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I have to admit, when I first started looking at the immigration process I was completely overwhelmed! It really helped to follow other brides experiences (like Mrs. D'orsay, Miss Poodle & Miss Dachshund). Our lawyer has our K-1 packet & we will be submitting our package in the beginning of 2010. We actually put our 1st package together earlier on our own & realized it was all wrong. Our lawyer & www.visajourney.com have really helped us put together the proper documents. I feel like this package will lead to success *fingers crossed*
I've received countless PMs from brides around the hive asking for tips & about the process! So it got me thinking...
Are there any other K-1 (or K-3) Visa Brides or Grooms out there? Whatever stage you're at in your immigration journey, please share your experiences :)
I am definitely subscribing to this... my best friend will be going on through this.
@crebre: I hope this thread gets some movement & I hope we can help you with any questions you may have! I have brides message me a lot once they find out I'm going through this. Whether its for themselves, their cousin, their best friend, etc... everyone is curious as to how this works. Immigration is such a tricky, strange process! :)
Oh My GOSH! I love this thread!
So FI and I are in the "collecting evidence" stage. I've got the I-129F and G-325? the biography one filled out, I've got our statements of intent, I've got an attachment for dreaded question 18 that says how we met and how we've been together for 4 years, I have old airline tickets, pictures, our e-ring receipt, our wedding venue contract... I am probably going way overboard, but I figured the more I have the better! Now I just need to save my next paycheck for the outrageous fee!
Any advice???
I literally just dropped off my hubby's I-30 with our G-325A at the post office and crossing my fingers.
Here's a K1 Packet Checklist:
If you're missing any of the first 6 points, your application will get sent back & you will need to reapply!
We're sending in itineraries & boarding passes from our last trips to see each other (proof of meeting in the last 2 years). You are not actually required to send in proof of an ongoing relationship... we are sending in a copy of a photo of us, photos from our engagement party, e-ring receipts and recent phone records. I will bring a lot more proof to my interview.
If you do choose to send in proof of your relationship- make sure you send in photocopies. Your FI (if he's the one immigrating) will need to bring the proof of relationship to his K-1 Visa interview :)
@Miss Yap: Yay a K3 bride! :) I'm sending good juju your way!!
@crebre: I know you said your gf is in the US on a work visa right? Does that expire soon? I need a little more information to direct you to the right answers & website! :) I'm a visa googler extraodinaire!
i just sent her an email letting her know what she needs to do to get started.. thanks so much for the info!
yes, she was here at first on a school visa, and then she got her work visa about three years ago. i know she went back to her birth country this summer to work on more stuff and am assuming she has another year or so (or whatever the customary extension of the visa is).. i'm not sure how it works, but she went to her embassy to obtain whatever she needed to for her visa. i think she has to go to her birth country for a certain amount of time before her visa is renewed and that is what she did earlier this year.
@recessionistabride - OMG, thanks for that website recommendation. It is great! I freaking out constantly about the process and it is nice to maybe have a forum to vent to so I don't keep bugging the hubby!
Well, I'm not emigrating to the US, going the other direction, but I sure do share the worries, irritation and other feelings that go along with it. Just thinking about the evidence collecting has me breaking out in hives. I'm scrambling to gather travel receipts, cards, letters, emails, photos, whatever. I hate being photographed so we don't have a lot of couples photos, I wish I'd realized I needed them at the start.
The processing times vary depending on the processing center. There are 2 processing centers: Vermont & California. Which processing center you apply to depends on which state the petitioner lives in.
Its all about the benjamins... here's some quick facts:
There is tons of informational available on www.uscis.gov. You will find all the forms, updates on processing times & fees here :)
@Texas: I totally feel you! The whole immigration process makes me sick to my stomach. Its hard to want something soooo badly & to not have any control over it. You don't need buckets of proof, just solid ones!
thanks RB!! i just shot her an email with the website and info as well as the costs so that she can go ahead and get started.
This is an interesting thread, thanks for putting it out there. We will need to do this eventually. For now, I'm living abroad and plan to do so for about 2 more years. I heard that the whole process is easier if you have been married for 2 years before applying for a visa. Does anyone know about this? We will get married in the US in Sept. destination wedding style and continue to live in Europe. I would love to hear from someone who has done this and then moved to the US. If the 2 year mark makes things easier, we may stay delay our move to the US a couple of months.
Hi everyone! We're also in the process of submitting all of our immigration documents for my husband to immigrate to the US. We currently live together in England, and married in October; he is British, and I am a US citizen. We are filing for the CR1 visa (immigrant visa for a spouse).
Since I've been resident here in the UK for a couple of years, I'm hoping to file directly through the USCIS Field Office at the American Embassy, rather than filing through one of the Service Centers in the US. Direct Consular Filing is supposed to be an expedited process, and hopefully will take around 6 months. All the forums and websites have led me to believe that we can DCF, but of course I'm nervous and waiting for the official word from them.
