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kc344

Lawyer-up or go solo to get AOS?

By kc344 in Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from K1 and K3 Family Based Visas

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kc344 Rookie

kc344   0

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Filed: Timeline
Posted

Friends,

Am interested in your experience/advice on the need to hire a lawyer (or not) to transition from TN to Perm Res. My case is really straight forward and I have no skeletons in the closet. I am a TN-1 Visa holder currently working/living in US, will marry USC in USA, then will apply for AOS, EAD and AP. If you did hired a lawyer, how much did your case cost and what did the lawyer do for the fee?

Thanks.

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joeyjoey Rising Star

joeyjoey   1

Posted
Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Brazil
 Timeline
Posted
Friends,

Am interested in your experience/advice on the need to hire a lawyer (or not) to transition from TN to Perm Res. My case is really straight forward and I have no skeletons in the closet. I am a TN-1 Visa holder currently working/living in US, will marry USC in USA, then will apply for AOS, EAD and AP. If you did hired a lawyer, how much did your case cost and what did the lawyer do for the fee?

Thanks.

We have done everything without a Lawyer using VisaJourney alone. Our AOS was approved in 57 days with Green Card in hand! I seriously doubt you need a Lawyer from what you have described. Especially if you did not need one for the first part of this process! The paperwork is not difficult.

Fernanda's Timeline

K-1

June 2, 2006 - Mailed K1 Petition

Jun 28, 2006 - NOA1

Oct 05, 2006 - NOA2 - APPROVED after 122 days

Dec 05, 2006 - Received Packet 3 from Consulate

Dec 11, 2006 - Medical Examination in Belo Horizonte

Jan 10, 2007 - Returned Packet #3 to Consulate (SEDEX-10)

Mar 13, 2007 - INTERVIEW SUCCESS! We have our K-1 VISA !!

POE & Texas Wedding

Mar 27, 2007 - POE Houston, TX. No questions. Gone in 10 minutes.

Mar 28, 2007 - Marriage License app

April 4, 2007 - Our Wedding Day!

April 12, 2007 - Apply for SS card with married name

April 20, 2007 - Received SS card

AOS

June 4, 2007 - Mailed AOS

June 6, 2007 - USCIS received

June 11, 2007 - NOA1 for I-485

July 18, 2007 - Biometrics completed

July 20, 2007 - Case transferred from MSC to CSC

July 31, 2007 - AOS Approved - 57 days - Without an Interview!

Aug 06, 2007 - Received Green Card in the mail today!

Jan 8, 2009 @ 8:18PM - Our son was born tonight !!

I-751 - Remove Conditions

July 11, 2009 - Certified Mail to VSC I-751 Package

July 14, 2009 - Check cleared bank

July 20, 2009 - NOA1 & 1 yr extension - Receipt date is July 14. Case# assigned

Sept 1, 2009 - Biometrics completed

Nov 25, 2009 - I-751 is approved. No Interview.

Dec 14, 2009 - 10yr Green Card arrived !

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pat001 Contributor

pat001   0

Posted
Filed: Other Timeline
Posted
Friends,

Am interested in your experience/advice on the need to hire a lawyer (or not) to transition from TN to Perm Res. My case is really straight forward and I have no skeletons in the closet. I am a TN-1 Visa holder currently working/living in US, will marry USC in USA, then will apply for AOS, EAD and AP. If you did hired a lawyer, how much did your case cost and what did the lawyer do for the fee?

Thanks.

Do not waste your money... The paperwork is straight forward.

I did consult a lawyer($70) to find out about the fees($2000) and I had a few questions regarding the fact that I was out of status.

He did answer these questions and only after I discover Visa Journey.

It is a wonderful website and such a valuable tool. I completed evrything in 10 days, medical evaluation included.

Print everything and come back to ask your quetion.

Good luck

Pat

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Nyte Enthusiast

Nyte   1

Posted
Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: France
 Timeline
Posted
Friends,

Am interested in your experience/advice on the need to hire a lawyer (or not) to transition from TN to Perm Res. My case is really straight forward and I have no skeletons in the closet. I am a TN-1 Visa holder currently working/living in US, will marry USC in USA, then will apply for AOS, EAD and AP. If you did hired a lawyer, how much did your case cost and what did the lawyer do for the fee?

Thanks.

My wife and I filed with an attorney. Yes it was expensive, and yes we certainly could have figured it out and done it ourselves, but for us, it was worth it. Our case was also pretty straight forward. Having an experienced attorney who knew exactly the nuances of the AOS process helped us out a lot in my opinion. But again, its not astrophysics and we could have done it ourselves :) In my opinion, its a question of whether or not you want to spend the money to have a "guide" with you on the journey, so to speak.

Good luck to you with your case whichever way you decide to go!!!

