K1 to green Card Visa Journey

[Simsimba 5]

Hi all,

 

After months of going through the K1 visa process and the Adjustment Of Status (AOS), I thought I would share my experience in a post. The information I found on this forum was immensely valuable and I thought I would give back to the community.

 

I am a French citizen and my now husband is an American citizen.

 

The K1 VISA:

We filed the I-129F in early November 2023 with all required documentation. We included pictures summarizing our 8 year long-distance relationship as well as plane, train tickets and passport stamps. The I-129F  was approved in 4 months (early April 2024).

 

Then one of the most frustrating parts began: our case being at the NVC. It stayed there for over 3 months. At this point, we had no information on the reasons why the case was not send to the American embassy in Paris. We just had to be patient.

 

When the file was FINALLY received by the US embassy (late July 2025), I was able to book an appointment. There were no slots before early December 2025. So another 4 months of waiting... In the meantime, I did my medical exams late September 2025 in Paris as well. Closer to the appointment date I received an email saying that the embassy appointment reservation system had migrated. This was a total mess. My appointment was kept but the visa type had switched to an obscure special radio broadcaster visa! I tried over and over to have it fixed but the customer service was the most useless I have ever experienced. At the end, this error did not impact my appointment. I hope the new appointment system works better now.

 

When it is time to go to the embassy, be prepared to arrive early as there are thorough security checks. And do not bring any laptops or large bags or you will be denied entry. You can bring your phone but you will have to leave it in a case. Inside, you have to stand in line for ~3hours with nothing to do. Then a first consular officer checks your documentation. They just asked for the basic required documents (DS-160, appointment letter, passport, ID pictures, sealed medical exam, birth certificate, etc). The only unexpected document they asked for was the letter from my husband asking for the I-129F extension (it expired early August 2025). I had it but I did not think they would actually want it. After this, I moved to another officer who interviewed me. They asked me basic questions (the interview lasted 5mn):

• When was the last time you saw your fiance?
• How many times did you see each other?
• Have you ever done anything illegal?

I was approved right away and received my passport with the visa a few days later.

 

The AOS:

On January the 15th, I flew to the US (San Francisco) with the K1 VISA. We married 10 days later and I filed the I-485 (AOS) and I-765 (work authorization) early February. It was a bit painful to gather all the documentation but we managed to do it. In the process, we received only one RFE regarding form I-864 Affidavit of Support. We had not submitted the correct tax transcripts. Be sure to send over the tax RETURN transcripts (the very long ones). As a side note, for European citizens, the multilingual birth certificates they provide in Europe do work for the AOS! No need to pay for a certified translation.

After the RFE, everything went smoothly and quickly. I got my biometrics appointment early March, received the work authorization mid-april and got interviewed by an USCIS officer early May! Our case was transfered to the San Jose field office. The USCIS officer was really nice, asked some questions about our relationships and looked at the pictures we provided. The questions were:

• How did you first meet?
• What was your favourite travel?
• Have you met each other's family?
• Other questions that I don't remember but none of them were tricky.

They told us that they would certainly approve us. We were approved the next day! And I received my green card a couple days later. We were very impressed by how quick our case was handled (3 months!). 

Also a side note: on my USCIS online account, the estimated processing time for the work authorization was accurate. The one for the green card was not at all (it was showing something like 20 or so months).

 

If you have any questions, do not hesitate :).

[TBoneTX 47,269]

Really nice report!  Thanks for your effort in producing it.

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Thread is shifted from the K-1 Process forum to the K-1 Case Progress subforum.

[hplusj 562]

Thank you for sharing @Simsimba! May I request that you add San Jose to your timeline as the CIS office where you interviewed? As someone still waiting for more information on the wait times for their field office, I am certain people assigned to San Jose will be grateful for the additional data.

 

Congratulations!

Edited Thursday at 01:29 AM by hplusj