Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	travel to US	can i enter the US even if my fiance(e) will not appear in the airport???	kapay&kulit	Male	0	2011-12-14 11:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	upon entry	my fiancee is bz on her job, does my fiancee need to go to the airport? thanks for your reply guys.. my fiancee is bz on her job, does my fiancee need to go to the airport? thanks for your reply guys.. does she need to go to the airport whenever i go there? is there any supporting papers need to accomplish with me and my fiancee?	kapay&kulit	Male	0	2011-12-15 01:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	MANILA	What is 221(g)? Applicants are ineligible under section 221(g) because the applicant failed to bring some information or document, or some further procedure or review by the consulate office or another U.S. government agency must be completed. During the interview the consular will advice you on further steps to getting together the correct documents. Call or visit your nearest US consulate to find out more. I have got a 221g refusal. What do I do? The officer will hand you over a 221g form with instructions and information about the additionally required information. Follow these instructions for a 221(g) refusal form and provide as per the instructions. In addition to just the missing documents, another reason could be that the officer/consulate wants to verify your case specifics with concerned authorities before making the decision and such cases can be put under "Administrative Processing". If you have been requested to wait until the Consulate contacts you, please do not make an appointment. Your case requires further administrative processing and the Consulate will contact you once this has been completed. hope this could help you for all your worries.. try to comprehend what's inside that form, read more and comprehend what you are reading.. be patient.. wish you luck...	kapay&kulit	Male	0	2011-11-28 19:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F December 2011 Filers	Any other December 2011 I-129F filers out there? I'd love to hear from you! Hope your journey is starting out well. I'm praying for all of you! Let the waiting begin!	Kadubo	Female	Canada	2012-01-04 18:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Why USCIS/ US Consulates might think your application is fraudulent...	Mr JimVaphuong: I believe the attached file shows clearly that USCIS indeed issued these guidelines but i stand to be corrected. Those aren't "guidelines", and they weren't "issued" by USCIS. It's a checklist and apparently an internal document, presumably used by USCIS to refer a case to the Fraud Detection and National Security unit (FDNS). According to AILA, that document was submitted into evidence at a deportation hearing by ICE, and a copy of the document was submitted to AILA by the alien's attorney. Whether USCIS used that form before that specific case is unknown. Whether USCIS still uses that form is unknown. Whether USCIS is currently using a similar form that's been revised since September of 2004 is unknown. You are most likely correct that the attorneys I cited probably got their information from that document, but your post is not a summary of the USCIS Fraud Referral sheet, but is an almost direct word-for-word copy/paste of the article by Baughman and Wang, yet you cited USCIS as your source.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-09-04 01:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Why USCIS/ US Consulates might think your application is fraudulent...	This list was NOT produced by USCIS. It's from an article by Baughman and Wang, immigration attorneys: http://lawbw.com/hom...-is-fraudulent/ Please do not try to mislead people into believing advice or information comes from USCIS or any other US government agency unless you know for certain that it does. While the information may, indeed, be accurate, the source is not an official US government source.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-09-02 23:29:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Amendment to beneficiary's G-325A by petitioner okay?	Technically no it's not okay because it's fraud. You're altering information on a form she already signed. I also don't understand why you'd write her college under employers. I would leave it as is. She will not be RFE'd for it. Then come her time to do her visa stuff she can take an amended copy in. It's only fraud if the information is false because fraud requires an intent to deceive. An omission is not fraud. Correcting the omission with accurate information is not fraud. My divorce attorney made corrections to documents I had already signed, and he did this in front of my ex-wife's attorney, and nobody accused anybody else of fraud. My wife gave me the information for her G-325A during a Yahoo chat session, but there were several items she didn't know the answer to. By the time I arrived in Vietnam on my next visit she still hadn't found all of the answers. We printed the G-325A with the information we had at a local internet cafe, and she signed it. She gave me the rest of the information after I returned to the US, and I wrote it on the form by hand. There were also a couple of corrections, and I drew a line through the original information and wrote the corrected information next to it. I initialed the additions and corrections with MY initials, and explained in the attachment (which was needed for the ridiculously long addresses) that I had made the additions and corrections to the form. It was accepted by USCIS without question or RFE. As Gary indicated, I think their primary concern is that the information is complete and accurate. I think it would be different if you were trying to make corrections to the I-129F after it were approved because the corrections would make it a different petition from the one that was approved, and might nullify the approval. I don't see any problems with making accurate corrections to a form before it's been submitted.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-11 15:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Co-Sponsor Affidavit of Support Question	I've gone back to college to complete my degree so currently I'm not making any money - living off grants and savings - so I'll defn probably need a co-sponsor. My question is... can this person's income come from retirement and social security money? My mother gets well over the income needed but the things I've read here so far are from many who actually are retired, not using the retiree as a co-sponsor. I'll be getting a job in January, but granted if our visa interview comes up lets say in March or April, I'm not sure that would be enough time. Plus I won't have any w-2s from this year (or last). Any advice? Should I have an additional back up just in case? Oh this would be for the K-1 Visa :-) Consulates generally follow the I-864 rules when weighing the sufficiency of an I-134, and income from either a private retirement fund or Social Security retirement are qualifying income under the I-864 rules. However, consulates have much more discretion with an I-134 than with an I-864, and some consulates have been reluctant to accept non-taxable income. The somewhat skewed thinking is that if the income doesn't exist as far as the IRS is concerned then it shouldn't exist to the consulate, either. The only way to know for sure is to find someone who has gone through the same consulate with a similarly qualified joint sponsor.