bruce&Svet

Thanks, That is good news. I thought immigration would banish us from living in the states forever given how they view things once in awhile. But it brings up an interesting dilemma for me. I work on a contract for the US military so paperwork is a daily hassle for me and so this would be just another day, anyway the situation is that we are closer to getting married in the states than in the Ukraine. As my consultant has told me it can take up to 8 months to push the documentation through the Ukraine channels. That is not really much of a problem because I love travelling to the Ukraine and it reminds me of my home state of Wisconsin. Spring is beautiful in the Ukraine. I am needing to return to the US in the coming months to take care of many personal and employment related issues and I wanted to take Svetlana with me to meet the relatives and give her a taste of the states and show her where I live. This route is much costlier for me but this is for a good cause and I have thrown money away on worse plans (like the consultant idea) . At least when I apply for the I-130 I will better understand the process.

Thank you guys for all the comments. I just knew there would be a pothole in my road to a new life. The question is what should i do now. We have our NOA 2 which means if she gets through the interview (within the next 3 months)we will be able to travel to the US to get married. So we are that close. If i decide to stop it now in order to get married in the ukraine that will take another 6-8 months and delay even further the time in which she can be with me in kuwait. She can only stay in kuwait as my spouse because all immigrants must have a sponsor to be legally in the country. The DCF would have been the perfect choice but now what matters is that piece of paper to show the ministry we are married. I have a residence in the states and she could stay in the states with my brother but I want her with me for obvious reasons.

SO I have another question? What are the ramifications of us just getting married in the US and then move to kuwait without applying for the permament residence. Can we a year down the road apply for the I-130. I guess i can consider this as a trial run.

I would never have dreamed of this situation if I was not living it. I am new to the site so i have been reading the various experiences of the other memebers. One common thread i have felt through all these comments is as a group of K1 VIsa hopefuls it seems your wait only makes our ties to our significant other that much stronger. It is a disheartening feeling to realize that our future lies with one person in a politically charged agency and that person can destroy months of our hard work, planning and effort. I am personally engaged to a Ukrainian women and at first I thought it would never last or at least be very frustrating given the language barrier. But my feelings for her are so strong that our bond transcends language and our understanding of each other comes with patience and consideration. I guess you could say my visa journey started as soon as I met her. The chemistry was there on the first day and i never had a reason to look in any other direction. My K1 was submitted in September of 2011 and received my NOA1 in October. From reading the posts it appears the process is almost impossible to predict so I think I may be in for a long wait. For me the wait is not so bad because I am only seperated by a 6 hour flight. We currently meet every three months to travel and vacation together. When she does get her K1 VISA granted we will fly back to the US to get married. This is where my story is a little different than most of the other memebers because I do not live in the US currently but live in Kuwait. Since I have 2 or 3 more years left to work here (so I can secure my financial future) I am planning to bring her to kuwait with me. My question is how is this going to affect her future immigration status.

a week ago I was reading a post from a member and he mentioned why anyone would hire a laywer to apply for the K1 VISA, well I did not hire a lawyer but a consultant. Looking back at that decision I could have done the documentation on my own. But several factors weighed in on my decision. My fiancee wanted a professional to assemble the packet to avoid any missteps, my translator had used her in the past and had excellent results. Apparently all of her packets were approved and she never had any rejections, and thirdly I work a lot and my free time was in short supply. If I had found this web site earlier in the process I probably would have done it myself and saved a lot of money (a flight to the Ukraine). In any case I now must wait. My fiancee and I are planning a trip to Thailand in March and of course we will discuss our next step in the journey.

I guess in the weeks to come I will write more and update my profile. As with the rest of you I want my experience to be shared so others can learn.