My K1 Visa experience from start to finish

[imports4me 0]

Hello All,

I just wanted to share with you my experience with our K1 Visa. I would just like to start off saying that this site is awesome and very helpful and that too bad i didnt find or know about it until 2 days ago (after my interview aproval). My story to me is really sad and hope no one else is or will go through it. Please bare with me as my wording is not that great.

I was born in Vietnam and have lived in Canada for 25 years now. Iam now a Canadian Citizen. Roughly 3 years ago i took a trip into the states where i met my finace. I have been back and forth via plane and car to visit her over the first year of meeting her. I ended up getting laid off at work over here in Canada and at that time i went to visit her and over stayed my visit. We both came into Canada a number of times and was never hassled coming in or out. On one visit we had our engagement party at my family home and then went back into the states. Last year we found out that she is pregant with our first child. When she was 6 months i had planned a baby shower for her in canada as i had more friends and family over here. We both came into canada mid May 2010 and had our baby shower. When we went back to the states the drive from toronto to windsor/detriot border was 5 hours and we got there at like 3am. I was really tired but anyways the officer ask me where i was going i said that i was driving my FIANCE back to her home and then come back. he ended up making us go into the border office room where we sat there for like 2 hours. They then forced me to give finger prints before even telling me what was going on. After i gave them the finger prints they basically told me that there not letting me into the states as i have no status to be there. they gave me a list of what i needed if i ever wanted to go back into the states. He also clearly said that if i try to enter the states without those things on the list that i can be Barred from coming into the states for a long time. Some of the things on the list was pretty much proof of jobs and house and bills. basically evidence that i live in canada and would want to come back. That day was one of the saddest days of my life. On top of that they didnt even let my fiance come back into canada. so they made her drive home into the states and force me to go back to canada. I had to take a cab to the winsdor bus station and bus it back to toronto.

After many sad days we then looked at our options. We decided to file for a K1 visa. at that time she was almost 7 months pregnant and time was very tight. we didnt even know what the lead time would take, whether 1 month or 1 year or more. she found a lawyer in her town that said he could get me over into the states within 1 month and that our case is easy. he even said he has conections and that he would speed up our case. After we gave him the amount of money he asked for $3000+ and i remember at that time i told my wife to tell him that we would give half and the rest once im over there. The lawyer said thats not the way he works and that he required the full amount before getting started. from our point we had no choice and went ahead a hired him. at first he got the paperwor going filing for us. as it got closer to the time frame that he promised and my fiances due date he said that there is alot of cases ahead of us and that it will take more time. i could sit her and type this all out but i dont want to bore you, basically time went back and the lawyer kept coming up with reasons....and i ended up missing my childs delivery. at first i asked the lawyer if we should claim that we will be having a son and he said he doesn't think that will help our case. i saw it as it wouldnt hurt and if anything it should help. we even requested to expedite our case due to the fact that she was pregnant and that she was living on her own and didnt really have support. that was denied.

So it came to the point where we just waited and did what we needed to do when we were asked on at the letters that were sent to us from the state. every time we sent away documents and hoped it would come back with good news it became weeks and months later so we pretty much gave up on our hopes of being reunited quickly and just waited. The lawyer ended up not even replying to our emails and calls and we had to finsihed the last of the paperwork that was needed to be sent to the consulate oursshelves with the hopes that it was done right and didnt bounce back.

so after a few months of waiting for results of after sending away the last package via dhl to the consulate we recieved a letter to go ahead a book our interview date. OMG i was so happy as this is the only good news we have gotten. that was in jan of this year. we quickly went on the website and paid the fee and it showed the first date alvailible was in june. my heart dropped again as that is 6 months away and i haven't even seen or held my newborn son. My son was born on Sept 29/2010 by the way. i was so sad of the wait time and delay i felt at times just to give up. what i did and i recommend this is keep checking the site for new dates as sometimes better dates come up from people cancelling. I was lucky and got a interview date of March 22. which was good timing because i needed to finalized and finished alot of the required papers they needed me to bring. i also called and booked my medical exam and they gave me that date 2 weeks prior to my interview date.

