Applying for a US Green Card with Self Petition

Did you know that you can apply for a green card yourself? Over the past several years, we have seen a number of applicants, some who do it themselves and others with the help of lawyers. From our experience, below are some reasons why doing it yourself is worth the effort.

Let us ponder some facts about a typical National Interest Wavier (EB2-NIW) or Extraordinary Ability (EB1A) application process!

Hundreds of PhDs apply for permanent residency / green card either on their own or through a lawyer every year.

Here is a comparison between applying independently and through a lawyer.

In our experience, it takes nearly the same effort on your part to prepare a petition, even if you apply through a lawyer. When you do it through a lawyer, the lawyer expects you to:

• Outline or write 6-12 recommendation letters.
• Communicate the recommendation letters and lawyer suggestions to the recommenders.
• Collect evidence and content for the exhibits.
• Review and make changes to the petition.

That’s already 95% of the entire work.

In the above process, a lawyer supervises your work and makes suggestions and corrections to your documents. If you have some example petition letters, you can do this on your own. You are a PhD, after all!

• On average, the lawyer fee can vary between $3000 for a single petition and $6000 for a family application in addition to the USCIS application fee.
• Do you know both types of applications have nearly the same success rate?

We believe that if you have successfully completed a PhD thesis, you can undoubtedly do a successful self-petition for your green card. You can do it, and our do-it-yourself packets can help!

Disclaimer: The contents in this web site are only for your information and are not intended to be legal advice. While many of our applicants successfully obtain their I-140 approvals, the information here should not be considered as a guarantee of your green card application outcome.