How long until we can travel internationally after approval?

[TBoneTX 43,057]

*** Thread is moved from K-1 Process forum to the Working & Traveling forum -- topic involves travel. ***

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

If all things fail, honeymoon can be postponed to a later date. I've seen couples taking honeymoon a year after their wedding.

[3rd 84]

We had our legal wedding in Vegas, it had always been where I wanted to get married (being from the UK, it was a novelty whereas here it's not seen as such). But we both knew that we wanted a proper wedding ceremony with all our family in time. But because you have to get so much together for the AOS and not knowing when you'll get approved (or even if), it has never been worth the risk of planning something huge to be let down. Our plan was to have our family wedding on our anniversary, but it's not a cheap thing to organise, especially if you actually want your family to all be there. Plans change, just try not to spend money on something that might end up having to be cancelled or re-arranged. There's plenty of time, all that matters is being with your loved one.

Edited February 11, 2016 by 3rd

[Loki_Go 126]

I also had about a month of going through culture shock and if I had work on preparing the AOS during that awful time I think it would have broke me lol.

[Dohan 133]

Just so you get the idea, it took us a month after hubby entered to get together the money for AOS and all the documents. He entered June 4, 2015, we got married June 11, 2015 and submitted AOS docs first week of July. We then had an RFE to which it took 2 weeks to respond and EAD/AP combo arrived September 8th about. Because I am nuts we had our wedding ceremony with guests and family September 27th, 2015. I had about 4 months to really plan and planning kicked into mad house the month before the wedding. IT IS WAY TOO INTENSE! It was beautiful and etc but way too tight of a schedule. Luckily he got his green card about second week of December so we got lucky and did not have to use the AP card at all when we traveled for, wait for it, a second wedding in India. lol Yes I know, madness. Our friends make fun of us saying we are married in every way possible

Give yourself at least 7 leisurely months to plan, believe me it will be worth it. That being said, I think it helped a lot with AOS that we submitted out save the date cards with the application and 2 months of bills, as well as credit cards in both names. We only got our joint bank account in October so we never submitted that evidence.

You can make save the date cards without putting an actual date : Save the date X and Y are getting married May 2017. We also submitted A LOT of photos with both sides of the family, about 20 for the AOS.

[Amhara 460]

I count ourselves fortunate that we were able to file our AOS within a month of my husband's arrival. We filed it as soon as we were able to get the certified marriage license copies (which we picked up the same day we picked up our marriage certificate). We had started planning for the AOS fee soon after his arrival and I had to stagger how we paid for it.

Two things that I would like to add here is that you don't need an SSN to add your foreign spouse to your bank accounts. Some banks may give you a problem over this, but ours didn't. Another thing is that you don't need to provide proof of relationship with the AOS. The only thing we sent was information about the health insurance (as proof with the affidavit of support - not required), then later I had to send a follow up letter to correct his name. We sent a copy of his Sam's Club card and his limited term drivers license. These last two are also not required in AOS.

See if he can travel to somewhere like the US Virgin Islands, Hawaii, or the Florida Keys. Don't try to push your luck too much. An RFE an jack up your whole timeline and honeymoon plans! There have been people that have received RFE's for items that they had previously sent, so sending everything in the guides and checklists is not a guarantee that you won't get an RFE.

[Pennycat 880]

Just so you get the idea, it took us a month after hubby entered to get together the money for AOS and all the documents. He entered June 4, 2015, we got married June 11, 2015 and submitted AOS docs first week of July. We then had an RFE to which it took 2 weeks to respond and EAD/AP combo arrived September 8th about. Because I am nuts we had our wedding ceremony with guests and family September 27th, 2015. I had about 4 months to really plan and planning kicked into mad house the month before the wedding. IT IS WAY TOO INTENSE! It was beautiful and etc but way too tight of a schedule. Luckily he got his green card about second week of December so we got lucky and did not have to use the AP card at all when we traveled for, wait for it, a second wedding in India. lol Yes I know, madness. Our friends make fun of us saying we are married in every way possible

Give yourself at least 7 leisurely months to plan, believe me it will be worth it. That being said, I think it helped a lot with AOS that we submitted out save the date cards with the application and 2 months of bills, as well as credit cards in both names. We only got our joint bank account in October so we never submitted that evidence.

You can make save the date cards without putting an actual date : Save the date X and Y are getting married May 2017. We also submitted A LOT of photos with both sides of the family, about 20 for the AOS.

