Filing for K-3

[Ravens9273]

As you know I was just married 10 days ago. Now is the hard part in bringing my wife to the US.

Since I do not know anything about the visa process or would even know where to begin I figured it is best for me to hire an Attorney to do this for me.

I spoke with Attorneys today. Received prices from $600 to $2000 to do the whole process. I am not concerned with trying to find the cheapest Attorney to do the job. This is my wife and I want who is going to do the job right and get her here the soonest.

I know many here have filed paperwork on their own. I would like to know if anyone would recommend hiring and Attorney. I do not want cost to be factor in this decision since I do not mind spending the money one bit. If I simply have to fill out a few forms and they take over from there and my life continues as normal then it would be worth every penny to me. Pretty much if hiring an Attorney I am doing so under the understanding they will do everything and I can take it easy and not deal with headaches. I know me and from experience I would be 1 who this would turn into a million headaches and everything that could go wrong would.

Or if hiring an Attorney and I just giving someone money to mail out paperwork yet I still have to deal with headaches?

Would like feedback so I make right decision because at the same time I do not mind spending the money, however I also believe in getting what I paid for and if that is still getting headaches I woould much rather have the headache and my $2000. At least then I have plenty of money for some tylenol.

[alantodd]

I used Holmes and Lolly for my K-1.  Reason I selected them was my fiance is terrible with a computer and speaks little English.  They have an office in Moscow who would work with my fiance and office in California with me.

I would grade the California office a B and Moscow office an F.  California and Moscow had problems dealing with each other and Moscow had a hard time answering my fiances questions.  Also, once you pay full amount service goes down.  I even had to do most of the work myself. 

I paid about $2,000.  Plus the forms are so easy to fill-out I should have done them my self and paid someone on this site to review them.  Not sure if AnastiaAsh does this work but she seems very smart to me.

[Gtex]

The gold standard is John Roth.  His phone number is 845 623-1100.  The website is:
http://www.arctec.com/

No, I do not have an interest; yes, I speak from personal experience.

[Ravens9273]

The gold standard is John Roth.  His phone number is 845 623-1100.  The website is:
http://www.arctec.com/

No, I do not have an interest; yes, I speak from personal experience.

I was just looking at Attorney's online today and his office is one I called. Actually the one I was most leaning towards hiring. He wanted $2000

[Gtex]

Everybody will tell you you can do it yourself, and you can.  But, I had the same feelings you alluded too upstream.   Later we needed all kinds of extra help and he was there.   He had actual vig on the ground and in the building.  That is "money can not buy" kind of access. 

[bgreed]

OK apparently my post didn't post.

As I said Attorney=total waste of money all you are paying for is someone to put your paperwork in an envelope and mail it.  If you can follow basic instructions for filling out a form you can do this.  The attorney doesn't make you process any faster.  Usually if your paperwork has trouble it's becasue someone filled out the form incorrectly or did not provide the requested information. (sorry William 3rd) just my opinion.

Now about K-3 you might as well skip it as they are processing no faster than a CR-1 type visa.  Advantages of the CR-1 is that you wife will arrive and about two weeks later she will have her SS# and her two year green card, no need to adjust status.  Another plus is that you will not have to deal with USCIS again until just before her green ard expires when you will file for lifting of conditions which upon approval, if I recall correctly she will receive her ten year green card.  In general from everything I have read and from those that have gone this route the CR-1 is the way to go for those that are married.  That is why we chose this route.

By the way Scott in Crimea took this route did all the paperwork himself and his wife arrived just fine.  You might want to PM him for more info.

[groovlstk]

Ravens,

The first thing you have to consider is that by using a lawyer, you'll wait longer for your wife to get her visa, provided that if you file yourself you take the time to do it correctly.

That said, it's a pain in the keyster because of all the details and if your wife isn't able to write or translate English well it can be difficult for her to do her part.

I filed myself almost two years ago and from the day I mailed my I-129F to the day of my fiancee's arrival in the US was 3 1/2 months, although from what I read now the backlog is such that most folks wait 6 months or more (whether K1 or K2).

One of the ancillary advantages to doing it yourself is that you are very well prepared for dealing w/the various steps she'll need to take when she arrives. In general dealing w/govt. agencies to get a SS card, driver's license, marriage license, etc. is easier.

There's no shame in letting an expert handle all the BS if the $$ means nothing to you, but I'm glad I did it myself.

