Steve Rose and Eliana Barrios K-1 to AOS Updates

[smrose20 4]

10/15/18: We have decided to try Fred Wahl (Visa Coach) to help us organize with K-1 + AOS ($1,290). We have been working quite hard over the past couple of days to gather all the information we can and get this process started ASAP. I know I could do the forms myself but I am basically paying for peace of mind and I feel better already seeing the initial steps he's taking to organize our data and have a second eye on it.

 

Not sure it will make a huge difference, but I created a 25 slide Power Powerpoint to help organize my thoughts, what I think might be relevant data (receipts, AirBnB's addresses, videos, timestamped pics) etc proving we are a couple. The goal is to get this filed within the next 2 weeks and HOPING to get the K1 status around June 2019, file the AOS and have my fiance legally allowed to working around September 2019.

[Marieke H 2,546]

10 minutes ago, smrose20 said:

The goal is to get this filed within the next 2 weeks and HOPING to get the K1 status around June 2019, file the AOS and have my fiance legally allowed to working around September 2019.

Expect longer timelines. The K1 might take more than the 8 months you are expecting, but I'm not sure what the processing times are now.

Then, if she would get her visa in June, she will enter the country, you will get married, you will need to get the AOS paperwork ready... there is no way she will get her EAD by September. My EAD took 6 months, some people are waiting even longer. Plan for a long time of living on only your income. 

Good luck!

[smrose20 4]

2 minutes ago, MariekeH said:

Expect longer timelines. The K1 might take more than the 8 months you are expecting, but I'm not sure what the processing times are now.

Then, if she would get her visa in June, she will enter the country, you will get married, you will need to get the AOS paperwork ready... there is no way she will get her EAD by September. My EAD took 6 months, some people are waiting even longer. Plan for a long time of living on only your income. 

Good luck!

Thanks for the update! I might have just been looking at old information and living off me won't be an issue. Appreciate you helping me reset expectations!

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

 

I-129f petitions through receiving of K-1 after interview are anywhere from 9-10 months almost realistically, some maybe longer depending on AP or RFE's....  generally USCIS won't even look at digital stuff like videos/CD/ect so...

 

As for AOS, once married, just applying for AOS, the EAD/AP as mentioned is taking 4-6 months right now unless can expedite for the EAD but they would need to have a formal job offer, and still that can take a bit for USCIS to respond, approve, and produce the EAD so September is pretty high expectations. Whether you are wanting you fiance to be able to work so quickly after the AOS is submitted because they may get bored at home or because you will need the help financially, now is the time to prepare for these things. Planning activities and saving money so you don't have to stress finances during the wait for the EAD then. Even with the EAD, no guarantee they would get a job right away anyways, even if they have a degree of some sort, still can take time.

[Marieke H 2,546]

2 minutes ago, smrose20 said:

Thanks for the update! I might have just been looking at old information and living off me won't be an issue. Appreciate you helping me reset expectations!

USCIS shows processing times of 5.5 to 7.5 months now, but after that your case will go to NVC and then the consulate.

Your post seemed like it was important for her to work soon after arrival, so I just wanted to make sure your expectations were realistic. The long wait for the EAD can be tough (it was for me!), so maybe you two can start thinking about things she would like to do during those months. Hobbies, school, etc, anything to get her out of the house, meeting new people, stay busy.

[smrose20 4]

10 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

 

I-129f petitions through receiving of K-1 after interview are anywhere from 9-10 months almost realistically, some maybe longer depending on AP or RFE's....  generally USCIS won't even look at digital stuff like videos/CD/ect so...

 

As for AOS, once married, just applying for AOS, the EAD/AP as mentioned is taking 4-6 months right now unless can expedite for the EAD but they would need to have a formal job offer, and still that can take a bit for USCIS to respond, approve, and produce the EAD so September is pretty high expectations. Whether you are wanting you fiance to be able to work so quickly after the AOS is submitted because they may get bored at home or because you will need the help financially, now is the time to prepare for these things. Planning activities and saving money so you don't have to stress finances during the wait for the EAD then. Even with the EAD, no guarantee they would get a job right away anyways, even if they have a degree of some sort, still can take time.

Thank you very much for helping me level set! I was likely going off of old timelines. She has a possible job offer and they are wanting to get a general idea of timelines. We haven't told them anything yet but  that's why the "hope" for Sept and was hoping helpful people like yourself can correct me if I'm totally off. We will definitely keep in mind your suggestions around savings, activities etc to prepare. 

