I want to sponsor a family member through immigration. Do I need to hire an attorney for that?

Whether or not you need to hire an attorney depends on how much free time you have, and on how important it is for this immigration process to be successful. Immigration law — like all areas of law — can get very complicated very fast, and the rules change frequently. This means that successfully sponsoring a family member without professional help will take a fair bit of trial, error, and research.

As the family immigration section of this website showcases, these are all issues an immigration attorney can handle for you. While you are not legally required to hire an attorney for this process, working with one can make things much easier. More importantly, working with an attorney also increases the chances of your relative’s application being successful.

The downside, of course, is that attorneys can be quite expensive. But there are lots of ways to keep the number of billable hours down, and attorneys will often be quite willing to help clients who are looking to keep costs down.