Advice on Where to Start

[lesnicole 0]

I, 26 F, am the US citizen and my boyfriend is the foreigner. He is from Colombia and does not have a tourist visa at the moment. The wait time seems to be very long in Bogota and we have heard from many friends and colleagues that rejection rates are high. We have been in a serious relationship for over a year now and would like to marry and reside in the United States in the next few years.

 

A long engagement does sound ideal to us since we are both pursuing degrees. However, we have no idea where to start and have very little knowledge about immigration and the K1 visa process. I was recommended this page to avoid having to pay a lawyer as much without doing my research first. 
 

please send recommendations or any advice on what you think we should look into first, there seems to be loads of information and I would like to know what would be relevant to our situation.

 

 

Thank you so much ❤️

[TBoneTX 43,417]

Welcome to the forum!  Yes, the process can feel daunting at first.

 

Here's a comparison of the K-1 and CR-1 visas, as compiled by one of our fine members:

~~~~~~~~~~

K-1        
    More expensive than CR-1
    Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)
    Spouse cannot leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)
    Spouse cannot work until she/he receives Employment Authorization (approx 6-8 months)
    Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period
    Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed
    A K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also
    In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice
    A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire

 

CR-1
    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status (I-485, I-131, I-765) required
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US
    Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US
    Opening a bank account, getting a driver license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport
    Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US
~~~~~~~~~~

If you haven't yet done so, read the Guides (drop-down menu atop any VisaJourney page) for more about the respective processes.  Others here will be along with more to say.   

[TBoneTX 43,417]

2 hours ago, lesnicole said:

avoid having to pay a lawyer as much without doing my research first

Most people here are pursuing their fiancé or spousal visas via do-it-themselves effort.

Others have hired lawyers, which has yielded mixed results in terms of time and success.

Others have hired a VJ Partner, one of which is:

https://www.visajourney.com/partners/platinum-immigration-services/

 

The choice of which course to follow is up to you.

[SneakyPete 67]

17 hours ago, lesnicole said:

 

I, 26 F, am the US citizen and my boyfriend is the foreigner. He is from Colombia and does not have a tourist visa at the moment. The wait time seems to be very long in Bogota and we have heard from many friends and colleagues that rejection rates are high. We have been in a serious relationship for over a year now and would like to marry and reside in the United States in the next few years.

 

A long engagement does sound ideal to us since we are both pursuing degrees. However, we have no idea where to start and have very little knowledge about immigration and the K1 visa process. I was recommended this page to avoid having to pay a lawyer as much without doing my research first. 
 

please send recommendations or any advice on what you think we should look into first, there seems to be loads of information and I would like to know what would be relevant to our situation.

 

 

Thank you so much ❤️

Rejection rates for I-129F (petitioner part) are actually extremely low assuming correctly filed I-129F application with right payment that fulfills I-129F requirements (face to face meeting within last 2 years, petitioner being US Citizen, and both being "free to marry" 
The Embassy part varies from Embassy to Embassy, I, personally, have not heard about Bogota being particularly tough though. 

[rks_emelander 3]

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

~~~~~~~~~~

K-1        
    More expensive than CR-1
    Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)
    Spouse cannot leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)
    Spouse cannot work until she/he receives Employment Authorization (approx 6-8 months)
    Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period
    Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed
    A K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also
    In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice
    A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire

 

CR-1
    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status (I-485, I-131, I-765) required
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US
    Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US
    Opening a bank account, getting a driver license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport
    Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US
~~~~~~~~~~

@lesnicole This comparison list is very helpful and my fiance and I referred to it a lot before submitting our I-129F. A couple points on the K-1 side that the immigration attorney we met during her visit to the US last month brought up--

- the EAD approval has sped up significantly in the past few months and is currently averaging around 3-4 months now

- he was very adamant since she currently works remotely for a foreign company serving foreign clients and is paid into a foreign bank account, she wouldn't have any issue if she were to continue that same position after entering the US while awaiting the Adjustment of Status/EAD. I'm still investigating this a bit more, but he reassured us several times that is not a problem at all.

