The Story

Well I guess the process of getting a K1 visa always starts with a story. How do people from two different countries actually meet? Date? Fall in Love? Decide to get married? For us it all started typically enough. We met at the wedding of a mutual friend. I was a guest, she was the Maid of Honor. Circumstances were such that we got to spend a couple of weeks together and to say the least we hit it off. So well in fact that we decided that we should not let the fact we lived some 4000 miles apart keep us from persuing a relationship. Truth to tell I don't think either of us really thought we had a chance in hell of making it work. What we did know is that we could not pass it by and wonder "what if". A good thing to because after a year and half of daily conversation (the internet is a very wonderfull thing) and several thousand dollars spent on trips to visit one another we found we Love one another and that we want to get Married.

In fact if it were not for the 4000 miles that seperate us, our story would not be remarkable in the least. Really and truly though it is less the 4000 miles and more the international border that sperates us that causes the most difficulties. Because we do not live in the same country we cannot just decide to go get married and live together. We must first gain legal right to live together. We have chosen the K1 fiance visa process as the means by which we will get there. For this we have found out the process of immigrating this way is far from well understood and have been frustrated by the lack of good information regarding this process. So we are going to try and document what we learn, what we experience as we go through the process. Perhaps it will help others in the same situation. Perhaps it will serve to enlighten people that we have legal immigration problems as well as illegal.

Comments

Dave said…
I think it's fantastic that you guys went through this process. I'm starting the k1 visa process now and I just discovered your website! I thought i'd read through it a little bit before I send out what I believe is all the properly filled paperwork.
1/05/2010 1:08 PM
Tmortn said…
Thanks. I hope it all goes well for you. I can say that the info here may be a bit dated. I know that even in the period we were working this the forms had a nasty habit of changing.

For each time I had stuff to send in once I thought I had checked and double, triple checked etc... I put the whole packet together and went somewhere just to sit down and go through it all again just like it was the first time. IE read all the forms... ALL of them, small print etc... and make sure I had it covered.

Annoying and time consuming but it was worth the effort to be sure we got it right.

We made it through without a lawyer. However if there is any kind of questionable area of your application (any immigration status funnies, legal issues etc...) I would highly advise seeking the help of a professional.
1/06/2010 2:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Permanent Permanent Resident

Been a while since the last post but we wanted to report that as of October 2009 the processes of removing conditional status has been completed. Suzie is now a permanent permanent resident of the United States. Start to finish it was about 4 years. This was good as we had tickets booked for our first trip abroad since our marriage in 2006 for November '09 and having card that didn't say it was expired was good peace of mind... and joy of joys they got the name right this time. No more Hyphenated last name. Of course this mean the SS card had to be updated again but even that is finally done as well. Our application for removal of condition did not hit any snags other than an almost year long delay on the processing. We sent in the application as needed in late august of 2008 and then received a letter in november extending the conditional status card for another year... not another card mind you but a sheet of paper that said the expiration date had been extended. We received ...
Read more

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 ol...
Read more

RFI and Misc

Our Change of Status Paperwork has been pulled off the shelf well ahead of when we expected it so perhaps the consolidation in Chicago has been a good thing. We did recieve a request for more information as it seems the fact they had proof of an approved K-1 was not enough. They also needed the I-797 notice of actioni that I had filed a K-1 on Suzie's behalf. Not sure I have the energy to go all out on that like I should but by all means it speaks for itself. They had proof and records in their system of a valid K-1 to the effect it allowed entry into the countr and yet they not only need that but the early round notice of action that the K-1 had indeed been filed. If we do not send the information then our application is to be cancled. Needless to say we have mailed it but it really seems silly. To top it off it seems an RFI Also places an immediate injunction on the granting of any interim work priveledges. From what we could ascertain this did not apply to the EAD. Only to inter...
Read more