New Here with so many questions

[myheartisintogo 1]

Hey everyone,
I'm new here and need so much help/advice. Well, I met my Fiance in 2016 while on a trip to Nigeria with my best friend. Without rambling about all the details. I didn't know then what I know now regarding the K1 process. My fiance proposed to me 2 years ago while I was back visiting him again in Nigeria. Fast forward to 2021 and we're on our K1 visa journey. My questions are:

 

Would you guys advise using a third party company like RapidVisa? Or should we do it ourselves? I really want to do it ourselves because it would save us money. But I want to be sure we're doing it correctly. For anyone who did it themselves without using third-party companies how was your experience with it?

 

We're past the 2 year window of the meeting requirement. So my fiance booked me a flight for July to come back so we can get things started.

 

What do you guys recommend we submit as "proof" that we've met?

 

He is a Nigerian citizen but he resides in Togo now. Would we be able to go through Togo for this or will this go through Nigeria? He has zero intent to move back to Nigeria.

 

We are at a point now, we cant stand being apart anymore. Doing some research. I found out he can travel to Barbados without a visa and can stay up to 6 months and we can apply to extend. I work 2 jobs from home full-time and he works remotely as well. I found out I can continue to work for my companies remotely if I move to Barbados temporarily (for up to a year). Would any of you see that being an issue if we stayed in Barbados together while we wait out this process? I would move to Togo to be with him if I could work remotely from there but my employer won't do it. As far as any appointments we have no issue flying back to attend anything.

 

Also. What do you guys think the timeline is now with everything that's going on due to the Pandemic? 

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you all so much.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by myheartisintogo
Additional questions

[JeanneAdil 6,539]

No to the Rapid Visa /  it is not hard to do this yourself

 

and to interview in TOGO he would have to be consider a  permanent resident / no idea on if he can get that so  others hopefully can answer

and you should have  TOGO address for the petition (application)

 

if he does this ,  he will still need criminal report from Nigeria and he could get that before he left

[powerpuff 6,723]

2 hours ago, myheartisintogo said:

Would you guys advise using a third party company like RapidVisa?

No, not worth it. 
 

2 hours ago, myheartisintogo said:

 

What do you guys recommend we submit as "proof" that we've met?

Passport stamps, boarding passes, receipts for hotels or activities showing both your names, credit/debit card statements from both of you showing you were at the same place at the same time. Maybe couple of photos but that’s secondary evidence. Still doesn’t hurt to include few. 
 

2 hours ago, myheartisintogo said:

He is a Nigerian citizen but he resides in Togo now. Would we be able to go through Togo for this

If he has valid residency in Togo I don't see why not. A lot of people who work in another country have successfully had their interviews there. 
 

2 hours ago, myheartisintogo said:

Also. What do you guys think the timeline is now with everything that's going on due to the Pandemic? 

Consulate in Togo isn’t processing K-1s. Really hard to tell. Could be much longer than a year. They’re processing spousal visas though so maybe you should look into that. I read here that Nigeria just started processing petitions that were approved May 2020. So they’ve been sitting there collecting dust for a year after being approved.

[myheartisintogo 1]

1 hour ago, powerpuff said:

If he has valid residency in Togo I don't see why not. A lot of people who work in another country have successfully had their interviews there. 
 

Consulate in Togo isn’t processing K-1s. Really hard to tell. Could be much longer than a year. They’re processing spousal visas though so maybe you should look into that. I read here that Nigeria just started processing petitions that were approved May 2020. So they’ve been sitting there collecting dust for a year after being approved.

Could you explain what is considered valid residency? I know that he can travel to Togo visa free for up to 3 months. But he never went and did anything about obtaining a visa after the 3 months. He just stayed. He is enrolled in a university there. Which was his reason for going. And safety. He has been living there since December of 2020. No one has said anything to him about getting a visa. He only recently started working. But his apartment is under a lease. Would this be bad?

 

We should go the spouse visa route? We just want to go the route that takes the shortest amount of time. 

[J&D1008 376]

26 minutes ago, myheartisintogo said:

Could you explain what is considered valid residency? I know that he can travel to Togo visa free for up to 3 months. But he never went and did anything about obtaining a visa after the 3 months. He just stayed. He is enrolled in a university there. Which was his reason for going. And safety. He has been living there since December of 2020. No one has said anything to him about getting a visa. He only recently started working. But his apartment is under a lease. Would this be bad?

 

We should go the spouse visa route? We just want to go the route that takes the shortest amount of time. 

If he has an ECOWAS passport that means he didn't need a visa to travel to togo? correct? So I think if he has permanent residency in Togo, you can do the interview there. It just sounds like he stayed in Togo but I'm not sure how that part works. However, like someone mentioned he would still need a police report from Nigeria when you get up to that point. Right now, there is no fast route. With a country like Nigeria that process thousands of visa and the backlog due to Covid - you are looking at 2-3 years before he comes over and thats if you collect all the appropriate documentation. I suggest reviewing the data or reaching out to others who spouses are from Nigeria on this site. They may be of great help to you! 

Edited June 1, 2021 by J&D1008

[myheartisintogo 1]

1 hour ago, J&D1008 said:

If he has an ECOWAS passport that means he didn't need a visa to travel to togo? correct? 

 

However, like someone mentioned he would still need a police report from Nigeria when you get up to that point. 

That's correct he has an ECOWAS passport. I'm thinking maybe we should go the Spouse visa route since Togo isn't processing K1. 

 

For the police report is that something I need to submit when applying? He can definitely go and get that. 

[J&D1008 376]

2 hours ago, myheartisintogo said:

That's correct he has an ECOWAS passport. I'm thinking maybe we should go the Spouse visa route since Togo isn't processing K1. 

 

For the police report is that something I need to submit when applying? He can definitely go and get that. 

Yeah, i would first make sure he's even qualified to interview in Togo. Just having a passport to travel does not mean he has permanent resident status there. I would double check that because he may end up having to do everything in Nigeria. The police report is for the interview, not when submitting the application. 

https://tg.usembassy.gov/visas/fiancee/

[SalishSea 17,915]

17 hours ago, myheartisintogo said:

We should go the spouse visa route? We just want to go the route that takes the shortest amount of time. 

Neither option will be fast.  Think years, not months.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.