Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Petitioner Photograph	Actually, his from the I-129F won't go on the visa either His visa picture will be the one he brings to the interview. At least, that's how Vancouver did it.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-02-28 20:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Petitioner Photograph	It's interesting that the passport photos you send are really only used in two places: the K-1 visa, and the AP document. They use biometrics photos whenever they have them available, in preference. I think the passport photos are used, in addition to those two things, primarily as a security measure. By having everything in your immigration file associated with pictures of you taken at the time of filing, it becomes much more difficult for someone to steal your identity. They can fill out forms in your name and with your info, but it's much more difficult for them to look like enough like you-plus-several-months/years to be confused for you-from-previous-photos.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-02-28 20:24:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Starting K1 process soon, have some questions	Best advice I can give you is to follow the K-1 process flowchart, and only worry about one step at a time, taking things as they come. Right now your project is to get an I-129F packet together and sent off. Don't worry about Montreal and Packet 3 right now. There will be lots of time for that. The process is long but very linear. Just keep your eyes on your current step. The biggest decision to make at this stage is whether or not to "front load" your I-129F petition: whether or not to include significant documentation of your entire relationship to this point with your I-129F petition. Doing so makes preparing the initial petition more work, but can simplify things with the Montreal consulate later on. Or it may make no difference at all. Search on "frontloading" on this site to find discussions about it, and read the arguments and discussions on each side carefully. The rest is just following the example forms on this website and filling out your own forms. Read the instructions very carefully, quintuple check everything, and you'll be fine.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-01-15 22:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	how to fill g-325a if i have 2 jobs	I have worked as a substitute teacher, where I had simultaneous contracts with five different school districts at the same time. That means I had five jobs with identical start and end dates. On my G-325A I just listed the five of them, in no particular order, below the job I held after that period and above the jobs I held before that period.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-02 22:37:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-29f q b-12 and part c	On rereading the I-129F form, I see that section C refers exclusively to abuse crimes or other crimes of moral turpitude. He may have a fight on his hands getting the petition approved with stuff like that on his record. A waiver will almost certainly be necessary, and you should start digging around in the waivers section of this forum to find out what might be involved there. You can COUNT on being asked about his record in significant detail when your petition is eventually approved and sent to the consulate, but you may have a fair bit of extra work to do first getting it through USCIS.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 14:03:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-29f q b-12 and part c	I can answer your first and third questions. The second is outside my direct experience. Your answer to whether or not you are currently in the USA, and indeed every single piece of information you give them, must be correct for the period up to and including the specific day you date the form. It doesn't matter if you will be arriving in the US two days later. What matters is that the information in and associated with the form represents a true snapshot of reality at the moment the form is signed and dated. As for the third question, there is a period of 40-90 days immediately after filing AOS where leaving the US will badly screw up your life. After you file AOS you must not leave until you have either an Advance Parole document (applied for with a Form I-131 as part of your AOS application) or a green card in your hand. Mine took 46 days to process from when I filed my AOS. It can take a little longer sometimes, but not usually much shorter than that. You are, of course, totally free to leave the US during this period, but without one of those two documents, it is highly unlikely (and at that, utterly dependent on the staggeringly improbable mercy and grace of the individual CBP officer you are dealing with upon attempted reentry) that you will be allowed back into the US without waiting months and spending hundreds of dollars to get a spousal visa. In effect, you would be forced to restart the immigration process from scratch. Others will be able to answer your second question more authoritatively than I, but generally speaking, it depends a lot on the specific charge. Some charges, particularly if they're of a spousal or child abuse in nature, can make it very difficult for that USC to get a petition approved. Getting past these involves waivers and it's a big pain in the tuckus. Others, mostly misdemeanors or minor felonies that lack moral turpitude (a technical legal term roughly equivalent to "conscious evil intent") are not as much an obstacle. The main thing will be that the consulate you interview at will almost certainly ask about your knowledge of them, primarily for your own protection. So make sure you have received a full briefing on them from your honey. Edited by HeatDeath, 04 March 2010 - 01:55 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 13:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	then I guess I will just leave it as Calgary because my printer is refusing to work now :[ I don't want to redo it :[ Just cross it out with a neat line and print in "Vancouver" neatly in black ink. They have no problem with that as long as it's neat and readable.