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-12 11:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	affidavit of support, gross or net?	How about for self employed??? I have been told it is the net. It will be just for the 2 of us on a K1 so I am hoping you are correct on this, but i have been told many times for me it is after business deductions. Thanks Neither "gross" nor "net" are appropriate terms here. The IRS uses the term "total income". This is the amount you have to live on before taking into account personal deductions, exemptions, credits, and taxes. For someone who is self-employed this is the amount you have left after your schedule C business deductions. In other words, it's the taxable income your business pays to you. Line 22 on the 1040. Anyone you claim as a dependent on your tax return is also a dependent for an affidavit of support. However, your child is always a dependent for an affidavit of support, regardless of who takes the tax deduction for them.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-12 12:59:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	How do you deal with previous VWP overstay when doing packet 3 paperwork??	Does anyone know what happens if you put yes on the DS-156 question 38 there is a question that says have you ever violated the terms of u.s. visa or been unlawfully present in or deported from the united states do they require you to submit proof of it or how long you had stayed? or do they question you alot at the interview? my fiance had only overstayed his visa wavier program by 2 days and somehow has lost his departing ticket from the US so i'm kinda nervous about the whole thing .The stamps in his passport only show his arrival and how long he could be in US but not his departing date from the US. Thanks for any help What happens is they will ask about it at the interview. If his exit was properly recorded then they won't ask him to prove when he left. His overstay wasn't long enough to have any negative consequences on his K1 visa.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-14 00:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	How About A $1000 i-129f	Do a little research and you'll find that there are actually other economic systems besides communism and capitalism (WOW!). America was founded during a time when Mercantilism was the major world economic system. Capitalism as we know it in the modern world began taking shape after World War I. It peaked in the 1950's, and has been slowly but surely dragging us down ever since. If you're still living the illusion that you can be wildly successful if you just work hard, you're joking yourself. I know people in their 70's who can't afford to retire and are STILL working hard, with very little to show for it. Capitalism makes the rich richer off of the labor of the poor, and keeps the poor working under the delusion that they might one day become rich. It would be highly amusing, if it weren't so sad. You're right, Capitalism is at the very core of this nation, and it is tearing it apart. The old adage that you can be successful if you work hard has always been a simplification of the facts, but it serves as an adequate counterpoint to the fact that you'll get nothing if you do nothing. You can work exceedingly hard at moving boulders from one side of your property to the other, and you can dedicate your life to this hard labor, but you'll never be successful at anything other moving boulders around. On the other hand, if you have prepared a viable plan for accumulating personal wealth, and you apply yourself at achieving your goals, then you most certainly CAN be successful in the United States. It takes a lot more than just sweat to be successful. Your labors have to be applied towards achieving your own personal goals, and not simply helping to make your employer wealthy. A statement like "Capitalism makes the rich richer off of the labor of the poor, and keeps the poor working under the delusion that they might one day become rich" demonstrates not only a naive idealism, but also a fundamental misunderstanding of how capitalism works. You're either very young, or you've never seen anyone build a business from the ground up and become successful. Nobody promises a laborer that they'll one day become rich from working for someone else, and if they're under the delusion that they will then they've created that delusion themselves. Socialists all too often operate under the premise that there's a pie of fixed size, and that the wealthy are hording the bulk of it for themselves and not leaving enough to the people at the bottom. The truth is that the pie is constantly changing in size, in direct proportion to the total value of the products and services produced. Create a new product or service, sell that product or service to the world, and you will personally make that pie bigger, and get a nice slice for yourself without taking anything away from anyone else. Depending on what sort of business you operate, you might even create some jobs for people who don't have the intellectual steam to create their own business. If you're expecting someone to hand you a job with a fat salary and an equally fat pension, and all you've got to do is show up every day and do the same thing, then you may be one of those deluded people. Those sort of jobs exist, but they're relatively rare and are reserved for people with one of three magic ingredients: 1. Exceptional skill (e.g., a craftsman). 2. Exceptional talent (e.g., a sports star). 3. Exceptional knowledge (e.g., a brilliant scientist). In other words, an employer only hands over large amounts of money to an employee if that employee is worth a lot of money to the employer. For everyone else, either build your own money making machine, or accept that you'll always be a cog in someone elses.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-14 01:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	How About A $1000 i-129f	This sounds like a huge can of worms. There is already enough discontent in this country over the perceived advantages granted to the more affluent. If they instituted this then I doubt it would result in them hiring more adjudicators, but it would result in them changing the order in which they adjudicate received petitions. Those who paid the regular fee would wait longer while those who paid the premium fee would get to cut ahead of them in line. There would be outrage about the unfairness of a system that caters to the wealthy. On the other hand, if you want to create a petition that will raise the fees for everyone with the caveat that the extra fees must be used to hire more adjudicators and reduce processing times then I would be willing to sign it. Unfortunately, people who are financially stressed would rather wait a little longer than pay a lot more. The way it currently works is that they calculate the fees based on the cost of the resources required to actually adjudicate the petition. Those costs don't go up or down with the number of petitions waiting in the queue, so they're more or less fair to everyone. I think the reason they don't hire more adjudicators is that they're concerned if there's a lull in petition intake then some of those adjudicators are going to be sitting on their hands and getting paid for it. This is one of those cases where you'll never satisfy everyone.