[Ravens9273]

BGreed,

What is  time frame for filing CR-1?

[Faux Pas]

BGreed,

What is  time frame for filing CR-1?

groov, did you start it from scratch or did you buy one of the "kits" that I see advertised quite a bit?

[Blues Fairy]

Go to VisaJourney.com and spend a day or two reading; especially pay attention at the stories people post on the forums how they got *****d by their lawyers and how they wish they had found VJ before paying a fortune for a job that anyone able to read English can do easily himself.

[William3rd]

Uhhh- Scott's wife did NOT arrive just fine. There were errors that were easily avoided by use of a professional.

It also does not take longer by use of an attorney-it definitely can be shorter and it is certainly done correctly.

When you guys do screw yourselves up, just dont whine that the attorney is now charging you double for the work.

Nice to see that the unitiated gives advice as well-hehehehehe. . . .

[ISORW]

I've filed 2 K-1's (not proud of the fact but that's life), the forms are straightforward and simple to do.  The forms are not that different for the K-3, the main difference is the K-3 has the I130 but both share the I129F.  I've seen posts by people on other forums who've had mistakes when using a lawyer.  The forms are not particularly difficult, in fact I'd say they are down right simple that anyone who is reasonably intelligent should be able to complete them.  There are no trick questions. Simple information on you, your wife or fiancee (depending if it's K-1 or K-3 although they both share the I-129F), background, such as name, address, social security, where she intends to live, etc. pretty much all common sense questions.  Thousands of people (see visajourney.com, an excellent source that even has sample forms filled out so that you can see what to do) file K-1's and K-3's successfully without spending a lot of money.  You can read their posts on a daily basis at visajourney.com. 

My fiancee's K-1 was filed and we got approved in record time (7 weeks), her best friend's husband filed using an expensive attourney and due to errors by the attorney it took them 9 months going through the same service center.  If you are careful, you will do a more conscientious job than most people you hire because you are most familiar with the information.  For the same reason, if I know how to do a particular job (such as brake job, oil change, etc), I work on my own car because I know I will take my time and be more careful than a mechanic who is trying to get as many jobs done in a day as he can so he gets paid more (I've found multiple errors on my cars by so called ASE certified mechanics as well...).  I went over my forms multiple times for several nights before I sent them in and it was only because I was so familiar with my information and that of my fiancee's that I spotted minor errors (such as the spelling of her last name which is not an easy one to spell correctly but which would be easy to miss if you were not intimately familiar with the name).  I think part of the reason I got approval so fast was that everything was well organized and there was not a single error on any of the paperwork I submitted - I doubt many attorneys will check over your paperwork 10 times to be sure.  A hired person is not going to care as much about your case as you will.  It's why I do extra legwork even with my own attorney whenever we have any legal matters to take care of - as much as I trust him, I know he will not care nearly as much about my welfare as I will.

Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for an immigration attorney such as with complicated cases in which case their knowledge of immigration laws is critical and can be a life saver.  But a simple K-3 filing is not complicated.  Not sure why Scott botched his paperwork but I'm surprised as it's certainly not brain surgery or rocket science.  The only other reason might be if you feel really uncomfortable doing the filing - but unless you are rolling in the dough as they say (since this is not a cheap proposition by any means) you owe it to yourself to at least visit visajourney.com and see what the forms look like and see if you think you can complete them yourself.  You might be surprised.  When I did my first K-1 I thought it would be complicated - it was anything but.  Took me all of 1 hour to get things filled, then got my fiancee to do hers while on the phone with her, then submitted it all 2 weeks later.  Add water, mix and 4-1/2 months later voila, a visa...

[Ronnie]

Hello Ravens fan....it's me again.  I'm the one you got upset at because I questioned the wisdom of you buying and shipping a car to your then "girl" in Odessa after your first meeting last October.

In January, you were insensed at my hint something wasn't quite right, saying how dare I judge your girl!  You said then you were already married, but then you said you were getting married in Odessa in March (?) instead of doing the usual K-1 - something about you not having filed tax returns due to being on a 4 year vacation...but you wanted to get married in Odessa so her family could be there. Okay.

Then you abruptly changed plans and got married at Sandals in Jamaica because the weather was better there. That left us wondering what happened to the importance of the family being present.

In all, you've spent around $25,000 on her in the past six months and you're wondering if a 2k more is too much to spend to do your immigration paperwork? 

