-- $500 is a lot of money --

I was reminded of this at a baby shower over the weekend.

I spent about $500 on the registry and I very clearly overspent relative to everyone else. Oops.

it depends in which pockets you put the money

Let's say there's 15 people with visas, they're probably going to have very similar conditions. The company pays a lawyer for two days of work, one full-time work day to look carefully into what options people with visa have, and another day to spend 30 minutes with each person individually to explain the situation and answer any question they might have.

If each individual goes to a lawyer and they want the same treatment, it's not going to cost them $500, it will cost them significantly more.

I'd consider this a blessing, tbh. Just the fact that there's an attorney on call that I can ask questions of, and I can talk to my friends who also talked to the consultant instead of hunting down an attorney for myself -- or more likely not and just going it alone and reading the documentation myself (I know guys who do this).

There's a lot of benefit here for those who need guidance.

less than that. I see $250 as an hour for many immigration lawyers so this is like $125.