Getting my Fiancee to the US?

[Mythical85 0]

I've been dating a woman from Colombia and talked with a immigration lawyer regarding this and we want to get married. I am not sure where to start but I know I have to file a K-1 Visa and i'm not sure what the requirements are. My fiancee has a good paying job and I work at a call center, the biggest concern is the income, I make about 23,000-24,000 a year which is considered high in my area as property value is low, and i've heard you need at least 25,000 income to even get a fiancee visa. I'm wondering what I should do?

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

Read the guides at the top for starts. ^^^^^^

[M&Dj 3]

If your household is going to include only your fiancee and you I think you only need about $18,000.00.

I personally wouldn't recommend getting a lawyer. Paperwork is pretty much self explanatory if you read all the directions and guidelines.

Good Luck!

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf

Edited May 12, 2011 by M&Dj

[dindo and patty 20]

Start here and I hope you like to read a lot...

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide

[Darnell 8,478]

welcome aboard ! please review the guides section here.

[Gosia & Tito 199]

I've been dating a woman from Colombia and talked with a immigration lawyer regarding this and we want to get married. I am not sure where to start but I know I have to file a K-1 Visa and i'm not sure what the requirements are. My fiancee has a good paying job and I work at a call center, the biggest concern is the income, I make about 23,000-24,000 a year which is considered high in my area as property value is low, and i've heard you need at least 25,000 income to even get a fiancee visa. I'm wondering what I should do?

Once you read the guides that others have posted links for here; one of the things you want to decide is whether to hire a lawyer to do this for you. My personal opinion is that it is simple enough that you can do it yourself. You would have notice that there are many ads claiming fast special arrangements. Don't believe those.

Unless you or your fiancee have some special situation (meaning a situation that really might require a lawyer), you probably don't need one. It all depends on your level of confidence in doing it yourself. Don't make that decision solely on the cost; you might want to ask here about that as well.

Also, since you noted $$ as a concern, tally up all you are going to need (is not all at once, but it adds up). Ask here, you'll find plenty of good advice and even specific to Colombia. This is not a 'small' money thing, that said, I'm not talking tens of thousands, but realistically, think about 2-3 grand and that is not including trips that you or her might take nor moving expenses.

Also consider the time this takes, currently is running about 7-10 months for the entire process (hence the trips you might take down to Colombia unless you are ok not seeing each other for sometime). Once the process starts, she might not be able to come visit (you can also ask about this here, but most posts I've seen seem to indicate that it is not a good idea to try).

[Gosia & Tito 199]

I've been dating a woman from Colombia and talked with a immigration lawyer regarding this and we want to get married. I am not sure where to start but I know I have to file a K-1 Visa and i'm not sure what the requirements are. My fiancee has a good paying job and I work at a call center, the biggest concern is the income, I make about 23,000-24,000 a year which is considered high in my area as property value is low, and i've heard you need at least 25,000 income to even get a fiancee visa. I'm wondering what I should do?

The post about 18k is correct below (look at the link in that post). Also, note that you can have a co-sponsor for financial support purposes. I was one for a friend of mine.

[ryna 132]

I've been dating a woman from Colombia and talked with a immigration lawyer regarding this and we want to get married. I am not sure where to start but I know I have to file a K-1 Visa and i'm not sure what the requirements are. My fiancee has a good paying job and I work at a call center, the biggest concern is the income, I make about 23,000-24,000 a year which is considered high in my area as property value is low, and i've heard you need at least 25,000 income to even get a fiancee visa. I'm wondering what I should do?

Welcome!

Your income is fine if it will just be the two of you.

The best place to start is the K-1 Guides as others have said. You can look here for a lot of Colombia specific info:

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Colombia&cty=Bogota

You can also find a lot of Colombia specific info and help from other VJ users here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/175556-colombia-club-part-ii/page__st__2820

and, if you read/write Spanish, you can also visit here for more info:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/301668-colombianos-con-visa-k1continuacion-4/page__st__360

A lot in the two forums is personal discussion but every one of us has been through it and people are always willing to help.

Best of luck on your journey!

[ryna 132]

One other thing...

As someone else said, you can do this without a lawyer (unless there is some unusual circumstance, i.e. waiver, involved.)

After we filed, I got a little nervous that I'd done something wrong so I spoke with an attorney. Luckily, I spoke to a straightforward one who looked at my I-129F petition packet and told me to save my money because it's exactly what he would have submitted. It's really all pretty simple to do if you just follow the guides and instructions carefully.