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 20:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	then I guess I will just leave it as Calgary because my printer is refusing to work now :[ I don't want to redo it :[ Thanks HeathDeath I'll make sure to go with him to Vancouver. I'm hoping I can go inside with him. Does he need to know what size clothing I wear? LOL Oh by the way, Do you think they will do his medical exam and the interview around the same day or would he have to fly twice to Vancouver? In other words, do they schedule the interview and health exam on different days? It might be very expensive flying back and forth that way, and paying for hotel and all I would probably redo the form. Attention to detail is the byword here. It's good practice, and there's a lot more bureaucracy to come. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if you'll be allowed inside with him or not. I think I remember couples in the waiting room, but I can't remember what kind of visa they were applying for. Once the I-129F is approved, and your fiance receives his visa Application packet (also called a Packet 3) from the consulate, he'll be able to email them at vancouverk@state.gov to find out. The way they usually arrange medicals and interviews is thusly: First the consulate will issue you an interview date. You are allowed to request a range of dates. Make sure to request a Wednesday or Thursday, preferably a Thursday. Once you have an interview date that is a Wednesday or a Thursday, you email the medical clinic (wokingmedical@telus.net) and tell them when your interview is. They only do immigration medicals on Wednesdays, at 6:30 AM. You want to arrive early, around 5:50-6:00 .There is a hotel called the Burrard Inn right next door. Very convenient . Anyways, they will slot you into the Wednesday as close as possible before your interview. Thus the ideal interview date is on Thursday, so you can do both over a single two day period. I wasn't able to get an interview on Thursday. Mine was on Wednesday in the early afternoon. So I went to my medical first thing in the morning, then I went to my interview in the afternoon, then I went back to the medical clinic, picked up my results (which are available after 2 pm on the day of your exam) and schlepped them back to the consulate for final approval. You want to hustle a little for this part - the consulate closes at 4. I was able to pick up my passport with the visa after 2:15 pm the next day, but they will also mail it to you (in an expresspost envelope you provide) if necessary.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 20:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	A Canadian citizen living in Edmonton applying for a K-1 visa will do both their medical examination and their interview at the US Consulate in Vancouver. You should mark Vancouver as the US consulate on the I-129F, but it doesn't matter too much. I've read of people here putting the wrong consulate on the form, but don't worry, somewhere between USCIS and the NVC, they figure out where it is supposed to go. There is a US consulate in Calgary, but they do not process family-based visas. Edited by HeatDeath, 04 March 2010 - 08:03 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 19:59:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	This may seem like a silly question, because I dumbly assumed things could be done in Toronto, but does that mean I will have to go to Vancouver or Montreal for the interview? Montreal. Yes. Whichever visa you end up going with. At least you can do your medical locally (They only have 4 doctors who can do US immigration medicals in all of Canada, 2 in Montreal, one in Vancouver, and 1 in Toronto. So lucky you ).	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 15:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	Misdemeanor? Probably not. Download and read the I-129F form from the USCIS website. http://www.uscis.gov...0004718190aRCRD Section C has a question about any criminal history of the USC petitioner. If he can honestly answer "No" to that question, then it shouldn't be a problem. Edited by HeatDeath, 04 March 2010 - 02:55 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 14:53:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	Oh, and one more thing, does anyone suggest I use an immigration lawyer? Is their help worth the expense? And if I do use one should i get one in the US or in Canada? If you use a lawyer at all, it should be an American lawyer who is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Because US immigration law is federal, it is the same everywhere in the US, and you can use a lawyer anywhere in the country. Hire one for their quality, not just because they happen to be local. But a lawyer is probably completely unnecessary. Unless one of you has a criminal record or other legal complication, doing this process is just a matter of filling out forms properly. Normal cases do not normally need a lawyer. If you get a denial or some other legal setback later in the process it might be a good idea, but the vast majority of people do not need a lawyer for this process. if you have successfully completed any kind of post secondary education, you can do this It's well within the grasp of most reasonably intelligent high school graduates too	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 14:27:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need advice on which visa method will be better.......	