Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Just thinking ahead....	I'm planning to get dual citizenship sometime within the next few years after I get my 10-year green card. And yes, I know that to the US government, I will be only a US citizen, but to me and for all other purposes, I will be a dual citizen. What are your reasons for becoming a US/dual citizen? How do you feel about it? I want my dual citizenship to be about more than not having to deal with USCIS any more. The way I look at it, this is the country I live in now, this is the community I contribute to and gain from, and I want to make that commitment more official. As long as I can keep my birth citizenship, that is, which I can. I don't see any conflict in that as I'll be connected with both countries no matter what my citizenship is. But I'm interested in other people's thoughts on this.	vanee	Female	Canada	2011-05-26 21:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	NOA1 DELAY	On April 24 we submitted all the paper work to the California Service Center, and received delivery confirmation from UPS the 27th, but 25 days have gone by since that date and we have not receive the first NOA!!! Any idea what we should do? Anybody had experience a similar situation? Ours was about that long. We called the Nebraska Service Center, and they said that they didn't look into missing packages until 4 weeks from the date they were mailed. I sent my fiance a new copy of the G325-A so that he'd have another original ready to mail if he had to resend the package -- and then the NOA1 came. Hang in there. I know how you feel.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-05-22 02:48:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	USCIS website is not updating my case!	*QUESTION: Has anyone else had the experience of the USCIS website not updating their case staus properly? If so, were you able to fix it somehow? That's been the norm for the past few weeks. It's been discussed in a number of threads. I think I read about one person's case status being updated online. Ours was approved several weeks ago and should be at the local consulate by now. We never received any emails (except for one from the NVC in response to my inquiry), and the website still says that our case is pending. Details are in my sig. If it's been a couple of weeks since the last touch or RFE, you could try calling the NVC.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-06-05 15:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	NO web-update, email, smail but NOA2 approved	Congratulations. The same thing happened to us, so I know how it feels. The next step is for the embassy to send Packet 3 to the non-USC. You can look at what's needed for it in your country and start working on it now.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-06-05 18:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Attention Feb filers still waiting for NOA2	Yup, familiar story. It appears to be the exception rather than the rule now if a case status is updated at the website. I found out ours had been approved by calling NVC 2 weeks after it was approved. Details are in my sig. You might still get an NOA2 in the mail. Ours came 2 days ago, and our I-129F was approved at about the same time that yours was. Congratulations, BTW. May the rest of your visa journey go smoothly.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-06-04 13:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	I got my hopes up for nothing	It can feel like forever. I felt the way you did when I was waiting for the I-129F to be approved. But it did get approved, and then the K-1 visa got approved. It'll happen, but it takes time. Hang in there.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-09-15 15:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	February Filers CSC, NSC, TSC	Lets hope everything else starts speeding up! Probably a lot of people have been approved who just don't know it because the USCIS site isn't showing it. You can add me to the list of those who are approved. Our file was touched on May 10 and 11, but the site wasn't updated, and I found out today by calling the NVC that our I-129F was approved on May 10, arrived at the NVC on May 23, and was sent to the consulate today. I wish the same happiness ASAP for everyone else who is waiting. Waiting is hard, but the petitions do eventually get approved.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-05-25 18:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	February Filers!	How many days after the check clears in your account do you usually get the NOA1? And does it mean anything if the NOA1 takes longer for one person than another? I can't read the number on the back of my check and I am just getting worried since I haven't heard anything. I hope I didn't mess anything up. As others have said, "usually" doesn't always apply. Our NOA1 is dated 22 days after we sent our I-129F in and 17 days after the package was delivered according to the post office receipt. The check was cashed several days after that, and the NOA1 arrived in the mail more days later. My fiance couldn't read the number on the check either, so he called up the CSC, and they gave it to him.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-03-08 15:04:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	February Filers!	We mailed ours to Nebraska on Feb. 1 and got a receipt showing it was delivered on Feb. 5, but that's it. No NOA, and the cheque hasn't been cashed. I guess we can just wait.