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-11 15:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K1 visa denied, USCIS received it after 1 month	Hello Leatherneck, is it okay if we will write a withdrawal letter to the USCIS although we dont receive the letter of NOIR/NOID yet? I assume its still in the process since the USCIS is still reviewing our application. At least one other VJ member recommends that you should withdraw the petition rather than letting them readjudicate it, but I'm frankly not sure that's possible. I've seen conflicting guidance on this. The INA says that a petition can be withdrawn anytime before the immigration benefit has been granted, which means that you CAN withdraw the petition. However, I've seen lawyers write that withdrawing a petition will not stop an ongoing investigation, and that the withdrawal won't be accepted until the investigation has been completed. When the consulate denies a visa because they believe the relationship is a sham then they usually put a P6C marker in the file. The term "P6C" refers to INA section 212, paragraph 6C. This paragraph refers to material misrepresentation; i.e., fraud. At that point, the P6C marker is only an allegation by the consular officer. USCIS can choose to ignore the allegation, and the P6C marker will never be anything more than an allegation. In this case, the petitioner will receive a letter stating that the petition has expired, and they're free to file again. On the other hand, if USCIS decides to readjudicate the petition based on the consular officer's recommendation then there are two possible outcomes. First, they could determine that the consular officer is wrong, and reaffirm the approval of the petition. The P6C marker would become irrelevant. If you'd sent a letter withdrawing the petition then it would be closed after they reaffirm the approval. Second, they could determine that the consular officer is right, in which case they'd send a Notice Of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) to the petitioner. The petitioner would have a limited amount of time to respond to the NOIR. USCIS will make a final decision based on the response; either reaffirm the approval (and then close the petition if a withdrawal has been received), or revoke the approval of the petition. If they revoke the approval then the petition would still be closed, but not because the petitioner withdrew it - it would be closed "with prejudice". The P6C marker would become a finding of fact, and the beneficiary would be guilty of fraud. You'd need an I-601 waiver to overcome this finding for any subsequent visa application. Now, some of the information above comes from writings on the internet from immigration lawyers, and I don't know how credible it is. I haven't yet seen a VJ member who sent a withdrawal request to USCIS after a petition was returned, and subsequently got a NOIR rather than a confirmation that the petition was withdrawn. Come to think of it, I don't recall reading about any VJ member who sent a withdrawal request after the petition was returned. I do know that you can request the petition be withdrawn because no immigration benefit has yet been granted. I just don't know if they'll accept the withdrawal before they decide what they're going to do about the consular officer's accusation.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-14 01:24:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Immigration lawyer	I consulted with a lawyer before I sent the petition, but I prepared all of the forms and documentation in the petition package myself using guidance from VJ. I hired an associate of the same attorney in Saigon to handle the interview preparation. The interview prep included a few 2-hour mock interview sessions, as well as document preparation. We didn't really need the interview prep, but my wife (then fiancee) was nervous and the sessions helped her feel like she was doing something constructive while we waited for the interview. I handled all of the adjustment of status documents for my wife and two step-kids myself. Our petition was approved without any RFE's. The visa was approved at the interview with only four questions. We were selected for an AOS interview, and we were approved at the interview without any RFE's along the way. All in all, it was a pretty smooth ride for us.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-15 12:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Food Stamps	I am all for a flat tax. How ever the fundamental flaw in your thinking is that you are equating "allowing me to keep more of my own money that I earned" as being the same exact thing as " Taking my money that I have earned and giving it to someone that did not earn it". At the end of the day I am still paying way more into the system than I am taking out. Trying to equate I am only paying 30,000 in taxes this year instead of 35,000 as being the same net game as someone that is taking 5,000 from the system and giving nothing back is not a very well thought out assumption. I saw that too, and it immediately made me cringe. A tax credit or deduction is NOT the same thing as a subsidy. The fact that me and millions of other Americans get to deduct the interest we pay on our mortgages doesn't mean somebody else has to pony up more in tax payments to make up for the difference. In an ideal world, the government would spend only what it takes in, and not determine how much it must take in based on how much it thinks it must spend. By that twisted logic, I should be able to claim that anyone who earns less than me is being subsidized by me because I pay more in taxes. That's just ludicrous. Anyway, there were some other tidbits of information tossed out in this thread that were accurate but misleading. For example, sheeshkabelle posted a couple of times about the official definition of "public charge". It's important to understand where this definition comes into play in regards to the immigration process. Whether or not a US citizen is a public charge has no effect whatever on their eligibility to submit a petition for a foreign spouse or fiancee. Any means-tested public benefits they receive will not be considered as income for an affidavit of support. At a minimum, they would probably need a joint sponsor. Some consulates rarely accept joint sponsors for K visas. An immigrant is not eligible for most means-tested public benefits until they've been an LPR for five years. After that, they can apply for and legally receive most public benefits. However, if the immigrant was sponsored with an affidavit of support, and if that affidavit of support is still enforceable, then the sponsor can be forced to reimburse the government for those benefits. As sheeshkabelle noted, receiving temporary benefits would not make the immigrant a public charge, as defined, but that wouldn't change the fact that the sponsor is liable to the government to repay those benefits. What's more, an immigrant will NOT be credited by SSA with having earned a quarter of work credit if the immigrant received any means-tested public benefits in that quarter, which only postpones the day when the affidavit of support will no longer be enforceable. An immigrant who actually becomes a public charge is deportable, and this is precisely why the consulate is charged with determining the likelihood that the immigrant will ever become a public charge. For the OP: If there's any way you can avoid collecting food stamps and still get by then you should do so. I suggest you read section 9 FAM 40.41 N4.1 of the foreign affairs manual. http://www.state.gov...ation/86988.pdf There is no provision in the law to indicate that the receipt of means-tested benefits by the sponsor would, in itself, result in a finding of inadmissibility for the applicant under INA 212(a)(4). The sponsor's reliance on such benefits, however, would clearly be an important factor in considering whether the applicant might have to become a public charge. If the sponsor or any member of his or her household has received public means-tested benefits within the past three years, you must review fully the sponsor's current ability to provide the requisite level of support, taking into consideration the kind of assistance provided and the dates received. You must review carefully Form I-864, Affidavit of Support under Section 213A of the Act, or Form I-134, Affidavit of Support, and all attachments submitted with Form I-134, as well as evidence of the sponsor's current financial circumstances, in such cases. In other words, if you collect food stamps, or any other means-tested public benefits, up to three years before you submit an affidavit of support then the consular officer will look more closely at your financial situation. They have a lot of discretion with an I-134, and they're going to weigh the positive and negative factors. If you collect food stamps then you're adding a little more weight to the negative side.