RFE - Evidence of meeting in person

[L1000 1]

41 minutes ago, crono_clone said:

I'm curious to see if that will work. I'm no expert, but from what I hear of cases like yours, USCIS might assume that you're too "married" already and tell you to file a CR-1 instead.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what's the reason you're pursuing a K-1 instead of a CR-1?

Hi Chrono, 

 

Thats why I was hesitant to load the inital application with all evidence and didnt give them too much. We were advised not to give them too much evidence by an immigration attorney. 

 

We applied for the K1 because we want to get married at the Stanley hotel in Colorado and we didn’t want to marry in Australia and rush everything just for a visa as we have a pretty good life here and both have good jobs. My fiancée has her heart set on being a doctor so we are moving for her to follow her dreams and go back to school for post grad studies. We applied for the K1 for those reasons and the wait was meant to be half the time of CR-1. We are nearing 11 months and not even at NAO2, so at this point it wouldn’t have mattered anyways which visa we went for. 

Edited October 13, 2018 by Lance1983

[crono_clone 213]

20 minutes ago, Lance1983 said:

Hi Chrono, 

 

Thats why I was hesitant to load the inital application with all evidence and didnt give them too much. We were advised not to give them too much evidence by an immigration attorney. 

 

We applied for the K1 because we want to get married at the Stanley hotel in Colorado and we didn’t want to marry in Australia and rush everything just for a visa as we have a pretty good life here and both have good jobs. My fiancée has her heart set on being a doctor so we are moving for her to follow her dreams and go back to school for post grad studies. We applied for the K1 for those reasons and the wait was meant to be half the time of CR-1. We are nearing 11 months and not even at NAO2, so at this point it wouldn’t have mattered anyways which visa we went for. 

Ah I see. Since you're already together then the wait is certainly not a factor, though the CR-1 does have the advantage of giving her a green card upon arrival (rather than the 6-month limbo of applying for AOS after arriving on a K-1).

 

It's always hard to tell what USCIS thinks when it comes to marriage vs engagement, since it's really our choice where we want to get married; though they do seem to apply a heavier standard on countries where a lot of marriage fraud happens and I don't think Australia is one of them.

 

They're bound to figure out your situation sooner or later since they do extensive background checks (my fiance is finally at the interview stage and I think they've done a background check every time someone's even touched our case 😆) so let's hope for the best!

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

There is lots of people who live together before marriage, so I don;t think them thinking that is a major worry unless you send in photos of a wedding-style party.  I'd recommend sending in joint bills, mail addressed to both or either of you at the same address, and a couple more photos and date them.

[daniBR 34]

If I may ask a non-related question, did you send your de facto relationship certificate in your original petition? I am asking because my fiance and I did (we also lived together in Australia) and now we are scared to death thinking they may think we are “too married” for a k1 visa and deny our petition... we know a de facto is not a marriage but I never knew what USCIS things about that on Australia specifically.

[L1000 1]

12 minutes ago, danidillenburg said:

If I may ask a non-related question, did you send your de facto relationship certificate in your original petition? I am asking because my fiance and I did (we also lived together in Australia) and now we are scared to death thinking they may think we are “too married” for a k1 visa and deny our petition... we know a de facto is not a marriage but I never knew what USCIS things about that on Australia specifically.

Hi Dani,

 

No we did not send it. Not sure if they recognize it. Hopefully they don’t. The biggest hurdle to overcome in your situation would be meeting the income requirements because your fiancée obviously works and lives here. That’s what is giving us the most trouble and we have had to source a co sponsor. As for the defacto certificate in some states I believe they may consider it a common law marriage. I wish I could help more. Good luck. 

[daniBR 34]

5 minutes ago, Lance1983 said:

Hi Dani,

 

No we did not send it. Not sure if they recognize it. Hopefully they don’t. The biggest hurdle to overcome in your situation would be meeting the income requirements because your fiancée obviously works and lives here. That’s what is giving us the most trouble and we have had to source a co sponsor. As for the defacto certificate in some states I believe they may consider it a common law marriage. I wish I could help more. Good luck. 

No worries, thank you for your help. Actually neither me or my fiance are Australian, we were on student and working holiday visas when we were there, so when we applied for the k1 we were both aready back in our home countries. He (petitioner) found a job in the U.S way over poverty line so we’re ok on the finance part. I’m just really worried about that de facto thing, but haven’t found a single person in the same situation yet so I guess I’ll just wait and see what happens😅 Good luck to you as well!