Hot Topic... I know!

[soon2bmarried! 0]

So... I've read other threads on visiting the U.S. while your K1 is being processed. I realize it is possible but if someone is having a bad day at the point of entry, your loved one could be denied entry.

BUT.... does it make a difference where you are in the K1 visa process? What if your NOA2 has been issued? The reason I am asking it that my fiance has A VERY IMPORTANT trip planned this summer. We don't know where we will be in the process but need to make this visit happen. There is a possibility we will have our NOA2 at this time but one never know!

Please help! Advice from people who've done this before would be GREAT!

Hilsen,

Lauren

[bostonparis 0]

So... I've read other threads on visiting the U.S. while your K1 is being processed. I realize it is possible but if someone is having a bad day at the point of entry, your loved one could be denied entry.

BUT.... does it make a difference where you are in the K1 visa process? What if your NOA2 has been issued? The reason I am asking it that my fiance has A VERY IMPORTANT trip planned this summer. We don't know where we will be in the process but need to make this visit happen. There is a possibility we will have our NOA2 at this time but one never know!

Please help! Advice from people who've done this before would be GREAT!

Hilsen,

Lauren

No, it does not matter where in the process you are. Even if you've received NOA2, you risk being turned back.

[soon2bmarried! 0]

There is always a risk of being turned away when non-residents attempt to enter the U.S as a tourist.

It is good news to hear that it doesn't matter where you stand in the K1 process when visiting as a tourist. His country is part of the visa waiver program so perhaps that will help. Do you think it is worth it to pay an extra $800 bucks to enter a small airport like Cincinnati rather than somewhere like NYC or Chicago?? We are thinking it could potentially help...hoping that it could make things easier.

Thoughts??

[bostonparis 0]

There is always a risk of being turned away when non-residents attempt to enter the U.S as a tourist.

It is good news to hear that it doesn't matter where you stand in the K1 process when visiting as a tourist. His country is part of the visa waiver program so perhaps that will help. Do you think it is worth it to pay an extra $800 bucks to enter a small airport like Cincinnati rather than somewhere like NYC or Chicago?? We are thinking it could potentially help...hoping that it could make things easier.

Thoughts??

No, I don't think so. What could help, though, is going through the POE in Dublin, so if your fiance is turned away, he won't have traveled all the way to the States...

[TexHerts 0]

There is always a risk of being turned away when non-residents attempt to enter the U.S as a tourist.

It is good news to hear that it doesn't matter where you stand in the K1 process when visiting as a tourist. His country is part of the visa waiver program so perhaps that will help. Do you think it is worth it to pay an extra $800 bucks to enter a small airport like Cincinnati rather than somewhere like NYC or Chicago?? We are thinking it could potentially help...hoping that it could make things easier.

Thoughts??

No, I don't think so. What could help, though, is going through the POE in Dublin, so if your fiance is turned away, he won't have traveled all the way to the States...

Sorry for the slight O/T here.... Dublin?? POE for the US??

[Ephesus 0]

Wait...people at the POE know you're filing a fiancé visa and can deny your fiancé entry for a visa, that just goes to show you are CONTINUING the relationship?

There is always a risk of being turned away when non-residents attempt to enter the U.S as a tourist.

It is good news to hear that it doesn't matter where you stand in the K1 process when visiting as a tourist. His country is part of the visa waiver program so perhaps that will help. Do you think it is worth it to pay an extra $800 bucks to enter a small airport like Cincinnati rather than somewhere like NYC or Chicago?? We are thinking it could potentially help...hoping that it could make things easier.

Thoughts??

No, I don't think so. What could help, though, is going through the POE in Dublin, so if your fiance is turned away, he won't have traveled all the way to the States...

Sorry for the slight O/T here.... Dublin?? POE for the US??

[Minya's wife 24]

So... I've read other threads on visiting the U.S. while your K1 is being processed.

BUT.... does it make a difference where you are in the K1 visa process? What if your NOA2 has been issued? There is a possibility we will have our NOA2 at this time but one never know!

No, it does not matter where in the process you are. Even if you've received NOA2, you risk being turned back.

Actually, the risk of being turned back would be greater once the NOA2 is issued, I would think. Once USCIS approves the petition (NOA2), the beneficiary now has "intent to emigrate" which is what you're trying to disprove when you enter the US on a tourist visa(or with the VWP if that is applcable). Specifically, I'm not sure what databases are updated when an I-129f petition is approved, whether it makes a difference where in the process a couple is. From what I've seen in responses to this type of question, it seems that it is a luck of the draw kind of thing.....just like the OP stated "if someone is having a bad day at the point of entry, your loved one could be denied entry." There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this.