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-12 12:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-134 Affidavit of Support - Using co-sponsors..?	I am a student so I am not currently working therefore I have to have a co-sponsor, but my mothers income is not enough so can I have my brother as co-sponsor as well to and add their incomes to meet the requirement. Unfortunately, no. Not with the I-134. There simply is no provision with this form to do this. Worse yet, there's no statutory definition of the I-134 requirements in the law, like there is with the I-864. The Foreign Affairs Manual says "consular officers accept this form at their discretion". Some consulates will almost never accept any joint sponsor with a K visa application, meaning the petitioner has to qualify. Most consulates do allow one joint sponsor with an I-134, though. The net result is that there are an awful lot of people who are denied a K visa because of the "public charge" determination simply because they couldn't produce a sufficient sponsor when those same people would have been able to find a way to qualify if they'd been allowed to submit an I-864 and supporting affidavits. The I-864 is only used for immigrant visa petitions and adjustment of status (green card applications). The best advice I can give is to find a joint sponsor who qualifies on their own. If that is just impossible then the other option is to marry and file a spousal visa petition. You'll be using the I-864 with that petition, and you'll be able to have your mother and brother combine their income with yours. Your combined income will need to be at least $27,937, since your household size would include you, your mother, your brother, and your new spouse.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-15 23:22:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-134 Affidavit of Support - Using co-sponsors..?	You can so long as you make yourself as the PRIMARY SPONSOR. Since y'all live in the same house, I would fill out the form that says I-864A (i suppose)... My wife used her father as her co-sponsor for me and it was fine but she had to be the primary sponsor... You will be okay if you do that... Make sure you put every piece of document listed on the instruction list.. Good luck. K visa applicants don't use the I-864. They use the I-134. There are no provisions with an I-134 for sponsors to join income with household members. The petitioner either needs to qualify as a sponsor, or find a joint sponsor who qualifies on their own.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-15 22:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Will accepting public assistance cause problems with getting the K-1 visa?	Thanks for the reply. Can anyone else confirm this? Yes, except for the statement about his earning potential. They DO look at the applicant's education when making the public charge determination. They are required by law to consider it. As a US citizen, you are eligible to collects means-tested public benefits. The consulate won't deny you for this reason, as long as you have a sufficient joint sponsor, but they will look more closely at your case for the public charge determination. They are allowed to consider that the risk of the applicant becoming a public charge might be greater if the sponsor received any means-tested public benefits in the previous three years. I seriously doubt it will be a problem in your case because of your fiance's advanced education.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 07:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	uhm OW! i need some help/advice....	also two more questions, im from quebec (i think i mentioned that) if theres n e one else that has lived there o rjust knows what im talking about, the info-sante number 811 to speak to the live nurse, does that exist in the u.s can i call it from kansas? if so how can i call a number thats just 811 long distance? second question is it possible to have an american like CVA or wallgreens pharmacy refill meds on prescriptions writen in canada? im on two other medication i take daily but am running low, theres two more re-peats on one and 4 on the other do you know if they will be able to fill them here? its looking like tomorrow is gonna be a long day pacing on the phone with clinics n nurses and pharmacys...thanks EVERYONE for your support in everything on VJ in general this website really makes me feel not so alone. i love my husband im sooooo happy to finally be here, but also a little hard being away from my whole family and just waving goodbye to some of the only things i know and trying to find out and re-learn all by myself with no parents to watch. here i really dont feel alone youv all been amazing. thanks. good luck to you guys for anything u have left to do in your journeys. for me my next step is finally getting married then comming back on here to start asking you guys questions bout AOS lol Pharmacies in the US are not permitted to fill foreign prescriptions. The prescription must be written on the official US form with sequence number in order for a US pharmacy to accept it, and the physician who writes it must be licensed to practice medicine in the US. Take your prescriptions to a local doctor. You aren't required to have insurance in order to see a doctor. An office visit shouldn't cost more than $150. If you shop around a bit you should be able to find one for much less - maybe less than $50. They'll examine your back, write any prescriptions necessary, and they'll evaluate your prescriptions from Canada and write new US prescriptions for them. Whatever you do, do NOT let this get to the point where you end up in a hospital emergency room. You aren't required to have insurance nor have a means to pay in order to be treated in an emergency room - nobody is turned away. However, if you don't have insurance and you aren't eligible for publicly subsidized care, then you will be billed for the treatment. Just signing in can end up costing you thousands of dollars. Getting the prescriptions filled is another story. Medications which are still protected by patents will be oppressively expensive if you don't have insurance. A month's supply of some medications can cost hundreds of dollars. Explain to the doctor about your lack of insurance and they should be able to find adequate medications to help you at lower cost, or prescribe something that's available in generic form.