K1 gets you here a little quicker, is significantly less complicated, is noticeably more expensive, and you won't be able to work until 1.5 to 3 months after you file for Adjustment of Status (which is after the wedding). CR-1 is somewhat longer (1-2 months extra processing, plus a few month delay because Montreal (where they do the CR-1 interviews) is noticeably backlogged compared to Vancouver (where they do the K-1 interviews), though they are getting better.). The processing is noticeably more complicated, involving multiple interactions with the National Visa Center (about which I know almost nothing, read the guide for it - I did a K-1 personally). The whole process is somewhat cheaper than a K-1, primarily because you don't have to pay $1010 to file for AOS after you're married, and you get your Permanent Resident status the moment you step over the border so there is no delay during which you cannot work or return to Canada, as there is on a K-1. On a CR-1, you can do both right away. A big advantage, for some people, of the K-1, is that there is no period of separation after the wedding. Many people with CR-1s do a small legal ceremony to get the ball rolling and a later, "proper" wedding with family etc later. They then have to figure out "Which one was our 'real' wedding? Which anniversary will we celebrate?", etc. With a K-1 there is only one wedding, and no separation after it, though it might be slightly more difficult to plan, because of the uncertainty in time as to precisely when the visa will be approved.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-04 14:23:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I-129F	copied from form: Has your fiancé(e) met and seen you within the two-year period immediately receding the filing of this petition? --Describe the circumstances under which you met. If you have not personally met each other, explain how the relationship was established. -- #######, wont let me ... ok, basicaly all its says, is ... suppliment form attached ( says more, I just feel like typing So my question is, do we have to state how we met (online) all the times we have seen each other personaly (which is now 5 different times over 2 years ). With nothing specific in the example answer and the question being kinda vague, what specific response are they looking for here ? Thank you !!! One of the guiding philosophies behind USCIS forms is economy of information. They have a specific check-list of legal conditions a person must meet - in this case - to meet the basic qualifications for a fiance visa. There are two main requirements for a fiance visa: A ) that both of you be legally free to marry, and B ) that you must have met (i.e. been in the same room at the same time [and ideally have interacted with each other, though that may not technically be legally necessary ] sometime in the last two years. In addition to your personal and contact information, they usually include as few questions on the forms as necessary to determine that you have met these conditions. The question you are wondering about is their way of finding out if you meet condition B. This question is frequently completely over stressed and overanalyzed by first time filers. The only thing they are interested in with your answer is that it shows that you have met condition B - that you have been in the same room at the same time as your fiancee sometime in the last two years. Primarily, they are interested in knowing the date when you were in the same room as your fiancee, a description of the room, and perhaps a brief description of how you two got to that room that day It is unnecessary to describe in more than the slightest detail what you two were doing in the room, and it is completely unnecessary to describe the complete history of your relationship up until when you two entered the room, nor is it necessary to describe how many times you two had been in a room at the same time before Because of the unfortunate and ambiguous wording of the question - "Describe how you 'met'" - many people write a half-page or more detailing the entire early history of their relationship. But this question can be answered to their complete satisfaction with only 2-3 sentences, detailing the points I listed above: date of the meeting, description of the room in question, and [perhaps] a brief description of how you two got to that particular room that day	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-05 13:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Age Difference Red Flags?	The risk categories are low, medium, high and Lagos.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-03 02:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Age Difference Red Flags?	Just curious, which are high fraud countries? Wondering if there is a list. I don't think there's an official list, but it probably encompasses, with relatively few exceptions, the entire world outside of North America and Western Europe. Anywhere that has a GDP that is a small percentage of the US's, or a general standard of living that is substantially below first-world standards is more likely to see significant amounts of visa fraud. This puts the local US consulates on their guard, making them very suspicious and difficult to deal with. Even within this (admittedly broad) group, some US consulates are much more suspicious and guarded than others. Guayaquil, Ecuador is really really bad, I've heard. Nigeria sees a lot of visa fraud too. The Philippines sees a huge amount of visa traffic in general, but I don't know if they see significantly more fraud than you'd expect from their traffic levels. I am assuming this is a typo or else a grave lack of information. It is extremely common in SE Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, etc... for a younger woman to select or prefer an older man. The age difference in couples is VERY USUAL. This is because the woman prefers a man that is responsible, able to care for her (yes, money), and is more settled in their ways (means less likely to go out and find other women). It is extremely common for a Thai lady to prefer a man much older. I am not saying it is right. I am saying it is USUAL. I may have been unclear. I was speaking specifically of pairings where the woman is significantly older than the man, which I suspect is still quite unusual and nontraditional for the regions I mentioned. I apologize for any confusion.