Our AOS Timeline

06/16/07 -- Our Wedding

06/26/07 -- AOS sent by attorney

07/02/07 -- Receipt of Documents by USCIS

08/01/07 -- Biometrics Completed

08/05/07 -- "Touched"

09/07/07 -- EAD Card Production Ordered!

01/29/08 -- AOS Interview - APPROVED!! [Verbally]

02/06/08 -- Welcome EMail Received

02/11/08 -- Card Production Ordered

02/19/08 -- Card Received!

Our ROC Timeline

11/05/09 -- Initial meeting with attorney to file Removal of Conditions

11/11/09 -- ROC sent by attorney

01/05/10 -- Biometrics Completed

02/16/10 -- Approval

Citizenship

06/13/11 -- N-400 sent by attorney.

06/24/11 -- NOA

07/15/11 -- Biometrics Completed

08/25/11 -- Interview APPROVED

08/31/11 -- Oath Taken! Now a US Citizen!

Passport

09/06/11 -- Passport Application submitted.

09/21/11 -- Passport Book Received!

09/23/11 -- Passport Card and Certificate of Naturalization received.

09/25/11 -- Life after USCIS begins.

av-37579.gif

Be me a little...

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popo Explorer

popo   0

Posted
Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Bulgaria
 Timeline
Posted
Friends,

Am interested in your experience/advice on the need to hire a lawyer (or not) to transition from TN to Perm Res. My case is really straight forward and I have no skeletons in the closet. I am a TN-1 Visa holder currently working/living in US, will marry USC in USA, then will apply for AOS, EAD and AP. If you did hired a lawyer, how much did your case cost and what did the lawyer do for the fee?

Thanks.

Dont waist your money with a lawyer, i didnt know anything but my boyfriend called a lawyer and he said he gonna charge him 1 500 only for the K1 process, i dont want even think how much will be for a AOS and EAD, but then wondering what to do my boyfriend found visa journey, and evrything was describe so well, all papers we need, how to do the package, we did really good, i got my green card for 3 months and a half.

and on the other hand he knows somebody who is doing K3 and the lwayer is taking his time, its almost a year and nothing yet, and he told him about the green card probbably next year. i was thinking whats that lawyer talking about,

so its your decision but if u are organized dont waist your money in lawyer and your time too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
kc344 Rookie

kc344   0

Posted
Filed: Timeline
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Posted

Friends-

Thanks all of you who took the time to answer my question. I have an update to report. I was able to get lawyer reassurances w/out any initial cost. I was prepared (thanks to all the valuable info on VisaJourney) so I was able to attend a 1/2 hr free consultation w/a lawyer to get most of my questions answered. Given the fact that my specific case is very straight forward, I will complete all the paperwork myself, then hire my lawyer for a 1 hr fact-check of my application. I believe this is a good way to go for those of you who are on a budget, have simple applications, but want to be sure all is in order.

KC

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Dakine Veteran

Dakine   26

Posted
Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Philippines
 Timeline
Posted
Friends-

Thanks all of you who took the time to answer my question. I have an update to report. I was able to get lawyer reassurances w/out any initial cost. I was prepared (thanks to all the valuable info on VisaJourney) so I was able to attend a 1/2 hr free consultation w/a lawyer to get most of my questions answered. Given the fact that my specific case is very straight forward, I will complete all the paperwork myself, then hire my lawyer for a 1 hr fact-check of my application. I believe this is a good way to go for those of you who are on a budget, have simple applications, but want to be sure all is in order.

KC

Be careful when the lawyer checks your documents as lawyers like to make changes that may not even be necessary to justify their bill!

K1 denied, K3/K4, CR-1/CR-2, AOS, ROC, Adoption, US citizenship and dual citizenship

!! ALL PAU!

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Jasman0717 Grand Master

Jasman0717   9

Posted
Filed: Citizen (pnd) Country: Philippines
 Timeline
Posted
Friends-

Thanks all of you who took the time to answer my question. I have an update to report. I was able to get lawyer reassurances w/out any initial cost. I was prepared (thanks to all the valuable info on VisaJourney) so I was able to attend a 1/2 hr free consultation w/a lawyer to get most of my questions answered. Given the fact that my specific case is very straight forward, I will complete all the paperwork myself, then hire my lawyer for a 1 hr fact-check of my application. I believe this is a good way to go for those of you who are on a budget, have simple applications, but want to be sure all is in order.

KC

Free consultation.....way cool :thumbs: Just follow the guide here on VJ, we did and didn't have any problems what so ever. Good luck :thumbs:

usa_fl_sm_nwm.gifphilippines_fl_md_clr.gif

United States & Republic of the Philippines

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid." John Wayne

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Kez/JWolf Mentor

Kez/JWolf   6

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Filed: Timeline
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We had a initial meeting with a immigration lawyer as I was doing AOS from a VWP... she told us that we should have no problems with our AOS and unless we needed help with the paperwork we should be able to do it ourselves... we did and had no problems...

Kez

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