Since as you say, she's already been accepted at a US med school and your brother and you have acquired the franchise rights for Ukraine, you're not likely to miss an amount of money about equal to what you spent on her two French bulldogs, are you?

Besides, don't you feel you owe her something after she was so gracious as to teach you to address her countrymen as "Mudaki" and laughed as you walked around Odessa doing so? 

Filling out the forms may not be rocket science.... but..

[bgreed]

Raven,

For me so far it took about two weeks from filing to NOA1. That was February 16 still waiting for NOA2.  However a friend of mine who filed his petition about a month before me has recieved his NOA2 about a week ago.  So figure 60-90 days from NOA1 to NOA2.

According to recent timelines on visajourney seems its taking NVC about another 60-90+ days to process.  Remember there is some lag time because there are other forms that you and your wife will have to fill out and send to NVC.

So from what I'm seeing as there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to speed in processing (heck I know of a guy that from filing for a K-1 to his fiance having her interview was something like 90 days)  In general K-3 CR-1 seem to be running neck and neck for processing time which is anywhere from 8-10 months possibly faster but don't count on it.

[William3rd]

ohhhhh- so that's it. It is the money. What the heck. . . . just fess up and admit it. That I can understand.

I thought that some of you all had tried do it yourself brain surgury due to all of the medical malpractice complaints on medjourney.com or something.

[Blues Fairy]

ohhhhh- so that's it. It is the money. What the heck. . . . just fess up and admit it. That I can understand.
I thought that some of you all had tried do it yourself brain surgury due to all of the medical malpractice complaints on medjourney.com or something.

William, what's the offence? Filing a K-3 is not brain surgery.  No need to treat a mild case of family-based immigration by heavy invasive methods.

[groovlstk]

groov, did you start it from scratch or did you buy one of the "kits" that I see advertised quite a bit?

I used the guides on visajourney.com, the example forms were particularly helpful. I wouldn't waste $ investing in one of those kits, the same info is available for free. It's not a complicated process but it requires a lot of attention to detail. I remember in the past William III groused about how people who self-filed were clogging up the system with RFEs, and I'm sure he's correct. If you choose to file yourself take the time to do it right, otherwise hire someone.

[LiveFromUkraine]

ohhhhh- so that's it. It is the money. What the heck. . . . just fess up and admit it. That I can understand.

I thought that some of you all had tried do it yourself brain surgury due to all of the medical malpractice complaints on medjourney.com or something.

William, I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. 



Thomas

[Faux Pas]

Go to VisaJourney.com and spend a day or two reading; especially pay attention at the stories people post on the forums how they got *****d by their lawyers and how they wish they had found VJ before paying a fortune for a job that anyone able to read English can do easily himself.

Thank you for that Blues Fairy. That is an excellent place to get started for preliminary questions. I think no matter which direction one might choose as in professional help or wing it on their own. I looked it over and was quite impressed. Much like RWD. 

[Ravens9273]

Ronnie,

OK it seems you went back to read all my posts so you could make up what you feel to be a witty masterpieace because you have nothing better to do.
However I think you need to spend more time reading.
Did you not once indicate I needed to listen to you because you are far more experienced then myself?
OK mister wisdom.
Since you know so much you should know how the marriage process works in Ukraine.
First an AM can bring all the paperwork in the world from the USA. All the proof he is entitled to marry. Guess what? It means nothing. Ukraine will not accept it. They will only accept paperwork issued in Ukraine. So with this one will have to spend the day in Kiev. This you can only do on Firdays early morning. First stop US Embassy. There you get a form you fill out. They stamp it and then it is on to step 2. Going to Ukraine government building on the other side of town to have it certified.
Well you then take this paperwork to a wedding Palace. Long story short and I presume you should know this is that in Ukraine you will be LEGALLY married before actually having ceremony. Part of their paperwork process to have wedding is you will sign paperwork that will make you married before actual wedding ceremony.
This I clearly stated in the past we did. However we did not have ceremony. We planned to have ceremony in Ukraine with family.
Later we changed to have ceremony in Jamaica. Now you for some odd reason attack this and claim what happened to importance of family.
Still looking through my posts and cannot find the part where I wrote we ditched the family.
Family to us was our parents. This was always what we meant by family. We do not need our Aunts and Uncles and second cousins at wedding. However I think parents want to see their children get married and this is important to them.
Both her parents and my mother (father deceased) as well as my brother and his family were with us in Jamaica. We ordered on line live broadcast service from the resort for all the Aunts and Uncles and second cousins.
But once again I did not know I needed to put all this information on line to once again avoid a juvenile attack from someone like Ronnie.
But I would like to point out how Ronnie felt the need to say US when making his statements like everyone here needed to know this and everyone here was so confussed as to why we changed our wedding to Jamaica. It is not US Ronnie but YOU
Now once again spend time reading original post in this thread. You question money. You keep track of my finances it seems. Hell I should hire you as accountant since you are already keeping such a close look on my finances.
But it was clearly stated I wanted information if Attorney was better or not to use. I clearly said forget about cost but just simply was attorney better. From most here they say no. Where cost came into play as you say I have no idea.
You say spent on two French Bulldogs. Once again read. There are no dogs. Dogs are in future when she comes.

