Concerned about K1 Visa with "high fraud" country (Brazil)

[Aaron_and_Erika 0]

Hello!

 

My fiancee and I are concerned about the "proof of meeting in person" and the "proof of relationship" portions of the K1 application. She is from Brazil, which is apparently seen as a "high fraud risk" country. As such, we have seen some advice on these two points, and also paid for a consultant to review our K1 packet. But I'm finding it very hard to know who to believe, and we have slightly different views as to how lengthy and detailed to make the "proof of meeting in person" description.

 

Some concerns around our particular situation include:
* Our relationship is short -- we met in June of this year. In August we spent an amazing week together in Brazil, after which I proposed without hesitation (she is absolutely the one). I will be moving to Brazil in December for us to live together for 6 months while we wait for the K1. I am hoping that this will assist the interview if and when she gets to that point, but at the point of submitting the K1, we just have that one week of in-person time (and of course a lot of WhatsApp texts and calls).

* She drives for a version of Uber in Brazil, after some complications due to both Covid and law changes in Brazil forced her exit from her earlier career, so she doesn't have a long full time employment history to show in the 5 year span.

* The consultant remarked that there is also a risk as she has been married to a foreigner before (not from the US, over a decade ago)

 

The consultant's suggestion is to keep it relatively short, but also said we need to make it feel "real". Our current version feels very "legal" due to other suggestions I had read on here and other sources.

 

Does anyone have experience submitting for a "high fraud" risk country, and have ideas about what to include for these two requirements?

 

thank you!

[Edward and Jaycel 2,144]

I am a firm believer in "Front Loading" the I-129F petition with as much evidence as you have (especially in your case with a short timeline). The bar for approval at USCIS is relatively low but where this Front Loading helps is that the Consular Officer conducting the interview will have access to the I-129F petition. This is where the bar for approval is higher and having all the evidence you can gather already attached to the I-129F is extremely beneficial. I would also recommend visiting her while the I-129F is being processed (if you're able to) and when she's asked at the interview when was the last time she saw you in person, she can say "Oh just a couple of months ago and I have evidence of that visit with me here". 

[JeanneAdil 7,247]

you are going to live with her so you'll have the evidence needed to prove the relationship especially if you marry on that trip and apply for the spouse visa

Go to Brazil , marry and apply onlne for CR1  the I 130 for spouse 

take your birth certificate and any other documents to Brazil that are needed to marry and petition

 

Those on here that went K1 regret that choice 

timeframe for both petitions is about the same to the date of the interview

[Boiler 47,969]

Why do you n0t get married in December and go the CR1 route?

Edited 20 hours ago by Boiler

[Aaron_and_Erika 0]

Thank you for the responses!

 

I agree, front-loading sounds like the right plan. We will be putting together everything we have.

 

How long were your How We Met pages? I haven't seen any examples of what people wrote for theirs, I would love to compare.

 

I know the CR1 is often recommended, but we would rather be together sooner. According to this USCIS data from Jan-Mar 2025, I-129F vs I-130 was 5.7 months compared to 15.7 months. Is that not correct?

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uscis.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocument%2Fdata%2Fquarterly_all_forms_fy2025_q2.xlsx%3Futm_source%3Dchatgpt.com&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

[JeanneAdil 7,247]

the quarterly reports are a good source to show stats 

 

but u r thinking the petitions received in the "total completetions" column are for the ones recived in that quarter

they include all former petitions that are now just completed at the 1st stage -many of these completed are from submitted petitions in former quarters 

 

this does not include the queue time for the interview 

 

if u upload good solid evidence of living together (either visa) , it does limit the USCIS stage

BUT filing for K1 so fast after meeting is weak compared to commiting to marriage 

[Cw1977 225]

1 minute ago, JeanneAdil said:

the quarterly reports are a good source to show stats 

 

but u r thinking the petitions received in the "total completetions" column are for the ones recived in that quarter

they include all former petitions that are now just completed at the 1st stage -many of these completed are from submitted petitions in former quarters 

 

this does not include the queue time for the interview 

 

if u upload good solid evidence of living together (either visa) , it does limit the USCIS stage

BUT filing for K1 so fast after meeting is weak compared to commiting to marriage 

Don’t forget though that after arriving she won’t be able to work, or even leave the country for many, many months. Could easily be 6-9 months. 
 

are you/she ok with that? With a cr1 you can do both of those immediately. Essentially it’s just deciding on when the wait happens. It’s happens either way unfortunately with immigration 

[Edward and Jaycel 2,144]

35 minutes ago, Aaron_and_Erika said:

How long were your How We Met pages? I haven't seen any examples of what people wrote for theirs, I would love to compare.

Ours was about a page and a half of narrative and then we had about 50 pages of pictures and text / messenger screenshots (we were together a little over 2 years when we filed with me living in the Philippines with her for a year of that time so we had lots of evidence)

 

[J.M. 323]

4 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

Those on here that went K1 regret that choice 

Perhaps some do.  Not all.  K-1 is viable for many situations.

[Boiler 47,969]

9 minutes ago, J.M. said:

Perhaps some do.  Not all.  K-1 is viable for many situations.

 

Most

[Neonred 3,938]

11 hours ago, Aaron_and_Erika said:

 

How long were your How We Met pages? I haven't seen any examples of what people wrote for theirs, I would love to compare.

 

 

 

Ours was a paragraph or perhaps two.  That's all.  Included 5 photos of us together.  

I just couldn't imagine anyone would want to waste time reading several pages and look at dozens of photos.  

 

10 hours ago, J.M. said:

Perhaps some do.  Not all.  K-1 is viable for many situations.

 

We did K-1 and it worked fine for us.  At this point I don't think K-1 is much faster than CR1.

[J.M. 323]

3 hours ago, Neonred said:

At this point I don't think K-1 is much faster than CR1.

It looks like CR-1 is currently nearly twice as long as K-1 for Brazil, which is the country involved in this post.  For a brief period, a couple of years ago, CR-1 got close to the processing time of K-1, but that time has passed.  There are other factors to consider besides just processing time.  Every situation is different.

[Boiler 47,969]

If you look at intoral K1 is longer and not sure K1 is going to be significantly quicker to get into the US, there are some situations where a K1 is much more logical but not many.

[Cathi 5,882]

CR1 is the far superior visa, especially in a high fraud country.