Totally with you here. And 7 months is considered quick in the wedding industry (which I think is insane but that's a whole other topic). I think I got ours all planned in 3 or 4 months (I didn't sign a single thing date-wise until he was already through POE but I did start contacting people/vendors with possible mid to late January dates). NOT A GOOD IDEA. Even for someone a bit low key about the whole thing. Admittedly, it's partly my fault because I let basically everyone else dictate what my wedding "should" be like and of course that "should" was a LOT more complicated than I'd pictured. And of course that "everyone else" didn't lift a finger to actually, you know, HELP. Even as simple as "hey mom can you print out, sign and scan this contract to the florist that you insisted I hire? I don't have a printer/scanner at home and I really can't do wedding stuff during office hours, and I'd really rather not have to ride my bike to Kinkos today. It's 35 degrees and rainy". Well that turned into, a week later, an email from the coordinator "the florist is about to walk. she hasn't been paid and doesn't even have a contract, she's not going to hold your date based on her friendship with me alone". This is seriously just one example of a thrice weekly occurrence. Then add in RSVPs and the registry (I didn't want one, didn't have time to make one, got arm twisted into doing one so now suddenly I had to design and furnish my entire house too), and oh yeah learning how to live with someone for the first time in my life while acclimating them to a whole new country and culture and language. While working two jobs. It was a niiiiighhhhtmare.

Seriously, unless you don't work full time or if have someone you can *actually count on* to basically be your secretary for 3 months (not a wedding planner, they don't generally sign contracts and make deposits for you), and who you trust with your credit card numbers and other money stuff or if you plain old don't care about design choices (colors, lighting, flowers, decor etc) and don't want a bridal party (don't even get me started about how otherwise reasonable people become completely needy tyrants when you ask them to just go pick out a nice dress they like. Seriously. Weddings make people CRAZY)..... then MAYBE you'd have a better time planning a wedding in 3 months than I did. It was a go. We were mostly all set (mostly meaning I still had a box full of stuff to hand over to the wedding coordinator-- stuff from my house to use in table decorations) by Thursday morning, which is when both venues and the caterer cancelled both Saturday and Sunday (our contingency plan had been to push to Sunday. Our contingency plan fell through). So it can be done. But it won't be pretty.

Edited February 11, 2016 by CatherineA

[mshanga 0]

Thanks for everyones responses! They've been really helpful. Although the wedding / travel plans are very important to me, I'm mostly worried about that three month or more interim where he will be unable to work while we wait for AP / EAD. I'm a recent grad, still looking for work (using parents as co-sponsors for K1) and he is a software developer who has been working for several years. It's safe to say he's the 'breadwinner' at this point in our lives, so I'm just concerned for our financial well-being while he is unable to work / apply for work here. I know it's a little off topic, but can any of you give me your experiences regarding work and what you or your fiance did during this time period?

Thanks!!

[Pennycat 880]

Thanks for everyones responses! They've been really helpful. Although the wedding / travel plans are very important to me, I'm mostly worried about that three month or more interim where he will be unable to work while we wait for AP / EAD. I'm a recent grad, still looking for work (using parents as co-sponsors for K1) and he is a software developer who has been working for several years. It's safe to say he's the 'breadwinner' at this point in our lives, so I'm just concerned for our financial well-being while he is unable to work / apply for work here. I know it's a little off topic, but can any of you give me your experiences regarding work and what you or your fiance did during this time period?

Thanks!!

If he's able to arrange some time remote working for his current company, that could maybe help hold you over. I don't know much about this option so you'd have to ask others who have been there and done that but I think that it is either fine or a legal gray area *as long as the company has no US operations*.

Beyond that-- it's a really hard time of life and is the main drawback for the K1 visa. I'm sure you weighed your options but I just want to make sure that you know that with a spouse visa, he'd land with a green card and the ability to work and travel immediately. It takes longer but is overall less expensive and has that major perk to it.

For us-- I make a nice living already. Not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination but comfortable enough. Even so, I took on a second job (part time) at a retail store to afford the costs associated with traveling to Costa Rica all the time and then the costs of the visa and to support us during this time period. We have also retained my roommate until *at least* when my husband starts working. Not ideal, but a practical necessity unless we want to take on debt, which we don't. Do what you need to do. I never thought I'd have a master's degree and a very solid work history and still need to work nights and weekends at a low wage job, but you do what you need to do to get by and I'd rather make that sacrifice than move to a different neighborhood (the main issue is my apartment, its size and its location), or to limit Walter on the things he can do and the freedoms he can have during this period of time.

He takes English class 3 mornings per week and is starting volunteering at an animal shelter soon. He's gotten into toy drones, and tinkers with one he's gotten himself. Unfortunately, we're near DC and the no- fly zone here is positively GIANT so unless we take a weekend trip out the country, he's got no place to fly it. Had I more money and space, I'd have bought an old motorcycle that needs work and given him an allowance to fix it up and maybe sell it for a profit-- as far as I understand, there's no law against having a hobby and profiting form it (he's a mechanic -- it's his job and hobby) but even if I had extra money, I've got zero space in which to do mechanical repairs. But for the most part, he's pretty lonely and bored much of the time. It's hard. I knew it would be, and knew that K1 was still better for us. But not going to lie-- this is not an easy thing to go through.

