My K1 experience

[Homer&Marge 0]

In 2006, I met my husband and then we decided to get married in the beginning of 2007. He is an American citizen and I am Turkish. He talked to his lawyer and we found the K1 application for me the best way to come to America with his lawyer's advice. The lawyer had said to us that getting K1 visa would take only 3 months but it didn't work like that. My husband and I applied for the K1 visa for me on 11th January 2007. Being processed in America took 4 months and then finally my K1 visa application file came to the American Embassy, Ankara, Turkiye in the beginning of May 2007.

By the way, my husband visited me for 2 times and we did a little engagement ceremony with our family and went to holiday together and took lots of pictures to show in my interview with the American Embassy in Ankara, Turkiye.

The American Embassy in Ankara required some documants from me to show them in my interview such as my criminal records (if you stay abroad more than 1 year, you have to get a criminal record from there aswell which i did because i stayed in England for 2 years before meeting my husband), our photos (especially with our friends, families..), flight tickets to visit each other (yours or your fiance's), phone bills, mails, your fiance's tax documants, post cards..

Finally, I received the appointment letter for my interview on in the middle of June 2007 for 23th of July 2007 from the American Embassy in Ankara. I took all documants above with me. I waited for a quite long while because of the queue. The appointment letter says your interview date and time but the time isn't certain so that don't be surprised if they make the interview with you a few hours later than your interview time.

My queue number and the table number were announced and I went to the table. I showed all documants I had. The interviewer didn't ask so much. He asked where I met my husband, when we got engaged, how long i have known him for, what he is name, what he is occupation, where he lives in America, I have ever been to America..

and then he said it is fine and I went to have my name and address information registered to UPS service. They said I would receive my passport in 2 days but it took 5 days to receive my passport with the K1 visa..

my thoughts to you..

1. If you are someone who is capable to find the right information on the internet then you don't need a lawyer because our lawyer didn't do anything for us except for posting our documants to the Immigration Office in CA. Our lawyer didn't fill our forms or give a really useful information about what we should do. For example, our lawyer didn't say to us to get a criminal record from anywhere you have lived for more than 1 year. My husband found out that information on the internet.. and we paid the lawyer $1.000 for getting nothing in the beginning of our application.

2. The lawyer said to us that I could come to America as a student or tourist and then I could get married to my husband but it would be so risky! So we waited from January 2007 to August 2007 to be together. Sometimes we feel so regret about waiting for that long time because I could have tried to get a student visa for America.

3. I have been in America since 28th July 2007 and we got married in the beginning of September and we applied for my green card in the middle of October after gaining the all necessary documants and forms. We didn't get a lawyer's help for this time. We found an experienced paralegal and he helped us more than a lawyer can. He filled in the all forms with us and gave good advices (such as my name should be in every bill we pay with my husband's name to prove we live together).

4. Never Ever! don't send any original documant to the immigration office or the embassy in your country. Keep the original ones with you to show them in the interview because if you send the original documents, just forget them, you aren't gonna get them back!!!

5. Keep everything could prove your relationship! phone bills, post cards, envolopes with the stamps (from you or your fiance), photos..

6. Take lots of pictures with your friends and create an album to show in the interview.

7. Wear something formal when you go to the interview!

8. Don't mince the words during the interview. Talk in a certain way!

9. Smile and even the interview says something provocative, don't get panicked and express yourself smoothly.

10. Think positive because I haven't heard anyone who can't get the K1 visa!!!

[Jason-Sasha 1]

Thanks for your time posting your experience. its helpful information.

[Reza 0]

Will glad to hear your useful experience .. I totally agree with you, when there is internet with all useful information’s, we “you" don’t need a lawyer.. Lawyers can do no Sh!t.. Except congressman or governor .. Anybody on high rank official in GOV.. can do, like mines my congress man put pressure on csc to speed the heck off my file up.. Which they did and sending me a REF regardless they don't have photographic passport from me and my fiancé.. BS, which is i already send it with my application to NSC .. and then they transfers it back to CSC.. I guess they misplaced the photos or some ### excuses’ mean that ,, we delay ur app because we didn’t have 2x2 your pics... WHAT EVER

if one of your state official follow your case just by one email or letter, you never ever can got denied by consuls... never... because they know it can be follow and question that why is .. act

to be honest, what my congressman says to me, is they scared the hell of us as congressman, the resoan is we can question them in committee on homeland security

all this from my prospective.. to you all

[bluesalmon 1]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us

[StoryAngel 4]

Thank you for sharing your experience - some very useful advice there. We're at packet 3 stage right now. We also didn't take a lawyer although we had a legal adviser who specialises in US immigration to look through our initial I-129F package. That was really useful as she made some good suggestions (like make sure you include pictures of the two of you with family) and she charged €150. It was peace of mind money and certainly better than spending $€thousands on a lawyer. VJ is a HUGE help in the process!!!

[bigskells 0]

Congratulations on your experience being relatively painless. As far as the need for lawyers, I found one in the phone book who gave a one-hour free consultation. His advice was do the fiance visa instead of the marriage visa. He also said that I would be wasting money retaining him to file the papers. Without that piece of free advice, I don't know how long it would have taken for my wife and I to get married.

[hope2018 25]

Thank you for your info very helpful Thanks.

[JULIAFERNO 0]

Merhaba! Thanks for sharing your story. My fiance is Turkish and we are just beginning this long process - actually, I'm finally sending in my I-129F petition tomorrow morning (hooray!) I just got back last week after spending 5 months in Turkiye. What part of Turkiye are you from? Glad to hear of another Turkish/American success story! Tebrikler!

Edited November 28, 2007 by JULIAFERNO

[Jasman0717 8]

Nice post, thanks for sharing

[Kotenochek 0]

I completely agree with your comment about lawyer.We were very dissapointed too.in our case she checked affidavit of support and never notarised or said we should do it.thanks to visajourney..we coul;d be rejected because of her

[Tinkerbelle 0]

Thanks for that information. Very helpful.

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

Reading your story made me smile.

Thank you for sharing it.

Best of luck to you and your husband

[rebeccajo 14]

Attorneys are like any other commodity, save that the 'product' they offer is their skill and knowledge.

You have to shop them just like you would a car. Ask questions, ask for credentials, get references, and listen to your gut.

As bigskells says, many will do a consult for nothing or for a minimal fee. We had the same experience bigskells had - we consulted with an attorney and were told we didn't need his services for our case.

You know that's an honest lawyer who will turn down a fee.

Every case is different and sometimes things that seem minor can turn into something where legal representation is needed. It's a bit off-handed, in my opinion, to make blanket statements that lawyers just aren't needed for this process. It's better to state that a consult never hurts.

[caybee 21]

Thank you for posting your experience. If it makes you feel any better, your attorney was right that if you had chosen to come on a student visa with the intent to marry and stay and adjust status, it would have been very risky, to put it mildly. You did the right thing. Congratulations and best wishes for a happy new life together.

[Jose_A 0]

thanks for the info