biggish data

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

It could have been worse, you know. I really think you need to find a way to use your experience in a more positive way.

I, personally, can't imagine a more positive way of dealing with an injustice than to warn others so that they can hopefully avoid it. For ones who don't or can't avoid it, they can at least be more mentally prepared for the challenge, should this silliness happen to them.

T-bone, again, thank you for speaking out.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-31 21:02:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

T-Bone,
For most of our situations, your experience is exceptionally negative. The cost of just a normal-no-trouble-K-1 is a hit to the budget and, to be honest, we did discuss the pros and cons. I was checking for cheap tickets up until 12 hours before his interview. (I did find one the day before for VERY cheap-arriving that morning and leaving that night-but that was still cost prohibitive.)

We here are all thankful that you are so vocal about your experience so that we can know and warn others about that particular embassy and country so thank you for helping us to not forget that things can easily go very wrong at the simple whims of faceless individuals.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-31 15:58:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

And the rates increased on 22 January.

Yikes!!!! I have been using the 98 cent stamp all this time. For several items that went to differnt countries. Perhaps not everyone bothers to notice or the system hasn't been fully updated yet and they are on the honor system.

When I purchased this and the last sheets of stamps, I always request international stamps. Since this is what they give me, well....

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-31 15:17:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

It's $1.05 now.

Not true unless this JUST changed. I bought a sheet of these Friday morning (6 days ago) to send out wedding invitations to people in several countries.

Why are you complaining that this is OFF TOPIC if it is suggesting a way to be supportive if the decision is made to NOT go to the interview, as is being addressed in the title? We all know that it is a serious financial burden for most of us to go and with such a cheap option to consider, what's with the griping?

For all you who did decide to go to the interview, what was the financial cost--INCLUDING time missed from work (not just the flight/hotel/food/parking/transportation/etc)?

Edited by EminTX, 30 March 2012 - 03:56 PM.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-30 15:54:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Check everywhere for flights--when I looked outside Expedia, Orbitz, and Trip Advisor, that was when I found the cheaper and much, much faster option through Mexico.

If you are unable to go, send a letter to be opened while he is waiting for the interview. Tell him he is awesome, you believe in him, that you know he will do just fine, and that you can't wait to see him in just a few days, and a few mushy things. Heck, write it on the back of a photo of you two together. (It's only 98 cents to mail a normal letter/card anywhere in the world!) Having that in his hand while he is standing at the interview-window-booth couldn't hurt and the boost to his confidence might make all the difference in the world.

(Even though the interview for my fiance was successful, I wish I had done this, just because I love him and it would have made him feel a little less nervous.)

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-29 22:32:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

To the OP, if you can find other embassy reports that are specifically for fiancés (men as opposed to fiancées-women), that might give you a bit more information.

For us, in Perú, he said only 3 men were waiting among more than 50 people. No one before him smiled when leaving the interview until he had his (making him very nervous). When asked why I was not with him, this was the question and his response.

Por qué su prometida no lo acompaña? (No, por razones de trabajo.).

It was satisfactory in Lima. Is this because it is always good enough or because he is male? Nobody can know.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-29 22:05:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

My beloved's jet will land in 3 hours so the K-1 portion of our particular visa journey will be ending very soon and then we'll be AOS-ing. I hope everyone has had their NOA2's and interviews by now or that the date is scheduled, at least.

After so much wait time, it seems a little unreal right now.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-04-02 20:15:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

245 days from our NOA1 date and we have SUCCESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-14 12:44:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

My fiance got the packet from the embassy on Feb. 14th. He has now had his medical (they refused to give him a copy of the DS-3025)and his interview is scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday (one month from when he received everything). We'll post how things go once we get through this.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-03-11 14:01:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

I called the NVC to ask the dates to update my timeline here and was told that I didn't have a matching birthdate for my other half. Someone made a typo, apparently. I suppose it surprises me that this is all entered manually---repeatedly!

