Met in different country than we both live

[Harold_Oakland 133]

In anyone's opinion, is the fact that we both traveled to different country than our residence provide a stronger case of having met? We both have all of our boarding passes, corresponding passport stamps, pictures together with verifiable landmarks that are famous, hotel receipts, travel itineraries and hotel booking reservations.

I've searched the forum and cannot find any topic addressing this. IMO, it seems that it is easier to prove having met when both have met in a different country as it generates more evidence. Thoughts?

Harold

[Pitaya 2,577]

likely a non-issue.

[mallafri76 1,012]

Meeting in a third country proves having met about the same as one person traveling to the other person's country does.

[Georgia16 2,858]

Great for you guys that you have evidens of having met, but it won't help you anymore then if you had met other wise

I wish you guys good luck.

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

Acutually would depend on the country

going to Syria or Iraq or any of the countries listed as terriorists training places is not a good idea

so, hoping you travel to Europe or South America, the far east or Austrialia, etc

[Harold_Oakland 133]

Well, we met in Istanbul, an ally of the USA and a member of NATO. But who knows....thanks all for the replies.

[Harold_Oakland 133]

Istanbul isn't a country, it is within Turkey, which I meant to describe. My apologies.

[JFH 12,195]

Proof of having met is a box-ticking exercise, in my opinion. The rules are you have to have met once in the last two years. Which you have done, so the box is ticked. Don't focus too much on that, focus on the quality of the evidence that you have of a genuine relationship. Having met in Istanbul, London, Disneyland or wherever is irrelevant. You've met. The rest of your evidence will be the decision-maker.

[Boiler 47,438]

The important thing is Face Time, not where that Face Time was.

[tomyka81 95]

On my first k1 petition, we met in a different country. The petition was approved. However one of the questions my fiance was asked was whether I had been to his home town. So for petition part, I don't think it matters but for establishing bonafide relationship, meeting the rest of the family was a point for Nigeria

[Amhara 460]

We had to meet in a third country. While I don't think this affected our case too much, I do think we were able to give more evidence of our time when we met. We had boarding passes, ticket receipts, and passport stamps. However, the photos of you two together is going to prove that. If someone sent just one photo together that is just about as good as all the other stuff we provided. Of course, the more evidence the better, but I was including as much as possible for proof of our relationship to - front loading the petition for the benefit of the USEM officer to decide our case.

[Vman07 2]

In anyone's opinion, is the fact that we both traveled to different country than our residence provide a stronger case of having met? We both have all of our boarding passes, corresponding passport stamps, pictures together with verifiable landmarks that are famous, hotel receipts, travel itineraries and hotel booking reservations.

I've searched the forum and cannot find any topic addressing this. IMO, it seems that it is easier to prove having met when both have met in a different country as it generates more evidence. Thoughts?

Harold

My comment will benefit you the most because I went through the same situation recently. I dont think it will be a problem as long as you can prove that you guys were there at the same time. I met my fiance in Bangkok Thailand and in "intend to marry" letter from beneficiary I clearly mentioned that we met in a 3rd country where none of us required a visa for travel. Thailand is country where almost anyone can obtain a visa on arrival and for US citizen there is no visa requirement. Just make sure you send them as many proofs as you can eg: Boarding passes, flight ticket receipts not just itineraries, any ATM transactions you made in a foreign country, passport stamps, etc for both of you photos are secondary evidence so focus more on proving that you guys were at the same place, same time. After submitting my initial k-1 application, last month I received an RFE (request for evidence) so I sent more proofs with the guidance of my lawyer. Submit everything right the first time because if you get an RFE as I mentioned it will delay the case. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck.

[ChuckM 8]

Harold, I was in the exact same case, the embassy's that handle the cases from Iran are well aware of the situations that necessitate the need to meet initially in a third county. My only suggestion for you right now is that the language and religious differences were the major areas of questions that the interviewer asked. I was a prior revert to Islam and my wife was fluent in English. Everything else was easy. My wife's sister was with her during our initial meeting and I think that also help because it did show some family connections as well. In total we had two visits in turkey and in Dubai before our interview in Ankara.

Congratulations, if you have any question, please feel free to reach out.

Chuck

[Harold_Oakland 133]

Thanks everyone,

Chuck, my fiance and I are not religious and she speaks fluent English along with Chinese. The interview will be English to prove she can communicate correct?

Thanks,

Harold

[madam 0]

Hello Chuck

Thanks for yr reply

Im Harold's fiance may I ask you as your wife is persian too how long did it take time to get her interview's email? And does it matter which country Im going to have the interview ?