Have you been wondering, “how much does an immigration lawyer cost?”.
There’s not an easy answer to that, but one thing’s for sure, an immigration lawyer can make your life a whole lot easier.
The process of immigrating and emigrating to the US is a complicated one. Whether you’re making a move to go to school, you’ve got a new job, or you’re just looking for a change, you’re going to have a lot on your plate. In some cases, the actual immigration process can be quite lengthy.
There’s a lot of red tape involved in any immigration case and the cost of filing the wrong paperwork can be devastating. That’s why hiring an immigration lawyer is almost always the best and safest move, but is it affordable?
Today, we’re going to answer that question and help you decide if your case requires an immigration lawyer.
Why Do You Need An Immigration Lawyer?
There are so many different types of immigration cases and each one requires you to read and review a veritable mountain of paperwork. Fortunately, there are resources available to hold your hand through the entire process, but unfortunately, sifting through those resources takes a lot of time.
Only in the most straightforward immigration situations – where you know you’re eligible and you haven’t been on the wrong side of the law (or the immigration office) – then you can get by without a lawyer. For the rest of you, you’re probably going to need someone that’s well-versed on the subject to interpret the law for your specific case.
Immigration isn’t something you want to give less than your full attention to. The cost of improperly filling out the paperwork can be awful, even resulting in deportation in some cases.
How Much Does An Immigration Lawyer Cost?
Now that you know why you need one, let’s discuss how much legal immigration help is going to set you back. Sadly, there’s no specific answer to this question because it really depends on what you’re asking them to do. In general, you can expect that an immigration lawyer is going to work for between $150-300 per hour, with a consultation being $75-150.
If you take an employment green card application, for example, you’re going to pay somewhere in the range of $1,500 and $5,000. It’s an unspecific estimate because different scenarios present unique challenges and the details are in your specific employment opportunity.
A family-based green card petition will only cost you between $800-1,500 because they’re much more common and there’s only so much variation between the cases. Where you fall in the range depends on your situation and the experience level of the lawyer.
Making the Smart Choice
Now that we’ve shed some light on the question, “how much does an immigration lawyer cost?”, you can take a look at your case and decide if it’s something you should do. Unless you think you have an extremely simple case, then you should be looking into and contacting immigration lawyers in your area to set up a consultation. These cases are notoriously complicated, so it’s always better to have a trained eye on things.
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