Goodness that is crazy much! So that validates some of the negative reviews I saw online that they keep making you pay for this and that.
That's a shame because they would have been my top pick going by the success story shared here but I no even get power for anything close to that. I mean considering that there are the actual EB2 application fees apart from any legal fees.

Thanks a lot for sharing and I sincerely hope you will have a resounding success story to share on your friend's behalf at the end of theirs.

praizG:

He was charged $9000

I agree. Helpout12345 thank you, all your input is very much appreciated

Helpout12345:

Flat fees are better. Don't do hourly fees, they can get you hooked and give you surprise charges down the line.

Very good points!

Helpout12345:


Thanks for sharing this.
I think I also prefer the petitioner draft the recommendation letters from technical perspective while the attorney reviews and adds legal perspectives to the letters. Such letters are stronger than those solely written by the attorney. For example, oil and gas industry, the petitioner can add all technical oil/gas and project specific terms to the letters which the attorney cannot or is not vast in, and the attorney sharpens up the letters with legal terms.

Thank you very much!

Helpout12345:


For oil and gas industry. Add the following to the list of attorneys.

Hmm, thank you for sharing this. Some of the reviews on them that I read on yelp and other websites had complaints in this regards. I thought they were just unhappy because of unsuccessful applications but it appears they do pile on the bills a little?

From the little I have seen online some attorneys will charge a flat fee for all the work they put in from A to Z which should be preferable.

Do you mind sharing what kind of fees your friend has encountered with them?

praizG:

@johnJS, based on the experience of a friend currently using Zhang and associates for his EB petition, you need to up your bargaining prowess when discussing attorney fees so you dont end up paying more (should you decide to use them). As far as I know, my friend drafted the recommendation letters for Zhang and associates to edit, dont't know about petition letter stage yet.

Hello all,

To cut a long story short I have basically struck out with getting an attorney through relatives in the US.

Helpout12345 you previously mentioned (thanks again) a couple of attorneys one of which was better for industry professionals – Zhang & Associates of https://www.hooyou.com/

I did a little research on them and though their reviews online appear a bit mixed (people with refusals are naturally disgruntled) the fact that one or two others here gave positive reviews of them helps.

So I am thinking of contacting them to get finally get this process started.

However, I would appreciate any further recommendations of attorneys experienced in the oil & gas immigration area as this is the specific industry the principal applicant works in. And like Helpout12345 hinted I would be looking for those who would give very hands-on help and direction in writing/drafting letters, petition and whatever else may be required.

The idea behind getting an attorney versus DIY is to get this exact kind of help and of course to enhance our chances of success especially as we are doing this from Nigeria.

kollykolly:

Thank you sir. You are God sent to this group.

Truly i can't agree more. Learning so much on these pages everyday

drbabsok:

Yes, I wasnt. I applied from outside of the USA.

Oh OK interesting and encouraging.

Thank you for your responses and once again I wish you all the best on the rest of the EB-2 process.

drbabsok:

My background is Science (Immunology and bio-engineering) with about 170 citations on google scholar.

Thanks for responding drbabsok and big congratulations on your case approval, that's encouraging news for us all.
I think you answered my main questions and a couple more really as I wanted to know your area of specialization. Hats off to you though, your background is hardcore!

I'll just ask, were you already in the US when you secured the initial employment with the university? I imagine so from all you wrote but just to confirm.

Studymore123:

You know your circumstances better than anyone else. Do what you know is best for you and at your pace. Nothing stops you from exploring both options. You can self petition and also get an employer. You can have multiple applications in the system. Don't forget you don't know the profiles of NotsonewMary or any other person who did it themselves. The 2 persons I know who did it themselves had PhDs from US universities. Post covid, many things have changed. If you have the funds go with an experienced immigration attorney, if you don't you can DIY. I wish you the very best.

Studymore123 thank you. Actually your post stuck in my head and frankly I will be considering the employer option also. I did not know it was possible to have multiple applications, that is interesting. Although of course that would mean multiple fees but then again it would mean more options.
I'm learning more with every input from you and the others so thank you. Your good wishes are also appreciated

Studymore123:

You got an interesting profile. It will be very easy if you're able to get an employer. I never had a degree when I got an employer. The EB2 also offers you the option to self petition which will waive the labor certification. You have all it takes.

