Student marrying an Australian citizen

[BelleSade 3]

Hello everyone, new here, hopefully I can find some answers!

I'm a student in Puerto Rico (a US territory, so I have a US citizenship) and I got engaged to an Australian man.

Here's my issue. We're applying for the K-1 visa. Problem? He planned to come visit me in July (under the visa waiver program), already has a ticket, etc. I was told that he must be abroad while we apply for the K1 visa. Is this true? Can I apply now and have him come here in July while it processes? We'd both hate to lose the money, but oh well.

And how long does the K1 take to process? I stupidly booked the venue and everything for December 22nd. Hoping I can get the visa by then.

Thank you everyone. :-D

[payxibka 10,044]

Hello everyone, new here, hopefully I can find some answers!

I'm a student in Puerto Rico (a US territory, so I have a US citizenship) and I got engaged to an Australian man.

Here's my issue. We're applying for the K-1 visa. Problem? He planned to come visit me in July (under the visa waiver program), already has a ticket, etc. I was told that he must be abroad while we apply for the K1 visa. Is this true? Can I apply now and have him come here in July while it processes? We'd both hate to lose the money, but oh well.

And how long does the K1 take to process? I stupidly booked the venue and everything for December 22nd. Hoping I can get the visa by then.

Thank you everyone. :-D

He needs be abroad to apply for the K-1 visa but he can be here (or anywhere) when you submit the I-129F petition

process can be 5-6 months. sometimes less, sometimes more

[Bernie C 24]

Hope this does not come across the wrong way but if you want to have hopes of hitting your December date you'll need to get on the ball quickly and get the petition submitted. Now this is going to sound like I'm contradicting myself because you also need to take your time and make sure everything is correct.

You should get started on the G325A and Letter of Intent from your finace since they should be originals signed and dated by him he will need to complete them and send them to you before you can submit the petition.

Have you checked out the guides here yet - it will be very helpful.

You can never be sure how quick or slow the processing will go but if used the three months average for NOA2 and submitted your petition right away you could be looking at sometime in August before he would be expecting to see packet 3 from the consulate. Just an example - cannot say this for sure.

Hope everything works out for you!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hello everyone, new here, hopefully I can find some answers!

I'm a student in Puerto Rico (a US territory, so I have a US citizenship) and I got engaged to an Australian man.

Here's my issue. We're applying for the K-1 visa. Problem? He planned to come visit me in July (under the visa waiver program), already has a ticket, etc. I was told that he must be abroad while we apply for the K1 visa. Is this true? Can I apply now and have him come here in July while it processes? We'd both hate to lose the money, but oh well.

And how long does the K1 take to process? I stupidly booked the venue and everything for December 22nd. Hoping I can get the visa by then.

Thank you everyone. :-D

He does NOT need to be abroad when you file. But but WILL need to make sure he's back before he gets an interview booked.

The process is you file a petition which will take around 3 months (sometimes more, sometimes less) to be approved. At that time the US government will send the file to Australia where they will email P3 (make sure you put an email address in where it asks). This will have your fiance take a medical exam, apply for a fingerprint police check and after sending in the other P3 documents he will be arranged an interview.

The process will take around 6 months in total. If you have already booked for December, I would try aim to make sure he is approved at the start of November (at least). To do that, you would need to count back around 7 months (just to be safe) and that is when you HAVE to have applied by which is basically now. This isn't definite because you can NEVER be sure of exact approval dates, but it's a good estimate as long as you have everything in order and get no RFE's.

Have your fiance send you what he needs to (see the guides) and send off the petition now. He can still visit in July, in fact, when you get the NOA1, send it to him so if he's questioned heavily at the border he can show it as proof you're doing it the right way (I hear this is the way people do it, I didn't visit while it was pending.. I was saving money!)

Also, please see the treads in my signature, a couple of which are Aussie specific information which should help when the process gets to Australia. Best of luck

Edited May 5, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[BelleSade 3]

Thanks! I was very concerned about him coming in July because I thought he couldn't be here, and waiting till he left in August would've been too late.

I'll start filling out everything :-S Wish me luck!

[BelleSade 3]

"He needs be abroad to apply for the K-1 visa but he can be here (or anywhere) when you submit the I-129F petition"

Sorry if I ask a bunch of stupid question, this is all very new and confusing to me but, isn't the application for the K-1 visa the I-129 itself? Aren't they the same thing?

"You should get started on the G325A and Letter of Intent from your finace since they should be originals signed and dated by him he will need to complete them and send them to you before you can submit the petition."

I have the G325A and am filling out as we speak. How do we get a letter of intent? Do we just go to a lawyer and get it signed or something?

I'm going to check out the guides with him tonight and he'll send me off everything by tomorrow.

Thanks again. :-) This is a wonderful site.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

"He needs be abroad to apply for the K-1 visa but he can be here (or anywhere) when you submit the I-129F petition"

Sorry if I ask a bunch of stupid question, this is all very new and confusing to me but, isn't the application for the K-1 visa the I-129 itself? Aren't they the same thing? No. You are petitioning the US government for permission for him to apply for the fiancee visa. When you get the NOA2 it is your approval for his permission to apply for a Visa. They will then send the information to his home country (in this case australia) where he will be sent P3 (packet 3) which contains the documents he needs to obtain to apply for his visa. So you are sending a PETITION, and once it's in Australia THEN it's called a Visa

"You should get started on the G325A and Letter of Intent from your finace since they should be originals signed and dated by him he will need to complete them and send them to you before you can submit the petition."

I have the G325A and am filling out as we speak. How do we get a letter of intent? Do we just go to a lawyer and get it signed or something? Here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/examples you can see the "fiancee letter of intent". Basically it's just a letter from you and another from him, to the US government stating your intent to marry in the 90 days. No need for a lawyer.

I'm going to check out the guides with him tonight and he'll send me off everything by tomorrow.

Thanks again. :-) This is a wonderful site.

Good luck again

[payxibka 10,044]

Sorry if I ask a bunch of stupid question, this is all very new and confusing to me but, isn't the application for the K-1 visa the I-129 itself? Aren't they the same thing?

No, they are quite different. I suggest you read the guides very carefully if you are going to do this yourself.

[BelleSade 3]

Okay, I read the guides, and we're starting this whole process. Already have the G325 and am working on the I-129F.

On the letter of intent, I saw in the example on this website that the address for the Deparment of Homeland security was listed. Am I mean to write the address of the service center that's going to process my case/petition?

Many thanks.