Anyway, when calling, it took me all of maybe 25 seconds to connect to a live person (Friday morning at 9am) and the person was very nice telling me this:
"Since I don't have matching information then I can not answer any questions about your case but what general information do you want to know?"
I stated that I was only wanting the dates when the packet was received by them and then forwarded on to Lima.
The response was "We can just pretend that your information has already been sent on."

Good luck to the rest of us July Filers.

Edited by EminTX, 10 February 2012 - 10:28 AM.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-02-10 10:26:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Got a letter from the NVC today telling me that they will be sending our stuff to the "appropriate visa-issuing post" within a week.

The letter is dated FEBRUARY 1
It is post-dated FEBRUARY 6
I received it today FEBRUARY 9

I am assuming that means it is safe to say that it is on its merry way and that the ball really is rolling now.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-02-09 23:50:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

We got our NOA2 on Friday. Even though the official timeline here counts that as 184 days, it feel like it has been so much longer!!!!!

I am really P.O.'d that I couldn't get him here in time to claim him on my taxes for 2011!!!!!!!!!

I hopehopehope that things go smoothly from here on out!

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-01-15 22:33:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

I can't wait to type the words "approved" here!

Double ditto here.

Our RFE information was sent on Tuesday so hopefully they'll update the system soon to indicate that. I wishwishwish I had known what they would have been asking for so that I could have gotten it while waiting all those freaking months and not had to delay sending in stuff because the distance for those documents to travel.

We planned in the first place for the visa to be ready for travel in January. It could still happen. Maybe.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2011-12-02 10:59:00

K-1 - Marriage process advice

I called my HR office yesterday to get the fax number to send in the proof of marriage to add my new husband to my insurance. I was told that the 30-days-to-add him is a FEDERAL rule and that they have no control over that. I sent it in and will have to hope that he can be included for now. If not, well, I am glad that I went with a catastrophic plan and put the difference (between the price and a full coverage plan)into a bank account with an ATM card. This is how we pay for dr visits now. No games. No waiting. No referrals. No restrictions.

Again, LEAVE the city to do this. There is absolutely no reason to wait around for a major metropolitan area if you have the ability to avoid it.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-05-15 08:25:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

K-1 - Marriage process advice

Hi everyone.

My husband entered on his K- visa last month and we married one week later. We live in the 4th largest city in the US and bought our marriage license here in this city. We were told that they'd have the marriage certificate delivered back to us in under a month.

The reality of this is that the HUGE city we live in is s-l-o-w in processing things. I didn't even consider this and since we are on a time crunch because of a separate issue, this is even more frustrating.

My company requires for me to have proof of marriage within 30 days of the wedding to include my husband on my insurance. We got a certified copy of the marriage certificate 31 days after the wedding--the first day it was available. (I was told that our original will be mailed to us within 60 days.)

My professional license and certification are due this month. That extra time for city processing being coupled with the extra processing time for the national and state levels of my proof of professional legitimacy are more frustrating. To change my name, this is required and the extra delay is just a bummer. Applying for AOS has been on hold, too.

Here is the advice, if you live in a major city, drive to the next county or small city to get your marriage license. You'll probably be able to get on with this part of your life faster. We've all done enough waiting around and twiddling our thumbs between the times from sending the original petition and being face-to-face. There's no reason to waiting around extra just for "fun".

Good luck, everyone.

(Please note--I don't know the laws in every state. In my state of Texas, the license can be bought anywhere within in the state to be used anywhere within the state with the requirement being that there is a delay of at least 72 hours and that it is returned with the signature of the pastor within 30 days. Texas is very popular for destination weddings so I am guessing that there is less hassle than in many other places.)

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-05-13 20:51:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

GOT NOA2 IN 10 DAYS! NO EXPEDITE! THE SYSTEM DOES WORK!

I hope you went and bought a handful of lottery tickets while your luck is running hot. Perhaps y'all should honeymoon at a casino resort, too.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-06-23 09:59:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Visa approved! Interview Experience :)

That is an excellent and well-written description of the experience. I am so glad to hear of your success and excited for your future here with your beloved. Congratulations!

