ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHow should I submit pictures??
adam, if you lived in Japan, you probably have a copy of a lease, or a student housing area (or something similar). Basically, you want to put yourself in the same place as your fiancée.

Passport stamps, boarding passes, bank statements (showing location of withdrawals), receipts, basically anything that is a 'paper trail' that puts you and she in the same place counts as primary evidence. Photos, e-mails, phone records, etc, are generally secondary. You're not going to have an a priori logical proof, but that's not what's needed. Think of it like a probability, or painting a picture in their head: does it look like this couple has met and intends to marry? Is that the best explanation of the data in this petition?

I printed 4 photos ($0.97 at Rite-Aid) and put them in a Ziploc bag. Then I stapled the bag to a plain sheet of paper. C'est ça. I just put the entire petition in an envelope neatly. No holes or fasteners.
CaladanMaleCanada2006-12-03 23:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresEvidence of ongoing relationship- letters, e-mails, etc.
I think it's reasonable to want to maintain as much privacy as possible, especially given that this process tends to put you, your love, your life, and your history under a microscope.
CaladanMaleCanada2006-12-28 13:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresEvidence of ongoing relationship- letters, e-mails, etc.
We did not include a single e-mail or letter in our original petition. Just evidence of having met, four photographs, and three months of phone bills. No problems getting the I-129F approved.

We probably won't have any e-mails at the consular stage, either, as we haven't e-mailed anything more than 'hey babe going out tonight call the cell instead of the land line' in about two years. Phone records & a memory book for us.
CaladanMaleCanada2006-12-28 11:21:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAddressing age difference in K1 Petition
Generally agree with kitkat, but with the caveat to check the forum for the consulate you're going through. Some (Casablanca) consulates, anecdotally at least, seem to rely very heavily on the initial petition package when assessing the couple's bona fides. Might be worth checking with other people's experiences at the consulate you're going through.

Still, it's completely the case that the time to address the age difference is at the consulate.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-11 23:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresPOE trouble on a visit? Advice needed

If he is entering and K1 is in process this could present problems. He will be in the system. They may let him in they may not. My fiance (husband now) was turned back at POE when we had the K1 pending. Even though he had a return ticket, strong ties etc.....they are very cautious about entry when a K1 is pending. It will definitely come up in the system when he goes through immigration.


It is possible that this is not always true, or if true, they do not always care. My fiancé visited me just over two weeks ago, and if he was in the system, they didn't see fit to mention it at the POE, nor ask him of proof of ties to Canada.

He has never been asked to show a return ticket or an itinerary, *but* he's always been able to say that he's coming for a short visit. And, of course, be potentially able to back that up.

Question for the OP: how likely is it, in your opinion, that you two will be through the process by the end of April? I know it's hard to predict, but how is your fiancé planning to arrange his medical exam and to pick up his Packet 3? How long does it take to get an interview in London? In my rough, non-scientific estimation, you *might* be ready to interview by mid-April, but chances are he'd have to head home before then in any case.

Were I in your shoes, I'd look around for a round trip ticket for this first trip, and try to move the one-way ticket to a later date. (just because round-trips are generally cheaper.)

Or, perhaps, still use the one-way ticket for entry, but with a second roundtrip ticket already purchased. (Basically, just your original plan, but with the second ticket already purchased.) He'd be able to print that itinerary and take it along with him if questioned.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-13 09:42:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresVisiting each other during K-1 process (Canada-USA)
I totally hear ya. My friends' and family's reaction throughout this whole process has been to insist it isn't necessary because 'you didn't even have a passport when you first went up there.'

Carla's got it. It's not an automatic denial, or even automatically problematic, and it's only a two-hour drive. Bring proof of strong ties to Canada, and just drive through like she normally does. If it's a problem, then you go visit her for a while. The nice thing about driving is that it's comparatively cheap.

Once you're married, you can file for Advance Parole, which will allow her to re-enter the U.S. if she leaves. Roughly 90 days to process once filed, so she'll be stuck in the U.S. for a while, but not for two years.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-13 09:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAbout to start K-1 process
Wait till you get back. For the K-1, you need to have met in person in the previous two years.

When you fill out the I-129F, you'll notice it's possible to get this requirement waived if there's 'extreme hardship' or religious reasons. The likelihood of this being approved is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so small (especially with a planned trip to go there), so just ignore that.

