The Paperwork
There is no garountee this informatin is accurate. If you need help I advise you get an immigration attourney to consult with about your specific case. I am simply putting out what I have learned from various sources to document what our understanding is of the process in front of us.
The K1 process is all about paperwork. For starters you need two pieces of paperwork.
First
The i129-f petition for alien fiance. This piece of paper is filled out buy the US citizen and filed with the appropriate USCIS center. The filing fee is $170 dollars.
Second
The G-325a biographic information supplement. Not to be confused with plain old G-325, or G-325b or G-325c. It is a requested suplement to go with i129-f. You need one for each person involved in the petetion. IE the requestor fills one out, the fiance fills one out, and the fiances children if required.
Additionally you need:
Pictures taken in a certain style (passport) defined in the instructions on the i129-f form. These need to be no older than 30 days at the time of filing and have the names written with a felt ink pen on the back (sharpie).
Proof of citizenship such as a copy of a birthcirtificate. The instructions to not say certified. Just copy front and back.
Proof you have met in the last 2 years. Plane Tickets, Passport Stamps, Pictures
Original Statement of intent to marry in 90 days of being allowed to enter into the US along with any other documents to show your intent. Purchases reciepts perhaps ?
This you seal up and send to your appropriate center and then you wait for them to send you notification they recieved the petition and have assigned it a number. For example our center is in Dallas Tx. If you follow that link and scroll down to find K1 processing you will find the current date they are processing which is tied to when you number is assigned. At the time of this post (nov 23, '05) they are processing July 15th 2005. So a little over 4 months behind and that dosn't allow for any delay in getting in the que. Generally it dosn't take to long after reciept to hear back from them but the occasoinally it does. For example I talked to visapro on the phone and they said the last few cases they had go through Texas took more than a month before they heard back from them because they were transfering the cases to the LA processing center in an attempt to ballance loads amoung the centers.
Once that process is complete, assuming there are no snags, and the petition is approved the information is forwared to the nearest Embassy to the person seeking the visa and the Consulate contacts them to set up an interview and for any additional information they require. Average time according to Visapro and several other sources seems to indicated that most consulate take around a couple of months to process these petitions once they recieve them. So we are now looking at around 6-7 months of paper chase that will allow a forign fiance to enter the country to marry a US citizen.
When the visa is issued it is good for 6 months. It is only good for ONE entry into the US. If they come in on that visa and do not get married and leave the country then this entire process must be repeated from step one.
When they enter the country they are stamped as legal to be in the us for 90 days. After you get married you must file an I-425 to establish permanent resident status, the fee is $325. This grants a 2 year conditional permanent resident status. Delay is also on that same page as the k1 listing. As of today they are processing May of 2005. 6 months. Mind you this is AFTER you have been granted the right to enter and marry a US citizen and you cannot file for this till then. So this delay is on top of what has been endured already. PRC is your right to live in the US. It is your right to leave and re-enter the country.
If you want to work then you need to file an I-765 for an EAD or Employment Authorization Document. Cost $180 dollars. Without this you cannot work in the US. I am unsure if this is only needed while the PRC is being processed or if this document will be needed while the fiance lives in the US as an immigrant (Permanent Resident vrs Citizen).
90 days before your second anniversary of being granted conditional permanent resident status you must file an I-751, removal of conditions form. Cost $205. Per the instructions on i129-f
Notice:
Failure to file Form I-751, Petition to Remove the
Conditions on Residence, will result in termination
of permanent residence status and initiation of
removal proceedings.
$170(i-129f) + 180(i-765) + $325 (i-485) + $205 (i-751) = $880
Now lets put all that in english.