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-05-13 21:05:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Earliest Date to Call About Notice of Action (NOA) 2 Status

Go back one and two years on the threads where K-1's updated their cases to see how the timelines typically flow for the months that you filed. Example...For us, we tried to file in May, but were delayed when my then-fiance's city re-addressed his home (different street name and house number). We successfully filed in early July. We got RFE'd in November and it took 3 or 4 weeks to get the documents from his country to submit. We got NOA-2 in the end of January. He received his embassy packet on Feb 14th this year with an appointment date for March 14th. He was here the first week of April and we were married on April 10th.

To follow up, we filed AOS in June and are still expecting a letter any old day now. Bwah ha ha ha ha. Yeah.

The wait was very frustrating and our original (inaccurate )timeline of expecting him to be here in 6-8 months led to a lot of frustration. We wouldn't have waited because of the address change if we'd have known that it is so easy to update that type of information.

Here is the link to the thread for K-1's in July last year:
http://www.visajourn...ly-2011-filers/

Note: There seems to be a tendency to "attack" certain types of visa applications in groups while letting others "marinade" for a while. You'll notice that there'll be lots of K-1's that come through over a couple of weeks then hardly any for a while but lots of other types get pushed through. The system appears to arrange work-flow based on the squeakiest wheels.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-12-04 01:29:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

Leaving

I am so sorry about your situation.

A bit of advice: If it is at all possible to divorce here, do it before leaving (or at least file and get all the paperwork done that is possible). My sister is currently going through a divorce with her husband who ran back to England over 2 years ago. Because he keeps moving and hiding, each time she goes to court, the judge has refused to grant the divorce because she can't prove that he has been served his papers. After 10 years of marriage--regardless of when he moved out of their home, she has spent several thousand in legal fees, lost the house that was 1/2 paid for, and he can claim half her retirement. She is running out of time and he is a number-one scammer. She was not the first wife he played games with. Or the 2nd. Or the 3rd. Or....

End it quickly and cleanly, if at all possible.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-08-24 22:35:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

New Journey Started

2 suggestions for you at this stage:

1.) Look at some RFE threads and read about the interviews for the country that your beloved is filing from. Whatever evidences are asked for, start making sure you are collecting them now. My husband and I sent letters, post cards, and regular letters back and forth. This was one of the examples of evidence that was looked at during the interview in Lima. All the folks who have walked this path befor you are a goldmine for information.

2.) Develop a new time-consuming hobby or get a 2nd job to provide lots of distraction. This waiting really, really sucks. There are people who will brag about getting their stuff done in two weeks and "Tee hee. Do what I did--it works. Tee hee." Don't let that discourage you. For us, we started the process in spring of 2011 and the K-1 visa was received in April of 2012. Ours was a little longer than most but not really outside the norm. EXPECT delays and then you can only be pleasantly impressed if they don't occur.

Your beloved is completely worth the mess of going through this. As someone else on here has stated, you aren't just sending flowers or writing poetry, you are getting involved in government controlled delays and paperwork. If THAT is not a true demonstration of love, nothing is!

EminTX

Female

Peru

2013-01-05 22:25:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

i give up on noa2

We were July filers (after a frustrating delay of 2 months before that) and my now-husband got his appointment letter on Valentine's day last year. Yeah, the wait sucks. Whine about it here but DO NOT whine about it to your beloved--it can make that person feel like s/he not worth waiting for, which is exactly what is being said in the opening post.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2013-01-27 16:03:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

cannot produce photo for RFE, WHAT TO DO?? PLEASE HELP! NEEDED ASAP!

By refiling, you can make sure the evidence is airtight.

You'll have exactly the right kinds of pictures (ones with other people in them always--one with family, one with friends, one in a public place that is immediately identifiable, 6-10 are a good selection)

You'll have receipts for everything--ATM usage, hotel together (if you go), entrance tickets to the theatre/zoo/a train ride/tour/etc.