Honestly, if you decided to apply this very second it would probably take you a couple weeks to get all the info together anyway. So you're not losing all that much time.

So. What to do? Here's what I'd do. In the meantime, browse around and learn as much about the process that you can. Collect the information and evidence you'll need for the forms (check on the guidelines). Order a copy of your birth certificate. Check out the Middle East and North Africa forum; there's lots of lovely ladies there with Egyptian fiancés who can give you advice.

While you're there, take photographs of the two of you together. Keep receipts, boarding passes, hotel receipts, passport stamps: anything 'third-party' that can place you in Egypt. Get everything that needs his input filled out and signed. (Again, the guides are super helpful.)

Good luck!
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-13 23:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresFiling in February, going to fiance's country May-August
You're going through VSC, so you'll most likely have your NOA2 by then (caveat, caveat, of course.) Once you have that, there's really not too much to do as far as the USC is concerned, other than stress.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-16 22:33:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresProof of citizenship and meeting: here's what I've got
We didn't send any of the beneficiary's citizenship proof; he'll take it with him to the consulate. Check with people who are going through your embassy, but at the time I filed, C. didn't even have a passport yet.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-16 21:27:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresExactly how honest to be?
'sex worker' would probably be the nice way to say it, but honestly, it's not going to matter to USCIS. ('Really, she was a sex worker, not a prostitute.') Attorney, attorney, attorney.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-12 11:51:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresExactly how honest to be?
Attorney. Attorney. Attorney.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-11 23:47:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresSetting the date!

You make me nervous by twice stating this being the 'first' wedding for both of you.

Marriage is a commitment made even heavier by immigration. After all, one person has given up EVERYTHING they know, including life and family, to marry.

Concentrate more on what you are about to do and less on your big wedding.


I don't think she's saying that she isn't serious, just that it's the first wedding for both families, i.e., first kids to get married, i.e., lots of family expectations for a big party. Not first wedding as in 'whee, I'm going to get divorced, I just want a party.'

It's not easy for everyone just to toss off the wedding traditions (especially if your family is religious, and especially if that religion is Catholicism, because dioceses are pretty much crazy about requirements. Mine wants us to book churches a year in advance), and just because someone isn't thrilled with going to the courthouse doesn't mean they're not serious about their marriage.

To the OP: I don't have a whole lot of advice except to say that we're trying to plan a Catholic wedding, too, and we've decided not to do any serious planning until the visa is in hand (hopefully soon.) Once you receive the visa, you have six months to use it to enter the U.S., and 90 days after that to get married.

I would file now if you want to get married this year, and plan the wedding based on when you get the visa, not the other way around.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-17 19:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresPictures- frontal or 3/4 frontal? Ears needed?
Our I-129F was approved with a frontal (standard U.S. passport) photograph. If you look at 8B in the I-129F instructions, it requests a full frontal photo whose dimensions are one inch from the top of your head to your chin in 3/4 frontal view.

I have no idea what that means either. It's possibly the worst written sentence in the entire visa process.

But they ask for U.S. passport-style photos, which are currently a full-frontal picture. My ears are covered *in my passport photo*, but at the consulate/embassy level, they may ask for more specific requirements on the photographs, like having the ears unobscured.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-19 09:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDo we have to wait to file I-129F?

t's not advisable. A J-2 is a non-immigrant visa to be used to bring a family member along by the J-1 holder. If you were to use it to come to the U.S. and get married (and stay), that's just plainly not the purpose of the visa. That's what a K-1 is for.

If you had happened to enter on the J-2, meet someone, and marry, that would be one thing, because you could show you didn't have immigrant intent when it came time to adjust status.

If you just happen to be engaged, be too young for a K-1, enter on a J-2, and try to adjust status after you marry, you may be in for a more difficult time. You're going to have a hard time showing, in other words, that you didn't intend to use the J-2 to get married.