I pay $170 bucks to wait 4 months for a petition to be approved. We then have to wait another 2+ months for the consulate to process the request and decide whether or not to issue the visa. Once the visa is granted and used to enter the country we have 90 days to get married and file the i-485 change of status at a cost of $325. but the status won't actually be changed for another 6 months or more. In the mean time if we travel outside of the country we are in a grey area and need permission to travel, like say for a HONEYMOON which is something that just happens to come rather routinely right after a wedding and is very common to leave the country. So you get permission and get back through customs. Now that we are married and allowed to live in the US she is not allowed to work yet. We must file a i-765 at a cost of $180 and wait 30-60 days for an EAD to be granted and show up in the mail. Else you cannot technically work, or obtain a tax id or SS number. If you live in the US you understand how crippling it can be to not have a SS number. It is the definative identification number. Getting a bank account, Credit card, Car Loan, Home Loan, Enroll at school, Fill out a job application. Yet this is not part of the process of granting someone the right to live permanently in the US. After about 2 years we HAVE to file the i-751 and pay $205 dollars else the deportation proceding will be automatically initiated by the government.
Now I understand that this is not an instant gratification situation. It is never going to be a drive through process. However, what I have just outlined is not a horror story scenario. It is a straightforward case (and not even a complete one I think) with no mistakes. No need for waivers. In short what our case should be. Two people of age, with no criminal record, former marriages or other complicating issues. And the BASE amount of cost for filing. Legal counsel will be extra. And legal counsel is HIGHLY advisable.
This process is obstensibly about how a US citizen legaly marries a non-US citizen. Yet at no point is this process sensitive to the reality of two people who have decided to get married wanting to be together. Innocent untill prooven guilty is no part of this process. The burden of proof is not on the state to proove the intent false, but on the applicants to proove the intent to marry is legitimate. In otherwords, you are guilty until you proove your innocence and the process is set up accordingly.
As an American Citizen I have been endowed by our founding fore Fathers with a few inalieanable rights. Chiefly Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. If the freedom to marry as I choose is not one of the ultimate expressions of pursuit of happiness I have no idea what is. This ugly abomination of a process is a sorry excuse for propper handling of a citizens rights. It is the duty of the state not to intrude upon those rights but to uphold them. And it is failing miserably in this case. In fact the state of our immigration policies overall are in a shambles and are a shame to our history.
The K1 process is all about paperwork. For starters you need two pieces of paperwork.
First
The i129-f petition for alien fiance. This piece of paper is filled out buy the US citizen and filed with the appropriate USCIS center. The filing fee is $170 dollars.
Second
The G-325a biographic information supplement. Not to be confused with plain old G-325, or G-325b or G-325c. It is a requested suplement to go with i129-f. You need one for each person involved in the petetion. IE the requestor fills one out, the fiance fills one out, and the fiances children if required.
Additionally you need:
Pictures taken in a certain style (passport) defined in the instructions on the i129-f form. These need to be no older than 30 days at the time of filing and have the names written with a felt ink pen on the back (sharpie).
Proof of citizenship such as a copy of a birthcirtificate. The instructions to not say certified. Just copy front and back.
Proof you have met in the last 2 years. Plane Tickets, Passport Stamps, Pictures
Original Statement of intent to marry in 90 days of being allowed to enter into the US along with any other documents to show your intent. Purchases reciepts perhaps ?
This you seal up and send to your appropriate center and then you wait for them to send you notification they recieved the petition and have assigned it a number. For example our center is in Dallas Tx. If you follow that link and scroll down to find K1 processing you will find the current date they are processing which is tied to when you number is assigned. At the time of this post (nov 23, '05) they are processing July 15th 2005. So a little over 4 months behind and that dosn't allow for any delay in getting in the que. Generally it dosn't take to long after reciept to hear back from them but the occasoinally it does. For example I talked to visapro on the phone and they said the last few cases they had go through Texas took more than a month before they heard back from them because they were transfering the cases to the LA processing center in an attempt to ballance loads amoung the centers.
Once that process is complete, assuming there are no snags, and the petition is approved the information is forwared to the nearest Embassy to the person seeking the visa and the Consulate contacts them to set up an interview and for any additional information they require. Average time according to Visapro and several other sources seems to indicated that most consulate take around a couple of months to process these petitions once they recieve them. So we are now looking at around 6-7 months of paper chase that will allow a forign fiance to enter the country to marry a US citizen.
