sherbert

I'm preparing to submit for adjustment of status - H-1b/H4 to permanent residence - in light of acceptance of the NIW (http://britishexpats.com/forum/us-im...iences-872832/)

Since my immigration lawyer wanted an extortionate amount of $$$ to fill in some forms that seem fairly straightforward to complete without expert assistance, I decided to file myself and am seeking information from those who have already done this just to make sure I've not missed anything crucial out.

So far I have compiled a list of the following:

- See Civil Surgeon: acquire form I-693 in its sealed envelope.

- Submit I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
+ I-693 and I-765 (application for EAD).

- Wait for notification of biometrics appointment (Form I-797C, Notice of Action).

- Complete biometrics.

- Wait.

Other stuff:

- Do not need to file for Advanced Parole as H-1b holder will maintain status for many more months and meets the three requirements that enable travel outside of the US while application in process without it being considered as abandoned.

Rete

The I-131 for the advance parole is part of the fee for adjustment of status. Apply for it even though you don't think you need it. It costs you nothing extra.

sherbert

OK - will do.

S Folinsky

I was about to make a "no harm, no foul" note, but you beat me to it.

S Folinsky

I have no idea what you consider "extortionate," but it is your privilege to do it yourself.

Do note that the current form only became mandatory on August 25th and it replaced a form less than a year old. In other words, you will not see much in the way of experience.

In the immigration chat boards, my colleagues are complaining no end. I have reviewed the new form and I will admit I do not find it user friendly, to put it mildly. And some of the questions are quite loaded. Good luck.

sherbert

- They wanted 2,500 to do it.

I do not understand what this means?

None of the forms are user friendly but the instructions seem to be very well written plus I know a fair few people who have recently filed under NIW so hopefully I can gouge them for free info.

Fingers crossed :/

PetrifiedExPat

Mine charged a little more, plus the app. fee itself put the total to just above 5k. I saw it as an investment, and peace of mind. Some people value/need/want that, others do not, simple case of choice. I really valued the discussion, preparation and guidance of our attorney, who is now a personal friend, and always buys the beers!

S Folinsky

As I said, the choice to retain or not retain an attorney is up to you. Some people just want the peace of mind. A long time ago, a late colleague noted that in most cases, we are "an insurance policy."

On the $2,500, I would hardly call it "extortionate." At worst, it may be a tad high and probably isn't even that.

Good luck.

sherbert

I think 2,500 to fill in some forms and post them is pretty high, especially when I have to triple check their work and chase them up. But sure, we wanted peace of mind for the NIW case, as our case was not clear cut, which is why we stumped up thousands for that (even though I wrote all 10 recommendation letters myself and rewrote the 25 page cover letter).

S Folinsky

I understood that the quote was for representation on the adjustment. As you describe it, there was to be no representation. To be quite frank, when I was in practice, I would not have entered into such an agreement.

If you want to do it yourself, you are free to do so. However, I do find it disturbing that the attorney would quote a fee to not represent you. Feel free to shop around. I would be very surprised if other attorneys would enter into the type of agreement you describe.

Good luck.

sherbert

Nopes. There's no representation needed. I just need to fill in the forms to adjust our statuses and get my EAD. This is what they wanted 2,500 for. Worse, they sent a word document that I had to fill in so they could get all the information to fill in the official forms as well as re-send all the scans of everything they already had. The time it takes me to fill in that form could be better spent filling in the actual forms imho.
.

S Folinsky

Again, it is your privilege to do it yourself. I am only addressing your characterization of the requested fee as "extortionate." (As an aside, I think "exorbitant" would be a better reflection of what you meant. But the two words have become synonymous in common usage.)

Preparation, completion and submission of the forms is an important part of "representation" but it is not the only part. I have no idea if full representation is "needed" in your case. I know that their were times where I thought a final interview would be uneventful, but my presence and intervention averted a disaster of an outcome.

A reasonable fee is usually judged by the time, skill, energy and effort to be brought to an issue. It may very well be that payment of a reasonable fee will not be perceived as being of value. Such a fee is not "extortionate." You just chose not to pay it.

I have read your threads and I will admit to being puzzled why you didn't file the adjustments concurrently with the I-140. I happen to think that the Government filing fees are extortionate and I wonder if that contributed to your not filing concurrently.

Again, your choice to DIY is yours.

sherbert

Yes. I know that. You keep saying this but I am at a loss as to why you keep responding to a question that has never been posed.


Yes: i have no problem paying the commanded fees for a job well done by someone I can trust. I have a problem paying that much money for someone to fill in and send forms when all the instructions are available on line and I can do it myself.

You didn't read far back enough: money is not the issue. We did not file concurrently because we didn't have much faith the NIW petition would work (OH is not an academic, has no citations etc.) and we did not want to risk having a denial on his record. It was a leap of faith and we essentially threw almost 10k down a black hole for it (and did most of the work for it ourselves, hence my issue with paying another few thousand to get this part finalised.

Government filing fees are extortionate too (yay: we agree) but I have no choice but to pay them.

S Folinsky

I did read that. As a general rule, the only downside of having filed for adjustment would have been loss of filing fees if the visa petition was denied. There may be other factors in your case; I don't know. But most such factors would probably still constitute a risk on the current adjustment.

"It is a puzzlement." (My colleague J Craig Fong was unduly fond of that quote from "The King And I")

Good luck