Advice for K1 for couples who were never married & no children

[loving_gabriela 0]

Since Jeel and I just went through this process ourselves I thought it would be nice to offer help to those who's situation is similar to ours. First of all we both fit into the topic title. Both single never married and both being childless(for the moment!) When we decided to go for the K1 we had no idea where to start or what to do. After doing alot of research there are many options and places to find info. VJ is a great place to start. Use the K1 guide and things will go pretty smoothly. For those who are considering using a lawyer i can't make the choice for you but i would offer my advice that it is not needed. If you have no ex-wife or no children then i would say a lawyer is a waste of money. Also regarding the proof of relationship issues, I sent in a decent amount. I would say i sent 8-10 emails varrying in dates (a few from each year that we have known eachother) I also sent in a few phone bills using the same date range, photocopies of some cards and handwritten letters jeel sent to me, 7 photos of us together during my visit there(family and landmarks in the pics are a plus). I also included copies of my plane ticket stubs and travel details. It seems that once you get to the interview if you sent enough proof with your original petition not much will be needed once there. They did not ask Jeel to produce one single piece of evidence. Please also remember to include photocopies of every single page of your passport(page 1-28) & photocopy of front and back of your birth certificate. You will also need to include a cover letter and a letter of intent to marry from both you and your fiance(e). My last piece of advice is to be patient and to be supportive to eachother during your waiting period. It is hard enough having to go through all this red tape just to be with the one you love in the first place, No need to make it even harder or more stressful. If you are the USC you might want to start making a list of places in your area that you would want to take your fiance(e). Remember, all the places you are used to seeing everyday will be virgin territory for them! Also you can start preparing your home for their arrival as a way to pass the time. I did alot of reorganizing and shopping to make my home more comfortable for Jeel when she arrives. (I had to lose my bachelor pad appearance and make it more lady friendly) . Rest assured, it is a worthwhile experience. If you have any questions that i failed to answer here please ask. If i can't answer it there are plenty of others here who can! Good luck and God bless!!

[PB&JAM 1]

Great advice! Thanks for sharing!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Since Jeel and I just went through this process ourselves I thought it would be nice to offer help to those who's situation is similar to ours. First of all we both fit into the topic title. Both single never married and both being childless(for the moment!) When we decided to go for the K1 we had no idea where to start or what to do. After doing alot of research there are many options and places to find info. VJ is a great place to start. Use the K1 guide and things will go pretty smoothly. For those who are considering using a lawyer i can't make the choice for you but i would offer my advice that it is not needed. If you have no ex-wife or no children then i would say a lawyer is a waste of money. Also regarding the proof of relationship issues, I sent in a decent amount. I would say i sent 8-10 emails varrying in dates (a few from each year that we have known eachother) I also sent in a few phone bills using the same date range, photocopies of some cards and handwritten letters jeel sent to me, 7 photos of us together during my visit there(family and landmarks in the pics are a plus). I also included copies of my plane ticket stubs and travel details. It seems that once you get to the interview if you sent enough proof with your original petition not much will be needed once there. They did not ask Jeel to produce one single piece of evidence. Please also remember to include photocopies of every single page of your passport(page 1-28) & photocopy of front and back of your birth certificate. You will also need to include a cover letter and a letter of intent to marry from both you and your fiance(e). My last piece of advice is to be patient and to be supportive to eachother during your waiting period. It is hard enough having to go through all this red tape just to be with the one you love in the first place, No need to make it even harder or more stressful. If you are the USC you might want to start making a list of places in your area that you would want to take your fiance(e). Remember, all the places you are used to seeing everyday will be virgin territory for them! Also you can start preparing your home for their arrival as a way to pass the time. I did alot of reorganizing and shopping to make my home more comfortable for Jeel when she arrives. (I had to lose my bachelor pad appearance and make it more lady friendly) . Rest assured, it is a worthwhile experience. If you have any questions that i failed to answer here please ask. If i can't answer it there are plenty of others here who can! Good luck and God bless!!

Yeah, and I suggest keeping them out of "Bed, Bath and Beyond!" I barely got Alla out of there in time for the AOS interview.

Thanks and good luck

[crazymazy 0]

On the passport copies - do you take copies of even blank pages ?

We are just starting this process of the K-1 and are in the steps of gathering paper work for the initial send in.

Another question - we are both single w/ no kids involved but I have been divorced in the USA - do I need to send in copies of the whole divorce decree ? Or just top page ?

Thanks in advance

[Marina-Del 10]

On the passport copies - do you take copies of even blank pages ?

We are just starting this process of the K-1 and are in the steps of gathering paper work for the initial send in.

Another question - we are both single w/ no kids involved but I have been divorced in the USA - do I need to send in copies of the whole divorce decree ? Or just top page ?

Thanks in advance

Your first question, "do you have to include copies of all pages, including blank ones?", has two answers!

1. If you are using your passport to prove your American citizenship, then YES, INCLUDE ALL PAGES, INCLUDING THE BLANK ONES. The directions say to include copies of ALL pages of your passport. This means, all pages! Instead of the passport, you can use your birth certificate.

2. If you are using your passport to prove you have traveled to see your fiancee, then NO. In this case you only need to include the pages that have the appropriate stamps. (for example, we made copies of both my passport and my fiancees passport -we had traveled and lived together in several different countries. Then we circled the relevent stamps in each passport, numbered the stamps and made a key! Like Marina stamp 1. This is when I traveled to Austria in 2004 and met my fiancee. Dave stamp 1. This is a stamp from two days earlier when Dave entered Austria. --this showed that we were in fact in the same place at the same time! You can't fake passport stamps!!! We had something like 10 coinciding passport stamps though as we had travelled together a lot.

Your second question, include copies of ALL PAGES of the divorce decree! No point in risking an RFE

[crazymazy 0]

Thanks Marina-Del for reply

[Laura+Tom 2]

In response to the original poster, my fiance (USC) is divorced and the process isn't any different for those that have been divorced. You just need to provide a copy of the divorce decree with the petition. And if it's the beneficiary that's divorced they may need to show previous marriage certificates at the visa interview to show any name changes.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Laura+Tom

[manumoney 0]

This is a great advice and I have to agree that long distance with the waiting period can be extremely hard.

My fiancee would sometimes get cranky over the phone, cause she is bored and specially on weekends when she has nothing to do: she would get frustrated and so would I. There has been severe arguments and fights, but then I realize that its all a period of communication gap: phone lines and skype's are not enough.

How did you handle arguments or any miscommunication. I mean- I am from US as well and sometimes its hard to have that good of a globally understandable emotional intelligence. Any Advice?

[loving_gabriela 0]

Hi guys and thaks for the added input Laura+Tom. Manumoney, to answer your question regarding how did we handle any arguments or miscommunication...well...We were lucky we didn't have to many times this happend but when it did happen i would not allow myself to get angry or upset. If Jeel needed to blow off some steam i would let her and then do my best to console her after. You have to really be on equal ground and be understanding that this can be stressful for each of you. If yer fiancee is having problems(being bored) maybe you can recomend to her to start compiling a list of friends and families phone # and address and also to start thinking about or listing those things she will be wanting to bring here to the states. It is never to early to start doing those things. It may seem like a long process but it will be interview time before yoy know it and then time to fly. I hope this might help! Good luck!

[L_0_V_E 0]

thank you for this post i kind of,, argue with my fiancee especially when im bored n the waiting is so long...