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-16 21:13:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	February Filers!	I'm looking to file by next week, so I'll be a February filer as well! Welcome to the club. Anyone have advice? Don't finalize your wedding plans until your visa is approved. It could take longer than you expect. That's my observation from reading posts here and seeing what at least one member went through when she'd paid a lot of nonrefundable money for her wedding and the I-129F process got delayed. Also, study the guides and read posts here so that you'll know what to include in the application. But you're probably already doing that.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-08 02:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	February Filers!	We sent ours on Feb. 1. Man that felt good. Who else is sending their I-129F to Nebraska this month?	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-04 23:35:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	last updated?	Moved from Introducing Our Members. The "last updated" date could mean that your application was approved, or it could mean that it was moved to another desk or something like that. You'll know more when new information is added online and not just a new date.	vanee	Female	Canada	2009-05-25 17:56:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	More 129F questions	I've looked through the guides and example forms and have found the answers to several of my questions. Here are some more questions I have: - My home address and mailing address are different. Do we put my home address on p. 1 of 129-F and my mailing address on p. 2, the other way around, or...?? - What type of birth certificate does my fiance (the USC) need to include? A regular (short) form, the long form, or a certified birth certificate? - For #18 ("Describe the circumstances under which you met"), I've written a timeline showing how we became friends online after getting to know each other through our work, when that friendship became more than a friendship, and our two meetings in person (the second time for two months). I think it's relevant because our first meeting in person was related to our work. But is a whole page too much information? Or are more details good? - Are letters from people who know us and saw us together in person helpful? We could ask someone we work with to write about us on business letterhead. Also a friend we had lunch with and my fiance's adult son (no letterhead paper for them). They all saw how connected the two of us feel. But I don't want to give the government more than they want. We have evidence of being together in person twice this past year. Unfortunately, I didn't realize at the time that boarding passes were the evidence to keep, and I have boarding passes for only one way for each trip. But with receipts and other documentation, I can still prove that we were at the same place at the same time on 2 occasions. I'm trying to figure out how much more to include. Thanks for your help! [edit] I forgot this question (and maybe some others). I'm self-employed. I work at a computer and can continue doing my work just as easily in the US as in Canada. Should I mention in my 129-F cover letter that I'm self-employed? It might help show that work is not my motivation for applying. But again, I don't know how much more information to give them than exactly what they ask for. Thanks again! Edited by vanee, 26 November 2006 - 01:42 AM.	vanee	Female	Canada	2006-11-26 01:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	The hard part...	I realize I'm lucky to have had so much time with him so far, but it still doesn't make it not suck. I guess I just wanted to share. If anyone has any advice or helpful info on how they got through it, it would be greatly appreciated. We all understand what it's like. As for how to get through it, I recommend Skype and YIM (or whatever chat program you prefer). They're free ways to stay in contact with your SO.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-01-07 17:19:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Entering With a K1	I think in your case it would be easier, you can just delay sending the documents back to the embassy The reason why I wanted to actually have the visa itself BEFORE going is that it might be harder to convince them that I'm going back after waddling up to them 5-6 months pregnant lol... Yeah, I see that your problem is...bigger. Maybe you should ask your local consulate if they'd (hypothetically at this point) be able to issue you a visa and a letter of delay or something like that. And try to get the answer in writing now to help you plan your next steps. Dunno if it can be done, but you can always ask. Good luck! Edited by vanee, 30 January 2007 - 03:27 AM.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-01-30 03:23:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Entering With a K1	Yes, totally understand that...Problem is that I have 10 weeks leave, my fiance has 2....I'm pregnant so want to work right up until about 4 weeks before the baby's due and then come over and marry him and remain in the US. We are filing through Vermont, form's going to be sent of tomorrow. So the timeline sees a May approval of the K1. Once the I-129 is approved, can you choose an interview date a few months down the road to fit into your timing? I'm interested in this topic because I might be in a similar situation. (No, I'm not pregnant. ) We'll be able to mail our I-129F within a few days (filing through Nebraska), and that means the interview might be in July or thereabouts. But I have to go to the US in July to attend a conference, and I'll need a month or so after the interview to get packed and ready to leave here. Based on what's in this thread, I'm thinking that if my interview isn't in June or earlier, I should postpone it to August. This would be a good time to find out how long we have after approval of the I-129F to have that interview.