When the visa is issued it is good for 6 months. It is only good for ONE entry into the US. If they come in on that visa and do not get married and leave the country then this entire process must be repeated from step one.
When they enter the country they are stamped as legal to be in the us for 90 days. After you get married you must file an I-425 to establish permanent resident status, the fee is $325. This grants a 2 year conditional permanent resident status. Delay is also on that same page as the k1 listing. As of today they are processing May of 2005. 6 months. Mind you this is AFTER you have been granted the right to enter and marry a US citizen and you cannot file for this till then. So this delay is on top of what has been endured already. PRC is your right to live in the US. It is your right to leave and re-enter the country.
If you want to work then you need to file an I-765 for an EAD or Employment Authorization Document. Cost $180 dollars. Without this you cannot work in the US. I am unsure if this is only needed while the PRC is being processed or if this document will be needed while the fiance lives in the US as an immigrant (Permanent Resident vrs Citizen).
90 days before your second anniversary of being granted conditional permanent resident status you must file an I-751, removal of conditions form. Cost $205. Per the instructions on i129-f
Notice:
Failure to file Form I-751, Petition to Remove the
Conditions on Residence, will result in termination
of permanent residence status and initiation of
removal proceedings.
$170(i-129f) + 180(i-765) + $325 (i-485) + $205 (i-751) = $880
Now lets put all that in english.
I pay $170 bucks to wait 4 months for a petition to be approved. We then have to wait another 2+ months for the consulate to process the request and decide whether or not to issue the visa. Once the visa is granted and used to enter the country we have 90 days to get married and file the i-485 change of status at a cost of $325. but the status won't actually be changed for another 6 months or more. In the mean time if we travel outside of the country we are in a grey area and need permission to travel, like say for a HONEYMOON which is something that just happens to come rather routinely right after a wedding and is very common to leave the country. So you get permission and get back through customs. Now that we are married and allowed to live in the US she is not allowed to work yet. We must file a i-765 at a cost of $180 and wait 30-60 days for an EAD to be granted and show up in the mail. Else you cannot technically work, or obtain a tax id or SS number. If you live in the US you understand how crippling it can be to not have a SS number. It is the definative identification number. Getting a bank account, Credit card, Car Loan, Home Loan, Enroll at school, Fill out a job application. Yet this is not part of the process of granting someone the right to live permanently in the US. After about 2 years we HAVE to file the i-751 and pay $205 dollars else the deportation proceding will be automatically initiated by the government.
Now I understand that this is not an instant gratification situation. It is never going to be a drive through process. However, what I have just outlined is not a horror story scenario. It is a straightforward case (and not even a complete one I think) with no mistakes. No need for waivers. In short what our case should be. Two people of age, with no criminal record, former marriages or other complicating issues. And the BASE amount of cost for filing. Legal counsel will be extra. And legal counsel is HIGHLY advisable.
This process is obstensibly about how a US citizen legaly marries a non-US citizen. Yet at no point is this process sensitive to the reality of two people who have decided to get married wanting to be together. Innocent untill prooven guilty is no part of this process. The burden of proof is not on the state to proove the intent false, but on the applicants to proove the intent to marry is legitimate. In otherwords, you are guilty until you proove your innocence and the process is set up accordingly.
As an American Citizen I have been endowed by our founding fore Fathers with a few inalieanable rights. Chiefly Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. If the freedom to marry as I choose is not one of the ultimate expressions of pursuit of happiness I have no idea what is. This ugly abomination of a process is a sorry excuse for propper handling of a citizens rights. It is the duty of the state not to intrude upon those rights but to uphold them. And it is failing miserably in this case. In fact the state of our immigration policies overall are in a shambles and are a shame to our history.
Comments
Thank you so much for your time on writing this. This is something that I needed before I went through the process. I wished I have seen this before.
More power to you!!!
Paul
http://myk1fiancevisaexperience.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-129-petition-process.html