Request for advice on our plan

[Harpa Timsah 13,263]

Hi, OK... so I really wish they would compile a thread about visiting while the K1 is in process because of all the conflicting advice.

So, you wish for a thread about visiting? Well they started one in 2007, called "Yes you can visit" full of people's stories. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/67796-yes-you-can-visit/

[orangedesk 27]

So, you wish for a thread about visiting? Well they started one in 2007, called "Yes you can visit" full of people's stories. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/67796-yes-you-can-visit/

Thanks. Is there a reason why it's not pinned at the top, like "The RFE Master List"? This is a question that's asked almost every day. New people aren't going to know enough about the forum to search for an old thread, but will be able to see it right away if it's pinned at the top.

[Harpa Timsah 13,263]

I have no pin abilities, so I don't know. Usually it is on the front page anyway. You can request it to be pinned, or post the issue in Site Discussion and see what people think.

[Jesse_Dylan 0]

Thank you so much again, everyone.

Well, the thing with booking the flights. Basically she's got the ticket here on June 28 and the ticket back on September 24. She may return sooner for the med exam, just to get it done and "hurry up and wait", which means we'd not use the September 24 return. More over, we'd need to purchase the ticket back. One-ways are actually more expensive (or have been for me--who knows why), so I was just curious if it were possible to make an "open" return date so that she could just come back when she got the visa. Otherwise, we buy another two-way and, again, waste the return, and then buy yet another two-way to get her back to the US and waste the return yet again. That's life, though, I guess.

What we'll probably do is just keep her here until we get the med appointment, and probably get it as early as we can, and then she'll go back, and as soon as she has the visa, we'll bring her back again! (The "we"s referring to she and myself.) Maybe I can go visit her during that time, too. It sounds like from the med exam, she will have the visa in 1-2 months.

I know it says on the London Embassy page (thank you for the link--I had not seen that!) that it takes 10-12 weeks for the interview after receipt of the packet 3 thingie. There's no way to schedule the medical exam for sometime near the end of that, say 9 weeks, and she could wait those 9 weeks in the US, go back for the med exam, wait the remaining 1-3 weeks for the interview? This is assuming all this even occurs before her September 24 return flight, which it sounds like she might need after all if the NOA2 and packet 3 don't come in a very timely fashion.

I've definitely read all the flowcharts and guides and stuff, but it's a whole lot of info. A lot of times I feel too nervous/overwhelmed to even engage it all. I know it will turn out, though. (And then we'll decide to move to England and have to start it all over if we want to move back to the US, but at least we'll be together!)

[orangedesk 27]

Thank you so much again, everyone.

Well, the thing with booking the flights. Basically she's got the ticket here on June 28 and the ticket back on September 24. She may return sooner for the med exam, just to get it done and "hurry up and wait", which means we'd not use the September 24 return. More over, we'd need to purchase the ticket back. One-ways are actually more expensive (or have been for me--who knows why), so I was just curious if it were possible to make an "open" return date so that she could just come back when she got the visa. Otherwise, we buy another two-way and, again, waste the return, and then buy yet another two-way to get her back to the US and waste the return yet again. That's life, though, I guess.

What we'll probably do is just keep her here until we get the med appointment, and probably get it as early as we can, and then she'll go back, and as soon as she has the visa, we'll bring her back again! (The "we"s referring to she and myself.) Maybe I can go visit her during that time, too. It sounds like from the med exam, she will have the visa in 1-2 months.

I know it says on the London Embassy page (thank you for the link--I had not seen that!) that it takes 10-12 weeks for the interview after receipt of the packet 3 thingie. There's no way to schedule the medical exam for sometime near the end of that, say 9 weeks, and she could wait those 9 weeks in the US, go back for the med exam, wait the remaining 1-3 weeks for the interview? This is assuming all this even occurs before her September 24 return flight, which it sounds like she might need after all if the NOA2 and packet 3 don't come in a very timely fashion.

I've definitely read all the flowcharts and guides and stuff, but it's a whole lot of info. A lot of times I feel too nervous/overwhelmed to even engage it all. I know it will turn out, though. (And then we'll decide to move to England and have to start it all over if we want to move back to the US, but at least we'll be together!)

