separate lawyer for wife's 485

G

guest1978

Registered Users (C)
I was employed with Employer A until Dec 2004 at which point I used AC21 to switch to Employer B. I got married in Nov 2005, and now I would like to add my wife to my 485. I am from India/EB3/PD Jul 2003.
I am thinking of hiring a lawyer outside of my employer's lawyer because
1. I am not sure if I'll still be employed with B when my dates become current 2. Company lawyer is slow, and I am not sure if they'll be able to
file 485 as soon as my dates become current.
Is this step to get a separate lawyer advisable? Any good law firms you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance..
 
dependent 485

True. But given the short window I will have when my date becomes current, I cannot afford to make a mistake in filing, and then have to wait
who knows how long..
 
guest1978 said:
True. But given the short window I will have when my date becomes current, I cannot afford to make a mistake in filing, and then have to wait who knows how long..
Click to expand...

What short window? Are you worried about further retrogression?
 
dependent 485 application

realcanadian,

thanks for your reply

The short window when my dates become current. If I understand this correctly the lawyers will file the dependent 485 as soon as dates become current for me PD:July 03. If a 485 is not filed during the period when my dates are current, I am not sure what happens then??
 
guest1978 said:
The short window when my dates become current. If I understand this correctly the lawyers will file the dependent 485 as soon as dates become current for me PD:July 03. If a 485 is not filed during the period when my dates are current, I am not sure what happens then??
Click to expand...

If you're India EB3, then the cutoff date is four years behind your priority date. You're probably looking at 2007 or so before the date gets current, and it won't take 14 months to figure out how to fille out the I-485/765 and 131.

Print out the PDFs from the USCIS web site, read the instructions and fill them out yourself. You have plenty of time.
 
dependent 485

The point is that at the end of the assumed 14 months period, when I file for the 485 if there is a mistake USCIS would just send the form back to with the mistake circled. 14 months is enough time to figure out how to file the application, but since I am not a lawyer I might do something wrong(thinking I am doing it right)..

At that point it would become a pain, and am not sure where in the GC queue the application would go then?

thanks...
 
guest1978 said:
The point is that at the end of the assumed 14 months period, when I file for the 485 if there is a mistake USCIS would just send the form back to with the mistake circled. 14 months is enough time to figure out how to file the application, but since I am not a lawyer I might do something wrong(thinking I am doing it right)..
Click to expand...

You're making the key (and very dangerous) assumption that if you hire a lawyer, your attorney will fill the forms out correctly. As you will discover here, that is very rarely the case. The only thing you are guaranteed to get by hiring an attorney is a bill, and often a large one.

My own experience with my (reasonably well known) attorney's office was that the paralegal totally botched the I-485 and G-325 forms, and I needed to redo them from scratch.

At that point it would become a pain, and am not sure where in the GC queue the application would go then?
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Depends on the mistake. In most cases, it'd just be a simple RFE. Even if you completely mess up the initial filing and it gets rejected (and 99% of the time this is related to improper filing fees) you just file again. Your wife shares your priority date, so it's not like it gets current for a day or two at a time. You'll have plenty of time.

Seriously, look at the forms. Come back if you have questions. It's at most 8 pages for your wife. I guarantee that you can do as good a job (or better) than most attorneys.

What do you do for a living?
 
TheRealCanadian said:
You're making the key (and very dangerous) assumption that if you hire a lawyer, your attorney will fill the forms out correctly. As you will discover here, that is very rarely the case. The only thing you are guaranteed to get by hiring an attorney is a bill, and often a large one.
Click to expand...

To file my wife's I485, we decided to hire an attorney. The fee is $1500 + adm. expences; when we came for appointment to sign the forms, it turned out that the attorney screwed up my wife's mother's maiden name, her addresses in the biography form, her I94 number, her SSN, my A#; in addition, in one of the forms she put the current date when she filled the forms (a week before our appointment) - in European format. She mostly blamed the software she used (can you imagine, they issue patches weekly! ) My wife filled out all the forms in one day without any problems.

On the other hand, the attorney said that she would help us in case of the RFE (no additional fee - we read through the contract), so we think of the 15 hundred as kind of an insurance - you don't use it unless something bad happens...
 
TheRealCanadian said:
You're making the key (and very dangerous) assumption that if you hire a lawyer, your attorney will fill the forms out correctly. As you will discover here, that is very rarely the case. The only thing you are guaranteed to get by hiring an attorney is a bill, and often a large one.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen a more agreeable post on this forum for a long time.
 
what do we need to include for dependent I-485?

Hello TheRealCanadian & others out here,

I am looking forward to file my spouse's I-485 when my PD becomes current ( Mar 2000). I would like to avoid the employer's attorney for reasons of inefficiency and moroever do not know if I'd be with the same employer when her I-485 gets to be processed. Would like to know what all we need to include other than the forms while filing I-485 for a dependent as a follow on ( My I-485 was filed loong back )

I assume one of the uphill task would be to ensure that the filing gets tied to the principal applicant's I-485/I-140

Please share your thoughts/ experiences..

-solicit
 
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I am not sure what your exp. with your attorney. Mine is simple. I felt the forms, not exactly any uscis published. But they have software to translate those into any forms they need work on. Then you have to read through very very carefully. as they can type anything wrong. But if you want to buy a good night sleep, that might be just fine. Personally I don't think any attorney will work on any of the forms. Their job is to sign. Good luck!
 
solicit said:
I assume one of the uphill task would be to ensure that the filing gets tied to the principal applicant's I-485/I-140
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be too difficult; just clearly indicate that this is a derivative I-485, and include a copy of the principal applicant's I-485 receipt.
 
I completely agree with TheRealCanadian and other folks suggesting filing I-485 by yourself, without the lawyer's help. I used lawyer for I-140, he did a good job for the cover letter, but I had to look very carefully and correct his small errors like misspelled names and wrong dates, etc.
As to I-485, this is just filling the forms and attaching a cover letter listing all the forms you send, you can get a lot of info from this forum how to do it. Only one thing when you may need lawyer's help, if you have been arrested in the past, but even in this case you still can do it yourself without getting RFE.
 
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