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-02 22:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Age Difference Red Flags?	When a consulate is attempting to decide if a relationship is bona-fide, they very often apply the cultural standards of the beneficiary's country. So for a lot of countries and regions: MENA, SE Asia, India, where age differences in couples are very unusual, and most people are very traditional, it could be a problem. It doesn't help matters that a lot of these very traditional countries are also considered "high fraud" by the US consulates. An age difference (particularly where the woman is older) is a particularly large red flag to them, in a situation where they're already very picky and, it seems, are just looking for excuses to deny. Canada is generally going to be much more mellow about this sort of thing, as they are with most things. Especially since you're younger than your husband-to-be. As Rhiannercakes said, it may get mentioned, but it is supremely unlikely to be an issue.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-02-26 15:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Did New Visa Fee's take effect yet?	$350.00 will be due at the interview? If I remember right it's $455 to send with I-129F.. anybody have a general estimate of the entire cost of the whole visa process? I know there's AOS and all that after while, but just a general figure and over what period of time? It's difficult to estimate. Many of the costs will vary wildly from country to country and from US city to US city, and from case to case. Here are the fixed, universal costs: $455 for the I-129F application. $131 for the consulate interview. (May be increasing to maybe $350. No one knows when or by just how much yet,) $1010 for AOS. $600-$700ish for RoC, and $700-$800ish for naturalization. None of which includes postage, costs of photocopying documents, travel and lodging to get to your interview. You need to add another couple of hundred for your medical. Another $30-$100 to get your vaccinations transcribed to an I-693 after you arrive but before AOS. Then there's the costs for moving, and the implicit cost of not working for several months after you arrive in the US until your EAD shows up. Throw in some more for importing and registering your car, if applicable, and getting a driver's license. Then there's time off work for the later interviews and the oath ceremony, more photocopying, etc. All of the latter of which, as I said, will vary wildly from circumstance to circumstance, but end up being quite significant. Trying to calculate a total cost for the whole process is like trying to measure the length of the coastline of Great Britain. The higher detail you try to measure at, the larger it gets, until you are trying to include every nook, cranny and tidal pool, and you get a figure a thousand miles longer than you would reasonably have expected. When you try to budget everything, you get a figure of ten thousand dollars, easy. Figure $5000 to $10000, all told, easily, by the time all is said and done. Fortunately the first big chunk (I-129F to AOS + moving expenses) is spread out over a period of about a year, and the rest is spread out over the next 3-5 years.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-06 22:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Did New Visa Fee's take effect yet?	In Canada, they make you pay for the interview well in advance. They give you a form (or a url to download it from anyways) in your Packet 3, and tell you to take 3 copies of the form to any branch of a particular bank (Scotiabank, as it happens). You give the bank the forms and $131. The bank keeps one copy of the form, stamps the two others, and gives them back to you. You have to bring the forms to your interview as proof that you paid, and the consulate will refuse to interview you, let alone approve you, if you don't have them. Because the interview fee and the process for paying it is embedded in the Packet 3, I don't think the fee increase, when it occurs, will be a surprise sprung on anyone whose application is in process. You won't show up at the interview and suddenly they want another $220, or any such nonsense. What will happen is that the threshold date will pass, the fee increase will take effect, and any petitions received from NVC after that will get a revised Packet 3 with the higher price listed. As I said, I don't think it will be sprung on anyone with an in-process visa application at the consulate. Edited by HeatDeath, 06 March 2010 - 10:21 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-06 22:19:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	birth certificate of USC necessary??	Per the instructions (see above), the passport will work, but you have to photocopy ALL pages, including the blank ones.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-07 22:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	birth certificate of USC necessary??	