Wife to be

I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
One issue that complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
I'd appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.

Andrew Miller

Well prepared application package will save you a lot of stress and prevent
possible delays due to additional requests you may get from visa post if
there is anything left to question, doubts or interpretation.

But it doesn't always mean that you must hire a lawyer or consultant for the
full assistance - you may hire one just to guide you through the process of
collection and preparation and later review your package before it's
submission.

If you decide to hire immigration practitioner then make sure that you hire
one who will be able to represent your case after March - most practitioners
based outside Canada won't be able to do it as of April, unless they are
members of Provincial or Territorial law society in Canada (lawyers) or
member of CSIC (consultants).

As for travel while application is pending - it is the matter completely
separate from the above. Your then wife will have to meet requirements to be
admitted as visitor if case is processed abroad. It is not difficult for
British. In case of inland process leaving Canada is not recommended as she
will have to maintain valid temporary resident status in Canada in order for
process to continue - once she leaves Canada she won't have TR status in
Canada, she will risk of not being admitted and inland process cancelled.

--

../..

Andrew Miller
Immigration Consultant
Vancouver, British Columbia
email: [email protected]
(delete REMOVE from the above address before sending email)
________________________________



"Wife to be" <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > One issue that
    > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > I'd
    > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

James Dalrymple

As a Brit who has processed his own various work/vistior and PR appilcations
i would advise against lawyers.$3500 is a rip-off ,anybody with common sense
and time has access to the same information from the CIC website and other
sources.I went supposedly to the best immigration lawyer in toronto (Green &
spiegel) and they told me i had no chance,i now have PR card.His office was
full of non english speaking chinese immigrants paying through the nose !
Your fiance can get a visitor visa automatically for 6 months at a time to
stay /visit in Canada, i did this for 2 years.




"Wife to be" <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > One issue that
    > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > I'd
    > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

seamonsta

Perhaps I'm missing something, but my partner and I did it all ourselves and it seemed pretty straightforward. Most of the hassle was not filling out the forms, but having to arrange the medical etc. Just download all the forms off the CIC's website and do it yourself, that's my advice.
One thing I would stress... Make sure you read the instructions about 10 times so you don't miss anything!!

canadienne

My advice would be to do it yourself and save a load of money. Just do it very methodically and yes...read the instructions through several times before you fill out the forms. Get all the documentation photocopied as needed, arrange for the police certificate and do the medical very last..just before you send the application.

Jpatti

Wife to be <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > One issue that
    > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > I'd
    > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.

I'm American, hubby is Canadian. He immigrated here when we married
but we hope to move to Canada in a couple years and I will immigrate.
From my research, Canada's process looks much, much, much simpler and
straightforward than the US process.

We did the US process ourselves and even so spent a few thousand bucks
to get everything done. It was a major headache to do, but we saved
lawyer fees doing it ourselves which would've tripled the cost. The
most aggravating bit is collecting all the required documentation and
you have to do that whether you hand it to a lawyer first or directly
to immigration.

I can't personally imagine hiring help to do the Canadian process
given that it looks so much more straightforward than the US version.

Steve

I did hire a lawyer and spent about $600 in total for his services. He had
nothing to do with my application but advised me overall and answered some
specific questions when they came up. After the fact when I look back on
it, his advice gave me some peace of mind which helped the process but if I
could do it all again I would probably not hire a lawyer mainly because
allot of the things he advised me on, I already knew the answer, I was more
looking for another opinion. In your case I think $3500 is very excessive,
the paperwork seems intimidating at first, but is not that complicated.


"Wife to be" <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > One issue that
    > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > I'd
    > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Http://Www.Iamnotamerican.Com

in a recent article, Wife to be (member21909@british_expats.com) said:

    >
    > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
In my opinion, it's not. Anyone with an active brain can do this
immigration thing quite simply. I guess it depends on how you've felt about
doing things like insurance, larger purchase agreements and other such
things on your own. If you don't feel confident getting your own home
insurance, for example, then you probably want to contract an immigration
consultant/lawyer/whatever.

    > One issue that
    > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.

Theoretically, if you're sponsoring him from the UK while you are in
Canada, this is not going to be a problem UNLESS he is away for an extended
time while something needs to be done, such as an interview. However, if
you sponsor him from within Canada, then it does become a problem because if
he leaves Canada for such a trip, he may not be readmitted when he returns.

Hope that helps somewhat.
--
Say "I am not American" in TWELVE languages.
The original "I am not American" T-shirts - as seen on CNN
http://www.iamnotamerican.com
Remove underscores (_) from Email address to reply.

Webcrawler

$3500 USD sounds a lot for family case.
I had paid around $1800 USD for a skilled worker case.
Of course that was a couple years back, but it still sounds high.

Just my opinion, of course.

"Wife to be" <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > One issue that
    > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > I'd
    > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Webcrawler

Sorry, I missed the part about the fee being in CAD.
Please ignore my comparison below - I was comparing with USD.


"WebCrawler" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > $3500 USD sounds a lot for family case.
    > I had paid around $1800 USD for a skilled worker case.
    > Of course that was a couple years back, but it still sounds high.
    > Just my opinion, of course.
    > "Wife to be" <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > >
    > > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > > One issue that
    > > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > > I'd
    > > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.
    > >
    > >
    > > --
    > > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

ukjo

hi there

we've just done it all ourselves. we were in the exact position as you except me being english and him being canadian. theres a lot of paperwork to read through but once you sort through what you need and what you dont then theres not a great deal to fill out. one thing though, get the pack you need from an immigration office rather than download them off the net. i downloaded them not knowing my husband went to the office and there was a lot i hadnt got. its not worth missing anything out!!! drop me a private message if you want to know anything

jo

Jeni

Hi,

I'll wade in here with my two cents. My husband and I submitted our
joint spousal application from abroad in late December 2003 (I'm
Canadian, he's Slovak). We did not hire a lawyer or consultant to
prepare the application for us, but we did seek some advice and I am
glad we did.

