It can be much more "expensive" *not* to have legal advice. You can talk to several lawyers and ask them what they have to do to help you, and what it will cost. Then make a decision, and not just on cost alone.
You can also get some "free advice" and compare it to what the other lawyers tell you. My blurb on that is below.
Good luck,
Joe K
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You can ask an immigration laywer for free here:
http://www.visapro.com/Message-Board/Immigration-Visa.asp .
Immigration lawyers often respond for free here:
http://forum.freeadvice.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=9 .
And on the About.com "Immigration Forum" at
http://forums.about.com/ab-immigration/messages/ .
I got some quite decent free advice here:
http://www.visalaw.com/chatlive.htm . (It's really not a "chat", it actually just sends an email containing your question -- wait for the reply via email).
Remember that sometimes the reply will be "your question is too complicated for a free answer, pay me for a consultation". Or even, "This is so tricky on the face of it that you will need to engage me and pay a retainer." Those can be legitimate replies, and in that case you'll have to make a judgment call.
Note that I'm merely mentioning all of the above as possible sources. You're on your own in judging the quality of the answers you get.
You can also find a lawyer who will give you a consultation through these folks:
http://www.aila.org/. That is the professional organization for immigration lawyers, and they will refer you to someone who will charge no more than $100 for a half-hour consultation. I'd think an experienced immigration lawyer could answer your questions in that time.
A query to the AILA about the level of experience of their referred lawyers resulted in this reply:
"Many of our members are new lawyers, so in that sense you aren't guaranteed years of experience in immigration law with one of our members. Still, a lawyer is not likely to pay the required fees to join AILA unless they are serious about practicing immigration law. AILA membership doesn't confer any special certifications, so the fact that membership is strictly voluntary might indicate that our members are dedicated to keeping up to date with changes in immigration law."
Because *any* lawyer can join the AILA, you could possibly be referred to an immigration lawyer "in training". I recommend interviewing your AILA referral for their level of appropriate experience just as carefully as any other referral you come up with.
But the *best* referral to an immigration lawyer would be from a very satisfied client that you know and who has used that lawyer.
My $0.02.
