November 2009 family based filers, post here

Need lawyer for interview?

I was curious about your thoughts on this. We hired a lawyer to help us prepare the paperwork and guide us through the process. He did a good job of organizing and filing all the initial forms and I have no reason to be unhappy with him. We paid him half the free upfront and we said we would pay the other half for him to go with us to the interview and prepare our supporting documents (we didn't sign any agreement, though).

However, based on this thread I have already accumulated all the documents that apply to us and from the interview experiences I've read it doesn't sound as though the interviews themselves are particularly challenging (I believe our case is fairly straightforward and we have lots of documents and photos).

I guess my two questions are 1) do you think it is useful to have the lawyer with us in the interview based on your experiences? I imagine him just sitting with us silently and don't particularly want to pay his (sizable fee) for that. And 2), is it worth paying him just in case something does go wrong and we need to appeal?

Anything I'm not thinking about would be useful, too. At this point I'm leaning towards not hiring him but in the long run would much rather pay the fee and get the green card than anything.
 
Phil1978 said:
I was curious about your thoughts on this. We hired a lawyer to help us prepare the paperwork and guide us through the process. He did a good job of organizing and filing all the initial forms and I have no reason to be unhappy with him. We paid him half the free upfront and we said we would pay the other half for him to go with us to the interview and prepare our supporting documents (we didn't sign any agreement, though).

However, based on this thread I have already accumulated all the documents that apply to us and from the interview experiences I've read it doesn't sound as though the interviews themselves are particularly challenging (I believe our case is fairly straightforward and we have lots of documents and photos).

I guess my two questions are 1) do you think it is useful to have the lawyer with us in the interview based on your experiences? I imagine him just sitting with us silently and don't particularly want to pay his (sizable fee) for that. And 2), is it worth paying him just in case something does go wrong and we need to appeal?

Anything I'm not thinking about would be useful, too. At this point I'm leaning towards not hiring him but in the long run would much rather pay the fee and get the green card than anything.
Click to expand...

That's a good question you asked. If your application is straightforward and you are confident that you can defend/prove your marriage as true, then there is no need for a lawyer, we did not use one and I prepared all the documentation for my wife's GC process. I am not even sure if the IO believes anything that the lawyer would say to defend your marriage
Just curious and only share if you are ok, how much do these lawyers charge for doing the documentation and defending your case?
 
Interview today!!! APPROVED!!!!

My wife (USC) and I arrived 30 minutes early and we didn't even get to sit down and the officer took us to her office. She was a little confused about why our lawyer is in Florida and we are in Atlanta (when we contacted the multi-state lawyer group they assigned us a lawyer in Miami). There were a lot of moments of silence as she flipped though our paperwork and typed on the computer. Our situation is a bit different than most. when I met my wife in 1998 I had already overstayed my tourist visa by 1.5 years. She was just starting university as an F-1 student then after 4 years of school she got OPT and then 1 year after that got a green card via work in 2004 and just became a citizen in 2009. We have been together for over 11 years but she could not sponsor me until she became a U.S. citizen. We have a 9 year old daughter and are very happy to finally put these troubles behind us and finally I can go and visit my home country after 13 years! We are over the moon. We have waited a long time for this day! There is always a light at the end of the tunnel............even if it is a very, very long tunnel!!!
 
immig_geek said:
That's a good question you asked. If your application is straightforward and you are confident that you can defend/prove your marriage as true, then there is no need for a lawyer, we did not use one and I prepared all the documentation for my wife's GC process. I am not even sure if the IO believes anything that the lawyer would say to defend your marriage
Just curious and only share if you are ok, how much do these lawyers charge for doing the documentation and defending your case?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think we are better off going to the interview alone. I agree I don't see why the IO would listen to the lawyer or even let him speak. He charges $1500 which is high although that goes for everything in Manhattan so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.
 
Phil1978 said:
Thanks, I think we are better off going to the interview alone. I agree I don't see why the IO would listen to the lawyer or even let him speak. He charges $1500 which is high although that goes for everything in Manhattan so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.
Click to expand...

Wow that's expensive but lawyers do charge a lot for all the work paralegals and office assistants do :). I also agree with Kostyan, if you bring a lawyer the IO may think you have something to hide..
 
I would appreciate any help for a question in my mind.

WHILE ON EAD - Can I apply a new Family based GC

Currently working based on my EAD - PD: EB3 - SEP 2003. Can I file a new Family based GC via my blood relative who is a citizen? Is there a possibility to get it faster ? Is there any risks ?
 
Had my IV on 2/23. we passed. it was really easy, maybe 5-7 min. First, I didn't like our officer he seemed to be very sneaky and didn't even smile but the main thing, as my husband says, we passed. He said he didn't even have time to look through our file so that's what he was doing almost all the time. He only asked when and where we met and when we got married. Our current jobs and all those "no" questions. He was really surprised how many papers we brought( I had 20 folders with different papers).I also brought a photo album,which he even didn't open(by the way, we didn't have any wedding ceremony photos or honeymoon as we are only planning it on January 2011 but he didn't really care or asked about it).At the way out when he said we are approved he admit that he has never seen so much documentation as we brought in his entire career and he smiled(!!!!). That was the moment I liked him:) Good luck to everybody
 
Received the card.

11/20/09: Sent (I-130, I-485, I-864, I-765, I-131)
11/27/09: notice date
12/09/09: Received FP letter for 12/18/09
12/18/09: FP done
12/21/09: I-765 "touched"
01/07/10: interview letter sent
01/11/10: interview letter received
01/21/10: emails received about I-765 & I-131 approval
01/25/10: I-131 letter received
01/29/10: EAD card received
02/18/10: interview date
03/01/10: green card received
 
(San Diego County)
11/12/09 - Docs sent(130, 131, 485, 765)
11/13/09 - Delivered at Chicago
11/20/09 - NOAs
12/28/09 - FP for 01/04/10 Received
01/04/10 - FP completed..
01/23/10 - IL letter (still no updates online)
02/18/10 - Interview (APPROVED)
02/18/10 - Card production ordered
02/23/10 - Card production ordered.
02/28/10 - Welcome Letter
03/01/10 - Card received.
 
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