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by smrose20

[smrose20 4]

2 minutes ago, MariekeH said:

USCIS shows processing times of 5.5 to 7.5 months now, but after that your case will go to NVC and then the consulate.

Your post seemed like it was important for her to work soon after arrival, so I just wanted to make sure your expectations were realistic. The long wait for the EAD can be tough (it was for me!), so maybe you two can start thinking about things she would like to do during those months. Hobbies, school, etc, anything to get her out of the house, meeting new people, stay busy.

She has a job that wanted her to give an idea of timelines but will definitely keep in mind it could take longer than expected and save up. We haven't told them anything yet and that's why I posted this to have good people such as yourself help me levelset 🙂 Thanks again!

[Marieke H 2,546]

1 minute ago, smrose20 said:

She has a job that wanted her to give an idea of timelines but will definitely keep in mind it could take longer than expected and save up. We haven't told them anything yet and that's why I posted this to have good people such as yourself help me levelset 🙂 Thanks again!

If the employer is willing to provide a written job offer by then, she might be able to expedite her EAD. Not all expedite requests are approved, and they can still take a while, but it's worth a try.

I hope you'll have a smooth visa journey!

[Sunnyland 639]

You don't want be telling her potential future employer that she will have her EAD ready by September because chances are that she won't, it could be ready by end of 2019 (if). Everything takes longer now.. This is a DIY website so unless money is no a problem and you don't mind in giving it away to that visa coach then I would advise you to keep that cash and do it yourself just like most of VJ members here. The paperwork does look like a headache at first but it's not rocket science. If you follow the guides here then you can do this. And if in doubt, just post and experienced members will help you.

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Sunnyland

[geowrian 22,339]

52 minutes ago, smrose20 said:

Not sure it will make a huge difference, but I created a 25 slide Power Powerpoint to help organize my thoughts, what I think might be relevant data (receipts, AirBnB's addresses, videos, timestamped pics) etc proving we are a couple.

You can print slides, but they won't accept any digital content (CDs/DVDs/flash drives/SD cards/etc.).

[smrose20 4]

Update:

We ended up getting married in November 2018 and doing a CR1. Fred helped us put together the initial packet and it was received in Early January. I can update the steps another time but long story short, on Sept 10, my wife had her in person interview in Bogotá and was approved (yay!) . We could have done many things ourselves but Fred certainly helped us a lot through the entire process and we would recommend him as a resource IF you have the money. If you are in Bogotá DRESS FOR 55 DEGREE F WEATHER. The whole interview process you are outside and Bogotá often has misty weather 55-65 degree weather so even if you are under a part that is roofed, you can still easily get wet since the entire structure isn't roofed and you will be in the exposed sky at some point.

 

The day starts where you have to wait outside the walls of the US embassy on the street, and they call your name over a loud speaker. From there, you go through security and the first round of people asking for your required papers. We heard them talking amongst themselves in Spanish to be sure to take into account personal appearance when they "score" us but we aren't sure what that means. They put a sticker with a roman numeral on it. Next, you sit in some chairs and wait to be called to a telephone and a person behind a glass tells you to pick the phone up (like in a prison) and re-asks you for your papers. From there, they have you wait in another group of chairs and then go to another window with a phone where your interview will be. You hand the US Consulate papers under the glass, scan a hand then the interviewer has you read a two page document on domestic abuse. Once you verify you understand it, she starts asking questions. Ours were really easy: 

• Has either of us had a divorce?

• A: No
   
• Do either of us have kids?
  A: No
   
•  When did we get married?:
  A: November 21
   
• When and how did we meet?
  A: May 2017 in Envigado at a Language school in Colombia.
   
• Tell me about your relationship? How long were you in a relationship before getting married?
  A: Met and did a distance for a year and a half.  Whatsapped or Skyped every day
   
• How many times did you visit each other before getting married?
  A; Steve visited 2-3 times; once with his mom visiting Eliana's family and Eliana stayed in the US for ~2 months on an H1 visiting Steve's family
   
• When did Steve's mom visit Eliana's family?
  A: Jan 2018
   
• Okay approved
   

I think we did a really good job with our case file and other proof from before and they were basically verifying everything but it was a huge relief to get approved nonetheless. I (the petitioner) didn't say a word and the whole interview was in Spanish. I think some embassies don't let spouses in but Colombia did and I also think it helped with the interview show a genuine relationship.