[caliliving 606]

honestly, immigration it is hard and tough. It is a sit back and wait, put your life on hold type thing. You also need to come up with the money to pay for the immigration papers and then it is a waiting game. I would suggest

1-see if he can work remotely

2-see if he can volunteer/internship in his field. many companies in the USA want to see US based work experience.

3-save up as much as you/he can now. if he is in the UK that should be good because they have a strong dollar.

4-he can start applying for jobs and interviewing once you submit the AOS, because many companies take MONTHS to hire you (if it is in a good/desireable field which i assume software is). and if he gets hired, he can always tell them "i am waiting on my work permit'.

5-try searching and seeing what jobs/companies come up in the field that he is applying for - you may be surprised on the job/pay is alot different than the UK or a certain skillset is needed.

You can not plan anything. Anything can go wrong with your AOS application and you could receive multiple RFEs. Welcome to immigration!!! everything is so difficult to plan and coordinate when you are dealing with this. if you are that worried about working and finances i would really hold off on any honeymoon. The most important thing IMO is getting him legal and finding a job/getting a career path in place so you can have a comfortable life. a honeymoon should be at the bottom of your list.

If you are paying rent - make sure you can cover the rent for 6+ months or so once he arrives. Also, men eat ALOT more!!! If you go to the work section you will see many people have very very hard time finding jobs in america coming from a different country.

[3rd 84]

honestly, immigration it is hard and tough. It is a sit back and wait, put your life on hold type thing. You also need to come up with the money to pay for the immigration papers and then it is a waiting game. I would suggest

1-see if he can work remotely

2-see if he can volunteer/internship in his field. many companies in the USA want to see US based work experience.

3-save up as much as you/he can now. if he is in the UK that should be good because they have a strong dollar.

4-he can start applying for jobs and interviewing once you submit the AOS, because many companies take MONTHS to hire you (if it is in a good/desireable field which i assume software is). and if he gets hired, he can always tell them "i am waiting on my work permit'.

5-try searching and seeing what jobs/companies come up in the field that he is applying for - you may be surprised on the job/pay is alot different than the UK or a certain skillset is needed.

You can not plan anything. Anything can go wrong with your AOS application and you could receive multiple RFEs. Welcome to immigration!!! everything is so difficult to plan and coordinate when you are dealing with this. if you are that worried about working and finances i would really hold off on any honeymoon. The most important thing IMO is getting him legal and finding a job/getting a career path in place so you can have a comfortable life. a honeymoon should be at the bottom of your list.

If you are paying rent - make sure you can cover the rent for 6+ months or so once he arrives. Also, men eat ALOT more!!! If you go to the work section you will see many people have very very hard time finding jobs in america coming from a different country.

I don't think you're allowed to intern. I was researching after we'd sent off our application so I could maybe get a foothold into something before I looked for a full-time job. Basically, anything that could lead to a job offer is off the cards so that rules out internships. As for volunteering, I can't be certain but I think that might be a very grey area.

But just get ready to have a lot to get used to. It's going to be hard to adjust for a while. Even though the UK and the US share the same language, there have been so many cultural differences I've had to get used to that I didn't think would be a problem. You'd be surprised how little growing up with American TV shows acquaints you with living here. Luckily I was already freelancing before I ever came to the US, so it was simple for me to keep doing that as I was working for clients back home. If there's any possibly way your husband can remotely work, then I'd highly suggest this just to keep his sanity. The wait is the most infuriating thing!

[Pennycat 880]

I don't think you're allowed to intern. I was researching after we'd sent off our application so I could maybe get a foothold into something before I looked for a full-time job. Basically, anything that could lead to a job offer is off the cards so that rules out internships. As for volunteering, I can't be certain but I think that might be a very grey area.

But just get ready to have a lot to get used to. It's going to be hard to adjust for a while. Even though the UK and the US share the same language, there have been so many cultural differences I've had to get used to that I didn't think would be a problem. You'd be surprised how little growing up with American TV shows acquaints you with living here. Luckily I was already freelancing before I ever came to the US, so it was simple for me to keep doing that as I was working for clients back home. If there's any possibly way your husband can remotely work, then I'd highly suggest this just to keep his sanity. The wait is the most infuriating thing!

