penguinbar

Hi Guys,
My husbands conditional greencard expires in April so in the next few months we will apply for his removal of conditions. We have plenty of evidence spanning over the last few years. I contacted my attorney about this . I had thought that her fee included the removal of conditions. I can't seem to find the contract although I seem to have every other piece of paper . She said that her fee for this is $1500 which seems outrageous! She said it includes filing the forms( I know it's only one simple one) Preperation for the interview (which we probably won't have) representing us at the interview and filing the forms. Not the fee for the forms.

I think we are going to try this ourselves. I was wondering if we do file it ourselves will she still get the original receipt notices like before? Also if there is an RFE would she get it and not us? When the lost my husbands medical we never got the copy of the RFE she did and notified us. I am nervous about doing this on our own but it seems like this is price gouging!

Rete

No she won't receive it. The form has a spot (or did at one time) where the attorney or preparer had to sign and the appropriate counsel letter had to be included with the documentation. None of that will be with your submission.

crosscountryrider

Hi,
my conditional GC is due in three month and I will stick with my attorney.She will charge around $700 .

I will still file through an attorney because she will make sure that paperwork is in order and all eventual RFE's will be responded in time .

I simply don't have the time to deal with this because I am running my own company.

It's a difficult choice because of the fee's but this give me peace of mind.

Good luck
CCR

Noorah101

On the flip side, we did our I-751 without an attorney. In my opinion, it was the easiest step of the whole immigration process. It's just one form, one fee, and the same type of evidence as we collected for AOS, so very easy to put the package together.

penguin...$1,500 seems very high to me for this step. If you feel more comfortable using a lawyer, maybe you can shop around and find someone whose fee is lower. www.ailalawyer.com.

Rene

Moonshadow_Girl

Seems pretty high to me. You should be fine filing your own I-751. We had an attorney for our K-1 and AOS process. She was absolutely fantastic. We had such a great rapport with her (probably had something to do with our preparations), she knocked off 75% of her usual AOS fee because of our organization. At the time of DH initially getting his GC, she said that we could probably do our own I-751, but she'd be happy to look over our application and answer any questions if we had any, for free. Thanks to this great forum, we didn't have any questions. We didn't have any RFE's, so I can't answer your question regarding your attorney getting notice.

Good luck!

penguinbar

Thanks everyone. The price does seem awful high. I looked at some other attorneys in NYC and they seemed to charge around $700 but that does not include appearing at an interview which I doubt we will have, Do you think it would be ok if I say to her that this is seems like a very high fee? She charged us $3000 for the K1 and AOS together which was alot more paperwork. She also mentioned that the fee for the I751 was $545 and she knows we won't be filing for two more months and it will go up by then as well.

Noorah101

Doesn't hurt to ask, especially as you'd be a returning customer!

Rene

ian-mstm

For the life of me, I don't understand why you're even thinking about going with the same attorney who repeatedly screwed things up for you! Are you a glutton for punishment?

Ian

Bill_S

Did you take yesterday off, Ian? I was expecting this response to be post #2 in the thread

penguinbar

I have some customers that I'm friendly with that are attorneys that know some immigration attorneys and are going to see what they charge but I think we are going to try and do it ourselves. I have read through several threads on here on the subject and I think we can do it.
Just wondering is it best to divide the evidence by category and put them in an accordian file with the paperwork clipped together and labeled in each section? Do we write the names and dates on the back of each photograph or should we just send photocopies of the photographs and write the info on the paper? Can we send in the originals of cards and letters addressed to us? I have so many that I don't mind sending them away.

Noorah101

You can organize it any way you like, for your own records. For the package going to USCIS, don't send it in an accordian file, just hold everything together with a bulldog clip. I sent ours by category.

Either way is acceptable.

I suppose you could, but it's probably less bulky to send photocopies. If you have enough other evidence, the cards/letters probably don't even need to be included.

Rene

penguinbar

This is what we have

Both of our names on the renewal lease for our apartment.
Both of our names for the past two years on Con Ed, Phone and Cable Bills.
Joint checking and saving accounts since we were married two years ago.
Health insurance bills stating husband and wife and a letter confirming my husband was added to my plan from two years ago and Health insurance cards with same ID number.
A letter stating my husband is the beneficiary on my IRA
I got my husbnad a credit card with the same number as mine on my account .
E tickets from trips to Florida, Charleston and Scotland
Mail addressed to both of us including cards and letters from family and friends
Invitations to our pre wedding party in Scotland and our wedding party here.
My super/building manager will sign a letter saying my husbnad has lived with me since September 2008 and acknowledges our marriage
Lots of pictures from the wedding , and vacations of and with family and friends and a wedding announcement with picture in a Scottish newspaper.
NY State IDs with the same address.
I can also get affidavits from family and friends.
Tax transcripts for the past two years from the IRS filed married jointly.
It seems we have plenty of evidence of a real marriage.

Noorah101

I think you can leave out the evidence of your marriage, such as the invitations and wedding photos. USCIS already knows you're married. They want to see "ongoing" evidence, such as all the other stuff you listed.

Rene

penguinbar

Thanks. I noticed a few people got RFEs that didn't include photos (I'm sure it just depends on the conoff)so I'm going to enclose some just in case! I'm a worrier! Do we include a copy of our marriage certificate by the way even though they know we are married?

Noorah101

Have you read the I-751 instructions yet?

I agree, include a few photos of you together on vacation...just saying you don't need the actual wedding ones.

Rene