Hmm would be great if it were possible to get an employer. But as we work full time already having the time to secure work sponsorship in addition to the EB2 process itself might be a tall order thus self petition is more attractive if we can meet the NIW criteria.
But thank you for the encouragement

NotsonewMary:

This is a good one!, I know a friend that used this company and shared her petition letter with me, it was superb!, Infact she just received her GC last week. (EB2NIW).

Ah for real! That is very good to know

Helpout12345:


Good. Examples of attorneys for industry professionals are

Helpout12345 please chop knuckle! Thank you very much!

NotsonewMary:

Haha, don’t mind me jare. Laziness and tiredness elongated the process for me, plus I have a whole unemployed little human to cater for as well…lol. Additionally, I had to carefully build my profile around my specific proposed endeavor.

I understand. To be honest if I can get it done in 2 years I would consider it an achievement. I have work to contend with on a day to day in addition to other personal projects so e go be small by small

NotsonewMary:

Thanks, I wish myself good luck and God’s favor with my application as well. I’ll try to share my timeline and other information that might be useful to others once I receive an update from USCIS.

We will look forward to this update

NotsonewMary:

Also, I know many Nigerians that have successfully petitioned for EB1 and EB2 categories of the NIW without employing the services of a lawyer. Many are now greencard holders and some others now US citizens.

Encouraging!

NotsonewMary:

DIY for the win mhen… Although, I’ve had a whole folder dedicated to gathering information and my exhibits for almost three years before putting in my application.

Three years that is gangster!

Helpout12345:

1. Evidence of receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence
2.

Helpful much!

NotsonewMary:

If you have the extra financial resources for a lawyer, then by all means go for it. The average charge I’ve heard of in recent times has ranged between $3k-4k for the lawyers fees alone!

YouTube and the internet generally has many great videos and resources for sample petition letters, recommendation letters and how to properly fill the required form(s) for EB2NIW.

Good luck to you and your spouse!

NotsonewMary you are quite right there is a lot of information to be found online and we will surely be reading up as much as possible before we take any actions.

Thanks a whole lot for the link too! It is so useful and will be a great resource if we eventually decide to go DIY. I mean the legal fees are not beans at all but we will still weigh all the pros and cons based on our profile specifics before making that decision.

Helpout12345:
I cannot over emphasize the importance of a familiar attorney in this process.

I can also show you another attorney that is bad for researchers and good for industry professionals.

Helpout12345 I really appreciate your advice here; you had mentioned it in your first post to me but I did not realize the import until you broke it down further so thank you very much for this.

We are industry professionals and my wife (principal applicant) is an engineer so do please share more on other attorneys and I will also be sure to emphasize this to my relatives when enquiring about immigration attorneys.

Helpout12345:

With that information, my question is will your wife get a US employer to sponsor her? If not, she will have to do NIW sub category of EB2.

Then for the attorney, like I said before, familiarity of attorney to this route and to your wife professional industry is very important.

Hello Helpout12345, we're still at the research stage but from if we can meet the criteria for the NIW route that would be the preference.

My spouse and I are both professionals with about 15 years work experience each in multinational organizations.

My wife has an advanced engineering degree from the US (her undergraduate degree is from the US also) so she'll be the main EB-2 applicant.

We intend to contact our relatives in the US to provide recommendations for US immigration lawyers so we can get some legal advice on putting together our application so we're just at the research and information gathering stage.

This is just by way of sharing and my own contribution towards keeping the conversation going �

Helpout12345:


All the links you need have been posted by others already.

Because I know this is alot of information to someone new to this route. I will help to brake it down.

Hello Helpout12345, thank you for taking the time to summarize some of the information provided in the links. It's generous of you to take the time to do so and I got some useful tips from your summary.

My comments to drbasok and NotsonewMary were requests for them to share some of their experiences and/or any tips, anecdotes etc from putting together and submitting their applications.

NotsonewMary was clear in her thread opener that people are invited to share their stories and timelines so it's these stories I was soliciting her and drbasok to kindly share from their personal applications thus far; not that I had a specific question for them at the moment.

NotsonewMary:


Niice!, May God favor those of us in the waiting game. I also recently applied for the EB-2 NIW.

Hoping this thread gets to people who have already been approved so they can share their timeline especially from approval to greencard.

I appreciate everyone that has contributed to this thread so far. Have a beautiful and blessed week ahead everyone!

Similar comment to you too. But first thanks so much for taking the time to create this page.

