k1 visa application experience 2013

[millionmileslove 8]

This is our k1 visa application, i will try to explain it as easy as i can.

k1 visa is a TEMPORARY visa that will allow a person to enter the US and marry his/her fiance. You and your fiance (a US citizen) must get married within 90 days and then file MORE papers for you to be a permanent resident.

Oh well! Let’s worry about those later and focus on the application…

What we need are:

• Evidence of ongoing relationship
• Forms
• Evidence of support (US citizen’s affidavit of support, income tax return etc)
• Payment

let’s start from the beginning…

STEP 1: Getting to know your partner and proving it!!

For those still on the planning stage or seeing your relationship going there (marriage), you should consider “the more the merrier” cliche to be part of your relationship. i mean, applying for a k1 visa, given the unfortunate event that the love of your life lives thousand of miles away, to make it worse, you need to prove your relationship really exist. So take pictures (lots of them especially with each others family), save conversations, keep all tickets, travel papers, cards and all the things that speaks LOVE LOVE LOVE! It will all be needed as we progress with the application.

STEP 2: PAPERS PAPERS PAPERS!

The thing is, the US citizen will be the one to send the so called “packet” to the immigration but we, foreign fiance, should help. Since i am the keeper (i keep things as memorabilia, its a habit that pays well in this application ) i am the one that arrange the proof of relationship while my fiance gathers papers as proof of support (all will be explained later)

What you need:

1. Evidence of relationship

a) Pictures

Tell a story. Arrange pictures from the day you met to the more personal side of meeting each others family.

the first thing i did was gather all our pictures and print 1-2 per event and attached a sticker paper at the back with date and where it was taken and who are those in the picture. i also indicated some personal feelings like “it was very memorable, i was so happy” something like that.

Example of description:

June 13, 2012: Bohol, Philippines

Celebrating our monthsary at Bohol firefly tour. (A on the left, B on the right)

b) Travels -beside those pictures i also gathered plane tickets, hotel reservations and even itinerary from tour guides even those boat ride ferry tickets (i didnt know i was that kind of a keeper until the day we needed them haha).

I photocopied them in an orderly manner example: Bohol plane tickets (his and mine) together with hotel reservations and tour entrance tickets

Since we had more than one tour so i made a COVER LETTER with explanation so it will be more clear.

Heading/Header: TRAVELS

1st visit: Bohol Tour: 4 days-3 nights dated: June 12-16, 2012

2nd visit: Cebu Tour: 4 days-3 nights dated: April 2-6, 2013………….. and so on (you can add the hotel or itinerary if you like)

the following pages are the copies of the plane tickets etc…

c) Delivery receipts and money transfer

Like what i did with our travels, i arranged the delivery receipts in an orderly manner (by date). If you have money transfers much better. i also labelled them accordingly.

Show them more. I took a pic of the cards he sent me and photocopied some of them.

d) Conversation Screenshots – Yes, screenshots. I took a screenshot of our skype and facebook conversations (those you are willng to share) especially those with sweet endearments like i miss you, i love you and so on.

make SKYPE and FACEBOOK your BESTFRIEND

Thanks to skype and FB we were able to retrieve ALL our conversations from way back history, from Day 1 to forever.What’s good about it is there are DATE and TIME (very essential)

NOTE: it doesn’t necessarily requires messages alone, since we mostly talk via voice call, another Skype feature is CALL D the wayURATION yahooooo!!! so here’s how i did it……..

But im telling you this is very time-consuming and requires patience (all for the name of love! )

First: i got to select a date and message i wanted ( it doesnt have to be lengthy, what i did was 1-2 convo per month) and took a SCREENSHOT using Photoscape CROP the unwanted part and placed it in microsoft word.

Second: all words in my native language are translated to english with the signature of the translator… here’s what i did….

SUMMARY:

THE PACKET YOUR PETITIONER (US CITIZEN) SHOULD SEND TO USCIS:
* for USCIS address please refer to their website (we sent ours via express mail at Lewisville, TX)

1. FORMS (check forms needed at the site stated below)
2. Evidence of support (affidavit of support, income tax, etc)
3. Evidence of ongoing relationship
4. Payment (instructions on how to pay are stated also on the sites below)

REMINDER: Do not submit what you cannot replace. We never know if those will be returned. Submit copies and bring original on interview.

i have no knowledge regarding RFE we (thank God) did not receive any request for follow up documents. Research is the key know it before you do it, read blogs, reviews especially visajourney, those really helps

Browse and print for reference:

http://www.uscis.gov/i-129f

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/types/family/fiance-k-1.html

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

DISCLAIMER: all pictures posted and opinions are mine however, i am no expert nor a part of USCIS these are just stated events i experienced in my hope to somehow help. Thanks and Godspeed.

