Filing myself vs hiring an immigration lawyer

[mikema75]

My girlfriend is here on a tourist visa that allows her up to 6 months. She arrived on Sept 15th.
Originally the intent was for her to go back to Malaysia on Oct 11th and we have a return ticket that shows that.
On Oct 2nd we discovered she is pregnant and I intend to propose and marry her so we can stay together.

After we marry, I want to do a change of status for her from her tourist visa to the appropriate visa as my wife and to get a green card.

1. I was wondering if any of you have attempted this and how long did it take?

2. She doesn't currently have health insurance and i don't know if she can get health insurance as soon as we marry or only after she gets her green card.
If anyone has any experience with this i would appreciate it.

3. I'm good at filling out forms, and detailed oriented and just wanted to see if any of you did it yourself or you went ahead and got a help of a lawyer who might know the sortcuts, etc.

3. One of the immigration lawyer website said there is an unwritten rule that if you are here on a tourist visa and want to get married for a change of status there is an unwritten rule that you should wait 60 days otherwise they might suspect fraud. Any insight on this?

thanks for all your help. I hope to give back at the end of our process here also.

[azblk]

My girlfriend is here on a tourist visa that allows her up to 6 months. She arrived on Sept 15th.
Originally the intent was for her to go back to Malaysia on Oct 11th and we have a return ticket that shows that.
On Oct 2nd we discovered she is pregnant and I intend to propose and marry her so we can stay together.

After we marry, I want to do a change of status for her from her tourist visa to the appropriate visa as my wife and to get a green card.

1. I was wondering if any of you have attempted this and how long did it take?

2. She doesn't currently have health insurance and i don't know if she can get health insurance as soon as we marry or only after she gets her green card.
If anyone has any experience with this i would appreciate it.

3. I'm good at filling out forms, and detailed oriented and just wanted to see if any of you did it yourself or you went ahead and got a help of a lawyer who might know the sortcuts, etc.

3. One of the immigration lawyer website said there is an unwritten rule that if you are here on a tourist visa and want to get married for a change of status there is an unwritten rule that you should wait 60 days otherwise they might suspect fraud. Any insight on this?

thanks for all your help. I hope to give back at the end of our process here also.

1. It happens all the time. Duration depends on case complexity and location. It can be as short as 6 month and as long as several years.
2. As soon as you marry you can add her to your insurance.
3. Do it yourself unless you like paying thousands of $$ to someone to fill forms for you. This site and few others are a very good resource to ask questions and find guidance on how to proceed.
4. Too many different opinions about this. Court and BIA precedents say it doesn't matter. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Peacelilly]

My girlfriend is here on a tourist visa that allows her up to 6 months. She arrived on Sept 15th.
Originally the intent was for her to go back to Malaysia on Oct 11th and we have a return ticket that shows that.
On Oct 2nd we discovered she is pregnant and I intend to propose and marry her so we can stay together.

After we marry, I want to do a change of status for her from her tourist visa to the appropriate visa as my wife and to get a green card.

1. I was wondering if any of you have attempted this and how long did it take?

2. She doesn't currently have health insurance and i don't know if she can get health insurance as soon as we marry or only after she gets her green card.
If anyone has any experience with this i would appreciate it.

3. I'm good at filling out forms, and detailed oriented and just wanted to see if any of you did it yourself or you went ahead and got a help of a lawyer who might know the sortcuts, etc.

3. One of the immigration lawyer website said there is an unwritten rule that if you are here on a tourist visa and want to get married for a change of status there is an unwritten rule that you should wait 60 days otherwise they might suspect fraud. Any insight on this?

thanks for all your help. I hope to give back at the end of our process here also.

1. use forms I-130, I-130 A, I-485 optional,I-765, I-131 with required evidence and fee ($1225 for I-485/ Bio, $535 for I- 130) forms
can be found at www.uscis.gov/forms

2.You can add her to your insurance as soon as you are married.

3.You will save a lot of money self filing, We self file with help from this forum,No RFE and I have my green card in hand, the forms are
simply and as you said you are good at it, so that's a plus.

4.Not sure about that rule but Wait 60 days just to be safe and avoid any questions about that. I came on a visitor visa December 2016
and got marry in April 2017, filed in June about 1 month before my stay was up.

Best of luck

[Dlucan]

My girlfriend is here on a tourist visa that allows her up to 6 months. She arrived on Sept 15th.
Originally the intent was for her to go back to Malaysia on Oct 11th and we have a return ticket that shows that.
On Oct 2nd we discovered she is pregnant and I intend to propose and marry her so we can stay together.

After we marry, I want to do a change of status for her from her tourist visa to the appropriate visa as my wife and to get a green card.

1. I was wondering if any of you have attempted this and how long did it take?

2. She doesn't currently have health insurance and i don't know if she can get health insurance as soon as we marry or only after she gets her green card.
If anyone has any experience with this i would appreciate it.

3. I'm good at filling out forms, and detailed oriented and just wanted to see if any of you did it yourself or you went ahead and got a help of a lawyer who might know the sortcuts, etc.

3. One of the immigration lawyer website said there is an unwritten rule that if you are here on a tourist visa and want to get married for a change of status there is an unwritten rule that you should wait 60 days otherwise they might suspect fraud. Any insight on this?

thanks for all your help. I hope to give back at the end of our process here also.

Not sure about the other two questions but, I went with a lawyer. It was way less stress than if we had to do it ourselves, all questions answered and a guarantee it would be done right. If you go that way, shop around for a good one and make sure its a immigration LAWYER, not a consultant. The consultant can't charge you money, but their advice is also not legally guaranteed. It's all personal preference, but my thought were this is going to be the most difficult and important legal thing i will ever do, do i want to screw it up or pay a few thousand to get it right.

[smilezz]

We did hire an attorney for both filing and interview. I honestly don't think it was necessary since our case was so straightforward, but we still chose to using and attorney to minimize the stress and possibilities that may delay the process. If you end up with hiring one, make sure that you will hire a good one, because I have seen some cases here that the incapability of attorney actually delayed the process.