With your idea for the open return date, I would call the airline you used to book the ticket or maybe a travel agent. I usually use orbitz to book my flights and I don't think they have that sort of feature.

I think the issue with scheduling the medical exam close to the interview, is that you don't know when you're actually going to have the interview date. Any guide that they give you is an estimate. Some people get the packet 4 letter with the interview date within a few weeks, some have to wait longer. The way it works is that you get your NOA2, get past the NVC stage, and then get the packet 3 letter from the London embassy. The packet 3 letter is really nothing but an acknowledgment saying they have your case, the London case number and then they give you a link here: http://london.usembassy.gov/iv_15.html.

If you go on that site, the website says that "The visa interview will not be scheduled until the Immigrant Visa Unit is in receipt of the results of the medical examination." - So there's no way to book the medical exam close to the interview date since you won't know what the interview date is. I guess you could wait a few weeks after sending the packet 3 to book the medical exam and it might give you a closer interview date, but I'm not sure.

[Jesse_Dylan 0]

Okay, that makes sense. So, it's probably best to hurry up and wait, and then book the medical exam as soon as possible, get her there a few days before it, wait for the interview...

I suppose the closer it gets to the September 24 return date, we'll have to ask ourselves if we want to just wait for that, as it would save the cost of an entire ticket (unless I can somehow get an open return date on a ticket).

But like you wondered, it would be interesting to know if waiting a bit to book the exam would cause the interview and exam to happen closer together, or if it would just cause the interview to be even later. I suppose there is just no perfect way to plan/do all this stuff.

Thank you again! Sometimes I wish I could just find an expert to take care of all this for us, or find someone who can make it happen faster. I know, everyone wishes these things. My dad told me to write to our state senator. I seriously doubt that would help... Sorry, Dad!

[Mark + Melissa 49]

I don't know why your lawyer told you that, because the one I consulted told me the exact opposite. Also, I called customs passenger services at the airport and they said there is ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM with visiting while the K1 is in process.

Please understand, there is no problem if you can prove ties. My fiance is has sold his business in anticipation of moving here. He has no family other than a sister he is not close to. He has an apartment, as he sold his house. He will have problems, so yes, I do know what I'm talking about. While it is true every case is different, I only point it out as something to be considered, not a guarantee it will happen.

[HelenBradley 28]

Hey guys! Sorry for the ambiguous thread title. I will try to be concise in order to compensate, and thanks for looking!

First off, I got an e-mail from this website reminding me to update my timeline. This freaked me out a bit. We got the NOA1 on Feb 2. Should there be something to update? Should we have gotten the NOA2 by now??

I also noticed the page says, "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between June 28, 2012 and July 1, 2012*." Does this mean it'll be totally completed by then? Or is that when they give us the med exam appointment and interview appointment?

Finally, here is what we're planning. My fiancee has plane tickets to come visit me in the US on June 28, from the UK. I made the tickets for 86 days or something like that. The idea is that she comes here, and we do the rest of the stuff from here when it's time (sending in her stuff once they ask for it). Then, when they give us the med exam and interview appointments, we go back to England together and get it taken care of. Therefore, she'll never need her original return ticket (the one made for 86 days after June 28) unless disaster strikes and she has to go home alone because we haven't got the NOA2 or appointments yet.

Is there some way to guarantee the med exam and interview are very close together? Is there stuff I can/should be doing right now? Can I make our plane tickets to England in such a fashion that the return date can be changed in case we don't have the visa by the return date? If not, or even if so, how long of a trip should I plan for?

I think that about covers everything. Help me make this work. Thanks you guys. I'm feeling very nervous and hope I haven't screwed anything up. If I accidentally waste money, I guess that's okay. I just want to be together. I've spent nearly my entirely salary the last year and a half with travel, costs and everything else, but it's all worth it.

Your plan seems good.