I got my J-2 and entered on it when i was 12, i don't think any immigration official in their right mind would accuse me of entering on that with the intent to marry, what i'd be doing now is reentering on it after a long 'holiday' in the uk to see my dad. And i do know what a J-2 is by the way, since i have one in my passport, and it was got for the right reasons, for my mother to bring my siblings and myself along with her to the US as dependants of her J-1. It just doesn't make sense to me to have to cancel the visa I already have and apply for a different one if i'd be able to successful marry and change status with what I already have, and its still valid until Dec 31st 2008, which would give me plenty of time to get married after i turn 18


You're not in the U.S. right now. That means the next time you enter, with the intent to get married and immigrate, you aren't *entering* for the purpose ,the J-2 was intended for (e.g., you're not planning to leave when your mom is done with schooling, or when your visa expires.)

And how do they figure it out? Let's see, you're going to have to document the beginning of your relationship, which is presumably before you enter on the J-2 this time but after you left the U.S. to go live with your dad. So you're living in the UK, meet your boyfriend, get engaged, re-enter on the J-2 and get married. That's going to paint a picture in their heads.

Whether they decide to make an issue of it is different from whether it's technically illegal. You could have no problems. It could blow up in your face.

What you could do is this: come here on the J-2, hang out for 11 months, file the K-1 paperwork on Nov. 3, head home when the visa expires, which should be right around the time your paperwork is clearing the NVC, get prepped for the interview, and come back as soon as you get the visa. That probably puts your wedding in April or May of 2008, but you'll have spent all that time together in the U.S., and you can even plan a big fairy-tale wedding while you're here.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-25 08:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDo we have to wait to file I-129F?
It's not advisable. A J-2 is a non-immigrant visa to be used to bring a family member along by the J-1 holder. If you were to use it to come to the U.S. and get married (and stay), that's just plainly not the purpose of the visa. That's what a K-1 is for.

If you had happened to enter on the J-2, meet someone, and marry, that would be one thing, because you could show you didn't have immigrant intent when it came time to adjust status.

If you just happen to be engaged, be too young for a K-1, enter on a J-2, and try to adjust status after you marry, you may be in for a more difficult time. You're going to have a hard time showing, in other words, that you didn't intend to use the J-2 to get married.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-23 20:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDo we have to wait to file I-129F?

to clear a few things up, i CAN legally marry age 17 in New York State (or the UK), it just has the requirement of parental permission, so legally i am free to marry, since its not illegal for me to marry. and by the time of marriage i will be 18, therefore not needing parental permission.

I'm sorry but in order to file a K-1 both parties have to be legally able to marry at the time of filing. Her being 17 MAY be a problem. It is not 'oh by the time it comes I'll be legally able'

Because following this logic...a separated petitioner could file without a previouse divorce being filed. And we all know that's not possible.


and its not following the same logic, because, i am definetely going to turn 18 on 3/11/07. people in the process of a divorce can't say the divorce will definetely finalised by then, and also if your still married its illegal to marry someone else, whereas its not illegal to get married at 17.


There are cases where a divorce is finalized except for a six-month waiting period where it's illegal to get remarried. People going through that can't file in those six months, even though it's definite that they'll be free to marry at the end of it.

It is illegal to get married at seventeen without parental permission. If you don't have the parental permission, it's illegal to marry. If you don't have the parental permission and you're seventeen, you can't get married. If you don't have parental permission and you're seventeen, you're not free to file because you're not free to marry.

That's the purpose of the 'without parental permission' clause. It's not just sitting there having candy and popcorn. It does work in the sentence and in the law.

USCIS isn't going to care that you're going to be 18 by the time you move here. They have to evaluate it as of the information they have at that moment, as of that time. If you don't have parental permission and you're seventeen, they'll look at the petition and deny it on the grounds that you're not free to marry.

I know it's not what you want to hear. I know it sucks. Most of us are going through similar juggling.

Here's some options:
1) Keep the wedding date of February 23rd. Come here as a tourist. Get married. Fly back to the UK. File for a K3 and enter the U.S. as a spouse. (Would mean you're separate for the first part of your marriage.)
2) Get your dad to sign permission for you to marry. You said he's angry now, but you have about four months or so to calm him down, convince him to sign, and file to have a good shot at your proposed 2/23 wedding date.
3) Get all the paperwork together now. File it November 3rd. Plan a wedding for next summer.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-15 14:15:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDo we have to wait to file I-129F?

