pachacuti

Everyone accesses information differently. Some search, some don't. I think we should continue to be helpful, even when the question seems obvious. When helping, point to links they should have found, don't answer straightaway. This may have the effect of helping those folks find stuff on their own. But the big benefit, is that those links will come up in searches more towards the top and be more helpful to those who do fend for themselves.
Just my two pennies, but I believe in being as helpful as possible. Remember that your grandma still doesn't get what the internet even is

Everyone accesses information differently. Some search, some don't. I think we should continue to be helpful, even when the question seems obvious. When helping, point to links they should have found, don't answer straightaway. This may have the effect of helping those folks find stuff on their own. But the big benefit, is that those links will come up in searches more towards the top and be more helpful to those who do fend for themselves.
Just my two pennies, but I believe in being as helpful as possible. Remember that your grandma still doesn't get what the internet even is

Everyone accesses information differently. Some search, some don't. I think we should continue to be helpful, even when the question seems obvious. When helping, point to links they should have found, don't answer straightaway. This may have the effect of helping those folks find stuff on their own. But the big benefit, is that those links will come up in searches more towards the top and be more helpful to those who do fend for themselves.
Just my two pennies, but I believe in being as helpful as possible. Remember that your grandma still doesn't get what the internet even is

Everyone accesses information differently. Some search, some don't. I think we should continue to be helpful, even when the question seems obvious. When helping, point to links they should have found, don't answer straightaway. This may have the effect of helping those folks find stuff on their own. But the big benefit, is that those links will come up in searches more towards the top and be more helpful to those who do fend for themselves.
Just my two pennies, but I believe in being as helpful as possible. Remember that your grandma still doesn't get what the internet even is

Sorry about the accusation. I am guilty of conflating issues at times. That was wrong on my part.
Now, if you really think that the director of an agency is going to take time out of his schedule to have your file tracked down so he can take some type of retribution, you have no understanding of how government agencies work. This simply does not happen. Now, if you repeatedly contact him. And you are rude and offensive. Well, in that case, maybe. But that is not what we are talking about at all.

It is ludicrous to assume that someone would take such retribution because they received an email. Do you really think this way? I can only say "wow"
Officials in the government are not going to try and take retribution because you are a pain in the butt. They don't have the time or the inclination. And the fallout if it were revealed is not worth the risk. The worst case scenario is that you will be ignored. Period.
When I worked constituent relations, we knew who the real pains were. They called all the time, about everything. We rolled our eyes when they contacted us, but took care of them and answered their questions immediately. Aside from the instant contact from my team, they were given no other preferential treatment. Their cases were not expedited. They were simply told what the process was, and where their cases were in that process. We only did this because we knew they had to be dealt with. But there was no retribution.
Our biggest problem with USCIS is not that we are being singled out. Our problem is that we are just some faceless case number among millions of others. That and they are a big black box that refuses to be responsive to us about anything.

Things to keep in mind:
1. The K-1 Visa type was designed to AVOID delay. Even the 5 month processing time was lengthy. But, okay, most of us can accept that.
2. This time has now been extending to some arbitrary, undefined amount (I see 5.5 months, 6.6 months, 10.2 months, 1 year, nothing July 18 and after). It really depends on who you talk to and there is no firmly established guidelines on what the processing time should be and what criteria would cause it to be lengthened. There is no transparency in this process.
3. The processing time change at the whim of CSC. When I started it was 5, now it is July 18, 2012 (which it has been for months now). What will it be tomorrow. If I sit around like an idiot waiting for this processing time to pass, it might never pass based on what appears to be going on.
4. A letter of general complaint to shed light on this issue can and should be sent by any and everyone who cares, whether they started the K1 journey yesterday or have absolutely nothing to do with K1 visas whatsoever. Injustice is injustice no matter how you slice it.
5. The person who is most interested in your case is you. It is your responsibility to stay on top of it.
6. There should be more citizen access to what is going on with our cases.
7. Respectfully inquiring about your case should not negatively affect your case. I have never worked in a government agency where such action was taken, much less tolerated. At worst you will be ignored. At best you will get action to shut you up.
That's all I can think of right now.

But it does NOT require 8, 9, 10 months to prepare. This argument is flawed.
And as difficult as AOS might be, who cares??? You are together at that point. You are doing it together. Apples and oranges.

Under this logic, only real couples would crack. All the fake couples would sail right on through. Only couples get stronger or fall apart. For fake couples this is just part of the process.

