Why don't you get an appointment with an US consulate officer. He can tell you what you should do. Also check check
www.uscis.gov
We had to hire a lawyer at the end because they would not issue me a visa. But it was a total waste. He was the laziest ......
He had a lot of time to prepare our documents but the due date came for us to send documents and he even didn't start anything. We had to do everything on our own. My wife had to stay in the office until almost 3am and flew to the country to give the documents to US embassy in person. Guess what, we had to pay over 7k for his .... signature.
After that we never hired a lawyer anymore.
But I can not say that you should hire one or not.
As far as I know if they approved our application I-130 immediately, it would take less than a month for them to issue me a visa. It should be really fast since you are a citizen. Cause at the end of the interview they will tell you that you will receive your visa in a week or something like that.
But you should both be well prepared for interview. Document everything. Bring all your supporting documents. Organize it. Put all the photos in a cd or dvd and take it to print shop and ask them to print on a letter size paper in color. Write dates, names and events on the white space.
They like to see everything on the paper. Not separeted. if you have telephone records that you are calling each other, make a copy. All the email, letters, .... whatever you can think of. All the papers it includes both your names. It could be financial or other type of documents. Know what your hobbies are. What you like or not. It is better to be well prepared than to be denied a visa.
Never assume that you already sent a lot of documents already before. Treat every application process as if you are applying for the first time. You will probably fed up at some point doing the same things and answering the same questions over and over again and submitting the same or similar paperwork, collecting more proof of relationship but don't let your frustration prevent you from doing a good job every step of the way. Make sure everything is consistent from the beginning.
I am not a lawyer or immigration adviser. I take no responsibility for accuracy of information I provided. Please use at your own risk. I am just sharing our experience