Edited April 30 by rks_emelander

[rks_emelander 3]

The I-129F form is mostly self-explanatory, however additional information pages proved to be a bit tricky for formatting. Additionally, this list from my cover letter may help, it is what I included in the envelop when I submitted the I-129F form last month--

 

Contents include:

-       Form G-4150 authorizing credit card payment in the amount of $675.

-       Form I-129F

-       Passport style photo of (Petitioner)

-       Passport style photo (Beneficiary)

-       US Passport copy of (Petitioner)

-       Foreign Passport information page copy of (Beneficiary)

-       Letter certifying intent to marry from (Petitioner)

-       Letter certifying intent to marry from (Beneficiary)

-       Proof of having met in person the past 2 years. For us, this included scans of her boarding passes to and from the US, the receipt for her domestic flight. Hotel reservation receipts, and several pages of photos of us together with my family labelled with location, date, and a brief description of the photo

[appleblossom 1,437]

5 hours ago, rks_emelander said:

 

- he was very adamant since she currently works remotely for a foreign company serving foreign clients and is paid into a foreign bank account, she wouldn't have any issue if she were to continue that same position after entering the US while awaiting the Adjustment of Status/EAD. I'm still investigating this a bit more, but he reassured us several times that is not a problem at all.

FWIW, our lawyers told me the opposite, said work like that would require authorisation and not to risk working illegally. 

[TBoneTX 43,417]

22 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Others have hired a VJ Partner, one of which is:

https://www.visajourney.com/partners/platinum-immigration-services/

^^ ^^ ^^

[hplusj 49]

13 hours ago, appleblossom said:

FWIW, our lawyers told me the opposite, said work like that would require authorisation and not to risk working illegally. 

Authorization via what means?  Can you elaborate on this?

[appleblossom 1,437]

49 minutes ago, hplusj said:

Authorization via what means?  Can you elaborate on this?

 

Work authorisation i.e. a visa that allows you to work. So we were told no remote work for our UK businesses was possible on the temp (O1/O3) visas we had, but fine on our immigrant visas once they came through. 

[hplusj 49]

6 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

Work authorisation i.e. a visa that allows you to work. So we were told no remote work for our UK businesses was possible on the temp (O1/O3) visas we had, but fine on our immigrant visas once they came through. 

A work authorization (EAD) applies to working in the US though.  If the company is not located in the US and it is not liable for taxation to the US, I don't see why it's any of the business of the US if you're not violating US employment law.

 

Edit, to present a scenario: suppose my fiance owns properties in South Africa, which he rents out as passive income.  Is he expected to sell these properties in order to qualify for a work auth?  How does this differ from working for a non-US country while paying taxes to the country of origin, all the while bringing wealth into the US to add to the economy?

 

I'm neither an economist or a lawyer but I am struggling to see the drawback to make this illegal.  You're not working in the US illegally and therefore withholding from the IRS.  There's not even any way to report these earnings to the IRS because it's literally none of their business.

 

If anyone can clarify this, I'd appreciate it.

Edited May 1 by hplusj

[appleblossom 1,437]

1 hour ago, hplusj said:

A work authorization (EAD) applies to working in the US though.  If the company is not located in the US and it is not liable for taxation to the US, I don't see why it's any of the business of the US if you're not violating US employment law.

 

Edit, to present a scenario: suppose my fiance owns properties in South Africa, which he rents out as passive income.  Is he expected to sell these properties in order to qualify for a work auth?  How does this differ from working for a non-US country while paying taxes to the country of origin, all the while bringing wealth into the US to add to the economy?

 

I'm neither an economist or a lawyer but I am struggling to see the drawback to make this illegal.  You're not working in the US illegally and therefore withholding from the IRS.  There's not even any way to report these earnings to the IRS because it's literally none of their business.

 

If anyone can clarify this, I'd appreciate it.

I think we’re talking at cross purposes. Anybody with an EAD can of course work in the US. I was specifically responding to the above post that was talking about working remotely without an EAD. 

[Family 3,550]

1 hour ago, hplusj said:

I'm neither an economist or a lawyer but I am struggling to see the drawback to make this illegal.  You're not working in the US illegally and therefore withholding from the IRS.  There's not even any way to report these earnings to the IRS because it's literally none of their business.