I've sent off the I-130 petition along with the fee, two G-325As with photos, copy of my passport and entry clearance for the UK, marriage certificate and SASE. I've gotten the response email that they've received it, so right now I'm waiting until my petition comes up on the calendar (right now, they're processing ones received by Nov 9th, and mine was received Nov 12th).
As we've been married for only six weeks, I'm expecting to receive back a RFE letter (request for evidence). I've had three friends prepare notarized affidavits attesting to the legitimacy of our relationship, in case they ask for proof of a bona fide marriage. We have other evidence like co-mingling of assets in our joint savings account, both our names on the lease and council tax bills, etc.
If my petition is approved, then my husband will be able to send off his application. We have the DS-230 all prepared and ready to go, as soon as my petition is approved and we have a case number and are asked for it. In the meantime, we are gathering any other materials that they will want, off the DS-2001 checklist. After we mail the DS-230 and checklist, we will be able to schedule my husband's medical examination, and will await the letter with our interview date.
At the interview, we will pay the fee and submit all the remaining documents, such as passports, birth certificates, police certificates, photographs, and the Affidavit of Support (I-864). We will find out on the day if he has been approved, or if we need to submit any additional supporting documents. After he gets the visa, he has six months to enter the US.
As we will have been married under two years when we arrive in the US, his green card will be conditional. We will need to apply for an adjustment of status near the two year anniversary of him entering the US (another expensive hoop to jump through, unfortunately!). Wish us luck!
I've been using visajourney, but also www.diveintoamerica.com as a resource.
slicey19,
If you've been married over two years when you apply, I believe your partner would receive the IR1 visa, which is not conditional, so you would avoid having to pay the $1055 adjustment of status fee nearly two years after entering (to remove the conditions on the green card). At least I think that's what the benefit would be. I've read that they also ask less questions and require less evidence, if you've been married for a substantial amount of time.
Can I ask where you're living now? Are you the US Citizen, and your partner is the future immigrant?
Not us, but man, I had NO IDEA the process was so in depth. Proving your love basically, all this paperwork, etc etc. What a pain! But you ladies know that =]
The K1 Visa is the fastest way to get your spouse into the US. Therefore it is also heavily screened!
Through all my research, it seems like after the AOS & once you're married the real pressure hits. You both have an interview & you're separately asked questions about your relationship, your home, etc. :S
I am curious to find out if there are any newlyweds who have already completed the entire process!?
YES YES YES! My husband and I are going through this process right now. Can you say NIGHTMARE? were getting together the change of status packet and its going to cost us about 1400.00 dollars.
Im so afraid for some freak reason they will reject his green card and try to deport him! Im such a worry wart!
@Osakagrl: Aww don't worry too much! Send good vibes out there into the universe... atleast that was the advice I got from other bees when I had my freak out moment! Deportation is highly unlikely... unless something was done illegally or he commited a crime! It will be okay ((hugs))
@jhphi, my situation is kinda similar to yours in that, we're already married. We're currently in the process of preparing documents. The difference is that both of us reside and work in the US and I'm the one with a work visa and applying for an adjustment in status.
The instruction, the number of forms, and fees (steep!) are just all over the place and overwhelming! The items you submitted are a little different from what I thought I should submit. But I know we're not exactly the same case. I'll be submitting all of the documents in the first submission, including affidavit of support and evidence of relationship (joint bank acct/rental lease). Others include medical examination and my spouse's birth certificate.
I hope they won't send us RFE. I'm hoping that RFE is sent only if there's a suspicion of fraud. Hopefully, the only other thing I'll need to submit after the 1st round of submission is biometrics (fingerprinting)... so much hassle and cost :(
BTW, did any of you check out the questions that would be asked in cases suspected of fraud??! It's quite incredible. My DH and I constantly joke that we need to practice e.g. newlywed game before the interview.
Mr. D and I have been on the K1 journey since May, and we're just getting ready to begin our AOS paperwork. It's sooo expensive, and the timing is bad right around Christmas. But we'll manage : )
Visajourney.com has been an invaluable resource. Actually, our whole process has gone very smoothly. I would say that anyone can to the K1 paperwork without a lawyer-- unless you're from a country with a high immigration fraud rate, I suppose.
Also, @Recessionista: Once we got word that our packet was received in Vancouver, I shot them an email asking if they could schedule an interview for the next week. They responded within 5 minutes with an interview date and time. We're fortunate to be dealing with Vancouver rather than Montreal... the wait times there are awful!
@Dachshund: Thats so fabulous to hear!! Thank you :) Did you fly to Canada to go to the interview with your (then) FI? I've heard a lot of couples have done that... I don't think it would really help much, other than having support!
I didn't fly to Canada for the interview, I was short on cash/vacation time, and it was shortly before Canadian Thanksgiving for which I was already visiting. I don't think it's an issue at the Vancouver consulate. Mr. D said that his interview went very smoothly, and they only asked the obvious questions.
