Average cost to hire a lawyer ?

A

AmitD

Registered Users (C)
Anyone knows what's the average cost to hire a lawyer and file the family based green card ? Basically the whole package from start to end - Lawyer cost + filing fees + any other misc.
I tried contacting couple of firms to get some idea but everyone asked me to get an appointment with them. I wanted to get an estimate before I even talk to these guys.

Thanks,
 
Depends

Here in Columbus, OH, between $ 1,000 - $ 2,000 PLUS form fees. That's if u have a pretty simple case. A complicated one will raise the range. We decided to file it ourselves. I just don't feel like to pay someone $ 1,000 JUST to do the paperwork, that can be done in less than 1 hour. Actually, when u read the instructions carefully, it's pretty straight-forward.
 
pipitastro said:
Here in Columbus, OH, between $ 1,000 - $ 2,000 PLUS form fees. That's if u have a pretty simple case. A complicated one will raise the range. We decided to file it ourselves. I just don't feel like to pay someone $ 1,000 JUST to do the paperwork, that can be done in less than 1 hour. Actually, when u read the instructions carefully, it's pretty straight-forward.
Click to expand...

Mine was around $3,000 but well worth it!
 
Ours was 1,500 but not worth it at all....

He didn't process our forms til about 2months later, after he said it would take ONLY 2weeks, it took several calls, when I was given false information,
oh yeah it was sent out, when I had not gotten anything in the mail. He filed our papers almost 4months later.

It was a dissaster, because we were stuck in his hands, although I have heard great outcomes with a laywer, unfortunately ours was not one of them.

I would suggest, if you can do it yourself, do it.
I didn't realize how simply, time consuming of course, but you can do it yourself and sometimes your better off.

Our first quote was 4,000 and then we found this one for 1,500 :rolleyes: maybe I should of paid the 4,000 and would of had better success..

But all in all, after all the BS of our lawyer, we are at the end point and are glad it's almost over. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it myself.
 
I think it depends on the lawyer. Some charge on an hourly basis and some quote for the entire process. Ours charged 125 per hour. For us it was like a big brother watching over our shoulders. We didn't hire the lawyer initially. We field the applications on our own, but we got an RFE for birth certificate. So we decided we will go hire a lawyer and let him look through the things.

I would suggest, you complete the application and put together the package and take it to a lawyer to recheck what you have done. After everything is clear mail it on your own. Some lawyers prepare you for the interview and attend the interview with you also.

As others are saying you can also do it on your own. There is a wealth of information on this forum; If you are organized, (which I am not :)), you can just file it on your own and do the interview. Provided you find a good lawyer, Its all a matter of how thorough you want to be.
 
I see .. thanks for the feedback.
I actually live around Akron/Cleveland area. My case is pretty straight forward, only I have very limited time between the time I get married and file for the GC (around June) and my H1 expires (November 10th). So I have about 4 to 5 months to file and then (hopefully) get my EAD. That being the only reason I was musing if a lawyer would help expedite my case.
 
The only way a lawyer can expedite things is by reducing your chance of making mistakes in filing that can slow things down. Once USCIS has the paperwork however, there's no magic pixie dust that only lawyers have that makes them process things any quicker.
 
dr_lha said:
The only way a lawyer can expedite things is by reducing your chance of making mistakes in filing that can slow things down.
Click to expand...
yep .. just those things.

I went through the list of documents mentioned here -
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?autocom=custom&page=i130guide2
and was a little confused over what I would add as a "Cover Letter" for I-485 and I-130. Or the "Overall Cover page" that is mentioned in the list. So these are probably the only things that I believe the lawyer would be more experienced with before filing ..
 
AmitD said:
yep .. just those things.

I went through the list of documents mentioned here -
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?autocom=custom&page=i130guide2
and was a little confused over what I would add as a "Cover Letter" for I-485 and I-130. Or the "Overall Cover page" that is mentioned in the list. So these are probably the only things that I believe the lawyer would be more experienced with before filing ..
Click to expand...

I didn't use ANY cover letter. I just grouped the papers based on what forms, n i used paper clips. The reason was cuz i didn't think about it until i saw it in this forum. Regardless, everything was ok. The only thing i would've done differently, was to submit the I-693 altogether, which i didn't. That would've shaved about 1.5 months of my processing time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ok ..