Just because one can…doesn’t mean one should. Only IR ‘s are “forgiven”. …

https://www.grossmanyoung.com/blog/can-i-work-for-my-foreign-employer-while-physically-present-in-the-u-s/

This is a grey area of immigration law, but based on a review of relevant legal precedent and practice, we believe the best answer is “NO” because: 

• Immigration laws require an employment-authorized status for any “employment” in the U.S.:The immigration regulations at 8 CFR 214.1(e) clearly state that a temporary visitor in the U.S. is prohibited from engaging in any employment “unless he has been accorded a nonimmigrant classification which authorizes employment” and that “[a]ny unauthorized employment by a nonimmigrant constitutes a failure to maintain status.” The question is whether remote work for a foreign employer constitutes employment under the immigration laws.  It is our opinion that it does.  
• The employer compliance provisions of the immigration laws apply to foreign employers with employees in the U.S.: Even though they are based in another country, foreign employers who employ foreign nationals (FN) who are physically present in the U.S. are subject to employer compliance laws as outlined by INA §274A. These employers cannot employ a FN who is in the U.S. without having a U.S. agent to act as their representative before U.S. immigration authorities. Immigration authorities can discipline the foreign employer via the U.S. agent for employing a FN who is working for them in the U.S. without work authorization. 
• It may violate U.S. tax law:Foreign nationals without work authorization are prohibited from earning “U.S. source income.” Income is of a U.S. source if the services provided in exchange for it occurred while the FN was physically present in the U.S. It doesn’t matter if the FN was paid by a foreign company via a foreign bank account or even if the income came from freelance self-employment. U.S. source income of any kind is subject to taxation by the U.S. federal government. Earning such income without U.S. work authorization means it will likely not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and therefore not taxed, ultimately violating U.S. tax law.  Further, paying people to work while physically present in the U.S. could create corporate income tax exposure for the foreign employer, since the employer would likely be deemed to be engaging in business in the U.S., resulting in a requirement that the foreign corporation allocate a portion of its worldwide income to the U.S. and pay U.S. corporate income tax.

Since each case is different and fact-specific, we recommend you consult with a Grossman Young attorney if you have questions about your ability to work while you are in the U.S.  

[SalishSea 16,868]

On 4/30/2024 at 2:03 PM, rks_emelander said:

he was very adamant since she currently works remotely for a foreign company serving foreign clients and is paid into a foreign bank account, she wouldn't have any issue if she were to continue that same position after entering the US while awaiting the Adjustment of Status/EAD. I'm still investigating this a bit more, but he reassured us several times that is not a problem at all.

Edited yesterday at 02:04 PM by rks_emelander

This is incorrect.  

[Lemonslice 4,583]

4 hours ago, hplusj said:

A work authorization (EAD) applies to working in the US though.  If the company is not located in the US and it is not liable for taxation to the US, I don't see why it's any of the business of the US if you're not violating US employment law.

 

Edit, to present a scenario: suppose my fiance owns properties in South Africa, which he rents out as passive income.  Is he expected to sell these properties in order to qualify for a work auth?  How does this differ from working for a non-US country while paying taxes to the country of origin, all the while bringing wealth into the US to add to the economy?

 

I'm neither an economist or a lawyer but I am struggling to see the drawback to make this illegal.  You're not working in the US illegally and therefore withholding from the IRS.  There's not even any way to report these earnings to the IRS because it's literally none of their business.

 

If anyone can clarify this, I'd appreciate it.

 

"suppose my fiance owns properties in South Africa, which he rents out as passive income.  Is he expected to sell these properties in order to qualify for a work auth? " - then, it is an investment, and no, he is not expected to dispose of his investment (real estate, or otherwise).  

 

"There's not even any way to report these earnings to the IRS because it's literally none of their business." - The IRS will certainly be interested in your worldwide income and sources of revenue.  You probably won't pay taxes, however, you do have to declare them.  Same goes for assets abroad (google FBAR to get started).  

 

"I'm neither an economist or a lawyer but I am struggling to see the drawback to make this illegal. " -  No one is saying it is the most logical law and rules, and in some ways rules from one entity will contradict rules from another, however as soon as you work and receive compensation/expect to receive future compensation, while physically in the USA, is where it gets darker grey, than simply "grey area".  

 

Best of luck to you and your family.