Soraya and Robin had known each other a while back before they reconnected and started dating. Just before their marriage in Feb. 2018, the couple began looking to expedite the green card process for Robin, who is originally from India. And in their own words, the process was “daunting.”
Looking into the green card application process could stress anyone, but they had the added pressure of planning a wedding and each maintaining full-time jobs. After getting some advice from a friend who is a paralegal, Soraya decided to explore options on how to get help with the process. That’s when she found Boundless.
Recently, Robin was granted his green card. “It’s really nice to have the green card,” said Soraya. “It felt like this dark cloud following us around for a year and a half, and now the burden has been lifted.”
We caught up with Soraya to learn more about the couple’s experience with Boundless and the green card application process.
What was the biggest pressure you felt during the process?
Robin had an H-1B visa through his employer. However, getting a green card through his work could have taken 10 years, and Robin would have had to renew his H-1B at least once in that time, and prove his employment.
The timeline was one of the biggest pressures: We were already planning to get married, so it was the inevitable next step we were going to take to make things go a little faster. it was a difference of having to wait 2 years [for a marriage green card] versus a much longer wait through his employer, plus the political climate made things a lot more stressful for us.
What options did you consider when looking for help with the green card process?
I have a friend who is a paralegal, and we went over some of the basics of the preparation and the application. At the time that was the most daunting thing — we were worried about filling out all this paperwork, and possibly getting it wrong.
Getting a lawyer was something we were willing to do only if our case became really complicated. Being newly married, the thought of $2,000 or more for a lawyer seemed like, “Ouch, that’s really going to hurt.”
How did you end up choosing Boundless?
I started googling different searches on how to get prepared to apply for a green card, and then saw that Boundless did so much to assist in the process.
The Boundless price was also reasonable. Paying for a lawyer felt like overkill — we didn’t need them to show up at the interview, and the process was pretty straightforward.
How was Boundless helpful in the process?
Boundless was really helpful all around, especially with the attorney. She was able to answer any questions that were making us nervous.
Our final application package impressed me with how organized and nicely put together it was. It was really easy to navigate, every page was marked and tabbed where we needed to sign, and instructions were really clear.
“The updates on things, like policies, were a huge help. I got updates through email and also checked the site and your social media regularly. ” – Soraya
I really relied on the two pdf files you sent me about preparing for the interview and possible questions. Having a comprehensive list of everything I needed helped me to get organized, and then also those interview questions helped us get an idea of how specific we could expect the interviewers to be.
By the time of the interview, I had a five-inch notebook of documentation, based on every single one of your bullet points. Even our green card interviewer was really impressed. She said, “I’m really glad you came organized.” She didn’t ask many questions, but having all the information in front of me took a lot of the stress away from the situation. I didn’t feel unprepared at all.