Is 2 week facetime enough for an approval?

[miles&miles 1]

Hello everyone, nice to have stumbled upon such a nice community

My fiance is very close to setting up her interview, she's from Costa Rica. 

We're kind of worried for her chances of having her visa approved as we have only met 2 times, both times make up a little bit more than 2 weeks total. We've known each other for over a year.

What are her chances of being approved? 

[Lil bear 3,831]

6 minutes ago, miles&miles said:

Hello everyone, nice to have stumbled upon such a nice community

My fiance is very close to setting up her interview, she's from Costa Rica. 

We're kind of worried for her chances of having her visa approved as we have only met 2 times, both times make up a little bit more than 2 weeks total. We've known each other for over a year.

What are her chances of being approved? 

It’s the totality of your evidence not just one thing. Did you get engaged on the first meeting ? Certainly more time together would be better .. but there are lots of other things they look at too 

[Celie 793]

6 minutes ago, miles&miles said:

Hello everyone, nice to have stumbled upon such a nice community

My fiance is very close to setting up her interview, she's from Costa Rica. 

We're kind of worried for her chances of having her visa approved as we have only met 2 times, both times make up a little bit more than 2 weeks total. We've known each other for over a year.

What are her chances of being approved? 

It all depends on the interviewing officer and what they consider is strong evidence of bonafide relationship. Ofc, more facetime is better, especially in high fraud countries but it's not unheard of to get approved with little facetime. My husband (from Lebanon) had only 1 meet with me before filing (7-8 day visit) and a second one during the process (12-ish days).

 

It's totally possible!

[Madison S. 48]

31 minutes ago, miles&miles said:

Hello everyone, nice to have stumbled upon such a nice community

My fiance is very close to setting up her interview, she's from Costa Rica. 

We're kind of worried for her chances of having her visa approved as we have only met 2 times, both times make up a little bit more than 2 weeks total. We've known each other for over a year.

What are her chances of being approved? 

Generally, quality face to face time is an important aspect. That being said, approval is based on a variety of factors (the quality and amount of evidence for a bona fide relationship you've provided), consular office, degree of fraud risk, etc. I've seen people with far more get denied (possibly due to other factors) and people with the same or less get approved. Just provide as much bona fide evidence as you can! There are lots of discussions on VJ about evidence to submit for the K1 process. 

 

Some factors that may raise "red flags" are described below (but I have seen plenty of people on VJ get approved despite one (or many) of these "red flags") so take it all with a grain of salt 👍:

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/fiance-visa-proving-your-bona-fide-29545/

[GMvietnam 28]

27 minutes ago, miles&miles said:

Hello everyone, nice to have stumbled upon such a nice community

My fiance is very close to setting up her interview, she's from Costa Rica. 

We're kind of worried for her chances of having her visa approved as we have only met 2 times, both times make up a little bit more than 2 weeks total. We've known each other for over a year.

What are her chances of being approved? 

That's just a small portion of what they are looking at.  Just make sure she knows a lot about you,  when you propose and where/job/where you work/where you live/how long at current job/who you live with/your ex-spouse(if any)/kids, etc...Basically let her know about your life...Good luck.

[Pitaya 2,576]

What else ya got? 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

I'd check in the regional forums and see if anyone else from Costa Rica or with a fiance/spouse from there can answer. At some consulates, you'll be just fine with the legal minimum one visit; at others (mostly high fraud and/or high security risk countries), you'll need quite a lot of time together and even then approval of a K-1 isn't likely. At most consulates, assuming you have a sufficient other relationship evidence, two one-week in-person visits is fine.

 

The people reviewing your fiancee's visa application are going to evaluate your case based on everything they know about you and her and about her culture. There's not a strict '# of visits' cut-off (except that your petition would have been denied if you didn't have at least one).

Edited July 15, 2019 by DaveAndAnastasia

[jeanieCZ 228]

To my knowledge the requirement is that you must have met in person, it doesn't say how much time you must have spent together in person. 

Make sure you have a solid case of a bona fide relationship, that means, you know a lot about one another, you spent a lot of time calling, texting, videocalling... otherwise letters, emails. 

