First post! Glad to be part of the community and I hope that this post will help future couples/families. Here goes:
I am reaching out as my partner and I are looking for an Immigration Lawyer / RCIC to help us complete the Family Class / Spousal Sponsorship process.
I am a Canadian Citizen and my partner is an American Citizen. Our goal is to have her immigrate here to Canada.
So far in our research, we concluded that there are 3 options into completing this process:
(1) Hire an Immigration Lawyer
(2) Hire an RCIC
(3) Do it yourself
Although hiring a lawyer or RCIC is quiet costly, it does reduce risk. On the other hand, we have read countless forums that doing it yourself is fairly straight forward especially if there isn’t any complications.
Our questions are:
(a) Is there a “Official” recommended list of lawyers or RCIC’s that can help us? We’ve collected a list from searching online, however, the reviews are inconsistent and we are worried of potential scammers and people taking advantage (fake reviews etc.)
(b) Based on peoples experience, are there any pros/cons to hiring a lawyer vs. an RCIC?
(c) Calling all DYI-ers. Do you have any tips / recommendations / resources that could help us if we choose to complete the application ourselves?
Looking to get your thoughts on this. Thanks everyone
Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us. We are glad to hear from you too, and hope that the community can also share their experiences with you.
It may also help to connect with a community resource navigator at 211 to narrow your search.
211 Ontario is a free, confidential service. Their phone service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Here is a link to their live chat if you prefer to communicate online. Their live chat service is available Monday to Friday from 7am-9pm ET.