It's fine. It needs to be with a non-profit organization (501©(3)) and it must not be for the expectation or promise of eventually having a paid position with the organization-- aka an actual volunteer job not some sneaky work-around. He's exercising dogs at the local shelter-- he loves dogs, it gets him out of the house and he can practice his English in a non-threatening or intimidating environment. Win-win-win. I did a lot of research on this, and I specifically asked during our interview (with the Vice Counsel at the consulate who had mentioned for like the 3rd time that he can't work until we have EAD) and he said "yes of course" and then wrote down some places in our area to check out (he lived near where we do when he was posted to DC).

[JR loves JR 196]

If I had it to do over again, my husband and I would have gone on a two week road trip for a honeymoon... No hotel reservations needed if you pack a tent for a backup plan. He really wants to see more of the USA than the three states he's been to. Also he was so bored by the time he could work that it would have been good for both of us. And now that he works he doesn't have much vacation time so any crazy adventure will have to wait. I'd also be sure to have his resume ready to go about day 75 of the wait for EAD (if no RFE received) and we'd start applying without the approval in hand. I've never heard of any K-1 being denied EAD or AP while their AOS was pending.

As for your original question, the fastest way to do it is to start the AOS paperwork now. Be sure not to sign it and to mark any areas that you need to fill in later. I had my husband's papers ready for him when he got here (and that included the application for a social security number which he received three weeks after arriving). (And if your fiancé is under 26 when he arrives be sure to have him register for the selective service but that doesn't need to be done in the fiat few months) We spent 4 hours the week after our wedding double checking everything before sending it in. We only submitted the wedding certificate and one joint bank statement... no RFE and no interview approved 8 months later.

Good luck

Edited February 12, 2016 by JR loves JR

[mshanga 0]

honestly, immigration it is hard and tough. It is a sit back and wait, put your life on hold type thing. You also need to come up with the money to pay for the immigration papers and then it is a waiting game. I would suggest

1-see if he can work remotely

2-see if he can volunteer/internship in his field. many companies in the USA want to see US based work experience.

3-save up as much as you/he can now. if he is in the UK that should be good because they have a strong dollar.

4-he can start applying for jobs and interviewing once you submit the AOS, because many companies take MONTHS to hire you (if it is in a good/desireable field which i assume software is). and if he gets hired, he can always tell them "i am waiting on my work permit'.

5-try searching and seeing what jobs/companies come up in the field that he is applying for - you may be surprised on the job/pay is alot different than the UK or a certain skillset is needed.

You can not plan anything. Anything can go wrong with your AOS application and you could receive multiple RFEs. Welcome to immigration!!! everything is so difficult to plan and coordinate when you are dealing with this. if you are that worried about working and finances i would really hold off on any honeymoon. The most important thing IMO is getting him legal and finding a job/getting a career path in place so you can have a comfortable life. a honeymoon should be at the bottom of your list.

If you are paying rent - make sure you can cover the rent for 6+ months or so once he arrives. Also, men eat ALOT more!!! If you go to the work section you will see many people have very very hard time finding jobs in america coming from a different country.

Thanks for your reply, it's always good to hear multiple perspectives. In regards to him, he may possibly be able to work remotely through his current company, but I'm unsure about the legality of that. We are certainly saving a lot now, and we do think the three or more months would be a good time for him to interview for positions (if this is allowed??). We have an extremely good savings (built up by him mostly) but we are hoping not to blow through it during this period. We are considering living with my parents during this period of un-employment to save on costs. Also I can imagine that new immigrants have a very difficult time finding positions, but in our case I'm quite optimistic based on his past experience (working as a software developer in London, educated at Oxford University). Do you think that it's right for me to be optimistic in this regard?

[mshanga 0]

If I had it to do over again, my husband and I would have gone on a two week road trip for a honeymoon... No hotel reservations needed if you pack a tent for a backup plan. He really wants to see more of the USA than the three states he's been to. Also he was so bored by the time he could work that it would have been good for both of us. And now that he works he doesn't have much vacation time so any crazy adventure will have to wait. I'd also be sure to have his resume ready to go about day 75 of the wait for EAD (if no RFE received) and we'd start applying without the approval in hand. I've never heard of any K-1 being denied EAD or AP while their AOS was pending.

As for your original question, the fastest way to do it is to start the AOS paperwork now. Be sure not to sign it and to mark any areas that you need to fill in later. I had my husband's papers ready for him when he got here (and that included the application for a social security number which he received three weeks after arriving). (And if your fiancé is under 26 when he arrives be sure to have him register for the selective service but that doesn't need to be done in the fiat few months) We spent 4 hours the week after our wedding double checking everything before sending it in. We only submitted the wedding certificate and one joint bank statement... no RFE and no interview approved 8 months later.

Good luck

Thanks for your advice as well! It's good to hear that you can just submit those two documents and not have any issues with AOS. He is 27, so does that mean that he doesn't need to sign up for selective service?

Thanks!