Hi all! I'm currently finishing my form I-129F. There's a question there on how I acquired my citizenship and my answer is birth in the U.S. Do I need to indicate my birth certificate number? Or is that required only for naturalization certificate? I plan to submit a copy of all the pages of my passport because it takes a long time to get a copy of my birth certificate and they won't give me the birth certificate number through phone. Thanks! From the I-129F Instructions, available here: http://www.uscis.gov...i-129finstr.pdf and linked to from here: http://www.uscis.gov...0004718190aRCRD 3. What Documents Do You Need to Show That You Are a U.S. Citizen? A. If you were born in the United States, give USCIS a copy, front and back, of your birth certificate. B. If you were naturalized, give USCIS a copy, front and back, of your original Certificate of Naturalization. C. If you were born outside the United States and you are a U.S. citizen through your parents, give USCIS: 1. Your original Certificate of Citizenship, or 2. Your Form FS-240 (Report of Birth Abroad of a United States Citizen). D. In place of any of the above, you may give USCIS a copy of your valid, unexpired U.S. passport issued with a validity period of at least five years. You must submit copies of all pages in the passport. When you read the instructions, it seems pretty straightforward to me. My fiancee provided the photocopy of her birth certificate. Edited by HeatDeath, 07 March 2010 - 10:49 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-07 22:48:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K-1 Visa and working before Adjustment of Status	Thanks for the reply. Ok so I can get an EAD perhaps before the green card interview, but still need to submit affidavit of support with AOS to get the EAD, and do it before the 90 days is up on the fiancee visa. SO really there is no way to do it this way? Right. The I-864 form(s) has(have) to go in with your AOS petition, as soon as possible after you get married, and ideally before the 90 days on the fiancee visa I-94 are up. You will get an EAD 30-60 days after that. You cannot work in the meantime. The general upshot is that your sponsor(s) have to qualify all by themselves. While there are circumstances (alluded to on the I-864) where the intending immigrant's income can be used to help qualify, those circumstances virtually never apply to fiance or spousal visa immigrants.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-08 14:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K-1 Visa and working before Adjustment of Status	After you marry, you will file for Adjustment of Status to Permanent Residence. This means you will mail USCIS a big stack of forms and documents, and sometime between 2 and 6 months later, you will either have a green card interview, or they will just mail you the green card without an interview. (There's an extra step or two in the meantime, but that's not really relevant to your question. ) Part of that stack of forms you will send them will be an I-765: Application for Employment Authorization Document. Sometime between 1 and 3 months after you file, assuming you included this form and it's associated documentation, you will receive an Employment Authorization Document card in the mail. This card is your work permit, and as the book correctly points out, normally shows up several months prior to the interview or green card. It still, however, takes 1.5 to 3 months to show up after the AOS filing. You CANNOT work until you have this Employment Authorization Document card in your hand! As to your second question, sponsors and joint sponsors are liable for any means-tested public benefits you apply for and receive from the US government. The government can sue them to recover any welfare or similar payments made to you. Also, you can theoretically sue them if they do not provide you with support to keep you from becoming a public charge. Your sponsor or joint sponsor is liable until you become a US citizen, accumulate 40 quarters of work (by Social Security standards. I'm fuzzy on just how that works), die, or they die. Your sponsors are also obligated to promptly notify USCIS of any change of address, until any of the above conditions occur. Many people become US citizens as soon as legally possible, in part to relieve their sponsors of their obligations. Edited by HeatDeath, 08 March 2010 - 01:49 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-08 13:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	G-325A living in a different country	It's best to assume that "ever" means "ever"	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-08 14:33:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	k1 visa with problem	Even if he had a 10 year bar as a result of his overstay, it looks like he has served it, so there should be no further consequences from that. As I recall, the I-129F packet itself does not ask about the beneficiary's previous visits to the US, but when he goes to apply for the visa himself at his local consulate, once the petition you are preparing is approved, he will have to list all visits to the US. It is VITALLY important that he be completely honest and forthcoming about the overstay at that time. But I don't think it will be a problem, since it was so long ago and he has long since served out any bar that he might have incurred. As for your packet, read the guides and the I-129F instructions very carefully. It certainly sounds like you have most of what you need, but it's always good to triple check the authoritative documentation. Edited by HeatDeath, 08 March 2010 - 02:00 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-08 13:58:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Filing I-129F - which Canadian consulate to put down?	Thanks very much for your reply. Are you sure? I'm just paranoid about what might happen if it turns out Vancouver won't process the visa - if it could cause any big delays, or my worst nightmare is that she goes to Vancouver for her interview then during the interview they realize she isn't a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and they reject her. If you're still worried, wait until you get your petition approval notice and letter from NVC indicating that the case has been transferred to Vancouver, and then email Vancouver at VancouverK@state.gov. They'll get back to you in a day or two with an authoritative answer. I emailed Vancouver several times with questions during my visa application process. They're quite terse but very good about answering questions promptly. Being able to email them made that part of my process much easier - so much so that I barely needed VJ at all for that part of the process! [Ain't it terrible when government offices actually have half-decent customer service? ]	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-08 17:31:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Filing I-129F - which Canadian consulate to put down?	