Legal fees for i130 application

[michwood59 0]

Oh my gosh!! Well, I told my wife a long time ago we needed to do this but her sister was reluctant to start the process. Now all of a sudden I hear my wife tell me that her sister is all excited and happy. Sheesh! Although it’s never too late, it would have been better had she made up her mind when I mentioned it to her years ago. Sheesh! 

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

I paid $125 I believe for k1 - it was a community based/nonprofit immigration lawyer that charges based on your income. I had no clue what to do and it was a great experience- however, like I said it was nonprofit organization. I’d be more hesitant using someone that makes big promises and charges thousands just so you can live with your family member...

[Just Paul 4,595]

32 minutes ago, michwood59 said:

I’ve never heard of pdf filer like Dochub. Do I really need it or can I just file the form without it?

Yeah it is only 2 so online or paper is pretty simple

[michwood59 0]

Oh, ok. Well, I guess I’ll just fill it out online and be done with it. Simple enough. Thank you for your help

[Loren Y 2,756]

I just filled out and submitted the I130 online to petition my wife's son. Normally I would say anything done online for the government would be completely useless and garbage. I was pleasantly surprised how well the web interface worked, and how easy it was to do the I130 from data entry to document uploading. The way it works it would be difficult to forget something, or mess it up. The payment was quick and easy, and you instantly received your case number. Then the I797 showed up in the mail only like 4 days later. Maybe I caught the system on a good day, but everything went really smooth. I agree with everyone else that you should be able to do this yourself, especially if you do it online, it makes it pretty easy.

[SalishSea 18,148]

5 hours ago, michwood59 said:

Oh my gosh!! Well, I told my wife a long time ago we needed to do this but her sister was reluctant to start the process. Now all of a sudden I hear my wife tell me that her sister is all excited and happy. Sheesh! Although it’s never too late, it would have been better had she made up her mind when I mentioned it to her years ago. Sheesh! 

Depending on their current ages, they may not end up with enough work years here in the US, so you will want to help them understand that they will need a plan for health insurance and retirement here.  They won't be eligible for free or low-cost Medicare, and they won't have paid into social security.

[top_secret 2,505]

From my perspective, by far the most tedious, difficult and time consuming part of all of this has not been the forms or the paperwork.  Instead it has been collecting all of the needed documents and evidence together that has been the biggest hassle.  I assume that if I had a lawyer I would still be the one who needed to do all that footwork, and my lawyer would be sitting in his office collecting the big bux for having his clerk fill out the simple forms for me while I was still doing the hard part gathering up all the evidence and documents . 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

42 minutes ago, top_secret said:

From my perspective, by far the most tedious, difficult and time consuming part of all of this has not been the forms or the paperwork.  Instead it has been collecting all of the needed documents and evidence together that has been the biggest hassle.  I assume that if I had a lawyer I would still be the one who needed to do all that footwork, and my lawyer would be sitting in his office collecting the big bux for having his clerk fill out the simple forms for me while I was still doing the hard part gathering up all the evidence and documents . 

The evidence for sibling visas is pretty simple - birth certificates to show petitioner and sibling share a birth parent (slightly more complex if half siblings or out of wedlock and father is common parent). 

[El Escocés 217]

10 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

you will  find out that you stilll have to gather everything and instead of providing immigration with documents ,  you gather for the lawyer

then  you have to read the applicaiton to make sure all is correct as reading on here,  many have had errors from attorney office making the process difficult

lawyer will fill out petition and make copies of what you bring in and mail it out   

and  $2000 is low  / more like 3000 to 5000 for each petition

 

I wish I had found VisaJourney before AOS. I hired an attorney and this is exactly what happened. I remember being annoyed sitting in their conference room having to go over every single entry on every form and make many corrections to their mistakes. I hired a lawyer because I thought there would be peace of mind. 

Edited June 12, 2021 by Keyboard Warrior
spelling

[ashish tailor 59]

12 hours ago, michwood59 said:

Hello

I was just wondering if anyone has hired a immigration lawyer to help filing the i130 application and necessary paperwork what is the average fee to hire a lawyer to help get my wife’s siblings to the United States? Anybody have any experience with legal fees shoot me a reply please. Thank you

You don’t need lawyer. It is pretty straight forward to do online. I did last month for IR1 and it took me 2 hour at the most to complete the online form and submit. 

[michwood59 0]

Ok, so I’m just gonna help my wife complete the i130 form. It’s been awhile since we completed the k1 visa application so I forgot how to address some questions that don’t pertain to us but the question I have is when we complete the i130 and a question that comes up doesn’t apply to us, do we answer with “NA” ? Or not applicable or do we leave the question blank if it doesn’t apply to us? 

[ashish tailor 59]

1 hour ago, michwood59 said:

Ok, so I’m just gonna help my wife complete the i130 form. It’s been awhile since we completed the k1 visa application so I forgot how to address some questions that don’t pertain to us but the question I have is when we complete the i130 and a question that comes up doesn’t apply to us, do we answer with “NA” ? Or not applicable or do we leave the question blank if it doesn’t apply to us? 

I would do N/A. Don’t leave anything blank. 

[michwood59 0]

Ok thanks. Appreciate it.

[michwood59 0]

After I complete the i130 application, is it best that I send the packet registered mail to the USCIS local office so it doesn’t get lost? I’m applying online so Maybe I don’t have to send it thru mail. 

[Chancy 6,243]

13 minutes ago, michwood59 said:

After I complete the i130 application, is it best that I send the packet registered mail to the USCIS local office so it doesn’t get lost? I’m applying online so Maybe I don’t have to send it thru mail.

 

If you're filing online, no need to paper-mail anything to USCIS (unless you get an RFE later on).  Payment of filing fee will be online as well.

 

If you'd rather file by mail (not online), send the I-130 packet to the filing address listed here -- https://www.uscis.gov/i-130-addresses

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Chancy