K1 - engagement party and wedding questions (how to avoid issues)

[alliejourney 141]

4 minutes ago, NathanStephanieJ said:

I LOVE THAT IDEA! That would be a great way to do both things and include his family in a special moment. I’m bring that idea to him first 🤣 thank you 💖

Just as a note, we did tell officers about our trip during both the K1 interview and during AOS, but never mentioned to them that it was an "engagement honeymoon", specifically because we didn't want them to be alarmed by the word honeymoon when really it was just a semi-extravagant vacation/celebration, lol. Something to think about if you end up submitting pics/plane tickets/etc of your trip as evidence at some point!

[NathanStephanieJ 9]

2 minutes ago, alliejourney said:

Just as a note, we did tell officers about our trip during both the K1 interview and during AOS, but never mentioned to them that it was an "engagement honeymoon", specifically because we didn't want them to be alarmed by the word honeymoon when really it was just a semi-extravagant vacation/celebration, lol. Something to think about if you end up submitting pics/plane tickets/etc of your trip as evidence at some point!

That makes sense and goes back to the appearing “too married” thing. Being able to enjoy a vacation with each other outside of our usual areas would be fun. How soon do we get contact with an immigration officer? Is one assigned once we submit our visa or closer to approval time? I agree they need to know everything and I assume they read this forum too. It’s nice to know there’s a person we can talk to though. I was wondering how that worked out 

[appleblossom 4,888]

5 minutes ago, NathanStephanieJ said:

How soon do we get contact with an immigration officer?

 

Only at interview. And they may not answer too many questions (it's generally the other way around - they're the ones that will be asking questions!), so stick with asking on VJ where you'll always get people happy to help. 

Edited September 4 by appleblossom

[alliejourney 141]

3 minutes ago, NathanStephanieJ said:

That makes sense and goes back to the appearing “too married” thing. Being able to enjoy a vacation with each other outside of our usual areas would be fun. How soon do we get contact with an immigration officer? Is one assigned once we submit our visa or closer to approval time? I agree they need to know everything and I assume they read this forum too. It’s nice to know there’s a person we can talk to though. I was wondering how that worked out 

Oh sorry - you won't have an agent assigned to you for the whole process. My husband mentioned it once he got to the actual K1 visa interview, and then we brought it up again during the green card interview, as the shared vacation was part of our evidence of our relationship in both cases.

 

After you submit the I-129F, you'll be in a waiting period for a while - for us, it was about a year before we got an RFE (which won't always happen, I just made a mistake in the I-129F packet), and then a month after the RFE, our case was approved and we were able to start with the K1 visa process. We didn't actually speak to any agents until my husband attended his K1 visa interview.

 

If you haven't found them already, the guides on this site are really helpful for you to get a feel for all the steps and the timeline of the entire process! Especially the K1 Visa Flowchart, I referenced that a lot while we were going through it.

[Edward and Jaycel 2,122]

2 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

Only at interview. And they may not answer too many questions (it's generally the other way around - they're the ones that ask questions!), so stick with asking on VJ where you'll always get people happy to help. 

 

Yes, at the interview your fiancé will be called by a randomly selected consular officer who happens to draw your case. He will be answering the officer's questions. 

[Dashinka 26,114]

19 hours ago, alliejourney said:

I'm glad you provided this clarification - I was just about to be another voice recommending that you do a CR1 if the ceremonies are very important to you both, but I totally get why you want to do K1 in your circumstance. You're right - unfortunately, with K1, legalities take precedence and being able to plan formal ceremonies is very difficult and risky.

 

I think instead of doing pre-wedding engagement ceremonies (which will be stressful, planning around the unpredictable waiting times during process) maybe you do some sort of anniversary vow renewal, once the whole K1/AOS process dust has settled? Keep the actual marriage to a simple courthouse affair, and once everything is sorted out in a few years, you'll be free to travel and plan big events in both countries for everyone to enjoy. It's of course not traditional or ideal if you're wanting a Wedding wedding experience, but it may be a good compromise so you can still celebrate with your loved ones. Plus, it can be a green card celebration, too  

This is what we did back when my now wife and I were pursuing a K1 for her.  We focused on the K1 and eventual AOS, and then once she had her GC we had a wedding celebration with our family in Russia.  It worked out quite well.

Edited September 5 by Dashinka

[Ryan H 3,925]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[Edward and Jaycel 2,122]

Another example of why you should be cautious about engagement celebrations prior to your K-1 interview at the embassy

 

 

Edited September 8 by Edward and Jaycel

[Legal Alien 182]

Because of all the timing issues and not being sure when stuff would be approved and with that all the cost of the petitions, medical, moving etc., my husband and I decided to just do the Utah online marriage thing when I arrived in the US. No stress, in our dining room, my hoodie was my wedding dress and it was quite a funny experience, having two complete strangers from the Philippines as our witnesses who were cheering after we were pronounced husband and wife. It was so surreal that I wondered if it was een real, but lo and behold, we received our marriage license from the State of Utah a few days later and had no issues with USCIS whatsoever, other than her asking why on earth we got married in Utah, after which we told her the story. We are planning to have an actual wedding later on, possibly in The Netherlands, without stress and when we have saved up more money. I highly recommend this route, those three months are short, there is already many adjustments and I also wanted to make sure I had my complete AOS filed before my I-94 expired. Setting up the laptop for the zoom call took longer than the actual ceremony. So if you want to do yourself a favor, I'd do something like that and plan a nice wedding in France once the AP or the green card is in hand.