what to do if K1 visa approved but fiance is away on deployment

[Lili_K 39]

We are still in the process of applying K1 visa but my fiance who is in the military will be deployed around August or September. 

As to my understanding, once the K-1 visa is approved, I am only given a total of four months from the date of approval of the initial I-129F form to travel to the United States. What do I do if he is still deployed and wont be back in time? 

Also, I am currently staying in my hometown Indonesia. 

Any advice will be helpful!!!

Thx!

 

Edited May 26, 2019 by Lili_K
Added hometown

[milimelo 4,908]

Push off interview and Med exam until a month before fiancé’s deployment is about to end. 

[Lili_K 39]

@milimelo We are thinking to submit the packet before he gets deployed. But if everything went smoothly and the K1 visa is approved within 4/5 months, he would still have 5 more months until he is done with deployment. Im not sure how far i can push off the interview and med exam.

[milimelo 4,908]

As long as you notify consular they’ll keep extending k-1 petition validity. They understand that if he’s deployed he is not in the US so you can’t get married. 

[Lili_K 39]

@milimelo ah that’s good to know. Thank you!!! 😃

[Ayrton 966]

After the petition is approved, you have 4 months to apply for the visa, but that can be extended up to one year.

 

Once your visa is approved, you have 6 months from the date of the medical exam to enter the US. That's the visa expiration.

[Lili_K 39]

2 hours ago, Ayrton said:

After the petition is approved, you have 4 months to apply for the visa, but that can be extended up to one year.

 

Once your visa is approved, you have 6 months from the date of the medical exam to enter the US. That's the visa expiration.

Great! Thank you!  

[Greenbaum 12,262]

5 hours ago, Lili_K said:

We are still in the process of applying K1 visa but my fiance who is in the military will be deployed around August or September. 

As to my understanding, once the K-1 visa is approved, I am only given a total of four months from the date of approval of the initial I-129F form to travel to the United States. What do I do if he is still deployed and wont be back in time? 

Also, I am currently staying in my hometown Indonesia. 

Any advice will be helpful!!!

Thx!

 

You received some good answers but I concur with @Ayrton who was spot on.

 

Here is some information that you can use if needed. USCIS has a military hotline for questions are you need any kind of help. Good luck and thank you and your fiancé for your service.

 

USCIS has established a toll-free military help line exclusively for members of the military and their families. USCIS customer service specialists are available to answer calls Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (CST), excluding federal holidays. After-hours callers receive an email address that they can use to contact USCIS for assistance.

•Military Help Line: 1-877-CIS-4MIL (1-877-247-4645)

[Lili_K 39]

On 5/26/2019 at 7:45 PM, Greenbaum said:

You received some good answers but I concur with @Ayrton who was spot on.

 

Here is some information that you can use if needed. USCIS has a military hotline for questions are you need any kind of help. Good luck and thank you and your fiancé for your service.

 

USCIS has established a toll-free military help line exclusively for members of the military and their families. USCIS customer service specialists are available to answer calls Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (CST), excluding federal holidays. After-hours callers receive an email address that they can use to contact USCIS for assistance.

•Military Help Line: 1-877-CIS-4MIL (1-877-247-4645)

 So my fiance called the military help line to make sure/ double check on what @Ayrton had mentioned, just in case if they have made any changes to deadlines etc. But it seems like the military help line were unable to help on this case. They asked him to mail it after he is from back deployment instead and did not mention anything about extension. All they said was that if we missed the deadline, he would have to re-apply. Should we call the USCIS instead?

[Ayrton 966]

24 minutes ago, Lili_K said:

 So my fiance called the military help line to make sure/ double check on what @Ayrton had mentioned, just in case if they have made any changes to deadlines etc. But it seems like the military help line were unable to help on this case. They asked him to mail it after he is from back deployment instead and did not mention anything about extension. All they said was that if we missed the deadline, he would have to re-apply. Should we call the USCIS instead?

The embassy is the one responsible for extending that. You should contact the embassy 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,101]

On 5/25/2019 at 11:54 PM, Lili_K said:

As to my understanding, once the K-1 visa is approved, I am only given a total of four months from the date of approval of the initial I-129F form to travel to the United States

In addition to what everyone else said, a minor correction ...

 

Once the I-129F is approved, you have four months to schedule an interview, not to enter the US; lots of K-1 beneficiaries enter the US well after their petition expired because between processing at NVC, processing and interviewing at the embassy/consulate, and actually getting ready to leave it takes more than four months. The embassy/consulate can extend the petition validity in four-month increments at their discretion (usually this is automatic if there are no interviews available in time; for any other reason you'll have to ask them).

 

Normally, your K-1 visa is valid for six months from the date of your medical exam (that's one reason why it's recommended to get this as close to your interview date as practical; the other is that if the embassy/consulate you're interviewing at is not close to your home, it's usually more convenient to make only one trip). There are some special cases where it would be valid for less time (mostly if the medical shows certain conditions), but that's not usual.

[Lili_K 39]

14 hours ago, Ayrton said:

The embassy is the one responsible for extending that. You should contact the embassy 

Ah okay Gotcha! Thank you!

[Lili_K 39]

13 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

In addition to what everyone else said, a minor correction ...

 

Once the I-129F is approved, you have four months to schedule an interview, not to enter the US; lots of K-1 beneficiaries enter the US well after their petition expired because between processing at NVC, processing and interviewing at the embassy/consulate, and actually getting ready to leave it takes more than four months. The embassy/consulate can extend the petition validity in four-month increments at their discretion (usually this is automatic if there are no interviews available in time; for any other reason you'll have to ask them).

 

Normally, your K-1 visa is valid for six months from the date of your medical exam (that's one reason why it's recommended to get this as close to your interview date as practical; the other is that if the embassy/consulate you're interviewing at is not close to your home, it's usually more convenient to make only one trip). There are some special cases where it would be valid for less time (mostly if the medical shows certain conditions), but that's not usual.

Thank you so much. Yeah my medical exam would have to be a couple of days before the interview as it is not close to home. 

 

[Ryan H 3,926]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.