Should we hire a lawyer to remove conditions?

[yacsie 1]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting here.

My husband is an US citizen by birth. My conditional gc expires in 40 days. I was out of the country for 4 months due to family emergency and have just returned a week ago. My husband and I are putting all the evidence documents together at this moment and hopefully to send it out this week. I think it's pretty simple and straight forward but my husband thinks it's safer to hire a lawyer. 2 years ago, my lawyer told me it'd be optional to hire him again in removing condition. Would you recommend hiring a lawyer for this process? Or can we just mail it out on our own? The lawyer is charging $1000.

Below is a list of documents we will include:

• Joint apartment leasing
• Joint bank account
• Joint credit card
• Joint auto insurance
• Utility bills
• Tax return filed jointly both 2014 and 15
• We started a company together last year. Unfortunately we didn't do well because we were both too busy on our main job so had to close it this year, but we will include this as an evidence.
• Airplane tickets showing we went back to home country together. (if we could find it)
• Some photos

Here is another question - The only thing that we never had jointly was health insurance. Would this be an issue? I have always had my health insurance with my former employer until 1/31/2016. My husband landed at a new job in December 2015 and asked me if I wanted to be added to his company health insurance. I decided not to because it'd be extra money for us at that moment. Unexpectedly, I left my job at the end of Jan 2016 and was too late to be added to his policy then. Is it okay that we just skip the health insurance part in the documents?

Lastly, I am currently unemployed. Do we have to include Affidavit of Support in the document?

Thank you in advance for reading and answering my questions!

[Cheezees 1,514]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting here.

My husband is an US citizen by birth. My conditional gc expires in 40 days. I was out of the country for 4 months due to family emergency and have just returned a week ago. My husband and I are putting all the evidence documents together at this moment and hopefully to send it out this week. I think it's pretty simple and straight forward but my husband thinks it's safer to hire a lawyer. 2 years ago, my lawyer told me it'd be optional to hire him again in removing condition. Would you recommend hiring a lawyer for this process? No. Or can we just mail it out on our own? The lawyer is charging $1000.

Below is a list of documents we will include:

• Joint apartment leasing
• Joint bank account Include all monthly statements
• Joint credit card
• Joint auto insurance
• Utility bills
• Tax return filed jointly both 2014 and 15 Make sure to provide tax transcripts and not just tax returns
• We started a company together last year. Unfortunately we didn't do well because we were both too busy on our main job so had to close it this year, but we will include this as an evidence.
• Airplane tickets showing we went back to home country together. (if we could find it)
• Some photos

Here is another question - The only thing that we never had jointly was health insurance. Would this be an issue? No. You are not required to have joint insurance or any single piece of evidence actually. I have always had my health insurance with my former employer until 1/31/2016. My husband landed at a new job in December 2015 and asked me if I wanted to be added to his company health insurance. I decided not to because it'd be extra money for us at that moment. Unexpectedly, I left my job at the end of Jan 2016 and was too late to be added to his policy then. Is it okay that we just skip the health insurance part in the documents?

Lastly, I am currently unemployed. Do we have to include Affidavit of Support in the document? No.

Thank you in advance for reading and answering my questions!

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Unnecessary to spend money on a lawyer IMHO.

[hellostranger57 18]

I, too, was debating whether we should hire a lawyer or not for ROC. Our lawyer for AOS round did such a great job so we were originally considering to hire him again. He was charging us $1,500. After some research and time here on VJ regarding hiring a lawyer for ROC, we decided to just do it ourselves (DIY). It took us roughly 2.5 weeks to gather all our supporting evidences and package together. VJ is a great resource for filing without a lawyer! From our cover letter to supporting evidences, to even filing of the actual package, we got all information from here. ROC I think is a pretty straightforward process so you should be fine by DIY. Save yourself some $$$! Good luck!

Edited June 27, 2016 by hellostranger57

[observatorka 197]

I wouldn't hire a lawyer unless my case was complicated. Mine was not, yours is not.
We prepared our papers by ourselves for CR1 and now for ROC. There was no problem. All you need to do is to follow instruction, read visajourney tips, ask if you are confused about anything.
What can go wrong? If your marriage is bona fide, you're honest, you have nothing to hide and you're confident nothing will go wrong.
You might get RFE if they will need more documents, it's not end of the world. You will send more.
You might have an interview, it's not end of the world. You will go and answer their questions.
Lawyer will not do more that you can do.

PS: You didn't spend abroad 6+ months so take it easy. Emergency situations happen.

[yacsie 1]

Thank you everyone! I think I will just do it on my own! It doesn't seem that hard. I will come back with questions if I have any! Thank you!! Good luck on all of you as well!