Vancouver will process it as long as she lives west of the Manitoba/Ontario border, and has legal presence in Canada (which they may want to see at the interview, and which might not be a bad idea to include with the I-129F petition, BTW). Her country of citizenship should not matter if she has legal presence in Canada. If she were in Canada illegally (which wouldn't really affect her US visa application, except in this regard) she would have to return to her home country to be interviewed there, but since she is in Canada legally, interviewing at a Canadian consulate should be no problem, and since she is going for a K-1 in Western Canada, it'll be Vancouver. Edited by HeatDeath, 08 March 2010 - 01:32 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-08 13:31:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need info on early work permit?	My Canadian fiance MUST work immediately. Sorry, NOT happening. The JFK stamp is no longer valid work authorization for a K-1 holder and hasn't been for over a year. In order to work legally (and don't even CONSIDER anything else!) a K-1 holder needs a social security card (THAT you can apply for within a week or two of entry) and either an EAD card or a green card in their hand. Quickest way to put your fiance to work legally is to have the AOS packet ready when they land. The only parts you can't arrange easily without your fiance being physically present are their passport photos (they'll need 6), the marriage certificate, and an I-693 medical report form. Get those three things in the first few days after your fiance's arrival (any drug store for the photos, any justice of the peace for the marriage certificate, and a local civil surgeon to transfer their vaccination info onto the I-693). If they land Monday, you could easily have the AOS packet mailed off by Friday. 45 to 60 days later (with a biometrics appointment in the interim) and the EAD card will show up in the mail. That's the best you can do. Sorry.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-09 17:49:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Required vaccinations?	CORRECTION: It was the Hep B vacc they said I also needed, I just REchecked an older post of mine. Edited by HeatDeath, 10 March 2010 - 08:44 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-10 20:43:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Required vaccinations?	It was the Hep A vacc they said I also needed, I just checked an older post of mine.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-10 20:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Required vaccinations?	According to my information sheet from the Vancouver medical clinic [which is conveniently divided up into sections by age range], as of Aoril last year, 19-26 year olds needed TDap, MMR, Varicella, and HPV (if female). After 27 you don't need HPV but still need the others. After 50 you don't need MMR but they add influenza to the above list. After 60 they add Zoster to the above list. They will not accept any other tuberculosis+ vaccine. It MUST be TDap, specifically. [I had to pay $55 for it at a travel medical clinic in Vancouver right after my medical exam.] They will accept a verbal declaration that you have had chicken pox in lieu of Varicella. They will accept titers blood tests to prove immunity in lieu of Varicella and MMR. [These are what I did for these two.] They only need you to have had the first shot of the HPV series at the time of the medical. AOS interview might inquire as to whether you have continued the schedule, Not being female, I don't know. This wasn't applicable to me. Of course in the last 6 months or so didn't they remove HPV as a requirement? [I'm virtually certain that you're between 19 and 64, given your picture. If not, let me know and I'll check the appropriate age band. Teenagers need a whole 'nother stack of shots.] Now on top of these requirements the CS in Salt Lake City wouldn't transcribe my I-693 unless I also had a Hepatitis (A or B, I forget which. I got the first shot of the combo series. $55 grumblegrumble) vaccine. Edited by HeatDeath, 10 March 2010 - 08:15 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-10 20:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Am I being paranoid?	From an earlier post of mine: Frontloading is considered advisable in many cases at the K-1 phase because, while USCIS is reasonably consistent and transparent, some consulates and consulate officers are known to be very strict and very arbitrary, much more so than the USCIS. Frontloading is essentially an end run around the worst of the consulate's obstructionism, forcing them to accept and consider evidence they might not otherwise want to have to care about. Canada's consulates tend to be very reasonable (Canadians not generally being seen (by consulate staff) as desperate third world con artists who'd sell their mothers to escape to the US) - unlike some consulates, they will generally accept relationship evidence at the interview, and tend not to conduct their interviews as a premeditated search for an excuse to deny, so frontloading the I-129F petition to force them to at least consider some relationship evidence isn't really necessary. We included a dozen or two photos, a stack of emails, and photocopies of airline boarding passes, but it was probably unnecessary. Edited by HeatDeath, 10 March 2010 - 05:09 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-10 17:08:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Am I being paranoid?	