How Much Does a Immigration Cost in Virginia?

Virginia carries 3 rows — simple, $1,200–$3,600 at $170–$340/hr over 3-6 months; moderate, $3,150–$8,400 at $230–$425/hr over 6-12 months; complex, $8,550–$16,000 at $285–$515/hr over 12-24+ months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.

$5,250 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,100 above the $3,150 floor, $3,150 under the $8,400 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 49.

At 21st of 49, Virginia sits above the midpoint of the immigration table: $500 more than the $4,750 median state, or 11%, with 20 states recording a higher median.

Oregon is only $50 above Virginia at $5,300, but the drop to Pennsylvania at $5,050 is $200 — the state sits at the bottom edge of its group, with clear air beneath it.

5 tracked states — Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, Maine among them — record a median within three percent of Virginia's $5,250. The figure sits in the densest part of the immigration distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.

The two rankings disagree sharply. Virginia attorneys sit 13th of 49 on hourly rate at $315 an hour, but the state is only 21st on total immigration cost — the recorded matters resolve in fewer billed hours than the rate alone would produce.

Within ten percent of the Virginia figure there are 8 states above and only 4 below. $50 up or $200 down moves Virginia a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the immigration field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.

Climbing five places would mean passing Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, Maine, Oregon and adding $150 to the $5,250 recorded here.

Five places down means passing under Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Tennessee: $550.

$1,900 short of Hawaii ($7,150), $1,900 clear of Kentucky ($3,350).

At $315 an hour, the $5,250 median represents about 17 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 18 hours: Virginia reaches its total in 1 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.

The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex immigration costs 4.8x a simple one in Virginia, but the implied workload only rises 2.9x — 10 hours at $255 becomes 29 hours at $400 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.57x carries an unusually large share of the increase.

From $3,150 to $8,400 the moderate band is $5,250 wide, close to the $4,750 peer median. End to end that is 17 hours at $315.

Across the 6-12 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $5,250 median is roughly $583 a month of elapsed time.

By implied hours Virginia falls to 46th of 49 at 17 hours, 25 places below its 21st on cost — the immigration total arriving on less recorded work.

30% up the $3,150–$8,400 band sits the $4,750 table midpoint, buying 15 hours at $315 against the 17 the local immigration median implies — 2 hours apart.

$315 an hour puts Virginia between Vermont ($315) and Colorado ($305) — not the immigration cost pairing.

4 other states record exactly $315 — District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this immigration table.

$5,250 buys 21 hours at $255, 17 at $315, 13 at $400.

The tiers rank Virginia very differently. It is 5th at the simple tier, 21st at moderate, 16th at complex of 49 — a fall of 11 places as the matter becomes harder. The state is expensive to start a immigration in and comparatively ordinary to finish one in.

$2,450 is 5th of 49 on a straightforward immigration, under California ($2,500) and over Maryland ($2,350), $550 over the $1,900 tier midpoint.

$11,750 is 16th of 49 once contested, between Maine ($11,750) and Vermont ($11,600), $1,000 off the $10,750 tier midpoint.

The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $3,600 against a moderate floor of $3,150 — but there is a clear gap of $150 between the moderate ceiling of $8,400 and the complex floor of $8,550. In Virginia the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.

$2,450 puts Virginia 5th of 49 on straightforward matters, 16 up on its moderate position, and $550 (29%) over the $1,900 tier midpoint.

10 implied hours at $255: 59% of the moderate tier's 17, over 3-6 months.

California ($2,500) and Maryland ($2,350) bracket it — a $150 window.

1 states sit within three percent of the $2,450 here, against 5 at the moderate row.

$11,750 puts Virginia 16th of 49 on contested matters, 5 up on its moderate position, and $1,000 (9%) over the $10,750 tier midpoint.

29 implied hours at $400: 171% of the moderate tier's 17, over 12-24+ months.

Maine ($11,750) and Vermont ($11,600) bracket it — a $150 window.

4 states sit within three percent of the $11,750 here, against 5 at the moderate row.

In Virginia a immigration is 5th of 8 at $5,250, between Personal Injury and Bankruptcy. At 44% of Criminal Defense ($11,850).

The state does not rank uniformly. Virginia is 4th of 49 for Divorce but 22nd for Real Estate Closing, a 18-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 21st on immigration says little about what the other lines cost.

The spread across practice areas is wide. Divorce runs 29% above its own midpoint, while Real Estate Closing runs 3% above its own midpoint — 26 percentage points apart. A single "Virginia is expensive" or "Virginia is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.

Virginia's practice areas fan out more than most: its largest tracked median is 5.5x its smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state. Prices here are set matter by matter rather than by one statewide level.

5 of 8 matter types rank Virginia in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 3 between; immigration is 21st.

In percentile terms it sits at the 58th percentile of the 49 tracked states.

Simple tier. $2,450 ÷ $255 = about 10 hours, spread over 3-6 months at roughly $544 a month. The $2,800 step to the moderate tier is 7 more hours at that rate.

Work against price. $5,250 to $11,750 is a $6,500 step, mostly work: 12 more hours at $315 is $3,780, while moving to $400 across 29 hours adds $2,465. Work carries 61%.

Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Pennsylvania ($5,050) lands $200 under Virginia; from Oregon ($5,300), $50 over; from the $4,750 table midpoint, $500 out.

Both ends, in time. $3,150 is 10 hours at $315; $8,400 is 27. Over the 6-12 months recorded for a moderate immigration, that is 1 to 3 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.

Contested against simple. At Virginia's own recorded figures, $11,750 buys 4.8 matters at the $2,450 simple median — or, counted in time, 29 implied hours against 10, a factor of 2.9 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.