Their mail is from El Paso because it is better than from in Mexico and I am sure it doesn't have to bother with Customs and Border Patrol which is a different branch of Government and i doubt they get along. DHS is over CBP and the US State Department is over the Consulates.

I did not provide a statement from my employer because I am unemployed. However, I forgot to include proof that I am a full-time student to my SO because I didn't think I had to. But I did work in 2007 and provided my SO with the tax return from that year. Do you think that they will deny my SO a visa because I didn't include a statement from employer? I also have my dad as a co-sponsor and he is a lot higher than the poverty level so I do not think lack of employer letter or proof I am in school is enough to deny her the visa? What do you think?

i think you'll be ok as long as your dad did the affidavit and meets the poverty guidelines. If you feel unsure about the proof that your a student you still have time to send her anything else you think will help since its an open appointment with no date set.

My fiance doesn't have his passport yet. How long does it take to get issued in Mexico, and what is the cost?

my fiancee said it takes about a week. its gonna cost her 960 pesos..bout 96 u.s

I got my fiancée a passport renewal 2 times and I also bought her mom and dad each a passport because it was required for the B2 visa that we were denied of. Anyways...there are different charges for the passport depending on the length of the expiration. You can get a 1 year passport, 5 year, or 10 year. I believe, but I am not 100% sure, that the 1-year passport costs around $30 dollars but I will double-check with my fiancée and get back to you later tonight. I just found this website, my Spanish is not up to par but check it out.
http://www.sre.gob.mx/pasaportes/pagoderechos.htm

Does anyone have any (cheap) way of staying in contact with family members from Mexico? I downloaded SKYPE today for free and it is free to communicate with any other person in the world who has SKYPE on their computer....but my gf does not have a computer. When I call from SKYPE to a cell phone in Mexico it is 36 cents a minute and to a house phone it is about 25 cents for 10 minutes. Anyone aware of CHEAPER rates than this?

Go to www.nobelcom.com and select calling cards for US to Mexico. There are a few different options, I believe I use one that is CALL MEXICO or something like that. I pay $20 and I think I end up getting about 8 hours. That excludes calling cellphones in Mexico, so as long as you are calling to a landline in Mexico, it's a pretty darn good deal I think. You are given a pin number and then you can reload it once you've run out of minutes. Hope that helps!

That's good info, thank you! I will also take a look at that link.




I use a calling card that costs $5 for about 4 hours of calling time. I live near a lot of Mexican-run small mom & pop stores that cell different kinds of calling cards and had to test out a few before finding the best one. Also, when I don't have a calling card, I just use my cell phone (Tmobile has a deal where you pay an extra $5/month, plus 7cents per minute to a house phone, or 26 cents/min to a cell phone). Also, on Yahoo messenger's Talk feature, I believe it is 7 cents per minute to call a house phone, and 34 cents/min to call a cell phone.

From my experience, the best thing is to use the calling cards because it ends up being 2 or 3 cents a minute for calling a house. It ends up being about 17 cents a minute to call a cell phone.

I use enjoyprepaid.com

i get about 2cents a minute calling monterrey. the bigger the city the better rate you get.

If your fiance in Mexico has a computer with internet access you can also use MSN messenger, yahoo messenger, or any of those other messenger services to talk for free.

In the beginning, my husband and I would talk with calling cards, but then he got internet access in his house and it was much better. I am not kidding, we would talk for hours at a time using a headset. We even had webcams so we would see each other. The longest we ever talked on there was about 8 hours, nonstop AND I AM NOT KIDDING!!!

Any of you can use this method to communicate as long as you both have computers with internet access. The headsets you can buy for $15 at any office store. We used MSN messenger and it worked great!

yea...using the internets cheap thats for sure but i cant sit in front of pc that long and she works all day in front of one too so she wont either. damn..eight hours.. your butt musta gone numb ucla.

It does not take long to get the Passport in mexico. If you are in Mexico City you will need to make an appointment at the local delegacion, depending on which one you are near. Though Venustiano Carranza seemed to be taking walk ins about a month ago when we went and got my fiance's.