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 07:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K1 & K2 visa issued . Need help with emergency parole	Hi Queen 'Penguin We should not have applied K2 visa. Anyways, If we apply I-130, how long would that take? Also, I was told to apply for Emergency Advanced Parole at the same time we Apply for AOS for K2. This allows K2 to go back to mother country to continue with her education. When we send the AOS paper work to USCIS for K2, how ong do they take to respond back to us? Do we apply for Emergency Advanced parole at the same we the AOS paper or separately? I was told Advanced Parole should be applied at the same time you AOS. Then get InfoPass to expedite the parole. Can this (Emergency Advance Parole) happen with in 1 month while she is in the U.S ? When would they ask K2 to come for BioMetrics? The factor you seemed to have gotten confused about is that an eligible child can apply for a K2 derivative visa as long as it's issued within one year of the K1 parent's visa. However, once the visa is issued it's only good for a maximum of six months. A CR2 immigrant visa will take 8 to 12 months, give or take, from petition to visa interview. Once issued, the CR2 is also only good for six months. Don't postpone marrying her mother until after she's 18 or you won't be eligible to submit any petition for her. As long as you marry her mother before she's 18 and you submit the petition before she's 21 then her age will be locked for visa eligibility, and she'll be able to apply for the visa even if she turns 21 before the interview. The best route might be to wait until she's about six months away from being ready to immigrate and then send the petition. Another advantage of this method is that it's an immigrant visa - no adjustment of status. She'll get a green card automatically soon after she arrives in the US. You can apply for advance parole either at the same time you apply for AOS or after you apply for the AOS, but not before. Advance parole is specifically for someone who is waiting to adjust status. It's possible to get an emergency AP by making an infopass appointment at your local USCIS field office and asking for emergency AP. There's no guarantee they'll approve it. Generally, the emergent situation has to be something that came up AFTER the immigrant arrived in the US, and which is beyond the control of the immigrant. I suspect they'll deny the emergency AP because this situation was known before she came to the US, and is more the result of bad planning than any real emergency. Further, she may be scheduled for a AOS interview. If so then she must return to the US and attend the interview or her green card will be denied and her AP will be revoked. AP is only good until a decision is made on her adjustment of status application.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 22:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Would my father/permanent resident be able to co-sponsor me with the I134?	You said your fiance owns a house with no debts. If he can get an appraisal that shows he has enough equity in it to support you for 10 years then you will not need a co-sponsor. Not quite. Assets have to be equal to at least three times the shortage in income for the petitioner of a K visa. You're getting confused with another aspect of the affidavit of support, which is the number of years of SSA work credits an immigrant needs before the affidavit of support is no longer enforceable. Qualifying on assets alone is possible, but a consulate might be reluctant to accept home equity as the only asset. The problem is that you can't cash out the equity a little bit at a time to pay the bills and feed your family without incurring debt, and it would be difficult to make payments on that debt without any income. The exception would be a reverse mortgage, where you sign your home over to a bank and they pay you for it with monthly checks. Reverse mortgages are generally only available to people 62 or older. Consulates tend to view home equity as a sort of emergency stash you can borrow against, but the practicality of actually getting your hands on some of that cash depends on having at least some income. People have had better luck qualifying on assets alone when some or all of those assets were liquid - cash, securities, etc. To the OP: Hopefully, you haven't tried to hide the fact that many of your family members have already immigrated to the US. A consulate will sometimes suspect that the beneficiary's family in the US may have set up the relationship in order to help their relative immigrant. If there's any connection whatever between the petitioner and the beneficiary's family members then it's best if this stuff is explained in the evidence included with the petition package. It's more difficult for the consulate to return a petition to USCIS with a recommendation that the approval of the petition be revoked if the reason they are citing is something which USCIS knew about when they approved the petition originally. Being introduced by or having connections with the family of the beneficiary is a big deal at some consulates, but it's not always a deal breaker. If you were introduced to your fiance by a member of your family then you should be honest about it with the consulate. If you were not then they might suspect you were anyway. I don't know how much of an issue this is at the US consulate in Peru.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-15 12:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Common misconception about K1	Jim made a point about the USCIS wanting some backlog, and I can understand that from a management and operational point of view, but clearly the backlog is far too great; our government is failing us miserably here. There are three factors that determine the length of the backlog for a particular type of petition: 1. The number of those petitions coming in. 2. The number of adjudicators allocated to handling those petitions. 3. The average length of time it takes to process one of those petitions. They have no control over #1, and only minimal control over #3. From a management perspective, the only thing they could make changes to in order to reduce the backlog is #2. This means they could either reassign adjudicators from other types of petitions, or hire more adjudicators. They avoid doing the latter unless it's clear that the backlog is becoming severe, and factors #1 and #2 aren't likely to get better anytime soon. This is because there are six weeks of basic training in Dallas, Texas, to become an adjudicator, followed by a one week course at the National Benefits Center in Missouri, and then another one week course at the regional service center where they will be working. These aren't seasonal workers who can be trained in an afternoon. These people must understand the relevant portions of the immigration law and the Adjudicators Field Manual. They don't invest the sort of money required for this training unless the employee is going to be a permanent hire. I've been a member of VJ long enough to have seen the petition approval time fluctuate between less than two months to well over six months. I'm certain that this fluctuation wasn't the result of massive hiring or loss of adjudicators. They've been doing this long enough that I'm confident they can forecast their manpower requirements without risking going to either extreme in processing times.