at this time my fiance came over to to visit me with my newborn son. he is doing well and today is 6 months and 1 day. we went to montreal the night of the 21 of march and stayed at a near by hotel. my appointment was at 930am and i got there at 840. went i got there there was maybe 5 people ahead of me and i thought to myself not bad. some ladies were not aloud in due to their bags or purses being to big. it was pretty much like going through airport security. they told me then to go take the elevator to floor 19 which i did. as soon as the doors open OMG the room was fulled and i was so shocked. we did what they asked and took my number and waited for my turn. they called me roughly every 10 mins for about 3 times i think each time asking for documents and finger printing. after the last time of being called up they told me to go wait again and someone will interview me. that was great news....so i waited and that took a long time. almost 3 hrs i think. i waited like 3 hours and it took 5 mins with the lady who interviewed me who was very nice. i nervous prior to going and thought it would be like a close doors sitting down with someone to talk about my case. it turned out to be standing at a cubicle talk through a glass window like i was a a bank teller.

I passed she said and gave me 3 papers to read one of which says welcome to america. finally this long road has ended and we are about to head back to the states. its been more then a week now and i still havent recieved this dhl tracking number on the website though. im eager to recieve this visa.

well that was my experience. im sure there was more but im just all over the place with this. hope you enjoy and hope this can help someone out there. feel free to ask questions as im happy to help.

Thanks

Mike

[Juan & Nan 12]

Hello All,

I just wanted to share with you my experience with our K1 Visa. I would just like to start off saying that this site is awesome and very helpful and that too bad i didnt find or know about it until 2 days ago (after my interview aproval). My story to me is really sad and hope no one else is or will go through it. Please bare with me as my wording is not that great.

I was born in Vietnam and have lived in Canada for 25 years now. Iam now a Canadian Citizen. Roughly 3 years ago i took a trip into the states where i met my finace. I have been back and forth via plane and car to visit her over the first year of meeting her. I ended up getting laid off at work over here in Canada and at that time i went to visit her and over stayed my visit. We both came into Canada a number of times and was never hassled coming in or out. On one visit we had our engagement party at my family home and then went back into the states. Last year we found out that she is pregant with our first child. When she was 6 months i had planned a baby shower for her in canada as i had more friends and family over here. We both came into canada mid May 2010 and had our baby shower. When we went back to the states the drive from toronto to windsor/detriot border was 5 hours and we got there at like 3am. I was really tired but anyways the officer ask me where i was going i said that i was driving my FIANCE back to her home and then come back. he ended up making us go into the border office room where we sat there for like 2 hours. They then forced me to give finger prints before even telling me what was going on. After i gave them the finger prints they basically told me that there not letting me into the states as i have no status to be there. they gave me a list of what i needed if i ever wanted to go back into the states. He also clearly said that if i try to enter the states without those things on the list that i can be Barred from coming into the states for a long time. Some of the things on the list was pretty much proof of jobs and house and bills. basically evidence that i live in canada and would want to come back. That day was one of the saddest days of my life. On top of that they didnt even let my fiance come back into canada. so they made her drive home into the states and force me to go back to canada. I had to take a cab to the winsdor bus station and bus it back to toronto.