Turboguy what you are suggesting is illegal. The K3 is for married couples to reunite faster while waiting for I130 approval. If someone marries while on a tourist visa, they must apply for AOS and convince the officer that there was no intent to marry on the tourist visa.
Good luck OP.

Jackie


There is nothing illegal about coming to the U.S., marrying, *leaving*, and then filing for a K-3. Coming on a tourist visa, marrying, and *staying* is problematic.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-15 10:16:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDo we have to wait to file I-129F?
OP, you seem to be weighting more the people who tell you what you want to hear, but I'm pretty sure you need to be eighteen to file. You can read the instructions however you like, but it does say to *file* you have to be free to marry, not to *file* you must be free to marry when the average processing time is finished. In the first round of processing their job is pretty much to determine 1) free to marry 2) the petitioner is a citizen 3) that you've met.

Consider: if you filed today, the service center would have what, your word for it that if you got the visa at age 17 in June you'd just sit on it until you were 18?

Three months and twenty days will likely be cutting it close. It could happen, but it would require pretty much everything to be right. No mistakes on your end, no delays on their end (and this is over the Christmas holidays, too, when you'd be filing), and a consulate that doesn't have a long wait for an interview. We've had an easy time getting through the process and Vancouver is a consulate that normally schedules about one month after they receive your information, and it's still taking us five months.

And while you say you won't put a deposit down on anything, by a month before the wedding, most places will expect you to have some deposit made, your guests will be making travel arrangements... not the sort of thing you'd really want to leave until the last minute.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-15 10:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDo we have to wait to file I-129F?
Couple things:

First, the "dates processed" listed on the website are not representative of a typical processing time. They're just the upper bound of cases being processed. Right now CSC is taking about 90 days to approve an I-129F, and VSC is anywhere from two weeks to two months. (When mine was approved in October, they were officially on April cases.) Once that's approved, it takes some more time (month or so) to get through the NVC and onto the consulate, and then it's completely dependent on the consulate for when you get the interview. Check out the timelines to get a better sense of it.

As a result, if your fiancé files in November of 2007, it's all but guaranteed that you won't have the visa by January.

Second, in order to *file* the I-129F both parties must be free to marry (first page of the instructions, top of the first column.) I'm interpreting this to mean that you'd need to wait till you're 18 (unless you obtain parental permission.) for you two to file.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-14 16:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresCeremonial wedding
"How would they know?" isn't the right way to think about it. "How can I show that I'm eligible for the benefits I've applied for?" is. The burden of proof is always going to be on you and your fiancée (and later, wife) to show that you're eligible for what you're applying for.

A non-binding ceremony isn't in and of itself a legal problem. It's non-binding and perfectly legal. The problem arises in whether having that ceremony increases the likelihood that you'll give the officer reason to think you are ineligible for using the K-1 or adjusting status off of it. Take a silly example. Will you give your fiancée a wedding ring at this ceremony? Will she remember to take it off? Will she consider herself married? Will she accidentally say 'husband'? Will you have pictures of a big floofy white dress and a big party and a priest? Will you take those to the AoS interview and then try to explain that, no, we weren't legally married, it just looks like a wedding?

The burden of proof is always on you two, not the other way around. That's what you have to keep in mind. I'd check with the Phillipines forums; lots of Catholics there, and they might have suggestions on how to handle it.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-27 12:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresCeremonial wedding
To enter on the K-1, she has to be free to marry. She's not free to marry if she's already married, even if that marriage is to you. So, no legal wedding; even a non-binding ceremony can be problematic when it comes time to adjust status, or to enter (if the officer thinks she's married, he won't let her in.)

I'm also guessing that this dilemma hasn't arisen because her family wants to throw a party, but because her family is uncomfortable with sending off their good Catholic daughter to America to live with a man she's not married to.

A couple of options that might help:
1) File for the K-1, have an engagement party with a priest doing a blessing.
2) File for the K-1, find someone to do a non-binding religious ceremony (probably not going to be Catholic.)
3) Go and have a Catholic wedding with her family, file for the K-3. It will take a bit longer, but if you haven't filed for anything yet and it would make her family happy, it might be something to consider.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-27 11:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresFiling I-129F at VSC, timing question
I'd be inclined to file now. If there's no hiccups, figure a month for the VSC, a month or so to get through NVC and to Nepal and for them to get their paperwork to you. That puts us in late March or early April.

