Is the K1 worth it for our situation?

[Mel&Bek 0]

Hello everyone.

I'd like to start by saying we are brand new to this site and a few people from a travel site suggested this site. We hope those people are correct about it helping us b/c this whole business that we don't fully understand gives us a headache.

Ok I'll try to keep this as short as humanly possible. I'm Mel (an American citizen) and my fiance is Bek (an Uzbek citizen). We meet while both working in the United Arab Emirates and fell in love. While there we applied for a tourist visa for him so he could see where I am from and meet my family. Unfortunately we were denied saying his ties to his home country were not strong enough.

Since then we have both left the UAE and spent this past summer '09 in Uzbekistan where I got to meet his family. Now we are living in Astana, Kazakhstan.

We plan to marry this summer 2010. I would like that to be in the USA. (Only my immediate family as to save all the money we'd spend on the honeymoon and a house somewhere). At the moment we are not intending on living in the USA after we get married. I like to live abroad and with the economy the way it is I think we are better off abroad for now. I know the fiance visa is for starting the immigration process but we aren't interested in that part. We really just want him to meet my family. But I think the tourist visa will never happen for us I feel the K1 is the only way to go.

HELP! Am I right or wrong? Do we have other options?

And after all the reading I have done about the visas...it looks like in order to file your K1 forms you must be in the USA? Is this true? Is there a way around this if you have a residence abroad. (I mean it's already 455 dollars for the application then a 1000 plus for a flight.)

THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE ME!

I was trying to contact immigration lawyers but they want nothing to do with people overseas.

Mel

[canadian_wife 1,831]

K-1 visa is for couples who plan on marrying in the US and having the beneficiary become a US resident. Since that is not your intention, why would you file a petition which will cost you hundreds of dollars to file and pursue if you don't intend on following it through?

I'd focus on having your fiance build as many ties to his home country as he can. It is about showing the CO why your fiance HAS to return to his country, not reasons for visiting the US

Good luck

[Mel&Bek 0]

K-1 visa is for couples who plan on marrying in the US and having the beneficiary become a US resident. Since that is not your intention, why would you file a petition which will cost you hundreds of dollars to file and pursue if you don't intend on following it through?

I'd focus on having your fiance build as many ties to his home country as he can. It is about showing the CO why your fiance HAS to return to his country, not reasons for visiting the US

Good luck

Thanks for your quick response but as we are not living in my fiance's home country I don't know how to make ties there. His family owns a restaurant...if they put that in his name will this help?

"Ties to his home country"seem to be children (which we don't have yet), a house which we can't afford yet, a great job, which he'll have to be with for at least 5 years...We are young and don't have our lives all set up yet...which I actually like we can travel more easily. But getting him to meet my family is becoming really difficult and upsetting experience . One day we might want to reside in the USA but like I said we are young and enjoying our youth.

(The K1 visa is 455 dollars and the tourist is like 256) 200 bucks to relieve our suffering is worth it.

[JimVaPhuong 4,865]

Hello everyone.

I'd like to start by saying we are brand new to this site and a few people from a travel site suggested this site. We hope those people are correct about it helping us b/c this whole business that we don't fully understand gives us a headache.

Ok I'll try to keep this as short as humanly possible. I'm Mel (an American citizen) and my fiance is Bek (an Uzbek citizen). We meet while both working in the United Arab Emirates and fell in love. While there we applied for a tourist visa for him so he could see where I am from and meet my family. Unfortunately we were denied saying his ties to his home country were not strong enough.

Since then we have both left the UAE and spent this past summer '09 in Uzbekistan where I got to meet his family. Now we are living in Astana, Kazakhstan.

We plan to marry this summer 2010. I would like that to be in the USA. (Only my immediate family as to save all the money we'd spend on the honeymoon and a house somewhere). At the moment we are not intending on living in the USA after we get married. I like to live abroad and with the economy the way it is I think we are better off abroad for now. I know the fiance visa is for starting the immigration process but we aren't interested in that part. We really just want him to meet my family. But I think the tourist visa will never happen for us I feel the K1 is the only way to go.

HELP! Am I right or wrong? Do we have other options?

And after all the reading I have done about the visas...it looks like in order to file your K1 forms you must be in the USA? Is this true? Is there a way around this if you have a residence abroad. (I mean it's already 455 dollars for the application then a 1000 plus for a flight.)

THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE ME!

I was trying to contact immigration lawyers but they want nothing to do with people overseas.

Mel

The K1 visa was not designed for what you describe, but technically it could work. Once the visa was issued, it would only be valid for a 90 day stay in the US. You could get married during that 90 day period, and then return abroad. However, your husband would not be able to return to the US without going through the visa process all over again, next time with a CR1 visa application. This seems like a monumental amount of work to do just to get around not being able to get a tourist visa. But, if you both have wanderlust, then you may not ever establish the "ties" that a US consulate would need to see in order to issue a tourist visa.

If you wanted to overcome the tourist visa problem once and for all then your husband should get his US citizenship. After that, you'd both be able to come and go as you please. This would require that you stay in the US after getting married and file for a green card, and then spend at least half of the next 3 years living in the US until he becomes eligible to apply for citizenship. There are requirements of both continuous residence and continuous presence in the US to apply for citizenship, but once he had his citizenship he would never again need a visa to enter the US.