Honestly after reading your post I feel nothing short of the feeling of being stalked. You seem to keep track of my finances, my posts, trips and even pets etc...
Were you waiting for a moment you could come on here and sound like a wise man? Do you feel like a Hero now??

Were you not the same person when I said I was sending a car to Ukraine that you came to the brilliant conclusion my wife was a thief by this?? Do you have some magical power the rest of us do not know about???
Honestly at that point you lost your right to even speak to me. To this day I still say you have some nerve even coming out of your mouth like that towards someone you do not even know. This above all shows you are a child to me and not even on my level to speak to. I could make attacks on you and your wife. Even though your actions rightly justify doing so but unlike you I am an adult and will not.

Your insecurities are not my problem. If you feel threatened by me because I can marry in Jamaica, because I can send a car to Ukraine then that is your personal issue. Personally I do not know you nor do I care to know you.
If you know so much and have such a perfect relationship then you need to spend more time with the wife you have and less time checking up on me. Or maybe even use your extra time to maybe find a way to earn extra income for yourself since you seem to be insecure in this area instead of worrying about other people.

At this point I have nothing else to say to you. You are a child and you lost your right to say anything to me or comment on my posts once you called my wife a thief for absolutely no reason what so ever. Your not worth the time or effort. Especially with juvenile attacks and twisting words the way you want them to appear just so you can make yourself look smarter. Also keep in mind not every aspect of my life will be posted on this forum and it seems the others here that you claim as US also did not need to know this info.
I now consider my conversation with you over and will not even respond to such nonsense.
Good Day!

[William3rd]

I used the guides on visajourney.com, the example forms were particularly helpful. I wouldn't waste $ investing in one of those kits, the same info is available for free. It's not a complicated process but it requires a lot of attention to detail. I remember in the past William III groused about how people who self-filed were clogging up the system with RFEs, and I'm sure he's correct. If you choose to file yourself take the time to do it right, otherwise hire someone.

Hell- I even wrote a couple of kits years ago. . . . It was a good hook for clients bc we would refund the kit price for becoming a client.

Facts of life are that there are a lot of people that shouldnt be out alone much less trying to perform a legal process by themselves. And they screw all of the timelines for everybody else-both USCIS and embassy. . .

[AnastassiaAsh]

Hi Ravens9273,

I would join those who advise you to file the forms yourself. Everything i will say here is my experience for several years:

1. Absolutely nobody or anything will save you from headaches. Doing it with a lawyer will only double your headache and add at least a month to the whole process.

2. Any lawyer will have to ask you and your fiancee the same information that you have to put in the forms. So you first do that for them and they later fill the same thing in the official forms that they will send to USCIS. So you are definitely dealing with more time and double information.

3. Forms are pretty simple and there are several websites with all the help you might need.

4. Lawyers cannot really guarantee you any visa or success because USCIS is on their own, and you will know for sure if you get visa only when you or your fiancee is actually holding it in her hands.

5. I can honestly say that there are people who are not quite diligent, attentive, literate, cannot pay attention to the details... or who make so much money they are better off being busy doing that work and earning millions rather than loosing those millions but saving on $2000. You know what I mean?

6. It would be smart to hire an attorney if your case is very complicated and too atypical...

7. As somebody mentioned here in this thread and others too - I have been helping men in filling out the forms for both parties: his and hers. So, of course I would be glad to help you, but wouldn't want to impose in any way. Lots of people on this board and info from other websites can be very helpful too.

8. I had an experience with John Roth - far from nice....toooooo long, no answers to either calls or emails.... How about Jet or William3rd? 