You really need your birth certificate and your 'credencial de elector' (?)

If you need to get one for a child, s/he will need to get a medical exam as well.

Basically it was a lot of running around and getting this formed copied, and that form copied and taking a reciept over to the local Banamex to pay it and then taking that reciept back to the Delegation to get it affirmed.

hello - anyone recently back from Cuidad Juarez, I need to ask some questions about the airport.

I am meeting my fiance on Wednesday to go to the Consulate. We put aside about a week and a half for the whole process, which is hopefully enough.

The problem though is that I am flying into El Paso airport and then hopping it over to Ciudad Juarez Airport, she is herself flying from Mexico City into Ciudad Juarez.. I arrive in El Paso about 2 hours earlier then she does but I am not sure where to meet her in the airport. We have agreed that she should stay in the airport. In US airports the baggage claim is always after the secured area exit, but I've noticed that in Mexico it is a bit different. First you get the baggage then you leave the secured area.


So is there a good meeting place? What is the layout of the airport? We had though we would meet at the ticketing counters for the airline she is flying in on.

Bleh I'm super nervous about all of this.

If your international sweetheart has high speed internet, try using a VOIP phone line (Vonage). Between Vonage and its many competitors you can find plans for 10-20 bucks per month that have really low international calling rates and unlimited incoming calls. Ive been using it to talk with my fiancee in Mexico and we talk for hours every day for free. The company we use is voipvoip.com. We save hundreds of dollars per month, and lets be honest, who wants to give telmex more money?

Also in regard to meeting in the Ciudad Juarez International Airport, they have an inspection after baggage claim so the only place to meet is in the main lobby/hall area where the ticket counters are.

Hey everyone- I am in need of a little bit of advice. It may be silly to ask this, because I can probably figure it out on my own... but...

My fiance and I are really hoping to get married in the US next summer (2009). We will be filing the K-1 petition at the CSC, and since I understand that approval times usually take longer in CA, I was planning on sending in the petition late March (2008). Now, I realize that usually it takes around 8 or so months from the petition sending to having the visa in hand, so that only brings us to November-ish... however, once the NOA2 is issued, my fiance has 4 months to go to the interview, and then 6 months to come to the US, correct? I guess I'm just starting to get nervous and wondering what would happen if we had some miraculous speedy approval and he had to come here before we had planned. I will be graduating from college May 2009, which is why we were hoping to get married then. Does anyone have any advice? Did anyone get married at a court house before the actual big wedding just because they weren't prepared for a big wedding by the time their fiance came to the US? I suppose it wouldn't be the most horrible thing if he and I were able to be together sooner than we planned, but I'm just starting to worry that we shouldn't send the petition just yet.

Perhaps I'm just looking for some reassurance or some personal experiences that can help me. Or maybe I just needed to talk it through for myself. Either way, any advice is appreciated. Thanks guys!!!

Caity

Ha ha....with all due respect, that is a funny one, Caity. Follow your heart. But I think most people would suggest starting the process whenever you are ready, because you never know-there could be something that comes up and makes it take longer than you are expecting. Then just get married within the time frame that is convenient for you. What a problem....You might be together too soon? Most people would envy that situation. Good luck to you and yours...

Haha maybe all I needed was you to say "follow your heart" See- I got the advice I was looking for My fiance just sent me his completed forms and passport pictures today, so it looks like we'll be filing the petition by the end of the month! I'm ready to put my future in the government's hands haha

I agree, follow your heart! And if you are together sooner than later, you can just have your court house wedding and not really celebrate it, and then have your big wedding later. That's how my fiance and I are planning to go about it.

And back to the phone question, Skype is having a promotion until the end of the month where you can call landlines in Mexico for 2 cents per minute, or cell phones for 20 cents per minute. Here is more info: http://www.skype.com/campaigns/callmexico/...80304-_-landing

It's not much time for the promotion, but at least when April comes around, you can figure out if you want to use Voip, Skype, or enjoyprepaid.com...