If the wedding is the ONLY reason you expect him to ever come to the US then perhaps you might consider arranging to have the wedding in a third country like Mexico, and have your family in the US meet you there for the wedding.

You can file the I-129F petition from abroad, but you do have to submit it to the USCIS service center in the US that services the location where you last resided in the US. You can't file the petition at a US embassy or consulate abroad.

[aiwa311975 0]

goodluck

[Old Dominion 26]

All things considered, just put the tourist visa idea out of your minds. Marrying in a third country, e.g., Mexico, seems to fit your plans best. Of,if you are willing to just get married wherever you are, can your family come there to be with you?

[Mel&Bek 0]

All things considered, just put the tourist visa idea out of your minds. Marrying in a third country, e.g., Mexico, seems to fit your plans best. Of,if you are willing to just get married wherever you are, can your family come there to be with you?

That's the problem...my family doesn't have the cash for that at the moment. My parents are retiring and trying to sell their house that isn't going anywhere fast. So at the moment my family can not afford this. But it does seem the best option now. (I have to say I'm very disappointed.)

You can't help who you fall in love with but if you are American...it's a lot easier if they are too. haha.

[sara..... 371]

All things considered, just put the tourist visa idea out of your minds. Marrying in a third country, e.g., Mexico, seems to fit your plans best. Of,if you are willing to just get married wherever you are, can your family come there to be with you?

That's the problem...my family doesn't have the cash for that at the moment. My parents are retiring and trying to sell their house that isn't going anywhere fast. So at the moment my family can not afford this. But it does seem the best option now. (I have to say I'm very disappointed.)

You can't help who you fall in love with but if you are American...it's a lot easier if they are too. haha.

its almost impossible to get a tourist visa from some counties also u would have to show u live in the USA to get the k1 some people have ran into trouble on that one if they have been living over seas for many years.......if it was possible i would suggest that ur family go to u or as someone else said Mexico is a great alternative...maybe there is some way they could get a loan from the bank for a trip to Mexico?

wish i had better information for u

sara

[D&R 0]

K-1 visa is for couples who plan on marrying in the US and having the beneficiary become a US resident. Since that is not your intention, why would you file a petition which will cost you hundreds of dollars to file and pursue if you don't intend on following it through?

I'd focus on having your fiance build as many ties to his home country as he can. It is about showing the CO why your fiance HAS to return to his country, not reasons for visiting the US

Good luck

Thanks for your quick response but as we are not living in my fiance's home country I don't know how to make ties there. His family owns a restaurant...if they put that in his name will this help?

"Ties to his home country"seem to be children (which we don't have yet), a house which we can't afford yet, a great job, which he'll have to be with for at least 5 years...We are young and don't have our lives all set up yet...which I actually like we can travel more easily. But getting him to meet my family is becoming really difficult and upsetting experience . One day we might want to reside in the USA but like I said we are young and enjoying our youth.

(The K1 visa is 455 dollars and the tourist is like 256) 200 bucks to relieve our suffering is worth it.

K1 is at least about $2000 once you factor in everything else, You have to adjust your status once you're married , and that's $1010 alone.

[thepizzadude 26]

Give them the $$ your planning on using for a a visa and let them come visit you.

[pushbrk 14,560]

Hello everyone.

I'd like to start by saying we are brand new to this site and a few people from a travel site suggested this site. We hope those people are correct about it helping us b/c this whole business that we don't fully understand gives us a headache.

Ok I'll try to keep this as short as humanly possible. I'm Mel (an American citizen) and my fiance is Bek (an Uzbek citizen). We meet while both working in the United Arab Emirates and fell in love. While there we applied for a tourist visa for him so he could see where I am from and meet my family. Unfortunately we were denied saying his ties to his home country were not strong enough.

Since then we have both left the UAE and spent this past summer '09 in Uzbekistan where I got to meet his family. Now we are living in Astana, Kazakhstan.

We plan to marry this summer 2010. I would like that to be in the USA. (Only my immediate family as to save all the money we'd spend on the honeymoon and a house somewhere). At the moment we are not intending on living in the USA after we get married. I like to live abroad and with the economy the way it is I think we are better off abroad for now. I know the fiance visa is for starting the immigration process but we aren't interested in that part. We really just want him to meet my family. But I think the tourist visa will never happen for us I feel the K1 is the only way to go.

HELP! Am I right or wrong? Do we have other options?

And after all the reading I have done about the visas...it looks like in order to file your K1 forms you must be in the USA? Is this true? Is there a way around this if you have a residence abroad. (I mean it's already 455 dollars for the application then a 1000 plus for a flight.)

THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE ME!

I was trying to contact immigration lawyers but they want nothing to do with people overseas.

Mel

With your set of circumstances, the K1 is the only way you're going to have a legal wedding in the USA. You COULD marry abroad and use the K3 visa path. This would allow your husband to enter and exit the USA as frequently as desired for two years. If he's not ready to immigrate by then, you can extend the visa for another two years. This would allow a ceremony or other celebration in the USA but you would already be married.

A Uzbek is not going to get tourist visa to the USA without extremely strong ties to his home country, like leaving children and lots of money behind.