(reposted from family sponsorship section) Questions from a neophyte

sweetjimmy

Registered Users (C)
Good morning, all

I’m a newcomer with a few questions and if anyone here can answer, I’d be much obliged. :)

I’m originally a US citizen (please don’t hold that against me) and I met my wife (a Canadian Citizen) online in June 05. I flew up from the US to visit her in Winnipeg three times and back in in December 05 we requested an extension. Canada Immigration awarded me with a full year to stay here.

So, we married in July 06 at her folks’ place in the Pontiac Valley and had a beautiful time. My parents even came up from Idaho and met my wife and her family and everything was perfect. So now we get to start on all the paperwork. That’s where my first question comes in…

Up until now, we’ve been dealing with an Immigration lawyer here in Winnipeg. They helped us get our extension and did a great job with that, but now they want us to sign on the dotted line and give them about $3000 in addition to all the money that has to be paid to the Canadian government for my immigration paperwork. I guess what I’m asking is this: is it really worth it to use a lawyer? All of this filing and paperwork seems pretty confusing; I have never really found a place anywhere online that gives detailed instructions or answers every question I have about the process…

Is it dumb to pay all that money? Or do these immigration lawyers actually do more than just put stamps and addresses on envelopes? I’ve always been the kind of guy that liked to do things on my own if it saved me a buck or two, but I appreciate that this process is one thing that we really can’t afford to screw up on, too… if I mess something up and get deported for some strange reason, we’re kinda screwed until I can land a job back home and she can immigrate to the States (which she has already done once in her life and doesn’t want to do again).

Thanks in advance!
 
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is it really worth it to use a lawyer? All of this filing and paperwork seems pretty confusing; I have never really found a place anywhere online that gives detailed instructions or answers every question I have about the process…

-- In my honest opinion, it is NOT worth to pay C$3000 to a lawyer to get your cdn immigrant visa. It is a straightforward process and anybody whose English is perfect (in your case, it must be, since you are an american), it is not a problem to do it yourself.
Go to www.cic.gc.ca and there you will find all the relevant information regarding the cdn immigration process.

Is it dumb to pay all that money?

-- (In my opinion), YES. You will know the answer if you go to the website that I mentioned above.
 
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