Miss Poodle said that her interviewing officer gave her a hard time because Mr. Poodle was not there, but it's possible that's just Chile's expectations. I think the whole visa process with Canada is pretty smooth if you have a simple case.
@ pren79, my husband and I are in the same situation as you, except that I'm the citizen and he's here on a work visa. Fortunately, his visa doesn't expire for another 2 1/2 years, so we're in no rush to file the AOS paperwork. In fact, if we wanted to, we could just wait until we've been married 2 years and then wouldn't have to deal with the conditional green card, but I'm not sure I want to push it out that long...it always sucks when we travel together and have to split up to go through customs. We wouldn't have that luxury if he was here on a K1, though. We have to time the filing correctly, too, because he goes out of the country fairly often for work, so we either need to file for advance parole or wait until there's a 91+ day period of time when he'll definitely be here. We're very lucky because the law firm who normally handles his visas for work will also be handling his AOS, so we don't have to worry about doing much ourselves. Also, I'm a law student and have taken immigration law, so at least I'm familiar with the processes! But definitely not looking forward to it...
@pren79: I'm not sure exactly how/what you're filing, but I know the instructions for what goes with the I-130 petition are different if you're filing DCF than if you're filing through one of the US Service Centers-- there's a separate checklist for consulate filers. I read that if you send any of the "evidence" docs to the embassy, they just get returned, with a photocopy of the checklist with the "DO NOT SEND ANYTHING NOT LISTED ON THIS CHECKLIST" bullet point circled in thick red marker. Ha! I've gathered them just in case, as it seems the embassy goes in waves of asking or not asking for them-- I just want to turn the letter around really fast, if we get a RFE. My work permit for England expires in the middle of May, so I'm hoping we'll be done by then... crossing my fingers, etc. Good luck with your process!
Oh, and I haven't seen the fraud questions! Can you post a link? I'll have to have a test with my husband-- I know when my MOH asked him some trivia questions for my bridal shower, I was SO FAR OFF on some of the answers. Seriously, what man names PURPLE as his favorite color??? That's right, my man! :)
Here's a link to various questions asked at different interviews. I actually find the AOS questions the most valid & helpful! The list of K-visa questions are kind of spotty :)
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?autocom=custom&page=exampleq#k1
speaking of Miss Poodle, where has that newly wedded lady gone to lately? enjoying marital and DIY bliss I suppose... she'll hopefully chime in 'round these parts eventually!
Thanks Recessionista-- love the questions. Especially "Where are the bathroom towels kept?" hahaha
@daydreamwanderer: If she's anything like me, she's enjoying time with Mr. Poodle so much that she's finding it hard to find time to sit at the computer!! Though, our roles are reversed. She has to stay home while Mr. Poodle works, and for us it's the opposite.
I'm really starting to feel guilty about my blogging and board participation, but I just can't bring myself to leave Mr. Doxie's side for very long! It kinda still feels like he's going to be going back home, soon.
Hey, we applied for a IR-1 (direct application for green card, spouse outside the US) in May. Just yesterday we sent in our last package, and we're now waiting for my husband to get his interview date in London. I'm not going to lie, it's been a long process, but so far nothing has gone wrong.
According to our attorney, K-3 visas are currently taking about the same time as IR-1s, but I'm sure that changes from month to month.
@Dachshund: I was under the impression that once you file an AOS the immigrant can also apply for a SSN & can work?? Was I given false info? How long does it take before a spouse can work? I'm going to go stir crazy & drive my FH bonkers if I can't work! lol I'll start researching volunteer options asap...
You can file for a SSN as soon as you enter the US, but you need a work permit (I believe, I need to do a little more research on the whole AOS process) to be able to work. You can apply for one before you file the AOS, but it's just extra money.
We haven't filed our AOS paperwork yet. We have until the end of January, and will probably file shortly after Christmas because our parents are helping out with the fees as our gifts.
Mr. Doxie got his social security card last week, but won't get a work permit until we get on the ball and file his AOS paperwork : \
@jhphi: I'm in the US, and my husband is in the UK--although, right now he's here on a visit. We were worried about him being able to come into the country while the paperwork was being processed, but it hasn't been a problem at all. He's spent about 2 months here since we submitted our application. If I were in the UK, we would have filed directly with the consulate and it would have been much quicker!
I still need to post abotu this, but, we're on the AOS roller coaster at the moment. We've submitted, received confirmation, Mr.D has gone to get his biometrics and we were sent a letter that says our app has been sent to california. Which *i think* just means we don't have to do an interview - hurray!
Just as an FYI - I actually work in the immigration field and am happy to answer questions or make referrals if people need them.
@recessionista bride Mr.D got his social when he arrived, but not his work permit. here is a visa journey thread ont eh EAD http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=218929
The EAD should be approved before his AOS is, but it still takes several months. sigh. We're still waiting for him to be approved for work and we're still living with my parents! Stupid nonprofit salary...
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