After many sad days we then looked at our options. We decided to file for a K1 visa. at that time she was almost 7 months pregnant and time was very tight. we didnt even know what the lead time would take, whether 1 month or 1 year or more. she found a lawyer in her town that said he could get me over into the states within 1 month and that our case is easy. he even said he has conections and that he would speed up our case. After we gave him the amount of money he asked for $3000+ and i remember at that time i told my wife to tell him that we would give half and the rest once im over there. The lawyer said thats not the way he works and that he required the full amount before getting started. from our point we had no choice and went ahead a hired him. at first he got the paperwor going filing for us. as it got closer to the time frame that he promised and my fiances due date he said that there is alot of cases ahead of us and that it will take more time. i could sit her and type this all out but i dont want to bore you, basically time went back and the lawyer kept coming up with reasons....and i ended up missing my childs delivery. at first i asked the lawyer if we should claim that we will be having a son and he said he doesn't think that will help our case. i saw it as it wouldnt hurt and if anything it should help. we even requested to expedite our case due to the fact that she was pregnant and that she was living on her own and didnt really have support. that was denied.

So it came to the point where we just waited and did what we needed to do when we were asked on at the letters that were sent to us from the state. every time we sent away documents and hoped it would come back with good news it became weeks and months later so we pretty much gave up on our hopes of being reunited quickly and just waited. The lawyer ended up not even replying to our emails and calls and we had to finsihed the last of the paperwork that was needed to be sent to the consulate oursshelves with the hopes that it was done right and didnt bounce back.

so after a few months of waiting for results of after sending away the last package via dhl to the consulate we recieved a letter to go ahead a book our interview date. OMG i was so happy as this is the only good news we have gotten. that was in jan of this year. we quickly went on the website and paid the fee and it showed the first date alvailible was in june. my heart dropped again as that is 6 months away and i haven't even seen or held my newborn son. My son was born on Sept 29/2010 by the way. i was so sad of the wait time and delay i felt at times just to give up. what i did and i recommend this is keep checking the site for new dates as sometimes better dates come up from people cancelling. I was lucky and got a interview date of March 22. which was good timing because i needed to finalized and finished alot of the required papers they needed me to bring. i also called and booked my medical exam and they gave me that date 2 weeks prior to my interview date.

at this time my fiance came over to to visit me with my newborn son. he is doing well and today is 6 months and 1 day. we went to montreal the night of the 21 of march and stayed at a near by hotel. my appointment was at 930am and i got there at 840. went i got there there was maybe 5 people ahead of me and i thought to myself not bad. some ladies were not aloud in due to their bags or purses being to big. it was pretty much like going through airport security. they told me then to go take the elevator to floor 19 which i did. as soon as the doors open OMG the room was fulled and i was so shocked. we did what they asked and took my number and waited for my turn. they called me roughly every 10 mins for about 3 times i think each time asking for documents and finger printing. after the last time of being called up they told me to go wait again and someone will interview me. that was great news....so i waited and that took a long time. almost 3 hrs i think. i waited like 3 hours and it took 5 mins with the lady who interviewed me who was very nice. i nervous prior to going and thought it would be like a close doors sitting down with someone to talk about my case. it turned out to be standing at a cubicle talk through a glass window like i was a a bank teller.

I passed she said and gave me 3 papers to read one of which says welcome to america. finally this long road has ended and we are about to head back to the states. its been more then a week now and i still havent recieved this dhl tracking number on the website though. im eager to recieve this visa.

well that was my experience. im sure there was more but im just all over the place with this. hope you enjoy and hope this can help someone out there. feel free to ask questions as im happy to help.

Thanks

Mike

Mike,

What a horrible experience you had. But I am very happy for you and your fiance that the wait time is over. Enjoy the rest of your life with your family in the States. Welcome to the United States my friend.

Juan

[teday 0]

Mike ,

Wow what a story! I am sorry it had to be so rough for you but am thrilled that it had a happy ending!!

Good luck in America and enjoy every precious moment you have with your new family.

[imports4me 0]

thank you, i just thought i share my story thats all.....we are almost done, im now just waiting still for this visa to be given to DHL. i was hoping to be out of canada by now. My fiance and son are here in canada and we will head back together as soon as this visa arrives.

thanks

[patient2010 93]

Congrats to you what a story Enjoy your family as much as you can

[marekhi 0]

i am shocked, i wish you big happiness, i am sure you will be with your family in US pretty soon:)))