SimpleCitizen (YC S16) Is TurboTax for Immigration
themacro.com
themacro.com
Question: Who actually submits the documents? The 'How it works' is not clear.
"The application, upon completion, is sent to a SimpleCitizen-approved immigration lawyer for review to ensure users have the best application possible." ...But then what?
One of the reasons you hire a lawyer is so that lawyer can stand in for you. Part of that is that they can submit documents and requests on your behalf. Does SimpleCitizen seek power of attorney from customers? That would open a nest of licensing issues. Note the careful language. Are these "review" lawyers giving advice or not?
No power of attorney, no standing in for you, just a guide for a very complicated process. From what we've seen, it's generally intended for people who would otherwise DIY the process, but want a little more peace of mind that they're doing it right. It's not really meant for those with complex situations that need a lawyer.
That;s the danger. If they are giving advice that results in you submitting different answers that you otherwise would have, they are boarding on giving legal advice. It's all well and good when things work out, but when that advice goes wrong it can be very very bad for the client. That's why lawyers are licensed. These people are also handling lots of personal information that I hope would be covered by attorney-client privilege, but only if they are lawyers.
Certainly this is the case with tax lawyers and reading through this thread there are quite a few instances with immigration lawyers.
TurboTax is useful because it provides an easy interface for doing your taxes -- electronic filing is just a bonus. Say IRS only accepted paper forms. It just means that you would have to print your return documents from TurboTax and mail them (an option that is still available in TurboTax). Mailing in IRS forms is not the hard part, it's filling them out. TurboTax was able to replace tax agents for most people because it guides you through the process and does all calculations for you. eFiling is just icing on the cake.
Long story short, I filed by myself and had a friend who is a lawyer review certain parts of my application which I think needed a little extra review.
Something like this is awesome, I'll definitely bookmark it for if I have friends or family going through the citizenship process.
My wife and I did the interview on our own and thankfully got through it okay. On our way out of the building, we ran into our lawyer, who claimed that she got stuck in traffic and was very sorry. Needless to say, we fired her and we have filed all of our paperwork ourselves since this incident.
For my naturalization process, I will consider any other option other than a lawyer.
They aren't going to tell you which immigration path is best, especially from a tax perspective. That requires a proper discussion of you and your family's assets and expected earnings. Nor will they be able to answer broader questions such as whether your kids will or will not be subject to selective service, either in the US or in your country of origin, something that doesn't depend on citizenship alone.
It used to be that paralegals would excerpt boxes of documents, now you have OCR applications and text search - the low-level work is automated. It's really the same with this service.
In Miami we had a startup (founded in 2013) working on this which was recently acquired ClearPath. http://www.myclearpath.com/
Great product idea, I'm trying it now!
That's why I think you have to be batshit crazy to use any software instead of a cheap immigration lawyer.
(I personally went through the student visa -> greencard -> citizenship process, so I know how it works)
For example, if you want to be a lawyer or study something like history, women studies, arts, it's absolutely not worth it.
Otherwise, completely agree with you. You don't want to fuck with these guys. A mistake in your application randomly triggers either them asking for more doc, or them rejecting the application altogether. A rejected application can have very severe consequences indeed.
I read a lot of horror stories in this thread about bad attorneys, I guess I was lucky with mine who was completely awesome.
I could see needing help with the green card process, as it's more complex. That said, I know plenty of people who have applied without any help and been successful.
The one area where I've seen having an expert onboard help is around the nuances of applying. Often the USCIS will publish memos that clarify requirements (the instructions are often not that clear, especially if you have an unique situation). However, that means your expert needs to keep up on the latest on a day-to-day basis to be worth their cost.
Is it true that there's a line in it where one is allowed to change one's name?
And yes, you can change your legal name through the citizenship process. You just write down what you want your new name to be. However, I think if you do that, you can't go through the regular citizenship ceremony, rather, you need to have a judge do it. But don't quote me on that.
FWIW, in Cleveland they only offer judicial ceremonies at the federal courthouse building. In places where administrative ceremonies are offered, they are usually done at a higher frequency than judicial ceremonies, though they still try to have at least one judicial ceremony per month.
This can all be done without a lawyer. I never had one and filled out all the forms myself.
A careful reading of the instructions, which accompany every USCIS form (often in a separate PDF, but listed on the same page), will give you all the information you need to know. If you need to know more information, you can read the USCIS Policy Manual[1], which is conveniently available to the public, and essentially tells you exactly the rules that a USCIS Immigration Officer will use when adjudicating your case.
USCIS also has a pretty good map of where you can start the whole process right on their home page[2], under Working in the US and Family.
That all said, my personal Swiss army knife of immigration information is and has always been the great VisaJourney[3], which is a forum of folks going through and who have gone through the immigration process helping each other out. Mostly, I've found that they are good for disarming the natural assumption I had that I was missing something in my applications, but their guides are great as well (though mostly restating information available in the USCIS form instructions).
I am... hesitant about this idea. It could be great for a lot of people! However, I feel that if you're going to be navigating the sometimes complicated waters of international immigration, you should understand what you're doing. Attempting to immigrate to the US without fully understanding the relevant immigration laws may very easily subject you to bars to entry that last more than a decade. These laws, in my opinion, are not hard to understand, and are, again, readily available from USCIS[4], so it's not like they're hidden. But saying the wrong thing, or misrepresenting yourself to an immigration officer in the mistaken assumption that it will better your case, can have disastrous consequences. Are you willing to bet the next decade or more of your life on a single website that may not necessarily back up its claims that your application is complete and without red flags?
Maybe I'm wrong and this startup will capture everything in an easy to understand format. But the whole thing makes me leery. There are a huge number of sites on the internet that purport to guarantee your application and give you special considerations, while essentially just charging you extra for forms you can download yourself for free. I've also heard many, many instances of simple immigration cases being screwed up by lawyers omitting or being late in submitting documentation for their clients, when by all rights they should have been able to file the paperwork themselves and saved thousands of dollars, but now have a visa / petition denial on their record that they will have to overcome the next time they file!
Good luck to them though. I hope if they do find a way to simplify their clients' applications, that USCIS can take a page from them and simplify the process on their website.
1. https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual.html
3. http://www.visajourney.com/
4. https://www.uscis.gov/laws/immigration-and-nationality-act