Hey everyone, Ok, so here I am waiting and expecting our NOA2, since fellow Vermont Center/November filers have started to receive theirs, and I'm wondering if I should actually be expecting an RFE instead... Here's why I'm a little paranoid: on the I-129F question "How we met", we did have to include a page-long attachement to explain how we had met in the last two years and how we maintained our relationship in the last two years. However, I'm wondering if they wanted a detailed explanation of that. I mean, we stated that we met in Quebec, and blah blah blah, but I'm scared they will request further evidence... We explained how he stayed in Quebec with him and visited, and how we drove together back to the U.S so that I can spent time there and visit. I also included e-mails, 1 flight info for me going back (car was out of order at that point), 5 pictures of us...Did you guys go into extreme details on that one? How about those of you who have recently received their NOA2, especially November filers in Vermont? Do you think I'm just freaking out - yeah I know I haven't included a lot of info here - but help, I'm afraid I'll fail my medical for being psychotic! Thanks! See my post (#2) in this thread: http://www.visajourn...h...=245330&hl=	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-09 17:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	please help me about visa 1 i have some question	VJ members represent an extremely small percentage of total cases for any Consulate. The "norm" in Casablanca is denied fiance and spouse visas. One thing to remember about these difficult consulates, is that they think that they are doing a good thing. They sincerely believe, in the specific case of younger MENA men and older USC women, that they are protecting these American women from devious, conniving, desperate third-world "heartbreaker" con artists. The beneficiaries, in their eyes, are certainly guilty until proven innocent. And in an incredibly condescending attitude, when they are indifferent or even hostile to the wishes of the older female USC, they see themselves as protecting the USC petitioners from themselves, whether they have permission to or not. My USC wife, who is no fan of bureaucratic paperwork, so whom I've done my best to insulate from the worst of this immigration process, once asked me why we had to do the Removal of Conditions after two years. I explained to her that it was really for her protection - that if I was a desperate third world con artist I might be willing to pretend to love her and stay married long enough to get through AOS, but that having to maintain a ruse like that for two years discourages a lot of desperate people who would otherwise give it a shot to get a GC. She felt, and rightly so, that it was a fairly condescending way for the government to treat the spouses of potential immigrants, but that the wisdom of it wasn't entirely misplaced. These difficult consulates just take the paternalism and condescension to a whole 'nother level. Edited by HeatDeath, 13 March 2010 - 01:43 AM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-13 01:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	please help me about visa 1 i have some question	I am in an age gap relationship, he is 25, I am almost 40. I read up on the notes here before we started, and in an interview with an immigration officer, a question was asked ..... The government doesnt care about your ages, only that you have a valid relationship. Those of us processing through a Consulate in Canada are ridiculously, stupidly, miraculously fortunate that the US and Canada have such a close relationship, and that our process is literally obscenely easy compared to that of virtually anyone outside of North American and Western Europe. While the USCIS paperwork is virtually identical, the consulate processes can be as different as the countries they occur in, and not for the good. Many consulates are arbitrary and almost totally indifferent - some would even say capricious and cruel. They see much higher rates of relationship and visa fraud, and this causes many of them to tend to assume that most family visa applicants, and in some places even the US citizen petitioner, are guilty until proven innocent. If they see in the petition even the slightest deviation from their interpretation of the local cultural norm, they conduct that interview as a premeditated fishing expedition in search of even the slightest reason to deny. Without very careful preparation on the part of both the petitioner and the beneficiary, they will virtually always find one. I posted a topic in the Canada sub-forum about "Canadian guilt": the phenomenon of feeling slighty uneasy at how easy we Canadians get through this process compared to the hells many MENA, Latin American, and "Muslim Belt" couples go through. I didn't meet with a huge amount of sympathy	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-12 18:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	After K1 interview, average time till able to move to US>	Agreed. In many consulates, the USC spouse being present at the interview is very very important, and in some cases, absolutely mandatory. Canada, thanks be to G-d, is not one of these. The USC being present at an interview in Canada is a lovely thing for both petitioner and beneficiary, but is, ultimately, a luxury. In Canada, very fortunately, you get to decide whether you can afford it or not. Edited by HeatDeath, 15 March 2010 - 12:11 AM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-15 00:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	After K1 interview, average time till able to move to US>	Once the visa is in your hand there is no minimum timeframe. You can PoE that afternoon if you can pack up the car that quickly I would recommend against doing too much packing and preparation prior to the interview date, because there is always the possibility of unforeseen delays. The consulates always recommend that you not make any firm plans (i.e. spend any kind of money on transportation tickets or wedding preparations) until the visa has actually been approved. It's a judgement call on your part just how much time you should invest in packing for the trip before the visa is actually approved, but as I said, there is no minimum timeframe between receiving the visa (visa form affixed in passport, big "do not open" envelope" and chest xray, just in case they ask for it at PoE) and when you can PoE. It's purely up to how fast you can finish preparations for the move.