My K2 son. To come or not to come?

[amberlin 0]

This whole process cost really much and me and my fiancé is not rich so to speak. The K1 visa up to AOS especially AOS cost a lot to us for the fact that it'll gonna be two of us (K1 for me, K2 for my son) I know there's an option there that says the K2 can follow within a year, would that be a wise idea to just let my son follow within a year so that we can still have more time to save money for his AOS? Or would the cost just be the same if he'll come with me and we file together for our AOS? Please give me an idea on how to do this thing that can help us spend less at least.

[happywife 4]

if i'm wrong i do not think K2 has extra application fees when you two apply the visas together.it means pay for K1 and get k2 free.(k2 only pays its phyisical checking and interview),AOS has to pay seperatly.

Edited March 23, 2011 by happywife

[amberlin 0]

Really? I am from the Philippines and based on what I read we both need to pay $350 for the visa and another $$$ for our medical. I hope you're not wrong though

[Angela M. 2]

I am not sure how it works for the philippines but I am going to sens my 129f petition for my fiance and are kind of in the same situation. If we bring his daughter with him we need to pay her visa fee, medical, passport, and 635 for AOS (under 14). We do not have all that money for her now, so we are going to have her follow-to-join instead (although when we do we need to pay the entire AOS fee instead of the 635). (I think its 635 but I am not 100% sure) I say that if you have somone to leave your son with where he will be in god hands, do his process after you have saved up for it. This process take a toll into our pockets!!

(Remember, this is only advice. I am not saying you HAVE to do it this way but based on what you said, I feel it is better monetarily wise)

Good luck!!!

[pushbrk 14,454]

if i'm wrong i do not think K2 has extra application fees when you two apply the visas together.it means pay for K1 and get k2 free.(k2 only pays its phyisical checking and interview),AOS has to pay seperatly.

You ARE wrong. There's only one petition filing fee covering the K1 and K2 beneficiaries but each pays their own visa application fees prior to the interview and pays for their medical exams. Each also pays the adjustment of status fee except that children under 14 filing WITH their parent, get a discount.

[pushbrk 14,454]

This whole process cost really much and me and my fiancé is not rich so to speak. The K1 visa up to AOS especially AOS cost a lot to us for the fact that it'll gonna be two of us (K1 for me, K2 for my son) I know there's an option there that says the K2 can follow within a year, would that be a wise idea to just let my son follow within a year so that we can still have more time to save money for his AOS? Or would the cost just be the same if he'll come with me and we file together for our AOS? Please give me an idea on how to do this thing that can help us spend less at least.

Unless the child is old enough to travel to Manila alone to get their medical, attend the interview and get on the plane alone, following to join will mean an extra trip to the Philippines to assist and travel with the child. That extra expense within a year, may well outweigh any benefit. One option is to delay both interviews until the funds are available to pay the needed expenses.

[amberlin 0]

Unless the child is old enough to travel to Manila alone to get their medical, attend the interview and get on the plane alone, following to join will mean an extra trip to the Philippines to assist and travel with the child. That extra expense within a year, may well outweigh any benefit. One option is to delay both interviews until the funds are available to pay the needed expenses.

He is only 10 years old and cant travel alone yet. Will it be possible to schedule his medical and interview the same as mine even if he will just follow to the US within a year?

[amberlin 0]

I am not sure how it works for the philippines but I am going to sens my 129f petition for my fiance and are kind of in the same situation. If we bring his daughter with him we need to pay her visa fee, medical, passport, and 635 for AOS (under 14). We do not have all that money for her now, so we are going to have her follow-to-join instead (although when we do we need to pay the entire AOS fee instead of the 635). (I think its 635 but I am not 100% sure) I say that if you have somone to leave your son with where he will be in god hands, do his process after you have saved up for it. This process take a toll into our pockets!!

(Remember, this is only advice. I am not saying you HAVE to do it this way but based on what you said, I feel it is better monetarily wise)

Good luck!!!

so are you opt with the idea of letting her follow after your fiance within a year? Did you also consider that it might just be the same expense if your fiance will fly back and assist her daughter to the US? It might just be the same expense for me but at least it'll give me more time to save, unlike spending lots of $$$ all in the same time.