You will have all your boarding passes (and not lose them or think they aren't important).

You can hopefully avoid the tears and frustration and costs of an RFE.

You can get handwritten affidavits from friends and family IN PERSON and not have to wait.

You can front-load your petition after reading everything on here about the embassy where the interview will take place so that your petition is "custom-designed".

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-06-23 16:36:00

K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

RFE

You very well possibly DID send everything but they just want something more. We followed directions to a "T" but wre requested to send in more stuff--it delayed us by maybe 3 months.

The most frustrating thing was that I had just gotten back from a visit where I could have gotten the requested items firsthand without mailing and juggling and begging delays.

I posted about it here and was advised by a certain very-outspoken individual to pretty much ignore what was requested in the RFE since it really isn't important. WHAT?!?!?! That was very discouraging. None of this was a game to us and we were certainly going to bend over backwards if that was what was asked of it. My now-husband is worth every bit of frustration and worry that we went through to get him here.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2013-02-09 12:39:00

Interview Was Scheduled!!

Well,...? How'd it go? Is she here yet? What surprises did y'all encounter? Do tell, please.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2011-09-27 13:29:00

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Kiki, that list is GREAT!

I have gone through it and broken it into 3 sections for us to "test" each other. That should make for some great conversations and a few laughs!

EminTX

Female

Peru

2011-11-19 22:11:00

Can you expedite if your spouse is in danger?

If in fact this person killed your husbands father he would be under arrest or in jail.

Good Lord! What fantasy world do you live in? CSI? Hawaii 5-0? The Lone Ranger?

To the OP, good luck. If he has family or friends that he can go to stay with, this is a prime time to do it. I don't know how popular couchsurfing is in Brazil, but that might be an option to help him out.

Please keep us updated on the status of this situation.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-01-10 19:13:00

Cousins getting Married

Well, we both want to finish school.

That wasn't the question. There is a difference between WANT and PLAN. I WANT to win the lottery. I PLAN to save money so that we have plenty for retirement. (And we are actively doing just that--not just talking about it.)

Did he actually PLAN to register and pay for classes and be honest? Or did he just "want" to finish school?

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-05-27 09:02:00

Cousins getting Married

Most people have more than one intention in their plans for travel. Did he actually intend to be a student when he was applying for his student visa or was THAT a complete lie?

If he had no intention of being a student whatsoever, well...

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-05-26 19:50:00

police certificates

Who actually requested the police certificates? Have you received an official list (and not something that you "heard about" or "read about") of items to send or hand carry?

This is a photo of the first of the two pages of the list of items to hand carry to the interview with someone on a K-1 visa. I realise your visa is different, but I'd bet there aren't many differences between the two lists. (The other page of this list is one page back--the entire packet is posted there.)

Perú List of K-1 embassy interview documents from Packet

Unless you are told to send something to the NVC, I wouldn't. I would actually expect that this would potentially cause a delay because when they get something, they have to deal with it. Finding the packet to place that new document into probably won't take only 5 minutes. Of course, you can do whatever you want.

At my other half's interview, he was told that the police certificate is unnecessary. Hopefully they will remove that requirement from the list since that was such a PITA to get.

Once you get your packet, please also take photos of it in its entirety and post for others to see. I have gotten so many questions about ours and personal thank-you's from folks who found it helpful.

Edited to add:

1.) Please, when you are asking about your country specifically, please ALWAYS cite the country in the title. It is only 4 more letters and you'll have better odds of getting the info from people who actually have experience there. I usually ignore anything that is not specific because it is generally a waste of time. This thread actually is in the "Perú Portal" or I would have never seen it.

2.) Be very, very cautious about the advice that is country specific from someone with zero experience with your embassy.

Edited by EminTX, 15 July 2012 - 09:55 AM.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-07-15 09:50:00

Tax Filing - filing status?

When you work up your taxes, figure both ways and THEN decide. The difference for me last year would have been 3000U$. THAT is very well worth the effort IMHO.

EminTX

Female

Peru

2012-12-25 10:30:00