ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsOur application is on it's way!
Yep, while I was in the US again for the month of April my wonderful girlfriend and I became engaged and we hired an attorney to help us in our K1 Visa quest! We had all our necessary paperwork, evidence, affidavit etc together for our attorney before I left to go back to England and the package with the I129F has been submitted to the USCIS! :) Like everybody else, we are of course hopeful that the process will be as quick as possible with timescales of around 5-6 months being suggested to get to the stage where I can enter the US to legally marry my fiance with the intention of also obtaining a temporary work permit from one of the possible ports of entry to the US such as JFK and Boston we believe.

We'll post our progress along the way and thanks to all that have helped us thus far; we are excited :D We'd also like to hear your comments and experiences from this point forward too :)
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-05-01 16:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAdditional help for a newbie please!

Once you are issued your K1 visa, it will be stamped in your passport and you will use that to enter the US. Yes, that is when the "90 days to get married" countdown starts. The EAD(Employment Authorization Document) is a completely different animal. Once you marry officially in the US, you must fill out a whole new set of forms (and pay the corresponding application fees) to adjust your status. This is the AOS process. Among these forms are the application for the EAD. Depending on processing times, you will get the EAD in about 4 months or so. Once you have that you will be able to legally work. You can begin looking for employment anytime once you enter the US on the K1 visa, its just that you are not allowed to legally work until you have either the temporary (2year) green-card, or the EAD.


Thank you for the EAD clarification but with respect to entering on a K1 and then legally marrying what is the procedure for a temporary green-card since it is different to the EAD?
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-03-13 06:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAdditional help for a newbie please!
Thank you all for your speedy replies and warm welcomes to me to the site! :)

I should've made clear in my post that my fourth point regarding the visa waiver programme is that is was just something that I had heard and wanted to bring up in this particular post and I am certainly not wishing to commit any kind of fraud. As I said we both take marriage very seriously regardless of the potential timelines and costs.
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-03-12 14:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAdditional help for a newbie please!
Hello everyone!

I've only recently found visajourney.com and I am really glad that I did; I have tried other websites and generally the forum members there have not been very helpful :( I have looked through the guides and I would like some clarification if you folks would be so kind to help me :)

I am living in England and my partner is a US Citizen based in California. We have been together for 2 years and in the next few weeks I am going to fly out to see her once again. We have talked very seriously about Marriage and it is something that we both want :) I have a professional degree and I have been submitting applications for work in CA based on a H1B visa and more realistically, a J1 academic sponsorship visa which is looking promising. While I am with her next month we talked about starting the process of filling in the I-129F.

I have several questions that I would be really grateful for help and advice!:

1. I will be in the US with my partner for around 4 weeks. If we complete all the necessary documentation as shown in your guides (G325As included) and we send it off relatively soon then I'm guessing the forms will probably not be processed by the time I have to leave. How much does it cost to file off the initial I-129F? Are there significant costs along the way?

2. I've looked at the flow chart in the guide and I'm a little confused with the timelines of entering on a K1 visa, working using an EAD application and bona-fide marriage.

Once I have left the US at the end of April I will most likely be returning again within 4-5 months if I am unsuccesful with my job applications. During this time has passed and forms have been completed and sent off by us both then the next time I enter the US would it be on a K1 visa rather than a Visa Waiver programme VWP? If so, is this when I have the 90 days 'one-shot' to get married or it's all over? Presumabley you can only be looking to work using the EAD once you are legally married within this 90 day period?

3. Further to question 2, if for some reason I could not get to the US in the time that I wanted and I was called for an interview do I have to attend the US embassy in my country or do I physically need to travel to the US?

4. I have heard anecdotal evidence that marrying 'spontaneously' when entering the US on a VWP is a valid route that others have taken that is even less time consuming than that of a genuine K1 visa application. Has anyone got any advice or experience with this?

5.. Finally, on a somewhat unrelated topic, I considered paying for a consultation with a reputable company that I found on the web that could advise me of my best way to achieve working in the US based on my circumstances. I am certain that in addition to my constant appling of positions that they will advise me that the K1 visa is the best step since I love and plan to marry my partner. Has anyone ever used this kind of service? I have been somewhat reluctant since the visajourney site is extremely resourceful!

I have to stress that marriage is not something that I would ever abuse and even if I can enter the US on a J1 or H1B visa to work I would be still be marrying my partner regardless.

Thank you in advance!

Mark.
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-03-12 12:47:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresK1 Visa's and marrying outside of the US
Thanks, I see the contrast between the K1 and CR1 now. Two friends of ours recently got married in Mexico, she is a USC and he is mexican and he was able to reside and legally work in the US literally within one month. Is there any reason why this would be the case? Our home is in San Diego so it would be more time and cost effective for me to travel to the US and then we would legally marry in Mexico. We are not sure why in this instance this happened so quickly.
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-03-25 16:31:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresK1 Visa's and marrying outside of the US

...or the CR1, which comes with built-in work authorization and greencard.

Hindsight being 20/20, I wish this were the visa we had done.


My partner and I have very seriously looked at consultations with visa attorneys to try and look at which is the best visa for us but we are grateful to hear of your experiences! :)

We were originally looking at us filing the I129F to start the K1 procedure but based on what you say it would be easier for us to marry here in England then file for the IR1/CR1 so that obtaining a work authorisation status and 'green card' status is quicker than that of the K1 visa. Am I right in thinking that?
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-03-25 15:15:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresK1 Visa's and marrying outside of the US
My partner (a USC) and I have discussed starting the K1-fiance visa procedure and filing for the I-129F so that I can eventually move to and work in the US. We've looked at the timelines and the costs but we've also discussed the possibility of us getting married here in my home country England and then once we're married starting the necessary procedure for me to get a green card so that I can live and work in the US.

Have any US citizens married outside of the US and then bought their spouse back to the US to start the application for a green card? How does the procedure compare to the K1-visa option with respect to obtaining a work-permit?

Thanks :)
MarkBUKMaleEngland2007-03-25 14:52:00