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 23:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Common misconception about K1	I honestly think not only backlogs but isn't waiting all these months apart from your love one the test the government wants to prove any relationship. And if it proves anything, I didn't find this site until after I sent my K-1 out, I didn't put it together as cleanly as the guides here say.. no cover letter and my letter of intent wasn't close to the sample, yet I have one of the fastest NOA1 to NOA2 approvals (That I've seen on this site). So it has nothing to do with the preparation of the petition!! No. USCIS isn't interested in testing your relationship until it's their turn to adjudicate an immigration benefit. That time will come when your fiancee applies for a green card. For the petition, they only care if the petitioner is eligible to file the petition and if the statutory requirements have been met. FWIW, the backlog is intentional. They try to keep enough pending petitions in the pipeline to ensure that there will be a steady flow of work for the adjudicators. If they start falling too far behind on one type of petition then they'll try to reallocate resources so that they can catch up. If they start getting too close to processing petitions as fast as they are coming in then they'll try to reallocate resources to petitions that have a bigger backlog. They don't want to reach either extreme, where they're either falling behind on all types of petitions, or they have adjudicators waiting for new petitions to arrive so they'll have something to do. They don't want to hire new adjudicators except to cover for attrition because it's takes considerable time and money to train them, and they don't want to have to lay anyone off if things slow down too much. Given that USCIS is funded almost exclusively by it's customers, I think this is the way most people would want it to be. If they started processing your petition the day it arrived then that means somebody might have had nothing to do if it weren't for your petition, and you might question whether the fees might be lower if they cut staff and engineered a little backlog into the system.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 06:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K1- interview / France/ Required documents?	My husband sent me copies to take to the interview, but they didn't seem interested. However I was not filing at the same consulate as you are, which may make the difference. My husband sent his DD214's to me, as he did not have a passport and the time, and still does not. They were a good Government ID in absence of the passport. I emailed the Consulate to ask, perhaps you could try that? Negative. A DD-214 is not valid as any sort of identification. It's a very easy document to forge. It's also not valid proof of US citizenship since a permanent resident can serve in the US military. They weren't interested in it because it's irrelevant.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 22:40:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K1- interview / France/ Required documents?	Question, For the interview will Notarized copies of my DD-214 Military documents be okay for the interview? I didn't know if it would be wise not to have the original out of my possession since its a pain to get another one if it was lost. A DD-214 is a discharge document from the US military. Why would you need to provide this? Are you the beneficiary? Were you in the US military?	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-18 22:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	What needs to carry/bring before Travel?	Be sure to bring a copy of your birth certificate. You'll need it for adjustment of status. Also, if you've been previously married then be sure to bring copies of the termination papers for those previous marriages. You may need them to get a marriage license in the US.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-19 10:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	POE with over $10,000	Well, looking at the answers, I am wondering a couple of things. I will be moving from Korea and I was thinking to have my parents transfer my money to my bank account once I open it in the U.S, or my fiance's bank account. That amount will definitely be more than $10,000. Does any kind of declaration necassary for the bank transfer too? Or is it better to just carry with me when I go to the U.S and declare it? Does it really matter? I just didn't feel like carry that much money with me when I will have 20+hrs flight. I don't think there's any bank declaration required. Banks in the US will report any transaction of over $10K to the IRS.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-20 22:13:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	POE with over $10,000	That is carrying $10,000 or more in CASH! checks don't matter. Nope. It's cash OR "monetary instruments", which "includes coins, currency, travelers checks and bearer instruments such as personal or cashiers checks, and stocks and bonds". Direct quote from the CBP Form 6059B. To the OP: The F4790 is the old declaration form. It's now the FinCen 105. http://www.cbp.gov/l...er_brochure.pdf	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-20 02:16:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	After Only 9 Months...	Hi, You will need copies of the last year tax returns & ORIGINAL W2 forms. check the links below for details on all your questions: http://www.visajourn...content/k1guide http://www.visajourn.../content/k1flow Best of luck ! That's a new one on me. Most consulates will accept copies of the W2 if you're sending copies of the tax return, and they don't require W2's at all if you send an IRS tax return transcript.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-19 10:51:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Confused..need help!!	Immigration law generally recognizes a marriage if it was legal in the jurisdiction where the marriage took place UNLESS the marriage is considered "repugnant to United States public policy". Such marriages currently include marriages involving polygamy, incest, or same sex spouses. A subsequent divorce from the first spouse does not make the second marriage recognizable under US immigration because the marriage was "repugnant to United States public policy" at the time it occurred. Let's look at a couple of potential problems: Inadmissibility and Good Moral Character: INA 212(a)(10) defines a practicing polygamist as inadmissible. 8 CFR 316.10 describes a finding of a lack of good moral character is called for if an alien has practiced or is practicing polygamy. The first statute can get you declared inadmissible to the US. The second can prevent you from ever becoming a US citizen, self-petitioning to remove conditions, asking for cancellation of removal, and whole host of other immigration benefits. Consular discretion: Many consulates are notorious for using their discretion to deny a K1 if they even get a HINT that the couple had anything resembling a cultural or traditional marriage, even if the marriage isn't legally binding. This has caused no end of frustration for some couples because they are denied a K1 because the consulate accuses them of being married, but they can't get a CR1 because USCIS won't recognize their marriage. This puts them in the position of having to "####### or get off the proverbial pot", so to speak, and get a legally recognizable marriage. The OP has a doubly complex problem because polygamous marriages are legal in most Islamic countries, including the United Arab Emirates, and their marriage was completely legal and recognized by the government of the UAE. I could easily see the consulate putting them through the wringer for this. If I were in this boat then I'd withdraw the K1 petition, terminate the marriage, remarry with a new wedding date, and petition for a CR1. Start over, clean and fresh.