GabbyBuona

Hi Everyone,

I am American and my husband is British. We live in London but are planning a move to the US so we are starting to think about the whole green card process. We are not sure if we should just do everything on our own or hire one of those immigration services that will process the paperwork for us.

When I came to England on my work visa, I did use one of those companies and I got my visa much quicker than if I had applied to the UK government on my own. But we have started looking into it for my husband and these companies are charging insane amounts for their services! Is it really worth it? Since we will be filing our paperwork through the US Embassy in London, which many say is a faster than doing it from the US, is the speed that these companies promise worth it too? I'd love to hear from people who have used an immigration service company and ones who haven't to try to make up our minds. Any and all advice, recommendations, stories and tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply!

Sherlock Holmes

Hi Gabby and welcome to B.E.

It's my pleasant duty to welcome you to the forum and give you a point of contact should you need any help with the site in general. You can contact me here.

A list of all the moderators and helpers with their relevant countries including the USA can be found here.

Any problems, dont hesitate to PM me.

As you can see, I'm in Oz....and so I don't know much about your question I' afraid but I know that someone will be along soon enough to answer you.

Enjoy B.E.

Alistair.

Noorah101

Do NOT use an "Immigration Service". If you don't feel comfortable doing it all on your own, then you'll want to consult with (and possibly hire) an immigration attorney. Not a service. A legitimate immigration attorney.

Rene

Rete

I would never recommend that anyone use an immigration service company. I've yet to find one that is reputable. In addition, they do not make things happen faster. However, if your British husband has areas in his life that might cause problems with obtaining a spousal visa, i.e. drunk driving issues, criminal history (even back to adolescence), then you should use the services of an experienced immigration attorney on a one to one basis.

I have transferred your thread to the appropriate forum. Please have a look at one of the links at the start of this forum that deals with filing directly with the US Consulate in London for the spousal visa. We call it "DFC" (direct consular filing).

ian-mstm

Before you leave the UK, you may want to look into whether or not you're eligible to naturalize as a UK citizen. It may have advantages for you in the future if you both want to relocate back to the UK or, indeed, anywhere in the EU.


No. If you are detail oriented and, possibly, anal retentive, then you'll be able to do it on your own. Many of us have. However, if you think you'll sleep better at night, then by all means hire an experienced immigration attorney. As both Rene and Rete suggest... stay away from immigration services... complete waste of money!

Ian

jimandtina2008

Hi, we initially considered using a lawyer (not a service) but decided that it would be expensive enough with us doing it without the added expense of a lawyer. We did everything ourselves, along with a few pointers from the wonderful community on here, and got through just fine. I just got my Green card approved last week after arrvinigon June 10th to USA.

I would say though, if you do it yourself, be anal about checking everything and send too much information rather than not enough. The only delays we experienced were through two errors that WE made, NOT the USCIS. One of the mistakes was an assumption we made incorrectly, the second was simply a DUH!!!!! moment when we forgot to enclose the cheque!!!! At least the 2nd mistake only cost us a week in time. The first resulted in denial of the K1 and resubmitting (and paying) again - like I said, totally our fault......all in all, it IS perfectly feasible to D-I-Y.......just double, triple and quadrupkle check everything and KEEP copies of everything you submit.

If we had not made the assumption we did, we would have had the visa within 7 months as it was it took 13 as we had to save up again.

Good luck.

meauxna

I'm one who did not use a service. My advice based on my experience is for you to use the resources that weren't there when I did it (see wiki entry in my sig) by reading through the entire process several times. Write down your list of questions. See what you can answer for yourself through research (all links are posted here) and then post your questions/confirmations to the group before you file.

It's not complicated, but there is a lot of detail involved. If you have any inadmissibility issues, contact a real immigration lawyer instead of a 'visa service'. In a perfect world, users here can offer you the same plain-language explanations that a service would but we don't charge, and we don't make you think we are lawyers.

If you can't/won't dedicate the time to sufficient research, DIY is probably not for you and you should seek proper paid assistance.

GabbyBuona

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I think we will just proceed on our own and use this forum for any questions we might have. Our circumstances are pretty straightforward and I am definitely anal retentive when it comes to paperwork so I think we'll be fine. Thanks again!!!!!