Sanfranguy,

I didn't actually sit in front of the computer for 8 whole hours, yeah right! My computer is right next to my bed, so I would take turns. I would sit in front of the computer, then lie down on the bed and talk, it was actually not too bad. I would even get food and eat while I would talk to him. My husband would do the same.


Caity,

Upon reading your post, I realized that I had to respond. My husband and I got married in a super, quick ceremony in Las Vegas. About 2 weeks after Juan arrived in the U.S. my brother decided to go for a weekend to las vegas (we live in los angeles). Juan and I decided to go along, since we had never gone to Vegas. Before going I looked it up online and found out that it was fairly easy to marry there, we didn't even need a social security number for Juan. We decided to get married there. We got married in a drive thru ceremony, very quick and inexpensive. We did not have much money with all that was used up in CDJ, so it was actually the best route for us. Now, it has been almost a year since we got married (April 23rd) and we are now planning our big, religious wedding for this summer. We are going back to Jalisco, Mexico in the little pueblo where Juan and I met back in 1999 for our wedding. Now, this time we will really have a huge party with both of our families present. Plus, Juan is now a permanent resident, so he can travel as he pleases. Many couples from VJ do it this way because of lack of money upon arrival. First you have the money spent obtaining a visa overseas and then you have the costs while going through AOS here in the U.S.

The only thing you need to keep in mind is that once your fiance arrives in the U.S., you guys MUST MARRY WITHIN 90 DAYS, or else he will not be able to adjust to permanent resident status.

My and my fiance and our daughter are here in Juarez now.

So far everything is going good. Thankfully I set aside about a week and a half to get all of this worked out.

The one question that I have right now is whether or not the visa interview fee that we have to pay at banamex is poor passport or per application?

Do I have to pay 260$ or the $131 ?

The visa is a K-1 visa with a k-2 visa for our daughter.


The letter that was sent along didn't make it very clear though, just said that a fee needed to be paid.

Thanks in advance.

If anyone has any questions about Juarez and such let me know please and I would be more then happy to relate my experiences and answer any questions.

I saw you received answers to your question in another thread. I wanted to see, since you are there in CDJ now, can you find out where the new consulate will be this summer and if they have an idea of when it will open?

im going to juarez in april also with my fiance and daughter. its a seperate visa that will be issued to the child so you have to pay 131 x2 . you need to have 1 packet also for the child. so basically every fee x2,exam, and visa. child will also need her own affidavit and own set of 156,156k docs.

I believe torrent has been in Juarez since Wednesday or Thursday. I hope he comes back with good news and good tips. My SO will be going to Juarez as soon as we get packet 3 which should be next week if I am lucky, or the week after.

yea..every tip helps. my girls app is on april 11th. im already reading up on the aos stage. damn im gonna be broke for the next few months!

HI EVERYONE!!!

Well, it's been about a week since we came back from Ciudad Juarez!!! And THANK GOD my husband's visa was approved and issued on the same day of our appointment 03.03.08. And we are finally TOGETHER. I just want to share a few things from our experience.

Medical exam-My husband decided to chose the smaller clinic next to the consulate. It appeared to be the best choice. He arrived at the clinic at 6:00 am, and he was out of there by 11:00 am. He was then scheduled to pick up his results at 4:00 p.m. on the same day. I think this clinic was the best choice because it went a little faster than the large clinic which was across the street from the consulate (they were givinig the medical results after 5:00 p.m.).

Interview-My husband had the interview on a Monday and was scheduled at 7:30 am. We got there at 6 am and there was already a biiig line. However, the security guards from the consulate were telling people to GET OUT (and wait across the street) of the line if they had their appointment scheduled after 7:45 am. So if you have a 9 am interview, there is no point in getting there super early, cause they will tell you to get out and they will not let you inside the consulate until your interview time.

So it was around 7:15 am when my husband entered the consulate...I waited for a few minutes outside of the consulate (with two other VJ members who I met thorugh VJ, in Juarez, Song kim and Liz Leija, very cool people...and their spouses also got their K-3 visas...yeahh) just to make sure that everything went ok. There were a lot of people outside of the consulate waiting. I must say that it was REALLY cold, people were waiting in line with blankets, and while we were there it even started to snow...just for a little bit.

