I am now in the club!

I hired a lawyer but in reality should’ve done it on my own. It’s give or take $5k.

 

I moved here in spring of 2001, got my conditional Green Card in spring of 2003 and my unconditional one in 2005. I did it without using a lawyer, it was a little complicated but nothing that someone with good comprehension skills shouldn't be able to manage, it's harder for someone whose first language isn't English though. The only problem I ran into was when I sent my application to the wrong place, which was where I was told to send it to and they returned it with someone else's photographs. I've looked at the citizenship stuff and it appears a lot more straightforward than the Green Card application, it seems that once you have one about seventy five percent of the work is done.

 

Citizenship is way more straight forward. I got my green card around same tone as you, only issue I had was the post 9-11 stuff where they just kept extending my visa because they put everything on hold for a bit.

 

Since when did you have to be a citizen to vote here. Asking for a friend

 

Well, you can take your chances, but I think its 10 years if you are caught.

 

That only applies to Federal elections. State and local elections can differ in their rules. I don't think any states allow non-citizens to vote but there a few localities that do so.

 

Congrats, now go buy a gun.

 

Congratulations!

 

Some situations can be more straightforward than others. Some government workers can be more difficult than others. When you're doing something that important, the peace of mind of knowing you're not screwing it up might be worth it. The citizenship itself might be easier but the green card stage, I wouldn't blame anyone for retaining a lawyer.

 

And yeah, there is definitely one of doing here who have earned the right to join the group. I find that compulsion amazing. It's like they literally have no power over it.

 

Well, there is no requirement that you hire a surgeon to remove your bad kidney either but most people include the hired labor when talking about the costs. It comes down to whether you want to take your chances with it.

Now to be more serious, don't discount the fact that English might be a second language to a lot of people applying and a lot of that legal/admin stuff can be very intimidating when you know just enough English for your job and daily life.

 

And add to that... they don't want to make mistakes and be forced to go thru the churn cycle again.

 

I think for a lot of people it was the same as me getting travel visas to where ever. I could have done it myself but for the amount of time, stress, not wanting to interact with some foreign gooberment bureaucrat and just not wanting to risk f@ckin' it, ponying up the dough is a better option.

I also usually got better results with letting a pro do it versus my doing it (getting a 10 year visa versus a 1, 2 or 5 year visa).

 

Oh, that part was already the basis for my first response to Mongo. Totally with you on that.

 

Ok bonus points for using pogrom.

 

I first came over on a Fiance Visa, we did it all ourselves, didn't think about using a lawyer, I didn't even know you could hire one at the time, I still wouldn't have used one though. Getting my visa was a lot more work than the Green Card, but as I said earlier and Papa reiterated if English isn't your first language it could be quite problematical.