Filing I-129F from abroad (USC & beneficiary in Seoul, South Korea)

[J&B 52]

Hi all, 

 

We are a same sex couple currently living in Seoul, South Korea. I am the beneficiary and is South African. We are not engaged yet, but plan to be in a few months. After doing some reading on here, here is our plan:

 

We are looking to file our I-129F towards the end of October so that we have ten months from filing to us leaving South Korea at the same time at the end of August 2018.

Right now we have plenty of time to get engaged, talk to family about co-sponsoring us, get documents for both the I-129F and the financial information (tax returns, my vaccinations records, ect) that has to be collected after NOA2 has been issued.

 

I am just wondering if there is anybody here currently (or in the next couple of months) filing their I-129F from South Korea. 

 

Anybody that has done this in the past and would like to share their timelines or tips (especially with regards to the UCS proving domicile in the USA). 

 

We are excited to start this part of our journey together. Thanks for everybody who posts. These forums have put us at easy with the process. 

 

Regards, 

J&B    

[Danni.B 37]

I'm very excited for you guys! My fiance filed petition for me from Canada. He was born in the US but grew up in Canada. It is totally doable. I think the processing time of getting your petition approved is standard regardless where you file it from. It only varies based on countries when your case is sent to beneficiary's local embassy. You can use foreign mailing address, but be prepared that it does take longer for you to receive physical letters from USCIS. I'm not too sure about mail going to Korea; it usually takes 1-2 weeks for us to receive it in Canada. Hope my answer helps! 

[A'n'L 735]

If it's important to you to be able to move to the US in August 2018, I would not delay filing the initial petition. The processing time can change dramatically, and it's not something you can have control over. Once the petition is approved you can delay the consular processing up to one year, and you also have almost six months validity on the K1 visa after it's approved.

[J&B 52]

Thanks for the responses! Danni_xo we are equally excited! 

 

We could file right away, but we are not engaged yet. Now, I know technically in the eyes of USCIS if we had the conversation about our intention to get married, then we are engaged. After having the conversation, we both realized that we are a little tradition and would like to formally get engaged. From other threads, it seems like we could file right away, do the formal engagement and at the time of the interview just be honest about when I formally asked him to spend the rest of his life with me.

 

Does anybody have experience doing it this way? What questions were you asked during the interview? Has this been an issue for anybody? 

 

 

[A'n'L 735]

You don't need to be formally engaged, but you both need to sign a letter of intent to marry to send with the initial petition. The traditions for engagement vary widely between cultures, so it's not possible to determine what an "official engagement" for immigration purposes is. I know many couples who've sent off the petition first and exchanged rings later, for instance.

[Danni.B 37]

1 hour ago, J&B said:

Thanks for the responses! Danni_xo we are equally excited! 

 

We could file right away, but we are not engaged yet. Now, I know technically in the eyes of USCIS if we had the conversation about our intention to get married, then we are engaged. After having the conversation, we both realized that we are a little tradition and would like to formally get engaged. From other threads, it seems like we could file right away, do the formal engagement and at the time of the interview just be honest about when I formally asked him to spend the rest of his life with me.

 

Does anybody have experience doing it this way? What questions were you asked during the interview? Has this been an issue for anybody? 

 

 

Like @A'n'L said, you don't need to be officially engaged. You both just have to have the intent to get married. Having said that, of course don't just apply for the sake of moving to the US. You have to be sure your relationship is ready for the next step. My fiance and I wanted to move almost 2 years ago, but we waited until we were 100% sure that we'd like to spend the rest of our lives together. 

[TBoneTX 43,404]

*** Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the K-1 Case Progress subforum. ***

[J&B 52]

On 5/15/2017 at 3:10 PM, Danni_xo said:

Like @A'n'L said, you don't need to be officially engaged. You both just have to have the intent to get married. Having said that, of course don't just apply for the sake of moving to the US. You have to be sure your relationship is ready for the next step. My fiance and I wanted to move almost 2 years ago, but we waited until we were 100% sure that we'd like to spend the rest of our lives together. 

Great to know. We intend to get married. If not for this move I would have proposed around this time anyways. We've been ready for a few months now, in fact, we are moving in together in August of this year and live together for one year before moving to the US.