New to Board, filed K-1 received NOA1, have a few questions

[teachmehistory 0]

Hello to the board! I am so glad to have found you. I am in Seattle, WA and my fiance is in London. we used an immigration service to help file our K-1 visa. I am so intimidated by the process I just wanted someone else to help check all the paperwork in hopes nothing gets held up. We filed in early July and have received NOA1 and the check has been cashed! YAY! so here are a few questions to get me started!

1. What does 'touched' mean?

2 What does it mean to file for a police certificate? is this something my immigration service should have told me about?

3 has anyone else used an immigration service/lawyer to walk them through the process? what was your experience?

4 anyone on the board have any experience they can share with the london embassy or a fiancee in the UK?

5 would anyone on the board be willing to give me a rundown of what to expect from here? what does the journey look like after NOA1??? What should we be doing now to prepare for steps down the road. I know we hired the service to help us with this, but I feel like I need to be as informed as possible

6 here's a biggie - my fiance is flying into Vancouver, Canada tomorrow, as we were advised he may get turned away by customs now that he's visa application is filed. Out immigration lawyer advised that we should try to drive him through the border if we want to visit seattle (only 2 hours away). he said that our chances are pretty good and the worst that will happen is they will say no and we will vacation in canada as planned, but it will not impact the processing of our application. what does everyone think??

7 it is my understanding that the fees just increased big time for all visas and immigration and there was a large increase in the number of application prior to that (in july). how will this impact processing times?

8 is there anyone you can contact as the servicing centers for any info on individual applications?

9 what should we be doing to get ready for the embassy interview?

10 what is the deal with his ability to work once he enters the country? can he do it right away or is there a waiting period?

thanks for any and all responses. I have a million more questions, but will keep reading the posts to look for answers and participate in the community as we go! glad to have found the board! nice to know others going thru the same thing!

[jundp 191]

Hi teachme and welcome.

There are quite a few UKers here on the UK forum who will undoubtedly be of great help to you.

May I suggest that you go to the home page and check out the FAQs and read the K1 guides as they are a great help. I spent ages reading the guides (and still had a lot of questions!). Also, if you fill in your timeline to date it will help people to give you information. I too filed in July (not early though and I still haven't heard a thing) and am also in Seattle.

I can answer right now about the visiting. My fiance is also flying in next week. He's going through Atlanta then on to Seattle. As per many suggestions here on VJ, he's bringing proof of ties to his home country (uni enrollment, for example, and a work contract). I suppose if he's asked what the purpose of his trip is, he'll say honestly, to visit my girlfriend. We have been to Vancouver and Victoria before on different visits and though it was before filing the K1 we were asked how we met and how long we'd known each other (at Victoria, at Vancouver they didn't care b/c he still had a valid Canadian stamp in his passport). I would think you are ok. Maybe send him a copy of the NOA1 to bring with him as well? I am sure that someone here can answer more, and again, there are threads about this already.

If you want to just chat with someone local who understands the stress, feel free to pm me

Good luck on your journey.

~Jen

[RosemarieL 0]

If you fill in your timeline it will give you a reasonable estimate of how long things take. Since your fiance is from London the form for requesting a police certificate is here http://www.met.police.uk/dataprotection/forms/3019b.pdf . He needs to check the box 'If you require information held on the Police National Computer about Prosecutions, Convictions and Cautions History, tick here' . The certificate takes around 40 days to get and will be valid for one year. I ordered mine about 2 months after we filed the I129F petition so that I had it in plenty of time.

I have heard of people getting turned away at customs. It seems to depend on who you see at the point of entry. When I entered Detroit in May they asked me a lot of questions but I was allowed entry. I am hoping that I will be as lucky at the end of August as I have another visit arranged. I will be bringing proof of ties to the UK such as pay slips, tenancy agreement, utility bills, return flight tickets and the car park ticket/booking for the airport. I've never been asked for such proof but it is better to be safe.

This is a link to some of the reviews of the London Embassy which have been made by VJ members http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.p...nited%20Kingdom

The K1 visa comes with a temporary work permit built in but most employers don't seem to recognise it and require a work stamp. The only point of entry that will give you a work stamp if you ask is JFK. The work permit that is built in only lasts for the K1 which is 3 months. After you get married and you apply for Adjustment of status, Advance Parole (so that your fiance can get back into the US should he need to leave for any reason) and EAD (work permit). This can take 3 months or more to get.

As mentioned by Jundp you should read the guides http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...amp;page=guides

[ddkm 0]

heres a few answers i can throw your way (hopefully none will be wrong, though im sure someone will correct me if they are!)

1-touched is when your file gets handled in any way by the service centre. some may say the more the merrier but then i have read of some who dont get any touches for months then find out they have been approved!