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-01-30 03:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Entering With a K1	I don't have experience doing this, but couldn't you simply enter the US without bringing your K-1 visa, and bring it later, when you're entering the US to become a permanent resident?	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-01-30 02:23:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F Mailed today	Woo hoo! We mailed ours yesterday, so I know how you feel. But it took us longer to get all the paperwork together because we had to wait for some of it to arrive. We also owe a lot to this group for helping us know what to send. It's a wonderful feeling to have that sent off.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-03 02:37:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F	Congratulations! You're now eligible to join the February filers club. And while you're waiting, you might want to look at what's in Packet 3 for your embassy so that you can get started on it now if you want.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-11 01:21:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Medical exam	According to the Embassy Info page for your location, it's $75 USD. The price varies by embassy or by doctor.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-11 12:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Latvian police certificate	I don't have experience with Latvian police certificates, but she might want to ask the Latvian embassy in the UK. I lived in another country for a year many years ago, and it looks like I'll be able to get a police certificate for that country from the embassy for that country in my country.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-12 02:40:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I129F - letter describing personal meeting/relationship	Some people write only a couple of sentences, while others write a page. Ours was a page in timeline format. We used it in part to help bring together all the items we used as evidence of having met. Short or long probably depends on how many times you've met. If can describe your meeting (when and where) and the development of your relationship (when the relationship began, when you got engaged) in a sentence or two, maybe that's all you need. Whatever the length, stick to the facts. They don't need all the mushy stuff.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-13 13:51:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F questions	Hello, I have a few questions about the I-129F, that I hope you can help me with. I'll take a stab at them. I am gathering the necessary items to include in my I-129F forms, and I have found many websites that state that a copy of the foreign fiance's passport and airplane ticket stubs should be included. How necessary are these two items? I don't see a passport on the list, but I included a photocopy of the inside of mine. There was a thread about that recently, but I can't find it now. Airline ticket stubs aren't a specific requirement. What you do need is evidence of having met in the past 2 years. Airline ticket stubs can be used along with the plane ticket or itinerary for part of the evidence. From reading a lot of posts here, my impression is that they want a lot of evidence for each trip, not just one or two pieces. Other examples of evidence you can use: - Hotel receipts - Car rental receipts - ATM withdrawal slips - Store purchase receipts (if your name or credit card number is on them) There are longer lists somewhere. Keep in mind that you need to prove that both of you were at the same place at the same time. If one of you was visiting the other person in his/her hometown, the person whose home it was needs to prove that s/he was in that city at the same time that the other person was. Which other things should I include as proof of the relationship/that we have met? Do you think a "history" of my skype calls would work? (we use skype mainly to communicate) That can help show your relationship, but it doesn't show evidence of having met in person. My other question is about the G-325A forms. Many of the fields were not large enough (I filled them out on the computer) and for the Country on some fields (I put "United States of America") would not fit, and there is a tiny "+" sign at the end... Also, when I enter "N/A" for the "year" fields, "0000" shows up instead. The computer does this automatically. Will this be a problem when I submit my forms? They appear on my fiance's forms also, and it will be difficult to have new forms completed and signed by her. That didn't happen for me. My suggestions: (a) type in "US" or "USA" for the country, and ( b ) handwrite "N/A" where necessary. They're picky about having "N/A" where you need it. Good luck! Edited by vanee, 13 February 2007 - 03:00 AM.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-13 02:59:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Fiancee - technically when from USCIS perspective?	