[cywrainide 21]

First thing I would take note of is whether your fiance is from/of a country of typically perceived 'high risk', and the tone of the Embassy there (whether they tend to be more traditionalist/open-minded) and et cetera. Are refusals pretty common there despite high evidence proof of meeting each other/knowing each other well? etc.

 

Personally I have a similar 'face time' timeframe and my Embassy is in Singapore (which is low risk and tend to be pretty objective in their approvals, as far as I can gather) which went through USCIS just fine. I've heard of cases over here where they've only met once for a few amount of days and somehow still got approved so it really is circumstantial.

 

If you feel that your face time is insufficient,  I would advice your fiance to bring along other proof(s) of relationship such as chat logs and even Skype screengrabs to further prove that your relationship is solidified.

[Carpe Vinum 2,310]

15 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

I'd check in the regional forums and see if anyone else from Costa Rica or with a fiance/spouse from there can answer. At some consulates, you'll be just fine with the legal minimum one visit; at others (mostly high fraud and/or high security risk countries), you'll need quite a lot of time together and even then approval of a K-1 isn't likely. At most consulates, assuming you have a sufficient other relationship evidence, two one-week in-person visits is fine.

 

The people reviewing your fiancee's visa application are going to evaluate your case based on everything they know about you and her and about her culture. There's not a strict '# of visits' cut-off (except that your petition would have been denied if you didn't have at least one).

^^^^ This is the best advice. Requirements vary by Embassy. What flies in Manila may not work in San Jose. Check out the regional forum and chat with others from Costa Rica. They can give you a clearer picture. Good Luck!

[Nitas_man 3,100]

19 hours ago, miles&miles said:

Hello everyone, nice to have stumbled upon such a nice community

My fiance is very close to setting up her interview, she's from Costa Rica. 

We're kind of worried for her chances of having her visa approved as we have only met 2 times, both times make up a little bit more than 2 weeks total. We've known each other for over a year.

What are her chances of being approved? 

We were approved after 1 meeting.  

As stated several times it is really country dependent and they gauge the quality of the relationship by the overall case.

[JeanneAdil 6,201]

if you look at the 1st map here on the images of high fraud countries ,  you will see Costa Rica is on the map

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=high+fraud+countries&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS833US833&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAjZ_Bu7njAhVMHM0KHYbY

 

that being pointed out ,  the beneficary needs to go into the interview with confidence

fully prepared to answer all questions about the finacee by knowing every thing about the USC   

must be able to prove the relationship is real and you will work or study in the US  with your fiancee

[Carpe Vinum 2,310]

Just now, JeanneAdil said:

if you look at the 1st map here on the images of high fraud countries ,  you will see Costa Rica is on the map

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=high+fraud+countries&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS833US833&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAjZ_Bu7njAhVMHM0KHYbY

 

that being pointed out ,  the beneficary needs to go into the interview with confidence

fully prepared to answer all questions about the finacee by knowing every thing about the USC   

must be able to prove the relationship is real and you will work or study in the US  with your fiancee

This has been discussed before. I wouldn't really go by that map. Philippines is considered "high-fraud" and K-1 are not difficult to obtain there.

[Carpe Vinum 2,310]

3 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

if you look at the 1st map here on the images of high fraud countries ,  you will see Costa Rica is on the map

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=high+fraud+countries&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS833US833&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAjZ_Bu7njAhVMHM0KHYbY

 

that being pointed out ,  the beneficary needs to go into the interview with confidence

fully prepared to answer all questions about the finacee by knowing every thing about the USC   

must be able to prove the relationship is real and you will work or study in the US  with your fiancee

👍

[Cathi 5,610]

50 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

if you look at the 1st map here on the images of high fraud countries ,  you will see Costa Rica is on the map

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=high+fraud+countries&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS833US833&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAjZ_Bu7njAhVMHM0KHYbY

 

that being pointed out ,  the beneficary needs to go into the interview with confidence

fully prepared to answer all questions about the finacee by knowing every thing about the USC   

must be able to prove the relationship is real and you will work or study in the US  with your fiancee

Ummmmmm..that map is of every single country in the world with the exception of the US. 

 

The actual list of high fraud countries is here, and Costa Rica is NOT on the list! https://mypathtocitizenship.com/which-countries-are-on-the-uscis-high-fraud-list/