gabbleg

Hello,

Could anyone please point me to a web site or give me advice? I would like to get hold of a list of EVERYTHING i need to submit to the INS after marriage. Everything from forms needed to police/birth certificates etc. I just want to make sure that I have everything I need and that everythings in order, rather than submit the forms and find that I am missing vital information. Also, does anyone think that its better to just pay a lawyer to do all the necessary work, or is it just paying a lot of money for something I could do myself? Theres just me and my boyfriend to consider...no ex wives/husbands or kids.
Thanks for any information

Rete

You will find a list of URL's after my name. Visit the Doc Steen site, accept the disclaimer and go to page for the I-130/I-485 for your answers.

As for an attorney, even without complications, a competent immigration attorney is always helpful. Note I said competent. If you are the type of person that is afraid they haven't crossed their t's or dotted their i's, then the money spent on an attorney is money well spent. If you think you can handle it and survive the stress on your own, then go that way. Only you can make the final decision.

MarkW

I hope you all don’t mind if I opine a little here. I am an Immigration Attorney. I believe I am a competent Immigration Attorney. One reason I spend time on these discussion boards is so I can learn something from people who’ve been through the immigration process. And, I learn a lot. We happen to live in a place built on a foundation of the Rule of Law. Where there is the rule of law, there must be lawyers. Having said that, I have two points to make that should seem obvious but, for some reason, often don’t. In the above post, Rete struck on both of them.

1. There are good lawyers and bad lawyers (in this sense I mean ethical and unethical). AND there are competent lawyers and incompetent lawyers. Good lawyers are not always competent and bad lawyers are not always incompetent. In fact, legend has it that some of the most unethical lawyers are the most competent. The trick is finding a good AND competent lawyer.
2. Whether you need a lawyer depends on two things: YOU and YOUR CASE. Only you can tell whether you’re up to the job. I’ll illustrate by way of analogy. Let’s say you want to build a deck on the back of your house. If you are reasonably fit and handy with tools, you can probably do the job yourself—that is, unless you want to build some multi-level deck with spiral stairs, parquet flooring and a fire-pit. For some people, even the simplest diy deck is out of the question. You can present the point via dozens of similar analogies (e.g., taxes or even the—some may find absurd—decision whether to fly by airline or build your own plane) with pretty much the same outcome: It depends on your ability to perform the task at hand. Then you throw in the stakes involved: screw up your diy tax return and you might get stung at an audit. Screw up the homemade airplane and…well, you get the idea.

The bottom line is this: If you think you can (and would like to) do your own immigration/non-immigration petitioning, by all means do go ahead. It’s not brain surgery. But if you are the least bit uncomfortable, I should think the stakes are high enough that the money would be well spent on a good and competent attorney.

Mark

Alvena Ferreira

Well said. Wordy, but very well said! Alvena
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MarkW wrote:
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