[jj1028 3]

I think it will cost more if the child will be left behind and follow within a year, as pushbrk said, u will have to make another trip within a year to get him from the PI, a roundtrip ticket for you, a one way ticket for the child, the expenses/fee to bring him to medical/interview and expenses while in the PI... plus his AOS by himself will be more expensive ($985 than $635 if filing with a parent) and i am not sure about removal of condition if you can include him with your removal or he has to do it by himself again since his conditional green card will be off by 1 year... maybe somebody here knows..

[amberlin 0]

I think it will cost more if the child will be left behind and follow within a year, as pushbrk said, u will have to make another trip within a year to get him from the PI, a roundtrip ticket for you, a one way ticket for the child, the expenses/fee to bring him to medical/interview and expenses while in the PI... plus his AOS by himself will be more expensive ($985 than $635 if filing with a parent) and i am not sure about removal of condition if you can include him with your removal or he has to do it by himself again since his conditional green card will be off by 1 year... maybe somebody here knows..

I got your point and seriously taking all your advices to ponder. The removal of condition for green card is how much? Though I think its nothing to worry about since it'll give us 2-year break from USCIS lol.

[baron555 934]

I got your point and seriously taking all your advices to ponder. The removal of condition for green card is how much? Though I think its nothing to worry about since it'll give us 2-year break from USCIS lol.

Maybe the best bet for you guys is withdraw the K-1 petition, save your money for ALL the expected costs, and then start the process from square one.

My concern is that if you're balking at the different visa/USCIS costs.....what about all those other costs that will be incurred with one or two people immigrating into a new country?

Those costs are tons more than what you will pay to USCIS.

[Angela M. 2]

so are you opt with the idea of letting her follow after your fiance within a year? Did you also consider that it might just be the same expense if your fiance will fly back and assist her daughter to the US? It might just be the same expense for me but at least it'll give me more time to save, unlike spending lots of $$$ all in the same time.

I do think it is better that way. By then both my fiance and I will be working and have stable living conditions before we bring his daughter over. Yes we will have to pay for his flight back but he lives in the Dominican Republic and flights are not as expensive. We also took into consideration that his daughter would be half way into the school year and would be nearly impossible to get her into the school system here (plus she does not know english).

All of this is what WE decided to do, I am not saying it is what is best for everyone. I personally think we need the time to get everything together and save up for her coming here and her part of the process. We do not have the money for it now and we are not going to further delay our marriage and being together because we do not have the money for her to come. His daughter will be with her mother, which is with whom she currently lives, and will still be in school. When she is approaching the end of the school year, we will file for her and get her over here in time for school registration and set her up for english classes for the summer.

In the end you need to do what is best for you and your son. For us, it is best to do it this way because we do not want her falling behind in school and we do not want to struggle financially.

Once again, it is what WE have decided. What I offer is my fiance's and I point of view, it is not for anyone to criticize our decisions or way of thinking. (This is not meant for you OP.)

[happyblessedme 12]

This whole process cost really much and me and my fiancé is not rich so to speak. The K1 visa up to AOS especially AOS cost a lot to us for the fact that it'll gonna be two of us (K1 for me, K2 for my son) I know there's an option there that says the K2 can follow within a year, would that be a wise idea to just let my son follow within a year so that we can still have more time to save money for his AOS? Or would the cost just be the same if he'll come with me and we file together for our AOS? Please give me an idea on how to do this thing that can help us spend less at least.

It is really up to you. The follow to join is one option but still u will have to pay separate visa fee. medical fee and etc. etc.

I thought about that before i came here . But i am not recommending this to u. I came here on a K1 visa and i decided to wait for a year and a half before our 2nd wedding anniversary before we filed the I-130 for my kids that way when they come here they will have the immigrant (IR2) visa and no Adjustment of status and no removal of condition which saves us a lot of $$$ coz i have 2 kids. I went home though to get them so i had 1 round trip and 2 1 way ticket which is still cheaper for me than AOS and ROC.

Like i said if u want the child to be with u soonest but can't afford yet. u can have the follow to join ( but not sure if u can get a good paying job right away once u get here).

Ur child at 10 can fly by himself with airlines pesonnel assistance but there will be a lot of paper works to do that.

[pushbrk 14,454]

He is only 10 years old and cant travel alone yet. Will it be possible to schedule his medical and interview the same as mine even if he will just follow to the US within a year?

No. If he gets medical and visa at the same time as you, his visa will be good for only 6 months from the date of the medical, just like yours. This is an expensive process but the travel expenses are always more than everything else put together. Anything that increases travel expenses will not decrease overall expenses.