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-20 03:01:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Criminal background	The IMBRA requirements are not a matter of discretion for the USCIS adjudicator. The law requires you to provide the court documents. If you don't, and if USCIS finds out about the convictions, then they'll send an RFE for the court documents. If you don't provide them then they'll deny the petition. It's really that simple. You can't get around this with statements from your fiancee. Read the instructions: If you have ever been convicted of any of the following crimes, submit certified copies of all court and police records showing the charges and dispositions for every such conviction. This is required even if your records were sealed or otherwise cleared or if anyone, including a judge, law enforcement officer, or attorney, told you that you no longer have a record. Bear in mind that this ONLY applies to the I-129F petition. As others have said, if you get married then you no longer need to provide these documents. There would be no point to it since the whole intention is to make this information available to your foreign fiancee so that they have the opportunity to back out before you get married. However, you're not going to make this requirement go away by trying to convince the USCIS adjudicator that you've satisfied the intent of the law by making your fiancee aware of your criminal history. These are bureaucrats you're dealing with - not judges.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-24 03:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Criminal background	The IMBRA requirements are twofold. First, it imposes a requirement that a foreign beneficiary of a fiancee visa petition be informed of any relevant criminal convictions of the petitioner before they issue a visa. Full disclosure gives the beneficiary the opportunity to back out before getting married, and (presumably) will reduce the number of beneficiary's who end up making VAWA applications because their new US citizen spouse abused them. Second, it imposes a requirement on International Marriage Brokers (IMB's) that they must collect information about criminal convictions from US citizens and provide that information to potential foreign fiancee's before they initiate contact between them. When a couple meets through an IMB then USCIS will use the provided information to confirm that the IMB followed the rules, collected the information, and distributed it to the foreigner. The overwhelming majority of US citizens do not use an International Marriage Broker to find a foreign fiancee. What's more, most internet dating sites are not classified as International Marriage Brokers because they don't exist primarily to hook up Americans with foreigners, and they don't charge different rates to Americans than they do to people of other nationalities. This is where the first requirement kicks in. When USCIS approves the petition they will forward your criminal conviction information to Department of State, who will send it to the US consulate, who will subsequently send it to your fiancee, along with a pamphlet about their rights in the US, and how to seek help in case of domestic violence. In other words, you have to provide the court documents in order to satisfy the disclosure requirements of the IMBRA, even if you didn't use a broker to hook up. USCIS won't deny your petition because of the convictions unless you're also asking for a waiver of the multiple filing limitations (if you've had another K1 petition approved within the past two years, or you've ever filed two or more K1 petitions). In that case, they may deny your multiple filing waiver request on the basis of the criminal history.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-23 12:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	motion to appeal under condition for Vawa	go to catholic charities in your area,talk to them about your case,they will be able to help you for free.find them on google search.good luck The OP already has an attorney, so I doubt this information is going to be of much use. To the OP: First, you posted your question in the K1 visa forum. I doubt there's many people in this particular forum that have any experience with VAWA self-petitions. A motion to reopen is usually adjudicated within a few months. That doesn't mean you'll get a final decision on your case in that amount of time. If they agree to reopen the case it only means that they're satisfied that a different decision might be possible based on the new evidence submitted. If they agree to reopen the case then it could still be many additional months before they make a decision on your case. There's not much you can do other than wait.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-25 12:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Three or more convictions for crimes... i-129f	The DOJ Record Review is just a summary of your criminal history, according to DOJ records. It can't be used for immigration because it's specifically NOT what they ask for. They want "certified copies of all court and police records showing the charges and dispositions for every such conviction". You need to contact the court clerk where you were convicted.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-28 02:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F Petition	Just want some advice on what to do next... It has been 5 months and 2 weeks since the petition for I-129F was received. I have contacted my congresswomans office for help about 3 weeks ago and all her office got was an email indicating the my petition was being reviewed... is there anything else that can be suggested on what to do next... I'm getting frustrated and sad seeing all these other petitions getting approved knowing that it was received after mine was... Some advice please!!! If I was in your position then I think the next thing I tried would be a smooth lager. If that didn't do it, or I needed faster results, then I'd try a strong cognac. Seriously, short of suing them there's not much you can do to force USCIS to do anything. They don't seem to respond much to inquiries by congressional representatives anymore. Frankly, I think that card has been overplayed, so it doesn't have the punch it used to have.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-29 02:04:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	221g	Also one Question my petition expire on 2nd dec and embassy said they have already sent back my petition to USCIS i did call embassy and asked why they taking so long my peition will be expired soon then USCIS wont do anything with it? and counslar told me it would not be a problem is it true? You seem to misunderstand what's going on. Your visa application was denied. Your petition was sent back to USCIS, and the consulate is recommending that the approval of the petition be revoked because they think your relationship is a sham. What happens to the petition now depends on which USCIS service center originally approved it. The California Service Center usually just lets the petition expire, which means you start over with a new petition. The Vermont Service Center is more likely to readjudicate the returned petition, which means you could be waiting months for an answer. If they reaffirm the petition then it will eventually be sent back to the consulate, and you'll get another interview. Otherwise, they'll send your fiancee a Notice Of Intent to Revoke. A lot of people don't bother waiting, and just marry and file a spousal visa petition. Your fiancee is going to be dealing with the returned petition. I suggest you tell her to come here and educate herself.