The next step, where your fiancé has to collect his police report and medical and schedule the interview, is a point where if he needs to, he can hold onto the paperwork for a couple weeks before returning it so they can schedule the interview.

(When C. received his Packet 3, we sat on it for seven weeks partially because of his work schedule, but also because we want to get married in July or August, and needed to push back the interview.)

The information you need, and you don't have, is how long it normally takes from the time someone returns the checklist until they have an interview. Since your schedule limits when you can take time off work, it's probably smart to contact the embassy and ask.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-27 11:42:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresWhat does SO stand for?
ETA means 'edited to add.' It's a courtesy, in a forum, when you edit a post, to let people know what you changed, so they know you're not being dishonest or intentionally confusing.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-28 23:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduresproof of meeting in the past 2 years...
abdounjen, great!

I sent in four photos with the I-129F. Check with the other MENA girls, but remember that in the petition phase, you're trying to do is prove that you've met. You can save the other evidence for the interview.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-14 11:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduresproof of meeting in the past 2 years...
To second what everyone else has said, the passport stamps put you in the country; the boarding passes help place you in the area; hotel receipts place you in the city. You're trying to paint a picture in the mind of the adjudicating officer, where the best explanation of the evidence is 'these two met in person.'

Not every piece is necessary. I don't have a single hotel or ATM receipt from my trips, as I never stayed in a hotel or went to an ATM. C. didn't even have a passport until three months ago, so for him, we obviously couldn't prove he had visited me by passport stamps.

Passport stamps are good evidence though. Think outside the box a bit to see what other evidence you can dig up. How did you book your trips? Can you get the itinerary? How did you purchase the trips? With a credit card? Does your monthly statement include the destination for the trip? Did you use an ATM or a credit card on your trip? Each piece on its own might not prove anything, but if you have a series of passport stamps, some itineraries, and some photos, you'll probably be in good shape.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-14 10:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresPossibly a stupid question...but I shall ask!
I'm a grad student, too, with the same sort of package (except that I'm off fellowship now, so I do have an tax return). I went to my departmental registrar, who referred me to the financial aid office at the graduate school, who were able to write me a letter that verified that 1) I am a student in good standing 2) that I receive a guaranteed stipend or teaching assignment. I got two copies of the letter on letterhead.

Your school probably does this all the time for international students who want to bring their spouses along on a J-2, so if the registrar doesn't know what to do, call your office of international student affairs (or whatever they call it.) They'd probably be able to advise you on what to do.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-30 11:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresPossibly a stupid question...but I shall ask!
The poverty level may be too high, because when you don't make any money, but have student loans or someone else pay your rent, you live comfortably as a single person? Think that a bit through more before you go writing your Congressman. ;) I say this as a graduate student; students live in a bubble and single students more so. I live very well on a low income, but I have my health care subsidized, free gym membership, and tuition waived, and no expectation that I'll have a car (so I don't have one, and no payments or parking or insurance.)

In any case, the consulate (oddly enough) doesn't care whether you live within your means or have oodles of credit card debt or student loans; the I-134 looks at income, employment situation, savings... well, you can look at the form yourself, but they don't care about whether you're good at budgeting or are putting your spouse on a shoe allowance or are really good with money.

If you don't meet the 125% level, line up a co-sponsor. They don't care about your money management skills. :)
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-29 08:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresPossibly a stupid question...but I shall ask!
Co-sponsors work like regular sponsors; they're the same fish as far as DoS is concerned.

If I understand your situation correctly, it's like this.

Your parents do not currently receive assistance from you. And you and your fiancé are going to establish your own household. So if you file the I-134 on behalf of your fiancé, you're responsible for yourself, and her, so you have a family of two.

If your parents file the I-134, they count themselves as part of their household. They count your fiancé. If they're supporting you, they count you. If they're not supporting you, they don't count you.

So by my math (not a lawyer, caveat), for you, it's two. For your parents, it's three or four, depending on whether you are still their dependent. (There's also the ability to list you 'partially.' on the I-134.)

We went by the most recent tax return claiming of dependents (though that's not foolproof, of course). My parents aren't planning on helping with housing or giving us money; while they'd not let us starve in an emergency, that's not regular support.