What if she files a VAWA claim? OP should definitely make sure to keep himself safe.

My fiancee and I certainly had our ups and downs. The downs were mostly my fault, and I realize that. My situation is (was) pretty complicated and I didn't always handle it the best way (even though I always thought I was doing the best I could). Needless to say, she took a chance on me. But I don't really know if that is something I would recommend.
You know him better than we do. Keep in mind a few things. You guys have only known each other a short time and you have only been together for short periods and at a distance. Being together all the time will be very different, which is a double-edged sword. You will have to ask yourself what this side of him means. Is it brought about by the stress of the process, by the stress of being apart, or is this some sign of something that may manifest itself in unpleasant ways when you are living together. You will be living together... Up until now, you have always kind of been on vacation together, not living together, getting on with the mundane things in life. How will living in Mundania be for the two of you? Have you talked about that?
Are you going to be living in Arcata, CA? That is kind of remote. It is a bit of a drive from Eureka, which is no big city or anything. A quite a stretch from SF. You are a Limenha. Have you thought about how life is going to be living in those kinds of circumstances? That will affect you. Even with the best relationship. You will pretty much be living in small town USA. You will possibly be more reliant on him. Your family and friends will be thousands of miles away. The life you knew in Lima will be gone. Of course, you will make a new one in the USA, but it will be a while before that happens and there will be a period of time where you will sorely miss your friends, your family. You will miss meeting at cafes in Miraflores just to pass the time. You will miss going out on Friday night to dance and drink and then get some anticuchos. You will be hard-pressed to find a good ceviche.
My fiancee has been here with me now for just over 3 weeks and things are going splendidly. But I thought of a lot of these things before she came. I moved to an area where she can get to shops and a mall, etc, until she is driving (oh yeah, you won't be driving for a while... that is hard here). We have our son and he takes most of our time and energy. We have only had a few adjustments to make, and have snipped at each other a couple of times, but both of us recognize that things are going great. Washington weather has cooperated so far and she has seen the best of Seattle and Olympia, but I worry about when the rains start in earnest She is studying for her driving exam and then I will teach her to drive (hopefully that won't end our relationship) and luckily you can do this in Washington state, but can you in California? If not, you will wait longer to start that part. I got her a membership at a gym, which reanimates her each time she goes. We registered her in English classes right away (even though her English is very good and she was put in advanced, she is meeting people and making friends). I take the boy and we go off to have fun on our own for a couple of hours every day, just so she can have some "me" time. My point here is that there are all kinds of adjustments and the two of us work at them. I want her to be happy and she wants me to be happy and we both want to be together, so we work at it. And so far it is working. But, even so, in these 3 short weeks she has gone through a few days where she was depressed and missing her friends and family. There was one day, that she even had a little break-down. Both of you need to be prepared for this. You should be talking about this now.
No one will be able to tell you what you should do (and I don't think you even asked), but I hope my sharing this at least sheds a little light on what you should be thinking about.
I wish you all the best.
Mark

My fiancee and I certainly had our ups and downs. The downs were mostly my fault, and I realize that. My situation is (was) pretty complicated and I didn't always handle it the best way (even though I always thought I was doing the best I could). Needless to say, she took a chance on me. But I don't really know if that is something I would recommend.
You know him better than we do. Keep in mind a few things. You guys have only known each other a short time and you have only been together for short periods and at a distance. Being together all the time will be very different, which is a double-edged sword. You will have to ask yourself what this side of him means. Is it brought about by the stress of the process, by the stress of being apart, or is this some sign of something that may manifest itself in unpleasant ways when you are living together. You will be living together... Up until now, you have always kind of been on vacation together, not living together, getting on with the mundane things in life. How will living in Mundania be for the two of you? Have you talked about that?
Are you going to be living in Arcata, CA? That is kind of remote. It is a bit of a drive from Eureka, which is no big city or anything. A quite a stretch from SF. You are a Limenha. Have you thought about how life is going to be living in those kinds of circumstances? That will affect you. Even with the best relationship. You will pretty much be living in small town USA. You will possibly be more reliant on him. Your family and friends will be thousands of miles away. The life you knew in Lima will be gone. Of course, you will make a new one in the USA, but it will be a while before that happens and there will be a period of time where you will sorely miss your friends, your family. You will miss meeting at cafes in Miraflores just to pass the time. You will miss going out on Friday night to dance and drink and then get some anticuchos. You will be hard-pressed to find a good ceviche.
My fiancee has been here with me now for just over 3 weeks and things are going splendidly. But I thought of a lot of these things before she came. I moved to an area where she can get to shops and a mall, etc, until she is driving (oh yeah, you won't be driving for a while... that is hard here). We have our son and he takes most of our time and energy. We have only had a few adjustments to make, and have snipped at each other a couple of times, but both of us recognize that things are going great. Washington weather has cooperated so far and she has seen the best of Seattle and Olympia, but I worry about when the rains start in earnest She is studying for her driving exam and then I will teach her to drive (hopefully that won't end our relationship) and luckily you can do this in Washington state, but can you in California? If not, you will wait longer to start that part. I got her a membership at a gym, which reanimates her each time she goes. We registered her in English classes right away (even though her English is very good and she was put in advanced, she is meeting people and making friends). I take the boy and we go off to have fun on our own for a couple of hours every day, just so she can have some "me" time. My point here is that there are all kinds of adjustments and the two of us work at them. I want her to be happy and she wants me to be happy and we both want to be together, so we work at it. And so far it is working. But, even so, in these 3 short weeks she has gone through a few days where she was depressed and missing her friends and family. There was one day, that she even had a little break-down. Both of you need to be prepared for this. You should be talking about this now.
No one will be able to tell you what you should do (and I don't think you even asked), but I hope my sharing this at least sheds a little light on what you should be thinking about.
I wish you all the best.
Mark