I visited from the UK during the K1 process also. We were approved while I was in the US. What that meant was that the rest of our journey was delayed until I got back to the the UK. If I were to do it all over again (and if I were your fiance), I'd have gotten the packet 3 stuff ready prior to leaving the UK (police certificate, forms etc). (I didn't have any of that done because we got our NOA2 in 6 weeks, which we did not expect) I'd also get all my medical certificates ready now so that a medical can be scheduled promptly. You might be able to schedule the medical while your fiance is in the US and then either keep the original September return date, or leave early to do the medical and move the process along. It doesn't seem wise to return to the US between the medical and interview. I don't know what wait times are like now, but when I got mine it was 3 and a half weeks between the 2. I got my flight to the US about 10 days after my interview.

Good luck with everything!

It's a confusing process and there is conflicting information here on VJ so just read all you can, take advice, check that advice out and be prepared for anything!

[bigdog 377]

Hang in there good luck.

[theCook 0]

I visited twice during the process and with ties back to the Uk, no problem just a few more questions. As for the process and times Noa2 - mine took almost the 5 months then 4 weeks to packet 3 , medical within a few days but interview was 4 weeks after med now visa delivery .. I have not received yet and now weekend and bank holidays in way so working days 6 so far but someone else had their intervies after mine and got visa already so my view is dont bank on any times as the system they seem to use is not first in first out its more like whenever they do it

[Zuru Love 0]

Why not just marry him here in the US, while he is visiting, file the AOS and he won't have to go back?

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Why not just marry him here in the US, while he is visiting, file the AOS and he won't have to go back?

:bonk:

Because that's not how it works. Please read up on this topic before giving such "advice."

Edited June 3, 2012 by LeftCoastLady

[HelenBradley 28]

Why not just marry him here in the US, while he is visiting, file the AOS and he won't have to go back?

Advising people to commit visa fraud is against VJ TOS.

[Nich-Nick 3,355]

Finally, here is what we're planning. My fiancee has plane tickets to come visit me in the US on June 28, from the UK. I made the tickets for 86 days or something like that. The idea is that she comes here, and we do the rest of the stuff from here when it's time (sending in her stuff once they ask for it). Then, when they give us the med exam and interview appointments, we go back to England together and get it taken care of. Therefore, she'll never need her original return ticket (the one made for 86 days after June 28) unless disaster strikes and she has to go home alone because we haven't got the NOA2 or appointments yet.

Here's a good plan:

1. She gets her shots now (Tdap or Td and MMR)
   
2. She checks document list for interview now and gathers her items including police certificate.
   
3. She flies to US June 28
   
4. Petition gets approved July(?)
   
5. You call NVC 2 weeks later to get new case number and find out if case has been sent to London. Repeat weekly until answer is yes.
   
6. You call DOS in US 2 weeks later to find out if London has logged the case. Repeat weekly until answer is yes.
   
7. Mail the 4 DSxxx application forms to London.
   
8. By now it's at least August, so get your Affidavit of Support prepared.
   
9. Call Knightsbridge clinic and make an appointment for Sept. ? (a few days after her return flight)
   
10. She returns to UK on her current ticket, taking your Affidavit of Support.
    
11. She attends medical, taking her police certificate and shot record. She pays Knightsbridge clinic to give her the second MMR shot in the series. (you'll save mucho hassle come AOS time)
    
12. She mails DS-2001 form to London including the requested cover letter giving date of her medical exam and wedding date. Make up a date about 6 weeks after medical.
    
13. She stays in UK and attends interview.
    
14. She gets visa in hand.
    
15. Make a round trip reservation to US. Pick any return date that gives best price like mid January.
    
16. Cancel the return leg before the return date.
    

Trying to predict dates during immigration is about like picking lottery numbers. Trying to fly to London during the height of the Olympics is ridiculous. If you and sweetie can't spend 6 weeks apart to logically do the steps required to spend your lives together, then I've wasted my time typing this to a foolish person. You will look back at all the money you wasted and say it was really dumb.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Nich-Nick

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Trying to predict dates during immigration is about like picking lottery numbers. Trying to fly to London during the height of the Olympics is ridiculous. If you and sweetie can't spend 6 weeks apart to logically do the steps required to spend your lives together, then I've wasted my time typing this to a foolish person. You will look back at all the money you wasted and say it was really dumb.

Nich-Nick receives the gold medal!