[Ronnie]

There are cases where people should do it themselves and other cases where they should hire an attorney.  If one has above average mental resources and only average financial resouces.. then going it alone can work out fine. 

In reading the OP's history of posts, this appears to be case where a specialist should be retained.     

[ScottinCrimea]

Uhhh- Scott's wife did NOT arrive just fine. There were errors that were easily avoided by use of a professional.

It also does not take longer by use of an attorney-it definitely can be shorter and it is certainly done correctly.

When you guys do screw yourselves up, just dont whine that the attorney is now charging you double for the work.

Nice to see that the unitiated gives advice as well-hehehehehe. . . .

William, sorry to contradict you, but my wife did indeed arrive just fine.  There was only one "error" that I made in submitting the paperwork.  They asked for proof of my citizenship in the form of either a copy of a valid passport or birth certificate.  Because i hadn't received my birth certificate copy yet, I sent the passport copy.  They sent a RFE asking for the birth certificate instead, which I had by then and promptly sent.  Total delay, less than 2 weeks.  This was not so much an error as it was faulty information in the NCIS instructions.

There was a second "error" on my wife's part.  She was asked for a copy of her passport and she sent a copy of her internal passport.  Even though they should have known that Ukirainians have two separate passports, there was no distinction made in the instructions.  When they sent the RFE, they said that they had not received the passport, rather than that we had sent the wrong one and it took a couple of phone calls to finally figure out what they wanted.  Then all it required was to e-mail them with a copy of the passport attached, which took all of one day.

These are both things that an immigration attorney might have picked up on, maybe not.

The other delays in getting my wife to the US related to our decision to have me return to the US before the application was complete.  Since we had all the paperwork going to Ukraine, this resulted in delays only because of the mail transit time and had nothing to do with any mistakes on my or her part.  This delayed things a couple of months but even using an attorney wouldn't have changed this any.

I wish I had known of visajourney before I started the paperwork, because it took some digging to find the best ways to submit the paperwork, but once I knew the process, it was a no brainer.  Sure it required digging up documents, etc., but I would have had to do that anyway if I had hired an attorney.  The only thing an attorney would have done for me is to assemble the paperwork that I provided and send it.  hardly worth $2000.

I have heard that applications sent by attorneys take longer to process than those sent by individuals, but I don't have any statistics to back this up.  I have also heard from those who have used attorneys about their frustrations with their lack of promptness in submitting the paperwork, which has caused delays much longer than mine were.

I at one time contacted Holmes and Lolly to inquire about their services.  i lost all respect for them when their fee suddenly jumped from $1800 to $2500 once they learned that i was a physician.

The bottom line for me is that, looking back, I'm glad that I did it myself.  Once I knew what they wanted, it really wasn't that difficult.  I would also agree that the CR-1 is the way to go based on our experiences since my wife arrived in the US.

William, I seriously doubt that an immigration attorney will charge double to fix problems that might come up if the application is screwed up.  There's enough competition that many would be happy for the work.

[Jet]

I thought that some of you all had tried do it yourself brain surgury due to all of the medical malpractice complaints on medjourney.com or something.

William, are you one of those guys that takes your car to the dealership to get the burned out dome light replaced?   


My personal belief (and I am not an attorney) is that most people, when the requirements are laid out in front of them, can determine for themselves whether or not it is something they can handle.

The thing that pisses me off to no end, are the attorney sites that use scare tactics to try to compel prospective clients into buying their services, like this from John Roth's website:

Most people who file a K-1 visa petition without the aid of an attorney have a failure either at the USCIS or at the Embassy, leading to very long delays. Of course all these people did their research and they thought they had everything right when they filed the petition. But, like the captain of the Titanic, they could see only the tip of the iceberg, and they didn’t realize that the iceberg was constantly moving.

^{© Copyright John F. Roth, 2000-2007. All Rights Reserved}

or the ones that use "catch phrases" like this from Holmes & Lolly:

• Shorter waiting period
• WE do the work - not you

^{Copyright © 2001-2007 Allan S. Lolly & Associates APC, FBN Holmes & Lolly. All rights reserved.}

Of course Holmes and Lolly do take time further down the page in the small print to explain that "shorter waiting period" really isn't any shorter than a self petitioner who files their application correctly, and "WE do the work - not you" doesn't really mean they do the work after all. It means that all you and your fiancee have to do is provide them with information, documents and photos... Isn't that most of "the work"?