Anyone else's thoughts?

Edited by Caladan, 28 January 2007 - 05:37 PM.

CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-28 17:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresQuick G-235A question
We seriously need a students' section for undergrads, grad students & professional school types.

I'm a full-time student; I put 'graduate student' on the G-325A. They're not going to worry about your income until you get to the embassy or consulate (I-134), and you say you have a co-sponsor for that, so relax. We all get neurotic about these forms; really no need to.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-02-01 16:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDon't shoot the messenger...

The agency said the new fees would reduce average application processing times by 20 percent by the end of September 2009.

I agree with the other posters. If it decreases the wait time I would gladly pay it. The immigration fee is one of the smallest costs in this whole process in my opinion.

If the CSC could manage the VSC times it would make many of us happier.


I dunno. A thousand dollar increase better give me more than a reduction in processing times by 20% for paperwork. If you look at the pdf, most of the increases have been between $20 and $50 (e.g.) for the I-129F. An increase of $285 is more than all the previous increases in the past 20 years combined, doubled.

I don't know how you can say the immigration fees are the smallest part of this whole process, unless you're counting the costs of dating someone from overseas, but that's a bit like counting the first date movie tickets in the cost of your wedding.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-02-01 09:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDon't shoot the messenger...
Well, that's just ###### absurd. Think things are going to process twice as fast with the fee increase?
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-31 22:04:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresA newbie with timing concerns!
Just wanted to second zyggy's comment; a single DUI alone isn't a CiMT. And fourteenth the idea to report your lawyer.

And third rebeccajo's. Information is your friend in determining what your options are. Processing a bit of paperwork isn't all that difficult (which is why there's no excuse for what your lawyer did), but it does take some research.

The other thing that helps is a friendly relationship to chocolate and taking one day at a time. Hang in there. You two can do this, and you can have your big wedding, too (you might just have to move it back a bit.)
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-30 11:43:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresCan my fiance enter the US if his fiance visa is being processed?

Does he have the new passport with the chip that can be scanned? Is there a way they will know if the K1 has been filed?

If it makes you feel better, I'm trying to stiffle my own worries as I'm headed to the UK next week. Before I absolutely said I was visiting friends, not a boyfriend. That wasn't a lie. Now, however, there is a fiance, so the stakes seem higher. I could just pocket the ring I suppose. Is it worth it to give the whole story? I've watched the UK series "Airport" and know their immigration control officers can be every bit the ####### ours can be.

What to do, what to do . . . .

And another thought: you know what, she may be sealing her fate if someone finds out , but no, no way in hell she'd be deserving it. They've set up a system that encourages lying - especially by people with truly innocent motives. You can say that is caused really by the other people who have lied and created this vicious circle, but c'mon. What an f-ed up system anyway. We have to prove a legitimate relationship. Yet as real as they want the marriage to be, you only get 90 days to plan the wedding - or you do it alone? That's not the result of a real relationship in the America I grew up in - it's a minimum 6 month parade of tradition and custom and process.

You have to worry about seeing someone while you're waiting for the paperwork to process? THAT encoruages stable relationships?

No way she deserves anything but to see her fiance. As do I. But I can't. Hers at least has a damn shot.

If I could get him here, I would, and I'd marry him and adjust status and sleep find at night because all the intent issues would be settled just fine. ####### - are you telling me no one else here has moments where they feel like that? Even if we never break the law, doesn't anyone agree the system is a LOAD OF SMOKING POO?


I'm afriad not.. the system is set up so that those who are not permitted to enter the US by law.. are not allowed in..

Individuals who have immigrant intent are inadmissible... someone who is a fiancee of a USC has a stronger claim of immigrant intent

if you withold information that may make a difference in an officer's mind on whether or not your fiancee is inadmissible, the penalty is a permanent ban on entering the US... try that on for size..

FOr instance.. if a CBP Officer ask's who you're visiting... tell them who it is... if they ask what the relationship of that person is to you... then you better come clean..

Calling a fiancee a friend is a material misrepresentation...