My fiancee and I certainly had our ups and downs. The downs were mostly my fault, and I realize that. My situation is (was) pretty complicated and I didn't always handle it the best way (even though I always thought I was doing the best I could). Needless to say, she took a chance on me. But I don't really know if that is something I would recommend.
You know him better than we do. Keep in mind a few things. You guys have only known each other a short time and you have only been together for short periods and at a distance. Being together all the time will be very different, which is a double-edged sword. You will have to ask yourself what this side of him means. Is it brought about by the stress of the process, by the stress of being apart, or is this some sign of something that may manifest itself in unpleasant ways when you are living together. You will be living together... Up until now, you have always kind of been on vacation together, not living together, getting on with the mundane things in life. How will living in Mundania be for the two of you? Have you talked about that?
Are you going to be living in Arcata, CA? That is kind of remote. It is a bit of a drive from Eureka, which is no big city or anything. A quite a stretch from SF. You are a Limenha. Have you thought about how life is going to be living in those kinds of circumstances? That will affect you. Even with the best relationship. You will pretty much be living in small town USA. You will possibly be more reliant on him. Your family and friends will be thousands of miles away. The life you knew in Lima will be gone. Of course, you will make a new one in the USA, but it will be a while before that happens and there will be a period of time where you will sorely miss your friends, your family. You will miss meeting at cafes in Miraflores just to pass the time. You will miss going out on Friday night to dance and drink and then get some anticuchos. You will be hard-pressed to find a good ceviche.
My fiancee has been here with me now for just over 3 weeks and things are going splendidly. But I thought of a lot of these things before she came. I moved to an area where she can get to shops and a mall, etc, until she is driving (oh yeah, you won't be driving for a while... that is hard here). We have our son and he takes most of our time and energy. We have only had a few adjustments to make, and have snipped at each other a couple of times, but both of us recognize that things are going great. Washington weather has cooperated so far and she has seen the best of Seattle and Olympia, but I worry about when the rains start in earnest She is studying for her driving exam and then I will teach her to drive (hopefully that won't end our relationship) and luckily you can do this in Washington state, but can you in California? If not, you will wait longer to start that part. I got her a membership at a gym, which reanimates her each time she goes. We registered her in English classes right away (even though her English is very good and she was put in advanced, she is meeting people and making friends). I take the boy and we go off to have fun on our own for a couple of hours every day, just so she can have some "me" time. My point here is that there are all kinds of adjustments and the two of us work at them. I want her to be happy and she wants me to be happy and we both want to be together, so we work at it. And so far it is working. But, even so, in these 3 short weeks she has gone through a few days where she was depressed and missing her friends and family. There was one day, that she even had a little break-down. Both of you need to be prepared for this. You should be talking about this now.
No one will be able to tell you what you should do (and I don't think you even asked), but I hope my sharing this at least sheds a little light on what you should be thinking about.
I wish you all the best.
Mark