Edited September 12, 2019 by smrose20

[BriJoni 0]

Regarding Fred Wahl, maybe many years ago you would be lost without help, but these days there is a ton of support, like this website/forum, youtube, etc., if you cannot afford an attorney.

 

We used Fred Wahl and our experience made me believe that any testimonials in praise of his service was absolute fake, I could not believe it is the same service.  His service could not have been less professional.

 

I should have known from the start when they sent me their own forms to fill out, from which they would take the information I provided and use it to fill out the govt. forms....  why not just have me fill out the govt. forms?

 

Their forms were broken English, bad grammar, bad spelling, duplicate questions, just horrible!

 

At first there were three basic things to fill out, background on myself and my foreign wife, and a financial on myself.

 

I was waiting on the IRS for some information and was unable to complete the financial questions right away so I let Fred Wahl's "office" know and the answer I received was:

"We already received your spouse's questionnaire, but not yours. We need both questionnaires to prepare your forms and doc, please email us ASAP.

If that is the main question you don't know the answer to, just send us the questionnaire anyway. Plenty of time to provide this info  later."

 

Now maybe I am thick headed sometimes but the urgency they put on me getting the questionnaires to them with the ASAP, and the idea that we have plenty of time later to fill in additional information that I don't have from the IRS caused my wife and I to believe that the initial forms Fred Wahl so urgently needed was to secure my "place in line".

 

In the following 8 months I made a couple more trips to see my wife, gathering more and more proof of our relationship, etc., trusting in our "visa coach" to let us know what we needed to give them and when, but we didn't get much coaching, in fact we got generic answers days after asking, or pretty much "I don't know" answers in the form of a link to a google search for the topic of my question.  After 8 months I decided that I had enough and sent it in to them to add to the package, still thinking that we had secured our place in line 8 months earlier.

 

No, no we had not, our visa coach sat on those urgent documents for 8 months, put together a middle school craft project and sent it to me(everything I paid to ship to them, they shipped back to me so I could then ship it to the govt), with instructions on how to ship it, where to ship it, etc., and that is when we found out we had NOTHING submitted to the govt to establish our place in line, we were sick, we stopped using the "visa coach" and did EVERYTHING after that ourselves and had much more confidence in our work than theirs.

 

I would still ask every question in an email to our visa coach even though I only looked at their answer for amusement, they told us to DO things that the govt explicitly instructs in bold words NOT TO DO, and told us things not to do that we absolutely had to do.

 

I could vent this for many paragraphs of details, but here is the short of it, the stress my wife and I experienced had to do with Fred Wahl, not the US Govt!!!

 

Whatever we researched and did on our own, which was most of it, was fairly straight forward, I won't say completely stress free but when I was leaning on our "visa coach" for answers, life was not good, once we went on our own, life was so much better.

 

I would not want to steer anyone wrong, but if we had found it to be too difficult to go on our own and felt like we really did need help that we could not have got from Fred Wahl, I would have paid for an attorney, sold a car, whatever it took, but if we found that we really did need help we would have found a way to pay for an attorney even though we already spent a ton of money on the "visa coach", but we found that it was not really hard, it is just confusing sometimes but places like this website will most likely answer your questions.

 

From the things I read in this website, it is a much better visa coach than the one calling himself the visa coach!

 

My wife is now here in America, we are married over three years, she is all set with green card etc., in three years she will become American citizen, we breezed through all the processes in Manila, so my grudge against the "coach" is not because we failed, my wife and I worked VERY hard to succeed in this process and I can honestly say the only thing we got from the "coach" was a person to organize all the paperwork that I shipped them, that's it, they just filled in the forms, but actually did not do that correctly, they made grammar and spelling mistakes, and even I made one and didn't correct it because I though for sure they would... nope, whatever mistakes I made were copied verbatim to the govt forms!!!

 

I had to correct all mistakes before sending to govt.

 

I did not tell half the horror story, don't really want to re-live my dealings with the "coach", I want to forget it ever happened, and when we apply to sponsor family members, we will either do it ourselves or hire an attorney.

 

It is my opinion now that hiring anyone for immigrations help that is not an immigration attorney is a huge mistake, hire the real deal or DIY with help from places like this!

[Crazy Cat 43,804]

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