From USCIS perspective, when are you considered a fiancee (or fiance)? I don't know, but I've been wondering the same thing. If you aren't officially engaged (no proposal, no ring) but are planning to get married and will get officially engaged later, are you engaged from the USCIS perspective if you've sent in your I-129F? Does it make a difference to US customs officials at this stage if you refer to your SO as your boyfriend or your fiance at the POE on a trip to visit your SO?	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-14 19:24:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F mailed, but no NOA1	Thanks for the responses. We sent it by regular mail with a delivery receipt requested through the PO. It was delivered on Feb. 6 (or maybe Feb 5; I don't remember), but no signature was required. The cheque ("check" to the Americans) has not been cashed. In the February filers thread, people who mailed their I-129F after us have received NOA1s and/or had their cheques cashed. I've sent a new G-325A and a new Letter of Intent to my fiance so that he can send originals if he has to resend the package. I wish I'd thought of sending him 2 originals of each before, but it's too late for that now. I sent him 2 originals this time. If neither the cheque has been cashed nor the NOA1 received by the time my latest originals reach him (sometime next week), we'll probably resend the package, this time with a signature required for delivery.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-22 00:47:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F mailed, but no NOA1	We mailed our I-129F to Nebraska on Feb. 1, and according to the post office, it was delivered on Feb. 6. But we haven't received an NOA1, and the cheque hasn't been cashed either. Other people who filed on the same day or after us received their NOA1 well before now. How long do we wait before trying to find out what happened? And how do we look into this? Without the NOA1, we don't have a file number to ask about. Also, the contact information at the USCIS site says that they can't provide information about the status of cases. Thanks for your help.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-21 02:37:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Marriage Agreements	Those alarm bells were pretty loud. It's possible that her concerns are about being stuck in a foreign country without enough money if the marriage fails. You could offer to put in a pre-nup that if the marriage fails, you'll pay the expenses for her and her son to return to Russia and maybe a bit more. If she doesn't go for that, then perhaps being with you isn't what it's about for her. When the question has come up in other threads, just about all the non-USCs have said that if it weren't for their USC fiance or spouse, they'd stay in or go back to their own country.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-02-25 16:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Score one for the good guys	Congratulations! I know how you must be feeling.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-03-01 04:22:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Isreal Police Clearance	Does anyone have any experience with getting a police clearance from Isreal? My fiance lived there for about a year, and now lives in Argentina, so he cannot go to a police station to get his clearance, it will have to be mailed. Will they only mail the certificate to the US Embassy, or will they mail it to him? Is it easy to get the clearance, how long does it take? I recently posted about getting police clearance from Israel in the Canada forum. The exact steps may vary depending on the country, but the starting point would to for your fiance to contact the Israel embassy in Argentina. The US embassy in Canada I contacted told me that police certificates from Israel must go directly to the US embassy.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-03-16 18:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	An interesting "why" question...	I TOTALLY understand the anger everyone is going through who files from Texas, California and Nebraska but PLEASE don't hate us, don't envy us and definitely don't jinx us. We're all going through the same headache visa process and it's not easy to be far away from your loved one. Everyone's turn will come. Right, and we don't hate you. But it was very frustrating when people in the February filers thread who mailed their I-129f after some of us did were talking about not having received their NOA2 yet when we hadn't even received our NOA1. IMO it would help if we had separate "[month] filers" threads for Vermont filers. That way, we could all compare our progress with people who are in the same boat.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-03-18 18:59:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Did they lose our petition package??	I looked through other people's timeline on this site, and it seems to me that our case is not moving as fast. Take a look at my timeline in my sig. Except for the delivery receipt, we didn't see any action for 26 days. My fiance called Nebraska in the 4th week, and they said that they won't investigate to see what happened to a package until it's been 4 weeks until it was mailed. The cheque got cashed shortly before those 4 weeks were up. Hang in there. Sometimes it's slow, but if you have a delivery receipt, your package is probably somewhere in the system.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-03-09 03:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	When to "activate" fiance visa...	