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-14 22:21:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Can we slow the process down? >.<	Regarding fees, in Canada, they make you pay for the interview well in advance. They give you a form (or a url to download it from anyways) in your Packet 3, and tell you to take 3 copies of the form to any branch of a particular bank (Scotiabank, as it happens). You give the bank the forms and $131. The bank keeps one copy of the form, stamps the two others, and gives them back to you. You have to bring the forms to your interview as proof that you paid, and the consulate will refuse to interview you, let alone approve you, if you don't have them. [You don't actually have to pay this prior to faxing in the Packet 3 checklist. I emailed them about this and they said that as long as it is paid prior to the interview, and you have those stamped deposit slips with you for the interview, they don't care about the timing. So, per some advice I read here, I did not pay until after I had arranged my interview date, and wrote "Per our email, fee will be paid after interview date is arranged" on my Packet 3 checklist when I faxed it in.] Because the interview fee and the process for paying it is embedded in the Packet 3, I don't think the fee increase, when it occurs, will be a surprise sprung on anyone whose application is in progress. You won't show up at the interview and suddenly they want another $220, or any such nonsense. What will happen is that the threshold date will pass, the fee increase will take effect, and any petitions received from NVC after that will get a revised Packet 3 with the higher price listed. As I said, I don't think it will be sprung on anyone with an in-process visa application at the consulate. I did not need $100 cash for the consulate at the interview. I think that web page's information is intended primarily for other countries, and is outdated at that. The interview fee used to be, I think, $US100, before it was raised to $US131. Also,some consulate may want the payment to be made in US cash at the interview proper, but Canada does not. They have their own very specific process, detailed above. I personally wouldn't have purchased the mailer yet. I did not purchase one, figuring that I could just run to the post office across the street if the CO told me they needed it. I ended up not needing one - They told me I could pick it up after 2:15 the next day. So I did. Regarding additional fees, if you fiance has not had the TDap vaccine (and it must specifically be TDap, TD or TDa will not do.) the Vancouver clinic will be able to arrange an appointment for him at a travel clinic a few blocks away on the day of his medical. That will be another $55CAN. He should email the Woking clinic now (wokingmedical@telus.net), if he hasn't already, to get their appointment info package (a 5-6 page Word document) that contains the list, broken down by age categories, or all of the vaccines he should make sure he has, prior to the medical. They will require him to bring documentation of theses vaccines (or blood tests probing he has had them) to the medical. TDap seems to be the only one they're more flexible on, mainly because it is not universally available through the public health services in all parts of Canada.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2010-03-18 14:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	January I-129F filers	I don't know how bad VSC is for K-1ers right now, but VSC is definitely that backed up for processing I-751 Removal of Conditions petitions. They are only just now starting to process the I-751 applications from October 2011, whereas the California Service Center [the only other service center doing I-751s] finished the vast majority of their October 2011 I-751 cases months ago.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-07-09 01:00:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	A Few "Odds and Ends" Questions	1. The extended lists of evidence for bonafide marriage are generally more applicable in situations when the couple have been married for a while. You are correct in your assessment - a newlywed couple can not generally amass a large collection of such evidence. What you have described, in my understanding, will suffice. The photos will certainly not hurt. I would include them if I were you. 2. Generally speaking, the consulate will send the beneficiary a packet of information that will include information about which doctors are permissible for the immigration medical. In most countries, the list of doctors authorized and recognized by the US consulate to conduct immigration medicals is very short. Her family doctor will almost certainly not be among them. As for the timing, most people have the medical, at most, within a few weeks immediately prior to the interview, sometimes only a few days prior, the day before, on the same day or even the day after. 3. She will receive a visa in her passport and a sealed packet of papers, which she must not open herself. When she arrives at a US airport, they will take her into secondary inspection. There they will take her paperwork, and there she will receive an I-551 stamp in her passport. Her physical green card will be mailed to the US address she gives them within a few weeks.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-03-10 22:48:00