First of all, I sought out a reputable immigration law firm here in
Toronto; I went in for a free consultation with one of their
immigration paralegals who has a lot of experience with such
applications and briefly discussed our situation. She confirmed that
it wouldn't make much sense to hire them to prepare our application
because our case was pretty straightforward. What she did offer is
for us to make an appointment with her after we have prepared our
application (with all supporting docs) and she could sit down with me
and review it before we sent it out (we would pay them for an hour of
her time).

We did this, and I think it was a wise investment of $250 (plus
tax)--she actually spent about two hours with us and only charged us
for one. She went through the application with a fine-toothed comb,
and she was really impressed with the thoroughness of our application.
That said, she had a lot of great advice on the presentation of our
application and the wording of some of our answers to the questions.
Also, she made some good suggestions for providing additional
information in certain areas(she said that one of the big mistakes
people make is giving CIC the minimum amount of information, thus not
conclusively proving the case, leading to interviews, requests for
additional info etc. which can add a lot of time to the process).

So, I wouldn't recommend paying through the nose to have a lawyer
prepare the application for you, but to pay a relatively small amount
to have an experienced practitioner review your application before
sending it out isn't a bad idea. It certainly gave us some comfort,
and so far our application is going smoothly.

Good luck.

[email protected] (jpatti) wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > Wife to be <member21909@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > > I am Canadian and my fiance is English. I intend to sponser him as soon
    > > as we marry. We went to see an immigration lawyer and he said he would
    > > assist us in the process for $3500. Is this a reasonable fee? It seems
    > > that all he will be doing is checking our application to ensure that
    > > we've got it all right, is it worth the money?
    > > One issue that
    > > complicates our case is that my fiance needs to travel while the
    > > application is being processed. I wondered if it would be worth having
    > > a lawyer in case of problems getting back in at some point.
    > > I'd
    > > appreciate advice from people who have more experience with this.
    >
    > I'm American, hubby is Canadian. He immigrated here when we married
    > but we hope to move to Canada in a couple years and I will immigrate.
    > From my research, Canada's process looks much, much, much simpler and
    > straightforward than the US process.
    >
    > We did the US process ourselves and even so spent a few thousand bucks
    > to get everything done. It was a major headache to do, but we saved
    > lawyer fees doing it ourselves which would've tripled the cost. The
    > most aggravating bit is collecting all the required documentation and
    > you have to do that whether you hand it to a lawyer first or directly
    > to immigration.
    >
    > I can't personally imagine hiring help to do the Canadian process
    > given that it looks so much more straightforward than the US version.

Wife to be

Over the weekend, I asked a number of friends & family for their advice about whether to spend the money on the lawyer. One suggested that I find an online forum and I am very glad she did. I called the lawyer this morning, paid him for his hour, and got my retainer back. (Thankfully, I had post-dated it)

I appreciate all your advice and as we fill in the forms, I know I'll be asking for your help again. THANKS

Jpatti

[email protected] (Jeni) wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...

    > Also, she made some good suggestions for providing additional
    > information in certain areas(she said that one of the big mistakes
    > people make is giving CIC the minimum amount of information, thus not
    > conclusively proving the case, leading to interviews, requests for
    > additional info etc. which can add a lot of time to the process).

I just learned that for free though.

We learned what to do with the INS from folks who had done it and
posted online, as opposed to paying for advice. Having done that with
the US process, I'm here now leanring about the Canadian process.

We are currently applying to have the "conditional" status removed
from hubby's green card here in the US. One of the requirements is 2
affadavits from people who know us. We are submitting 10. We have
gobs of evidence that we're really married cause we *are* really
married. So there's no reason not to provide as much as possible.
All the better to avoid an interview, if possible.

Jeni

Indeed...but everyone's case is different. My point was that
personally it gave my husband and I some peace of mind to have an
experienced professional review our application before we sent it out.
It's a personal choice, and if someone feels 100% confident that they
have a perfect application with all supporting documents, thorough
answers to questions that leave no room for misinterpretation etc.
that could result in lengthy delays or possible refusal, then all the
power to them.

Granted, the process is for the most part pretty straightforward--but
there is also room for misinterpretation of certain questions. I
didn't want to take any chances.


[email protected] (jpatti) wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > [email protected] (Jeni) wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...
    >
    > > Also, she made some good suggestions for providing additional
    > > information in certain areas(she said that one of the big mistakes
    > > people make is giving CIC the minimum amount of information, thus not
    > > conclusively proving the case, leading to interviews, requests for
    > > additional info etc. which can add a lot of time to the process).
    >
    > I just learned that for free though.
    >
    > We learned what to do with the INS from folks who had done it and
    > posted online, as opposed to paying for advice. Having done that with
    > the US process, I'm here now leanring about the Canadian process.
    >
    > We are currently applying to have the "conditional" status removed
    > from hubby's green card here in the US. One of the requirements is 2
    > affadavits from people who know us. We are submitting 10. We have
    > gobs of evidence that we're really married cause we *are* really
    > married. So there's no reason not to provide as much as possible.
    > All the better to avoid an interview, if possible.