See, the reason why I ask these questions about entering the USA as a "visitor" before using my fiance visa is that I'm planning on moving to the USA to be with my fiance in September but I am scheduled to lead a childrens choir in July (in the USA) at a camp I'm attending, and I want to know if this is going to be possilbe. I'm only going to be in the USA for 1-2 weeks in July and then coming back to Canada until September. Our situations are similar except that my fiance and I filed our I-129F in February and think we'll be lucky if we're approved by September. We had to file through Nebraska, though, which takes longer than Vermont. But the similarities are that I'm also in Canada and am planning to be in the US for a couple of weeks in July for an event, most likely before our K-1 visa is approved. I'm in the US for a couple of months now, and I had a difficult time crossing the border. I wrote about it in this post. Short version: bring a copy of all your application papers with you, including the NOA1, and bring proof of ties to Canada, including a return ticket. There are no guarantees, but I was told that I should be able to return to the US for a couple of weeks in July with the K-1 pending if I brought the above.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-04-26 16:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Calling USCIS as the beneficiary?	Did NVC know what date you were approved?? Yes, they did. At first she just told me that it had been received on the 23rd and sent out on the 25th, but when I asked her, she gave me the date of approval and the file number.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-05-27 02:31:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Calling USCIS as the beneficiary?	Is there a way to check directly with the NVC? Answering my own question...yes, there is, I called them, and I found out that we've been approved! Like some others here, our file was touched 2 days in a row, and the first touch was the day that it was approved. The NVC wouldn't have that information until they received the file, but they received it 2 days ago and sent it to the foreign consulate today. The person I talked with didn't have a problem giving me, the beneficiary, the information after I gave her our names and DOBs.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-05-25 18:22:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Calling USCIS as the beneficiary?	Many February k-1 filers started seeing repeated touches but no updates. The worry is very real in thinking that an RFE was issued. This "slowdown" in case status updates online is coupled w/ many people just not receiving paper NOA's...there is some sort of backlog going on at CSC or their online notification system has a bug. Calling the 1-800 # and stating that you fear you got an RFE, you don't know what's going on, in not lying in this case. That is what some of us have done, only to find out that we were approved....but no notification send at all, e-mail or snail-mail. We're in that boat too. I tried calling yesterday, but the 800 number didn't work from Canada. My fiance also tried but couldn't get through. I agree that asking if you got an RFE is not lying. It's a real possibility. By the time some of us received snail mail NOA2, their petition had already cleared NVC and was on the way to the consulate. Is there a way to check directly with the NVC?	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-05-24 10:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Question about getting documents notarized	Our I-129F has been approved, and we didn't get anything notarized for it. (No translations were needed.)	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-05-30 15:27:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	tax returns	Self employed people are required to submit the three most recent tax returns. Are you talking about K-1 or AOS? For K-1, the requirements I see are on the I-134, and it just says this: C. If self-employed: 1. Copy of last income tax return filed; or 2. Report of commercial rating concern. Thanks for your help.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-06-16 15:48:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Pre K-1 Visa filing / trip to U.S. for visit	Here's my dilema, my new place is under construction and it won't be ready till late July ish. When should I start filing for the K-1 Visa? I already have my new address but haven't moved in yet obviously but want to make sure I get my mail hehe. I'll respond just about this part. My suggestion is to file for your K-1 now. Unless you can file through Vermont, you'll have a long wait, so why wait now and after you file? Once you get it in the system, you'll be glad you did. As for your address, you can get a PO box or use a relative's address or just have your mail forwarded once you move.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-06-17 18:43:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	visit USA before approval?	See also the Yes, you can visit! thread. Good luck!	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-07-04 13:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	question about interview	It appears to depend on the consulate. The US Embassy and Consulate Info section of this site has a field for each consulate to answer this question. The Panama page doesn't display an answer, but you may have answered it in your post.	vanee	Female	Canada	2007-08-02 20:41:00