-P

Edited March 22, 2007 by Paula&Minya

[soon2bmarried! 0]

To be honest... this makes no sense to me! Why would someone who was taking the time, money and energy to immigrate legally and marry...by filling for a fiance visa would want to stay illegally in the U.S.?

To me, having filed for this visa shows that you do not intend to stay. For one reason, the interview back home. Doesn't seem logical! Just my view point though.

[Minya's wife 24]

To be honest... this makes no sense to me! Why would someone who was taking the time, money and energy to immigrate legally and marry...by filling for a fiance visa would want to stay illegally in the U.S.?

To me, having filed for this visa shows that you do not intend to stay. For one reason, the interview back home. Doesn't seem logical! Just my view point though.

Your and everyone else's logical viewpoint. We all know there is no logic in the rules, regulations and practices involved in immigration.

The POE and the USCIS center where your K-1 application is filed are two different "animals". At the POE all they are concerned with is incoming people, and their "intent" upon entering this country. And this is all a matter of interpretation by the person behind that window at the "visitors" booth when you're going through customs at the airport.

As you have seen by many replies....it has been done many times successfuly. Fiance(e)s have come and visited w/ no problems. Its just that some do not want to take the "risk" of being turned back...because the hearbreak is even greater, when you're almost there and can hug and kiss your loved one and they say "So sorry, can't let you in....go back home."

So they just do it the other way around...the USC visits the fiancee.....that way there is no risk involved.

-P

Edited March 22, 2007 by Paula&Minya

[kari lina 0]

In case anybody is interested, there was a poll that was started on this topic, showing how many have successfully had a non USC visit during the visa process. Here is the link: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=15603&st=0

The poll was started in May 2006, but the last comments are more recent than that and may give some idea of statistics. I do realize that every case may be different from the rest, but I still appreciate looking at the numbers of the success rate.

Karoline

[Peter 0]

I went to visit my fiancee 4 times between NOA and interview at the consulate. My last trip was 2 weeks before the Consulate interview and never had a problem. Though, I always had a employment letter from work and a return ticket information.

They never gave me a hassle. I WAS ALWAYS TRUTHFUL. Don't lie.

[pushbrk 12,232]

There is always a risk of being turned away when non-residents attempt to enter the U.S as a tourist.

It is good news to hear that it doesn't matter where you stand in the K1 process when visiting as a tourist. His country is part of the visa waiver program so perhaps that will help. Do you think it is worth it to pay an extra $800 bucks to enter a small airport like Cincinnati rather than somewhere like NYC or Chicago?? We are thinking it could potentially help...hoping that it could make things easier.

Thoughts??

No, I don't think so. What could help, though, is going through the POE in Dublin, so if your fiance is turned away, he won't have traveled all the way to the States...

Sorry for the slight O/T here.... Dublin?? POE for the US??

I don't have experience with Dublin but I cleared US Customs and immigration in Ottawa every time I returned to the US from there. Apparently the same service is available in Dublin. We do have US Customs and Immigration stations outside the US.

[Yodrak 7]

Peter,

You are also Canadian.

Yodrak

I went to visit my fiancee 4 times between NOA and interview at the consulate. My last trip was 2 weeks before the Consulate interview and never had a problem. Though, I always had a employment letter from work and a return ticket information.

They never gave me a hassle. I WAS ALWAYS TRUTHFUL. Don't lie.

[Peter 0]

Peter,

You are also Canadian.

Yodrak

Well yeah.

That's true.

[TimsDaisy 0]

Nothing is ever certain. Some POE officials are dicks. Some visitors seem squirrely. But frequently, everything is A-Ok.

Follow the advice given here about having your fiance travel with proof of ties (like leases, mortgages, family, employment letter with expected return date, and the I-129F packet and NOAs) on their person and be prepared to answer questions SHOULD THEY COME UP.

Don't walk up and plank down a stack of papers and start talking about intent and blah blah blah.

Fiance should answer what is asked and no feel compelled to volunteer information that no one has asked about yet. Walk in with confidence and respect, project openness and honesty, and the visit should be just fine.

(As for the Dublin, POE, several foreign cities have their own pre-US-landing immigration checks. For instance, at Montreal, you go through American customs and immigration BEFORE you ever board the plane. Part of this has to do with the practicalities of the flights servicing the airport and the facilities at the other end. My flight from Montreal landed at SFO, but not at their international terminal, just at a regular domestic terminal - not set up for customs and border control.)