subject: Usa Immigration: Do You Need An Attorney? [print this page] If you are currently in the planning stage or perhaps a friend or loved one is currently planning on immigrating to the United States or perhaps even considering visiting, in which case a visa will be required then you most likely have chatted to other people that have already gone through the application process. If this is so, then one thing you probably found out as you talked to them, is that there is no one typical case. You won't find two people with the same matching story that they tell.
One person you talk to can tell you a harrowing tale of multiple visits strung out over two or three years. Even though they were an American citizen who was just trying to get their wife a travel visa from a South American country. And you may get a story from young professional who was trying to come here work for a computer company who got a work visa in six months, and ended up staying and emigrating. Then someone else will tell you that they just walked in and were instantly approved.
So you can pretty much just forget about trying to find someone that will give you the typical story of what it's like going to the immigration process, and that also includes getting a visa today. In fact if it there were something that could describe what it's like, perhaps a card game would be a good analogy. You hope for a good hand but you have to play through with the one that you get, and the reason for this is that the bureaucrats conduct the interviews are pretty much free to make up their own rules and the appeals process is also a mess as well.
Besides if you were to ask anyone who's already gone through the immigration process on their own or obtained a visa these days on their own, they will tell you that the last thing that they wanted to do was file any kind of appeal. To draw unwanted negative attention to themselves, and this also applies to American citizens who have gone through the system. You see, if things are going wrong for you and taking more time than you thought they would there's always reasons for that.
As a matter of fact once you're on your own trying to navigate your way through the integration of the application system, the truth be told, an appeal probably won't do any good and if anything can make things worse. You see, all it takes is for one of the many bureaucrats you have to deal with to get a bad attitude towards you and decide to make things difficult for you, and you can be stuck there for "who knows how long" trying to get things sorted out without any reason given to you.
So just as if you're fighting a court case or involved in any other aspect of the American legal system in the US, hiring an immigration attorney is just a smart thing to do. They've been to the system before so they're most likely on speaking terms with the people who will be handling your application. They also know where the pitfalls are, and how to step over them. Then if there should be something that pops up to delay your case, they will know from experience how to deal with it.