2-for the police certificate, this is just background checks on the UK person. just go on your local police website and search for the form. you will need to send it off and then you get it back in 40days, but in UK its good for 12 months so it may be in your best interest to go ahead and find that bad boy soon enough if you get a chance

3-VJ and the Nolo fiancee immigration book have served as our only immigration helpers! I didnt fancy paying up to $2k to a lawyer

4-go to region specific forum on the UK...plenty of info in there from fellow brits!

5-go to guides at the top of the screen and then check out the timeline and the other useful stuff in there

6-this is widely debated on VJ, just depends on the risk you want to take. I will be visiting my SO in AZ soon, flying direct from london. just make sure ties to the home country are brought along just incase they are asked for eg letter from employer, bank statements, pay stubs, bills etc

7-who knows! the fees for K1's I-129f went up from $155 to over 400 on july 31st so the asusmption is that they will get processed quicker, but i really dont know!

8-i dont think so. log onto www.uscis.gov and sign up for email updates is the only advice i can give you there

9-working on your patience and waiting skills. its probably gonna be min 3 months so in the mean time keep in touch and keep all copies of things that show you have kept in touch as you will need to show proof of the continued relationship come the interview. so become a pack rat basically

10-as mentioned, he would probably need to fly into JFK direct (be sure not to go via ireland) and get the EAD stamp there to be able to work for the 90day period. statravel do cheap one way tickets LHR-JFK, worth a look.

At the end of the day, its a waiting game from now on...Welcome to the waiting and good luck!

[jundp 191]

3-VJ and the Nolo fiancee immigration book have served as our only immigration helpers! I didnt fancy paying up to $2k to a lawyer

ddkm, what is the Nolo Fiancee immigration book?

Just thought I'd add that when I was talking to my fiance today he said that both times he's been through customs in Seattle and he says he's coming to visit his girlfriend they ask if we're planning on getting married. The first time we really weren't planning it yet so he said no truthfully. The last time he said that we were planning on getting married after he got his master's. He said they were very courteous and really just seemed curious. This will be the first time he'll go through Atlanta though, so I don't know what awaits him there.

Also, I think the local office here is in Tukwila (there may be more than one, but I know a couple of people IRL that have had to go through Tukwila) and they have issued the temporary EAD to someone that I know who didn't go through JFK to get the stamp. I don't know if this is common or not and it was a few years ago, so things may have changed. I do know that getting a DL here is relatively easy (at least for a German). I asked at the local office when I renewed my DL last month and they said all he needs is his German license (which he keeps) and proof of residency with his I-94 and he doesn't even need to take the test! I was surprised because I had to retest to change from my Louisiana to Washington license

Anyway that may have been more information than you wanted/needed, but it just occured to me.

[Fandango 1,440]

The guides and search button are a great place to start. And the sticky topics too. Good luck and welcome!

[ddkm 0]

the nolo fiancee book is practically my bible lol

Fiance & Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration (Paperback)

by Ilona M. Bray (Author), Carl Falstrom (Contributor)

http://www.amazon.com/Fiance-Marriage-Visa...1844&sr=8-1

i know other places sell it too but i just used that link because its easiest from amazon. its just really really useful, i got it before i found VJ and it explained everything. some things that i didnt get from VJ the book cleared up for me too. its worth going down to your local book store and having a look through it...it explains practically every way possible for couples to immigrate to the states and if you can get it on the cheap is well worth a read, especially for people still preparing the I129f package and i will definitely have it come in useful when doing the next stage of paperwork, not to mention the AOS

[GeordieWife 1]

I've found the guides to be the best resources and try to ask the fill in questions after I've scoured the guides...though I'm guilty of asking 'repeat' questions i'm sure. I've also done searches and followed the related links and picked up lots of bits and peices. I got my NOA1 in the mail today so we are on similar tracks it seems. The guides also have tips on the interview process...obtaining a police record in England, as well as the doctors in Knightsbridge info. Welcome and good luck!!

[jundp 191]

the nolo fiancee book is practically my bible lol

Fiance & Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration (Paperback)

by Ilona M. Bray (Author), Carl Falstrom (Contributor)

http://www.amazon.com/Fiance-Marriage-Visa...1844&sr=8-1

i know other places sell it too but i just used that link because its easiest from amazon. its just really really useful, i got it before i found VJ and it explained everything. some things that i didnt get from VJ the book cleared up for me too. its worth going down to your local book store and having a look through it...it explains practically every way possible for couples to immigrate to the states and if you can get it on the cheap is well worth a read, especially for people still preparing the I129f package and i will definitely have it come in useful when doing the next stage of paperwork, not to mention the AOS

Awesome, thanks!