Iran K-1s -- would love to connect with you

[Cheryl-Hossein 25]

Would love to know if other Iranian K-1s used a lawyer or if you prepared your own petition packages? After lurking around all the FAQs and forums here, I'm sure I could prepare our petition, but was wondering if because of the political climate between the two countries, if it would be better to have legal representation. We meet all the basic requirements (financial support, met in person, proof of ongoing relationship, etc.) Also do you recommend the Ankara or Dubai consulate?

I have a phone consult with a lawyer tomorrow, but I'm very much on the fence as to whether or not I want us to spend the money on something I can do myself, but of course, having the process run smoothly and getting him to the US quickly is my priority.

Thanks for any input you may have!

Edited July 11, 2013 by Cheryl-Hossein

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

~ Moved from K-1 Process to Middle East and North Africa regional forum ~

[Jigar7 1]

Hi

I filed my petition in June 2012 using an attorney and paid him 800 for filing. Once I got the approval notice (NOA2) I followed up on my own because at that point I had already read so much on the matter that I knew more than my lawyer. Our interview was done 3 months ago and we are waiting for the Administrative Processing. I would recommend using an attorney to file the petition and then if you have the time and feel comfortable, do the second step yourself. Good luck

[sdrohani 0]

well we did a lawyer also but did a 1130 we are married it took us 14 months just to go through uscis and arnaka well u go there and ALL ppl from iran go through ap maies and females .as far as dubai u do a interview and u wait 30 days after and no ap and ap can take up to 6 months .i sure hope it dont take as long as it has us its now 16 months and now just going through national visa center but yes after the first u can do your self . but i still use our lawyer for advice

[soheil 9]

just to give you a different opinion:

I didn't use any lawyers for my fiancee's case and did everything myself just by reading the guide on VJ and following the exact instructions of USCIS. We had our approval from USCIS in less than 5 months without any issues (no RFE) and my fiancee had her interview in Abu Dhabi (K1 applicants do not go to Dubai, they are considered as Immigrant Visas (IV) and are processed only in Abu Dhabi) after about 8 months of initial filing and got the visa on the same day without any AP (look at my timeline or signature). We were not an exception, I know about a dozen cases that did the whole thing without any lawyers and had pretty much the same timeline as ours. So all I'm saying is that no you don't need a lawyer just because there are tensions between US and Iran. In fact what all lawyers would do is just fill out the forms and send paperwork and they don't have ANY control on how the process goes and how long it takes. IMO if you have a normal case (without any redflags) you can easily do everything yourself by exactly following the guidelines and as Jigar7 said there are TONS of resources on this website that you can benefit from and after a while you will become an expert in this visa category.

As for the AP for the visa, it is not true that ALL Iranians go through it (my fiancee didn't) but it is common. It is pretty much random and in most cases it will not be a long AP if the person does not have any government related job or has not served in the Revolutionary Guard or things like that. And again, lawyers DO NOT have ANY control on the AP either. This K1 visa process is so easy that if you opt for a lawyer you are basically giving your money to someone just to fill the paperwork, nothing else! We all want to be united with our loved ones and would do anything to make the process faster, but I don't see any benefit in having a lawyer.

As for choosing the embassy, I don't think it makes any difference. We chose Abu Dhabi because at that time you had to take the interview documents and paperwork with yourself for Abu Dhabi on the interview date but for Ankara you had to send them before the interview. Also my fiancee wanted to go see and explore Dubai. Check the current timelines and reviews for Iranian citizens to see if now there is any difference, but I suspect it.

Edited July 12, 2013 by soheil

[Cheryl-Hossein 25]

Soheil -- thank you! This is very useful. I'm going to sit down and start all the paperwork tomorrow. It really did seem simple enough to me, especially since we don't have any red flags. And thanks for the head's up on Abu Dhabi. Really happy to see that your process was relatively quick and painless. I hope ours is the same.

[ChuckM 8]

We did not use an attorney, We applied for a K-1 visa in Nov 11. There were no problems with our visa process, I just followed the guides here on VJ. I did most of the paperwork in the US and my wife mailed or otherwise sent me the signed documents that were needed for the interview. The only delay was we were scheduled for an interview with about 6 days notice and there was no way my wife could have attended the interview in Ankara. We expected(hoped for) a September interview in Ankara, first date was in July, but rescheduled in December. Ankara is not a pretty place in December. If there is no problems with paperwork and your documentation, I think doing it yourself is fine. I always thought my biggest problem would be the fact that I am not Iranian, and this did come up in the interview. The interviewer had my wife speak in English where other Iranians on K-1 interviews with her could speak in Farsi.

Chuck

[Cheryl-Hossein 25]

Thanks so much, Chuck! Yes, we decided to do it ourselves, and it came together quickly over the weekend. My fiancé speaks both Farsi and English, so he should be good at the consulate (and I'm learning Farsi). I hope to join him at the interview, so hopefully we'll have a little bit of time to schedule my flight.

How did you find the interview process in Ankara? Did you bring lots of evidence of an ongoing relationship with you, or did it even matter?

[hashi 0]

We did not use any attorney. We applied for a K-1 visa in August 2012 ourselves just by following the exact instructions of I-129F form. It took USCIS 7 months to approve our case with no RFE, which normally takes 5 months, but after that everything went smoothly.

Regarding AP, it is not true that all Iranian will go through it, my fiance didn't. I have heard as long as the beneficiary does not have any gov job or has not served in the revolutionary guard (Sarbazi), he/she will not go through this process or it is not that long.

Try to be honest all the time and make sure you answer all the questions correctly. Also make sure you collect as much evidence as you can and send them all. Phone calls, Photos, Emails ... Don't give them any reason to deny o delay your case by asking more evidence/proof.

Lastly, our experience with Ankara was really good but I have heard that Armenia is really good too.

Good luck.

[Cheryl-Hossein 25]

Great! I'm liking what I'm hearing on the Do-it-yourself front. No government jobs, so we should be all good there. Does Ankara allow the fiancée to come to the interview? I've been to Turkey, but would love to see Armenia if that's an option.

[ChuckM 8]

I joined my wife in Ankara for the interview. I had all of the paperwork with me, she only needed to bring her passport and her Shanasnameh (birth certificate). I brought all the information I sent with the K-1 Application, everything I sent to the Embassy and additional documentation from that point to the interview. I was not allowed to enter the embassy, my wife said that at the intake, someone went though all of the information she brought with her and selected a sample of the information and told my wife only to bring this to the interview. This included all the pictures and travel records, but only a few of the email phone records. The interview was mostly based off of the pictures with my wife describing our travels together, Istanbul and Dubai. The only problem was that since my wife had blank pages on the shanasnameh, she did not translate those pages, like marriage and children. We needed to go get these translated that day and return to the embassy the next day with the complete translation. This cost an additional $70. I think my wife had the shanasnemeh translated originally in Iran for less than $20. If you or your fiance have any questions, please let me know, I am glad to help. The whole process was such an experience.