So I went back to the hotel to wait for my husband, and to my surprise he came back at 12 pm. YEP, I thought that was early, but thank god everything went well and he had his visa in hand. He said that when he was interviewed they did not ask to see anything of evidence...they did not request evidence of our marriage (just the marriage certificate), they did not see pictures, emails, letters, or evidence to bonafide our marriage. NOTHING. All they asked him was when he met me, how he met me, how long we had dated and if he had ever been in the U.S. Oohh and they also asked him if we were also married religiously, to what he answered yes, we are also married by the Catholic church. Then the lady said, congratulations, your visa has been approved. Then he waited for a little longer then he got his visa and the yellow envelope (with all your forms) that tells you what crossing(port of entry) you must go through. There are five crossing points in Ciudad Juarez. Our envelope said we had to go to the Fabens, Texas POE to give the yellow envelope to the immigration officer. There you get your I-94 and a stamp (and pay $6) . Fabens is the farthest crossing point and the cab ride from Ciudad Juarez to Fabens, Texas and then to El Paso was $140 dollars. So be prepared.

Hotel-I would recommend the Holiday Inn Lincoln, which is about 65-70 dollars per night (book it online). It's about a 5 minute walk to the consulate, and they have internet which you can use. It is safe and clean.

Taxis-They are very expensive in Juarez, so be careful and be prepared to pay a lot.

Food-Food at the holiday inn was also expensive, it was even more than the US. We also went to restaurants around the area and paid about $30 dollars for both of us. I think this is expensive for Mexico. If you eat in the mall, it's not too bad.

Taxi from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez-the cab ride from El paso airport to ciudad juarez was $45 dollars.

Mall-We went to Las Misiones mall which was nice, big and have a nice movie theater. This mall is far from the holiday inn and consulate area...about a $16 dollar cab ride. Ohh by the way, the new consulate is being built just across the street from this mall.

El Centro- We decided to go to church on Sunday, to the Cathedral. The mass was nice but I would not recommend going to el centro (down town Ciudad Juarez). It did not look safe at all. People looked kind of evil and the men there stared at you...it was not cool. My husband decided we should head back to the hotel and not look around, cause it did not look like a safe place to be. We didn't go out at night, just during day time.

If any of you have any questions let me know. I will gladly answer your questions and concerns.

Best of luck to all of you.

Congratulations to both of you! I am so glad it all went very well.

congrats:)

Congratulations

i got a question about this point of entry stamp. i read some reviews that people have to go a few miles out of juarez to get this stamp after they get the visa. does anyone know if this is required even though you wont be leaving mexico that day. btw, my fiance and her daughter will be leaving 2 months after they get the visa.

I don't know what that's all about. My husband left out of Mexico City a few months after he went to Juarez and didn't go in search of any stamp while he was there.

Will my fiancee have any problems going to Juarez by herself? She is scared but the flight for me to accompany her to Juarez would cost something like 6 to 800 dollars and we want to save that for AOS. Our plan is for her to fly to Juarez on a Monday and get situated and pay the Banamex visa fee the first day. Second day, Tuesday, handle the medical procedure and pick up the results. Wednesday, day three, have the visa appointment and hopefully pass. Then either fly to Michigan the same night or wait until Thursday, which would be the fourth day. Do you think she can handle everything by herself?

There's no reason she shouldn't be able to. Just tell her to be careful and not wander at night by herself. She doesn't need you there for anything, and they won't let you into the embassy or the medical, no matter what. You'll just be sitting around going crazy for two days.

You only have to do this if El Paso will be your POE. It does say on the packet from the consulate which bridge to go to but again it is only if El Paso will be your POE.

thanks for clearing that up gaby and talber. i was a lil confused on that. was getting worried bout one more thing i wasn't gonna be prepared for. 3 more weeks and were off to juarez!!

