H-1B Application - Immigration Lawyer

Lanterrrn

Hey folks,

Gearing up for my H-1B application at the moment and looking into the possibility of hiring an immigration attorney to ensure everything goes to plan and the forms arrive at the correct location on April 1st.

Just curious as to the legality of hiring an attorney. I understand that the sponsoring company is required to pay the majority of the filing fees, and that the only filing fee I'm eligible to pay for is the premium processing fee. Is this similar with an attorney?

As the company is filing on my behalf, if an attorney is involved, are they required to be the party that picks up the bill? Or can I offer to hire an attorney to fill in the forms for them?

spideog7

I've no idea but I since it's the company that files the forms (not you) I'd expect it's up to them to hire an attorney if they want one. I would expect almost any company willing to hire you and pay for the application would not have the time to spare to be dealing with all of the paperwork (unless they did it regularly).

When I got my H1B the company that hired me asked me a few questions about the process during the interview and before offering me the job but once they offered me the job, they and the attorney they hired took care of everything. I probably would have been able to figure out a good amount of it myself but it wasn't up to me to file the forms it was all in their court, to be honest I didn't even talk to them for a few months while it was going through!

Lanterrrn

Lawyer sorted. Appreciate the post anyway, spideog. Luckily the company offered to pick up the bill. That's ~$3,000 saved!