Here's where I still think you're wrong - first and foremost, saying that anyone "deserves" any of the raw deals regularly dealt by ICE is just plain mean and belies the reality of a system that ensnares and punishes honest people more often than it protects the public or defeats attempts at terrorism, etc. Second, regardless of the reality, the LAW is based on intent. Actual intent. Not perceived. The problem lies in the kind of evidence people are able to offer. But if you can prove no intent to stay in the country, you should be let in, period. Just because it *seems* like someone might stay - well ,tough ######. Prove they will. The system runs counter to everything we know about human nature and psychology and is designed to yield damning information from the people LEAST LIKELY to fraudulently stay in the country.



You're right that it sucks. But the burden of proof is reversed. The border dude doesn't have to show that you have actual immigrant intent to keep you out; you have to show that you don't for him to let you in on a non-immigrant visa. So a perceived intent is certainly enough to keep you out, because strictly speaking, you don't have a right to enter the U.S. in any case.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-02-02 13:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresCan my fiance enter the US if his fiance visa is being processed?
Don't lie. The border officer is not an idiot. If we know that 'friends' is a good way to avoid saying 'fiancée', you think it's never ever ever occurred to them, that a young man, with a neatly documented passport stamp series of entries into the U.S. in one place, saying 'friends' instead of 'business trip' and giving off every tell in the world that he's hiding something might be coming to visit a girlfriend? How long are you visiting? Are these 'friends' letting you crash at their place for three months! What nice friends!

No lying. You can give short answers (a vacation, a spring break visit), but they had better be truthful ones.

That said, C. visited here just last month and had no problems with an Edmonton POE. And that said, the nice thing about Canada is that the U.S. *entry* is an hour away from his house if something had gone wrong, so we were willing to chance it. No problems. He had his paystub, and a letter from his employer, and only a 12-day stay, but they didn't ask to see anything. They may not even have asked him who he was going to see.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-02-02 13:03:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresI've been refused... then now what!?
Don't lie. Lying very bad.

As to whether the previous denial will be a problem, that depends on the reason for the previous denial. The consular officer will ask you about it, so be prepared to answer some questions and answer them honestly.

It doesn't mean necessarily that your K-1 will be denied, or even affected. There's more than a few couples here who have had to check 'yes' to that question because they couldn't prove ties to their homeland when trying for a tourist visa, who had no problems when getting the K-1.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-02-11 08:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHow useful is the 'Proof of Ongoing Relationship'?
C. has a shoebox full of phone cards because he's a pack rat. He's not bringing them to the interview because it doesn't show a damned thing about whom he called. Woo, expired plastic.

We're using a couple months of my phone bills, since they have my name and lists of calls itemized to his number, some photographs, a couple e-mails, and a memory album. The phone cards can sit in the drawer, imo.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-01-12 22:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresMarking up evidence of meeting
People have used highlighters to highlight the relevant dates, or pen to circle them. I used a red pen to underline dates on our boarding passes (since it was sort of hard to find otherwise) and drew some arrows.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-02-15 13:23:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresIs proof of meeting a cultural biased idea?
In most arranged marriages the couple is allowed to meet with a chaperone present; and the I-129F has an exemption for those rare cultures where the couple is not permitted to meet. (Of course, it's going to be sort of tricky to prove the American partakes in such a culture.)

It's not culturally biased, and it does prevent a whole lot of fraud.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-03-01 10:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresNecessary or Unnecessary on Affidavit of support?

The instructions for the I134 do not call for the tax return unless one is self employed.


Consulates do like to see them sometimes, even though it's not required. Vancouver wanted my W-2s & my tax returns from 2005. We knew that from reading reviews here; I'm not sure what would have happened had we omitted them.

OP, check the Japan sub-forum; you'll get a sense of what people had to provide at the interview to back up the I-134.
CaladanMaleCanada2007-03-03 17:08:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresFiancee visa... wants to go home
Morally, if she doesn't want to get married, he should send her home. Legally, if they don't get married, she needs to leave in 90 days, but I'm not sure if he can be compelled to do so. (Won't let her leave? What an entitled a$shole.)

Have her look here: http://www.catholicc...mmigration.html. They have immigration and refugee services and low-cost (usually sliding scale) legal assistance. (I looked up Houston as I assume, perhaps wrongly, that your cousin was near where you are, but Catholic Charities is nationwide.)
CaladanMaleCanada2007-03-01 10:12:00