Johna

Hello,
I have a friend with wife and 2 year-old son in Ukraine. The area where they used to live in Donetsk is being slowly but surely bombed to ruins. It was unsafe to stay in their house to say the least as their neighbors house was shelled into the ground.
They were able to escape from the war zone.
However, those who fled from the war zone are treated unfairly. In some cases treated like terorrists (even if they were an average honest working family). Right now it seems that finding a job that would pay the bills is pretty close to impossible for my friend.

Are there any realistic options for him to try and come to the US with this wife and son? Would it make sense to apply for refugee status and explain that they have reason to fear persecution and unfair treatment?

Thanks for any advice, guys. Greatly appreciated.

So at this point there are three different opinions in this thread when it comes to what I should do in regards to my petition that hasn't been canceled yet.

1. Wait about 5 months or more and hope that it gets canceled when the next adjucator gets to my petition.

2. I need to file a waiver before I can file the new petition.

3. File the new petition with a copy of the letter withdrawing the first petition.

Thanks everyone for the detailed responses! This really helps me a lot!

Ok.. now I'll explain why we were looking into her coming to the USA to meet in person....

I work a regular 9-5 job where I cannot take a vacation for more than ~10 calendar days. AND as my previous experience has shown, one week of being together is nowhere near enough time to figure whether you I should marry the person or not. If she could come here on a tourist visa - we could actually live together for a month or two in an environment that we would be in if we decided to get married. So this would make a whole lot more sense, than going to Kiev for a week (or even two weeks) and then rushing into a decision like this.

But yes, she is very young, barely legal, with no ties to her country. So judging by what you guys are saying, she has no chance of getting a tourist visa. (However, I STILL think it may be worth a try - IF potential denial, in fact, will not have an effect on K1 in the future)

As for the whole issue of her not knowing about "attempt number one" - YES I will tell her when we get to the point of filing I-129F. BUT I don't see what the big deal is. She's a grown-up and has had relationships with other men and has been proposed to..and same goes for me. It is not like we are both virgins and never been in serious relationships.

This also didn't cancel mine my I-129F after I sent a letter. When did you initially file?

You can call USCIS to see what the deal is with your case.

I ended up having to get the embassy to send the I-129F back to USCIS to cancel it after it had already been approved.

I filed the petition beginning of July... and sent the letter requesting to cancel first week of September. Anything can happen in life and it was one of those things where there was just no way to tell that it would turn out this way.

Anyway, I think I will try calling USCIS and sending another letter.

No such thing as a "guest" visa, she would have to apply for a visitor visa on her own merits, showing strong ties to her country ie: job that she must return to, owning property. At the interview when asked why she is going to the US she must answer 100% honestly. Whether or not the visa will be granted is another thing be the CO may view it as her having immigrant intent.

Thank you for the response.

What I don't understand is why she needs to show strong ties to her country when she would clearly have immigrant intent. She would just come to the USA temporarily so we would have proof of having met in person for the I129-F.

So I have gotten myself in a bit of trouble, and I need advice to do everything the correct way.

This year I went to Kiev, got engaged, and filed an I129-F. And I received a letter from USCIS stating that the petition was received and is being forwarded to another location for further processing.

Long story short, two months later me and my fiancee broke up.

First week of September (this year) I sent a letter to USCIS stating that I would like to withdraw the petition. I sent it certified mail and received a return receipt confirming that USCIS received my letter.

I have not gotten a cancellation confirmation or any response from the USCIS after that.

Now, I've been talking to another woman from Ukraine and we are dying to meet each other and possibly get engaged and start the K1 process.

1. SO my first dilemma at this point is..... how do I find out whether the petition I filed earlier this year (for the woman I broke up with) was canceled? Should I send another letter to USCIS requesting a confirmation? Can I give them a call? Should I send a letter through my senator (somebody recommended this)?

2. Part two of my dilemma is...... I need to meet my new girlfriend in order to start the K1 process. However, we both think that it would be better for her to come here rather than me going there. Is this possible? What is the possibility of her getting a guest visa with the intention of meeting a potential fiance (me)? Or does this idea have " visa denial" written all over it?

Thank you guys for any help you can give me. I know there are some very knowledgeable people on this board and I hope you can point me in the right direction. I want to do everything 100% correctly and honestly.

OK everyone, I get it. She is a horrible person because something didn't work out as planned.

Anybody I meet could potentially only be with me for money. Even US citizens. There is basically a 50% chance in any relationship. I am perfectly aware.

I will tell her that the best way is go go back. Thanks again for talking me into doing it the right way.

Wow I think people are trying to put their guy in the husbands shoes instead of answering with the simple facts. She will get a divorce, then you will get married to her and then you will file for residency through your marriage. I saw the same exact thing happen once and it was not a problem. They only make a person go back to their country if they cross the border illegally, she didn't do that. I'm not saying some uscis official could give you a hard time, but you can't help who you fall in love with I guess. She might do the same thing to you and as long as you realize that I guess go for it.

Thank you. Can anybody else confirm that there is no risk in doing this?

Thanks everyone else for the advice. I am getting some good information about all the potential difficulties of the situation.

As for people saying that she cannot be trusted, I cannot reveal any personal information, but I will say that not everything always turns out the way it is planned.

Somebody said can't I just find another woman.. yes, I could go out and find a dozen right now without a problem. But then why not just marry the girl next door because it is convenient?

I apologize for not posting in the right section.

Why is it a bad situation? Could somebody elaborate on what problems could potentially come up?

Hello everyone.

So recently I sent a letter to the USCIS to withdraw my I-129F petition because my fiancee and I broke up.

Now my "adventures" continue and I am faced with new obstacles..

(just to make things clear... this new story has nothing to do with the above mentioned breakup)

I met a woman this year here in the US who is here on K1 visa and is married to a US citizen.

We have been talking for a few months and fell in love and now decided that we want to get married.

We are totally confused at this point because we don't know what is the best way to go about the divorce and our marriage because we don't want to have any problems.

She came over about 6 months ago on K1, got married to her fiance, and, from what I understand, does not have a green card yet.

We are trying to at least get a grasp on how complicated this will be and whether we will need an attorney to even consider doing something like this in the near future.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thank you for the replies. I will write a letter to the USCIS and send immediately.

If anyone has had anything like this happen or has anything else to add, I'd appreciate it. Thanks guys.

Hello everyone,

So my fiancee and I broke up a few weeks after we submitted the K1 petition packet to the USCIS.

Then, right after our break-up, I received a letter from the USCIS saying that the $340 fee was received and our packet is being sent to a different location for processing.

So I waited a couple more weeks hoping that we would get back together but now it is 100% certain that my fiancee is done with me.

What actions can I take to stop the K1 process? And I am worried that this will have an effect on me doing another K1 in the future should I decide to try going that route again.

Any help greatly appreciated.