[Yanyan 3]

Thanks for sharing your experience...It is a big helps to anyone or somebody like me that is going to file a K1 visa soon. May God Bless you.

[Marco&Bettina 502]

OP, my problem is I don't Skype on a laptop. I do it solely on Xbox One now. I used to do it on my phone & have yet to figure out a way to effectively capture either of those. But we've Skyped every weekend since we met. I'm still working out a way to document that. I will likely start by downloading Skype on my Desktop soon & logging in & seeing what I can find out.

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

That font is hard to read. Anyway, thanks for sharing and trying to help others out, but the I-129F petition(not an application) does not require relationship proof(unless you wish to 'front-load' your file with some because you will interview at a high fraud/tougher consulate) or things about love. It also does not require the affidavit of support and financial documents. Those are all for the actual K-1 visa interview. The petition requires proof of having met face-to-face within the 2 years prior to filing. So, passport stamps, boarding passes, and receipts are most important to provide for the I-129F petition.

People should follow the guide here on VJ, as it lists everything required, and also read carefully through the I-129F form instructions before sending off their petition.

[millionmileslove 8]

That font is hard to read. Anyway, thanks for sharing and trying to help others out, but the I-129F petition(not an application) does not require relationship proof(unless you wish to 'front-load' your file with some because you will interview at a high fraud/tougher consulate) or things about love. It also does not require the affidavit of support and financial documents. Those are all for the actual K-1 visa interview. The petition requires proof of having met face-to-face within the 2 years prior to filing. So, passport stamps, boarding passes, and receipts are most important to provide for the I-129F petition.

People should follow the guide here on VJ, as it lists everything required, and also read carefully through the I-129F form instructions before sending off their petition.

I got my visa and leaving next month so I am sure our application/petition worked as ive said I am not an expert just stating what we did thanks though

[millionmileslove 8]

OP, my problem is I don't Skype on a laptop. I do it solely on Xbox One now. I used to do it on my phone & have yet to figure out a way to effectively capture either of those. But we've Skyped every weekend since we met. I'm still working out a way to document that. I will likely start by downloading Skype on my Desktop soon & logging in & seeing what I can find out.

Hello there you can try screenshot app on your phone (Sony have it built in) I believe you can download it also so that you need not to have it on your desktop but for editing purposes lile cropping etc its easier on desktop so its up to you

[millionmileslove 8]

OP, my problem is I don't Skype on a laptop. I do it solely on Xbox One now. I used to do it on my phone & have yet to figure out a way to effectively capture either of those. But we've Skyped every weekend since we met. I'm still working out a way to document that. I will likely start by downloading Skype on my Desktop soon & logging in & seeing what I can find out.

Hello there you can try screenshot app on your phone (Sony have it built in) I believe you can download it also so that you need not to have it on your desktop but for editing purposes lile cropping etc its easier on desktop so its up to you

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

I got my visa and leaving next month so I am sure our application/petition worked as ive said I am not an expert just stating what we did thanks though

I never suggested that you did not receive your visa. The I-129F petition and the K-1 visa application process are separate things though. Each requires different documentation. Your post seemed to blur them all together into one. I was pointing out what was actually required for someone sending in an I-129F petition, so there would be no confusion if someone was to read your thread thinking it was a guide to filing. Since you are just stating your process/progress/experience, then I will move the thread to the appropriate forum for that.

~ Moved from K-1 Process to K-1 Progress Reports ~

[millionmileslove 8]

I never suggested that you did not receive your visa. The I-129F petition and the K-1 visa application process are separate things though. Each requires different documentation. Your post seemed to blur them all together into one. I was pointing out what was actually required for someone sending in an I-129F petition, so there would be no confusion if someone was to read your thread thinking it was a guide to filing. Since you are just stating your process/progress/experience, then I will move the thread to the appropriate forum for that.

~ Moved from K-1 Process to K-1 Progress Reports ~

Oh yes now I understand what you mean. Thanks for clarifying that I will change the visa into petition then thanks!!!

[*HappyInlove* 6]

I got my visa and leaving next month so I am sure our application/petition worked as ive said I am not an expert just stating what we did thanks though

Have a safe trip and welcome to USA

[Lirfita 5]

@millionmileslove me and my fiance is going to start for the k1 visa he is now going to apply for my petition. Now my question is what form does he need to fill out to apply for my petition? Is is the form I -129 f? And do i need to fill out the form i-129f too? Thank you so much..