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-11-28 02:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K1 Visa I-134 help	Hi, I need help please. I have to send I-134 to my fiance. I owe real estate that is upside down. Do I have to mention the property or can I get in big problems if I don't? I am renting it and it will show on my tax return that I owe it, I'm just worried I won't be able to sponsor him if I show upside down value. Thank you! Real estate with an underwater mortgage isn't an asset. It's a liability. You aren't required to list liabilities on an affidavit of support. In fact, the form doesn't even provide a way for you to declare liabilities. As far as assets, you aren't ever required to declare assets on an affidavit of support. You are permitted to declare them if you want them to be considered when determining if you're a sufficient sponsor. You're not applying for a loan, and there's nothing in the law that says you need to make a complete financial disclosure to the US government. The law requires you have sufficient income to qualify as a sponsor, and that you provide copies of your tax return to prove it. The law permits an immigration officer or consular officer to consider assets in lieu of income, but it doesn't require you to provide assets for consideration. You won't get into any kind of trouble for not listing your real estate.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-12-01 01:48:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	What can you do if your K1 Visa is denied in Guangzhou ?	There has to be a better way to deal with visa denials. There is such a hypocrisy in the way that Guangzhou deals with people. It seems that a typical scenario is the following: 1. the K1 is denied because there is not a bona fide relationship which means that there is immigration fraud 2. the petitioner turns around and re-submits a new K1 or gets married and goes through the CR1 route then Guangzhou issues a visa Was magic involved that caused the initial immigration fraud to disappear ? How can they refuse a K1 visa and cite immigration fraud then approve a new K1 or a CR1 for the same people ? It seems that basically there is nothing that one can do except to refile. No one in congress has enough courage and fortitude to reform the process. I read the class action suit of Tran v. Napolitano which was dismissed this year. I am not sure if the people that were involved had a strong case but I am not a lawyer and this is just my opinion. If everyone that has had the misfortune of being denied by Guangzhou would band together and file a class action suit then maybe then there could be real change. If a visa were denied because of actual fraud then there would be no visa approval after a subsequent petition were filed. At the very least, an I-601 waiver would be required. Visas are usually not denied because of fraud - they are usually denied because the consular officer does not believe that there is a legitimate relationship, and the consular officer has the statutory discretion to make that call. The only way Congress is going to take that discretion away from the CO is if someone invents a machine that can read minds, and the CO's use that machine to weed out the frauds. The "magic" that happened between the first and second visa application is that the CO has now seen enough evidence to believe that the relationship is probably real. Think about that for a moment and let it sink in... If the CO didn't see enough evidence the first time the beneficiary applied to convince them, but saw enough evidence to believe them the second time they applied, doesn't that imply that maybe the CO would have approved the visa the first time if they saw enough convincing evidence? If you want to increase your chances of approval then you need to take your time, allow your relationship to develop, and collect your evidence before you send the petition. You're not trying to convince your mom that you're in love. You're trying to convince someone who doesn't know you, and who will spend a total of five or ten minutes with your petition package and the forms submitted at the interview before making their preliminary decision. You really want those documents and evidence to make the very best impression. Anyone who comes to VJ for self-help with the immigration process should not proceed straight to the guides, file their petition, and then spend their waiting time reading the various forums. Read the forums first. Find out what the common reasons are for a visa denial. If you see any of those red flags in your own case then fix them or at least address them before you file the petition. Does the consulate like to deny visas because the petitioner made only one trip? Then postpone filing until you've made a few more trips. Does the consulate like to deny visas because the petitioner and/or beneficiary were recently divorced? Then wait a year or two after the divorce before filing. If you've got a situation that's considered a red flag at a particular consulate that you simply can't fix, like a big age difference, then at least have evidence of a long term relationship to help overcome the suspicion that the relationship is a sham. To balance this, I'll state GUZ IV handles more fraud cases than other IV units. Some might argue Morocco or Mexico, but I say it's China. I think the general consensus is that it's Lagos, Nigeria, but I'd bet Guangzhou is in the top five. From what I've heard, Juarez is actually pretty easy compared to some of the more notorious high fraud consulates.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-07-04 13:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K-1	anyone who knew if how can my friend go back to usa, he go back without finishing the 90days of stay because of emergency at her country, and his fiance wants her to go back. what is the best thing to do? does anyone knows what is the best way for that? It's sometimes possible to get the consulate to revalidate the visa, but they won't extend the validity beyond the original 90 days. If it's already been more than 90 days since she entered the US the first time then her visa is dead, and cannot be resurrected. She'll need to start over with a new petition.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-12-02 02:26:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	3 year bar	I have a fiance that overstayed past the 90 days and we were not married within that time (I do not want to go into detail why here). She had to return to her home country to take care of a family member. My question is if she stayed past 180 days, when is the 3 year bar placed in effect? I have read that the bars are issued by immigration agents at the departure point and is up to their discretion at that time if the bar is given. When she left the US, there were no immigration agents there. She just boarded the plane and left. Did she get the 3 year ban or not? If she overstayed by more than 180 days and her exit was recorded (i.e., she surrendered her I-94) then she's got the ban. It's entered in her immigration records. They don't hand her any document when she leaves telling her she's banned. She'll be notified if she tries to apply for a visa or reenter the US.	JimVaPhuong	Male	Vietnam	2011-12-02 02:23:00