Mailing address causing headache on otherwise straight forward K1 petition

[guachiman 0]

So my fiance tends to bounce around various apartments due to financial instability. I'm searching for a solution that doesn't require me to rent an apartment for her. Her family lives far away in the interior of Peru (The Amazon Region) while she lives in Lima, the capital. The petition provides sections for both mailing and physical address so I am asking some American friends I have in Lima if I can use their address for her mailing address. I lived in Peru for 6 years so I do have some friends there.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone can share their experience if they were in a similar situation and could offer some advice. Other than that neither of us have previous marriage or children nor any legal issues. This simple item is holding our entire application up because I know receiving that packet from the Embassy in Lima is one of the most important steps in the process.

I have a second unrelated question about the form. It requests passport information only under section 15: "If your fiance(e) is currently in the United States...". She has never been here so I assume I leave that blank. I just find it odd her passport info is not requested anywhere else on the petition, unless i'm totally blind an overlooked it. I even used ctrl-f to search for "passport" and that's all that comes up.

Sorry just though of a 3rd question that I could probably google but may as well ask now. Her name is: FirstName PaternalLastName MaternalLastName. I put FirstName in for first name field, and both last names in for last name field since that is how it appears on her passport. Is that correct?

I've been using this site for a while just reading and it has been invaluable. I'll stick around once we go though this process to share my experiences and give back to the community. If any members are living around Orange County and have Peruvian or South American wives it'd be awesome to meet up for a coffee or something.

[Tarumba 9]

An address in the capital is definitely preferable. I can't imagine anything would make its way to the Amazon without ridiculous delay so her parent's address is not an option. She can get a PO box for mailing address and write down her actual physical address. All USCIS paperwork would make it to the PO box (Apartado Postal). She can get it at the larger Serpost offices. Depending on where she lives. I used to like the large branch in Jesus Maria.

Here is some info on getting a PO box: http://www.serpost.com.pe/PersonasDestinoNacional_APostal.html

Not sure about the passport info but hey if they are not asking, then I wouldn't think they expect you to provide unrequested info.

Her two last names are like one last name for all intents and purposes. Think of it as a hyphenated last name with a space in place of the hyphen.

[allende 5]

Someone else was asking about the passport thing because his fiancee doesn't have a passport yet. Most of the answers said you won't need that until later and some people said that their partners didn't even get a passport until later on during the process. So I guess you don't need it yet...

As for the address, it'd be great to use somebody else's stable address (someone you trust, of course, and that will let you or your fiancee know as soon as any letters arrive) The PO box seems like a good idea too! I used my parent's address because I wasn't sure where I'd be staying (since I had no idea how long the process would take)

I had the same "problem" with last names as my fiance and I were filling form I-139F. What I did was attach a post-it on top of the question and I wrote something like: "Please note that in my home country we have ONE first name and TWO last names. The first last name is the paternal one and the second one the maternal last name" And I signed it (I was visiting my fiance at that time so we did everything together) I did have to put my passport number but only because I was visiting him at that time. We didn't get any RFEs and so far everything is going ok. We'll see after we get married!! I want to keep my last names and I know that's always going to be a small problem in the States as you have only one last name... Like Tarumba said, I'll probably end up hyphenating it!

Good luck with everything!

Edited March 9, 2014 by allende