Kirsten21173

Hi guys - A question ,if anyone can give advice it would be great.I am going to marry my partner from the USA ,I am from the UK ,we know we have to do it by the K1 Visa .Has anyone had any experiences with hiring lawyers for this and do you know what the average cost of this is.Do you think it best to hire a lawyer for this process or go it alone.By hiring a lawyer does it speed up the process at all ,any help would be great thanx -Kirsten

Noorah101

Hi Kirsten,

Hiring a lawyer will NOT speed up the process. What a lawyer can do for you is anticipate any problems ahead of time and help alleviate them. Especially if you have a case with previous overstays or crimes. That said, many of us on here have done it without laywers. I started out with a lawyer but soon realized I can do it alone. As long as you are focused, detail-oriented, and very well organized, you can do it without a lawyer. Some people like to have the peace of mind knowing a lawyer is available on their case. Also, if you move during the process, notifications come to the lawyer's address so that nothing gets lost in the mail.

My lawyer charged me $750 just for submitting the I-129F to the California Service Center, something I could have easily done on my own. It was right after that, I let her go. I imagine the cost of continuing on to get the K-1 visa through her would have been a couple of thousand dollars at least.

By the way, the K-1 is not the Marriage Visa. It's the Fiance(e) visa. There is a difference.

Best Wishes,
Rene

scrubbedexpat099

Its a pain, but the pain is mainly collecting the info, forms are repetitious to the nth degree.

If you can fill forms in and have no issues diy is the way to go and may well end up being quicker.

www.visajourney.com FAQ, read and follow.

Must admit it never occurred to me to use a lawyer.

Just Jenney

I'm confused -- your thread is titled "Marriage Visa" (which is the K3 visa) but you're asking about the K1 fiance visa. So, which one do you mean?? Your post doesn't hint one way or the other, since we don't know where you're planning on getting married...

~ Jenney

Kirsten21173

Hello there -The K1 visa the finacee visa and I am getting married in the USA

jeffreyhy

Jenny,

Or the IR1 or CR1 immigrant visa.

Regards, JEff

Mike Dobony

"Kirsten21173" <member42074@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
    > Hi guys - A question ,if anyone can give advice it would be great.I am
    > going to marry my partner from the USA ,I am from the UK ,we know we
    > have to do it by the K1 Visa .Has anyone had any experiences with hiring
    > lawyers for this and do you know what the average cost of this is.Do you
    > think it best to hire a lawyer for this process or go it alone.By hiring
    > a lawyer does it speed up the process at all ,any help would be great
    > thanx -Kirsten

All the info you get from USCIS is a bunch of lies on the few occasions they
actually respond. Then again, the London consulate is pretty good about
answering questions. Get an immigration lawyer or immigrant marriage
service to give you realistic timeline for this. They have gone through it
many times and know the answers already for most situations. They can tell
you that you did receive the correct packet even though it appears that it
is for a different visa. A good representative (lawyer or marriage firm)
should have some good contacts to get any weird circumstances that might
crop up (and they WILL crop up).

BTW, the fiance visa is the best way to go unless you want to be separated
after the marriage for extended periods or your USC spouse is working in
your country for an extended time period. It also seems to be a much easier
process and more predictable.

    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Noorah101

Just wanted to point out here that an immigration lawyer will also just be giving you a ballpark figure. They can't predict every problem that might arise. For example, my attorney told me my fiance would be getting his visa in 6 months, tops. It actually took 14 months.

Rene

Jonathan McNeil Wong

Noorah101 wrote:
    >>Hi guys - A question ,if anyone can give advice it would be great.I am
    >>going to marry my partner from the USA ,I am from the UK ,we know we
    >>have to do it by the K1 Visa .Has anyone had any experiences with
    >>hiring lawyers for this and do you know what the average cost of this
    >>is.Do you think it best to hire a lawyer for this process or go it
    >>alone.By hiring a lawyer does it speed up the process at all ,any help
    >>would be great thanx -Kirsten
    >
    >
    > Hi Kirsten,
    >
    > Hiring a lawyer will NOT speed up the process. What a lawyer can do
    > for you is anticipate any problems ahead of time and help alleviate
    > them. Especially if you have a case with previous overstays or crimes.
    > That said, many of us on here have done it without laywers. I started
    > out with a lawyer but soon realized I can do it alone. As long as you
    > are focused, detail-oriented, and very well organized, you can do it
    > without a lawyer. Some people like to have the peace of mind knowing a
    > lawyer is available on their case. Also, if you move during the
    > process, notifications come to the lawyer's address so that nothing
    > gets lost in the mail.
    >
    > My lawyer charged me $750 just for submitting the I-129F to the
    > California Service Center, something I could have easily done on my own.
    > It was right after that, I let her go. I imagine the cost of continuing
    > on to get the K-1 visa through her would have been a couple of thousand
    > dollars at least.
    >
    > By the way, the K-1 is not the Marriage Visa. It's the Fiance(e) visa.
    > There is a difference.
    >
    > Best Wishes,
    > Rene
    >

This is a really well thought-out answer with which I completely agree.

One suggestion I have for the OP is to schedule a consultation with an
immigration lawyer just to see if there might be something about your
case that takes it out of the routine. (You'd be surprised.) It may
cost you an hour or two of the lawyer's time, but a reputable
immigration lawyer will tell you when you can do the case yourself and
when you really should use a lawyer. It may well be worth what you
spend on the consult.

--
Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal
advice. Your mileage may vary.

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Jonathan McNeil Wong Voice: 510-451-0544
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP Facsimile: 510-832-1486
P.O. Box 12979 URL: http://www.donahue.com
Oakland, CA 94604-2979 E-mail: [email protected]
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