then better to do it by your self.

If something serious is there then lawyer only can help you only.

We had a straight forward case and used a lawyer.

And obviously lawyers can make mistakes but do research before hiring one.

[carocaro 22]

We used a lawyer through the whole process. The only part I did myself is ROC. Its a very personal choice. Hiring a Lawyer took a heck of a lot off stress of my shoulders (Im a chronic anxiety sufferer)... BUT.... Its an expensive route to take. That said, my lawyer was bloody awesome. I could shoot off an email to him at midnight and he would reply 2 minutes later. At the beginning of the process I was not aware of Visa Journey though and I know many people here have gone through the process filing everything themselves, no problem. Its all personal choice. I wouldn't change our decision to use a Lawyer but you could most certainly do the whole process yourself.

Our lawyer did a lot of talking us down through the stress, and helping prepare us for the interviews. He was very worth it in my opinion.