Thanks a lot guys. I think I am going to start gathering all the documents and then submit on my own. The cover letter was probably the only thing keeping me from making my decision. I shall post back if I have any questions (and don't find the answers already here). Hopefully, you guys will reply then, just like now :cool:

Thanks again guys (and girls) !
 
Hi guys
I have two questions Regarding GC/lawer....
(1) I am on H1 rightnow here. My wife is GC holder. I filled I-130 and it is approved (i did it myself)but waiting for visa number since oct 2005. Now She has N-400 Interview next month, if everything goes well then she will be citizen within 2 months. Now after that i want to update my GC-patetion but i'm confused Weather i should hire lawer or not. Actually on my passpoet/ssn/every where
i have name XXXXXBHAI but when i filled I-130 i need birth cirtificate so i got it from india on that name was XXXXXKUMAR. So i'm kind of confuse what to do.....there is option that i can do affidavite here, but is it rightway OR I should go through Lawer ???????


Secoend question:
(2) One of my relative just became citizen and he want to file for his married daughter(plus her husband and kid) So could someone suggest list of doc. to be filled?

appriciate ur help in advance.
Thanks
 
issue with lawyer

Hi,

I am having issue with the lawyer, Accrording to my lawyer he has sent my papers to chicago lock box on 21th March and the check for I-485 has been cleared. But the issue is till now I havent got any letter from USCIS I have called USCIS myself and they told me that they havent got anything under my name till now. I asked my lawyer to send me the copy of the check which is cleared by usics so that I can get the case # and check online. The copy of check which my lawyer has sent is so unclear that there is nothing which I can read. My lawyer is saying that I have to wait some more time....

I dont know what happening and who is right...Its almost a month and nothing has been done..no NOA .....

I am frustrated and dont know whom to believe...

I will appreciate if some one can guide me what to do.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You may be able to find an attorney that will overlook your prepared paperwork for a nominal fee, to see that you have not made any errors. We found a few attorneys that quoted $150 to overlook all of the papers...hopefully it will be worth it!
 
I have gotten a few quotes now that I received a few call backs finally. They have all been between $5000.00-$7000.00 for the paperwork, and what not. Some broke the cost up as in $1400.00 + filing fees, which they said are well over $1000.00, plus another fee, so basically it worked out to 5-$7000.00 depending on the attorney.
 
Mine was $1,400 plus around $800 in INS fees. I can't tell you if its was worth it or not yet because I just filled. If I get RFEs then ill let u know lol
 
dr_lha said:
The only way a lawyer can expedite things is by reducing your chance of making mistakes in filing that can slow things down. Once USCIS has the paperwork however, there's no magic pixie dust that only lawyers have that makes them process things any quicker.
Click to expand...

I agree with DR_LHA

We did not use a lawyer and were able to keep costs to right around 1000.00
filing fees + extra costs such as photos, mailing fees, copying fees, & municiplae fees for obtaining official records. My wife received her GC inside of 6 months no RFE's.

If you read & comprhend all instructions and follow directions on the forms you can do it yourself. if you want someone with expertise that can help you file with out making mistakes use a LDA. mor eoften than not Lawyers use Legal Document Assistants to do the actual filing for them. Much the same as Nurses do most of the actual patient care for Dr.'s

My suggestion if you do not have special circumstances surrounding your case
then Hire a Legal Document Assistant they usually run anywhere from 500.00-700.00 flat rate to prepare, look over your forms for accuracy and submit them. They can not offer legal council.
 
I asked one lawyer and was quoted around $3000. Filed myself, and I feel that's a much better option. Learnt a lot from the whole process, this forum definitely helped a lot. Although I'd definitely disagree with someone who mentioned on this thread about spending 1 hour filling out the forms. All the research, forms, supporting docs etc. probably took me about 10-15 hours I'd guess, maybe more. Of course if I have to do it again, I could probably do it in maybe a couple of hours.
 
There is definatly a need for a big time investment it took us a few weeks just to gather all the proper documents, get the pictures taken, ect..

we had to rewrite some of the forms after learning about certain things,

So the process dii take a lot of time and effort, but it CAn be done with out an attorney, in fact many times attorneys involved can further delay the case as they have to manage several cases and the turn around time for expiditing cases is longer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top