I plan to fly my fiancee from Acapulco to Juarez on Monday, the 31st of March. That is two weeks from this Monday. But I still haven't gotten packet 3 so hopefully it comes soon.

gate..dont forget to send her the invitation that you will recieve in the packet. she will need to show that when she gets there.

thegreatgate,

When your fiance goes to Juarez, you may want to send a letter with her. When Juan went to Juarez, I was unable to attend the interview with him. I followed the advice of kitkat (boy, do we miss her) and sent him with a letter explaining that financial and work obligations did not permit me to make the trip to Juarez. I also added that this should not be misinterpreted as a lack of support for my fiance and that we planned on marrying within 90 days entry to the U.S. This was a good idea because Juan was asked if I was there during his interview and he showed the CO the letter I sent him.

sanfranguy,
The bridge crossing is put on there to avoid all visas issued in Juarez to be going into the U.S. from the same port of entry. If everyone granted visas in Juarez were to enter thru the same place, there would be too many people. So they do this to even out the flow of ppl.

Can you pay the visa fee at any Banamex bank at anytime? Or does it have to be in Juarez?

Just getting the Juarez thread at the front of the pack, I dislike when it is on the third page. (Ignore this post.)

Hey greatgate- I agree, I dislike it when this thread isn't at the beginning!

Anyway, I posted a question in the K-1 Forum, but it seems that no one wants to answer my question, so here it is, hope you guys can help!!

Hey everyone,
I have a question about Part A, Question 10 of the I-129F. My citizenship was acquired through birth in the U.S. The next part says "Give number of certificate, date and place it was issued." Now- I know on the example form here it says just to include that if your citizenship was acquired through naturalization, but is that correct? I feel like I should put a number of my certificate (although it has a million numbers on it so I'm not really sure what number I woudl use anyway...) I just want to make sure that if I leave it blank, that won't cause an RFE. What did you do?? Thanks in advance for your help!

Thank you

I saw your question in the PORTALS tab but didn't answer cause I am not 100% sure. But from what I remember, all you do is check the box stating that you acquired citizenship through birth, you don't list a number or a date or a place issued, you just check the box.

Hi there, if your citizenship was acquired though birth in the US just check the box that says "Birth in the US". You only need to put a certificate number if you were naturalized, which is not your case. I was born in the US an I just checked the Birth in the US box, and the application was approved. My husband is here with me now. So don't worry about putting numbers in there.

Wednesday will be 3 weeks since Juarez has received my stuff. I hope they get p3 to me by the end of next week cause I'm planning for a trip to Juarez the 31st.

I am posting this question for a friend of mine. When they called the consulate in Juarez they were told they had to wait for Packet 3 to arrive and then also for Packet 4 which has their appointment date. They are applying for the fiance visa. I know before you could go to the consulate for the interview once you know the consulate has your paperwork. However, when her fiance called the Consulate, he was told he had to wait for Packet 3 and then also for Packet 4 which would have his interview date and time. Did Juarez change its policy?

There is no packet 4, only packet 3. There is no predetermined date and time, it is open appointments.

you will only get one packet. In my case my fiance in mexico never recieved a packet. I received it instead. It contained instructions on wich docs needed, medical exam info and where to go , and the invitation letter that you will need to bring too. So if the person in mexico does not recieve anything dont have them worry. The u.s citizen will get it. They can have everything prepared before that arrives so you wont waste no time. All you need is the invitation and you can go any day of the week.

oops not any day...monday through friday.

Does anyone know if I can pay the visa fee $131 in Acapulco, MX or does it need to be paid ONLY in Juarez????

We also wondered about paying the visa fee in my husband's hometown, but decided against it. We just didn't want to risk it or having to pay the visa fee once again in Juarez.

Main reason I ask is because we want to only stay in Juarez 3 days. Day 1 we will arrive in the afternoon and the bank will be closed. Day 2 will be for the medical appointment (DO YOU THINK WE WILL HAVE TIME TO MAKE IT TO THE BANK THE SAME DAY AS THE MEDICAL APPT???) And day 3 of course will be for the actual visa interview. Then we will take off either the same day as receiving the visa or first thing in the morning.