I have visited the US and a couple of European countries for vacation and short business trips (Europe only) a few times and have always thought it could be interesting to have overseas work experience. But only if done legally and with a decent white collar job (my personal preference, nothing wrong with good honest blue collar work)

So to help us more and also to further the conversation, are you able to share more details about your application process for the EB-1 visa, your educational and professional background and the journey thus far in general, personal identifiers being omitted for privacy.

Thanks again.

drbabsok:
Yes, I applied for H1B visa from Nigeria and It was granted. Applied for my EB-1 NIW some months ago

Hello, are you able to share more details about your application processes for both the H1B and EB-1 visas? And any anecdotes about your background and the journey thus far in general. Personal identifiers could always be omitted for privacy.

I think the more that it's shared directly on this thread, as opposed to privately on PMs, the more a lot of us will be able to learn.

Thank you

I hear you about cutting it close, I agree. I did try passport renewal but it took months so i decided to take the plunge and not lose more time waiting to apply. Thanks for your input. Probably will skip sending that email though, i go rest myself abeg

AmeliaT:
I hear you but you submitted within 7 months of validity. Worst case, they will ask you to submit a new passport to receive the visa (which you thankfully have already); this is what Canada does. However, you cut it too close. Next time, I advise you renew first. But you are good to go for now. But if you're not at rest, feel free to send them an email letting them know this but I doubt that info will even be passed to the ECO

Thanks a lot for that example that's comforting to hear. I appreciate your input. I will do just that.

giselle237:
at all. They wont give you a reduced length based on your passport. Someone used a passport expiring in 4 months for 6 months visa. Visa issued. Passport was expiring 1st week december. Visa valid till March was placed on the passport exceeding ppt validity. U simply travel with the two passports. When you are called to submit, simply adjoin your old and new passports and submit.

Ok thank you. My worry was that they could take a negative decision based on the validity of the passport submitted. They have no way of knowing i have obtained a new passport. It sounds like i don't have anything to be concerned about. But even as I write I'm now thinking it's up to me to write to inform them of this.
Thank you once again.

AmeliaT:
I don't see the issue here. You should go back with the new passport attached to the old one. Cheers!

Good day all, I am new to these pages but kudos to those who take the time to provide robust answers to enquires here. It is laudable and encouraging.

I applied for a 2 year visit visa at the end of November last year (I have previously been issued UK visas with between 6 months to 5 years validity)

However my passport expires at the end of June this year. In November when I applied this gave me over 7 months passport validity but today no decision has been made.

I opted for the “keep my passport” option when I applied as UKVI advised possible delays and I have now obtained a new passport but I do not know what the possibilities are. I mean for when a decision will hopefully be made soon. Will I be able to tender my new passport when the visa is hopefully approved? I have just learned of paid mail on these pages, do I need to write a paid mail detailing the issue?

Advice and similar experiences are much welcome.

Thank you.

slashthroat:


He has Southy pali. They give 10years

Never heard SA or passport called that before

GboyegaD:


I am a Nigerian and on a Nigerian passport. So I moved to the US to study and then moved to Canada for further studies where I got Permanent Residence. I am back in the US now and the reciprocity law allows Canada PR 10 years Visit Visa.

Thanks a lot for sharing.

GboyegaD:

Down the line, I got another B1/B2 which is valid for 10years and also have a F1 valid for 5 years.

Hello Gboyega interesting insights. Would you mind sharing what country's passport this 10 year B1/B2 visa was issued in? Within the limits of my knowledge I understand the B1/B2 visa is limited to 2 years for Nigerian passports. I have heard this is also the duration Nigeria issues similar visas for the US and of course the US tends to be big on reciprocal administrative policies.

It's amusing for me to see some people get upset by Afonjaboston. Dude is living it up no doubt earning mad $6-figure pay in the US. The guy already said he's here for nostalgic reasons and to catch trips. I really think no one should be offended or take anything he says too seriously or deeply, he's a nutter (meant in a good way) who's just having fun on a faceless online forum. Truth be told I have respect for the guy because he posted one of the most encouraging stories I've read on this thread telling of how he came up from being a scholarship student with no connections but worked hard, got a good job here, travelled to the US for work and was such a badass at his job that his American superiors were the ones to request he stay back permanently. Yes this is a non immigrant thread but while it's great to be able to visit and come back, having the opportunity to legally work there whether permanently or temporarily and earn that FX ain't a bad deal at all. I know some say he and others derail the thread but truth be told if you are an info seeker, like most of us who come here are, then you'll just skip the off topic posts and click on to the next post/page.