My fiancee and I certainly had our ups and downs. The downs were mostly my fault, and I realize that. My situation is (was) pretty complicated and I didn't always handle it the best way (even though I always thought I was doing the best I could). Needless to say, she took a chance on me. But I don't really know if that is something I would recommend.
You know him better than we do. Keep in mind a few things. You guys have only known each other a short time and you have only been together for short periods and at a distance. Being together all the time will be very different, which is a double-edged sword. You will have to ask yourself what this side of him means. Is it brought about by the stress of the process, by the stress of being apart, or is this some sign of something that may manifest itself in unpleasant ways when you are living together. You will be living together... Up until now, you have always kind of been on vacation together, not living together, getting on with the mundane things in life. How will living in Mundania be for the two of you? Have you talked about that?
Are you going to be living in Arcata, CA? That is kind of remote. It is a bit of a drive from Eureka, which is no big city or anything. A quite a stretch from SF. You are a Limenha. Have you thought about how life is going to be living in those kinds of circumstances? That will affect you. Even with the best relationship. You will pretty much be living in small town USA. You will possibly be more reliant on him. Your family and friends will be thousands of miles away. The life you knew in Lima will be gone. Of course, you will make a new one in the USA, but it will be a while before that happens and there will be a period of time where you will sorely miss your friends, your family. You will miss meeting at cafes in Miraflores just to pass the time. You will miss going out on Friday night to dance and drink and then get some anticuchos. You will be hard-pressed to find a good ceviche.
My fiancee has been here with me now for just over 3 weeks and things are going splendidly. But I thought of a lot of these things before she came. I moved to an area where she can get to shops and a mall, etc, until she is driving (oh yeah, you won't be driving for a while... that is hard here). We have our son and he takes most of our time and energy. We have only had a few adjustments to make, and have snipped at each other a couple of times, but both of us recognize that things are going great. Washington weather has cooperated so far and she has seen the best of Seattle and Olympia, but I worry about when the rains start in earnest She is studying for her driving exam and then I will teach her to drive (hopefully that won't end our relationship) and luckily you can do this in Washington state, but can you in California? If not, you will wait longer to start that part. I got her a membership at a gym, which reanimates her each time she goes. We registered her in English classes right away (even though her English is very good and she was put in advanced, she is meeting people and making friends). I take the boy and we go off to have fun on our own for a couple of hours every day, just so she can have some "me" time. My point here is that there are all kinds of adjustments and the two of us work at them. I want her to be happy and she wants me to be happy and we both want to be together, so we work at it. And so far it is working. But, even so, in these 3 short weeks she has gone through a few days where she was depressed and missing her friends and family. There was one day, that she even had a little break-down. Both of you need to be prepared for this. You should be talking about this now.
No one will be able to tell you what you should do (and I don't think you even asked), but I hope my sharing this at least sheds a little light on what you should be thinking about.
I wish you all the best.
Mark

My fiancee and I certainly had our ups and downs. The downs were mostly my fault, and I realize that. My situation is (was) pretty complicated and I didn't always handle it the best way (even though I always thought I was doing the best I could). Needless to say, she took a chance on me. But I don't really know if that is something I would recommend.
You know him better than we do. Keep in mind a few things. You guys have only known each other a short time and you have only been together for short periods and at a distance. Being together all the time will be very different, which is a double-edged sword. You will have to ask yourself what this side of him means. Is it brought about by the stress of the process, by the stress of being apart, or is this some sign of something that may manifest itself in unpleasant ways when you are living together. You will be living together... Up until now, you have always kind of been on vacation together, not living together, getting on with the mundane things in life. How will living in Mundania be for the two of you? Have you talked about that?
Are you going to be living in Arcata, CA? That is kind of remote. It is a bit of a drive from Eureka, which is no big city or anything. A quite a stretch from SF. You are a Limenha. Have you thought about how life is going to be living in those kinds of circumstances? That will affect you. Even with the best relationship. You will pretty much be living in small town USA. You will possibly be more reliant on him. Your family and friends will be thousands of miles away. The life you knew in Lima will be gone. Of course, you will make a new one in the USA, but it will be a while before that happens and there will be a period of time where you will sorely miss your friends, your family. You will miss meeting at cafes in Miraflores just to pass the time. You will miss going out on Friday night to dance and drink and then get some anticuchos. You will be hard-pressed to find a good ceviche.
My fiancee has been here with me now for just over 3 weeks and things are going splendidly. But I thought of a lot of these things before she came. I moved to an area where she can get to shops and a mall, etc, until she is driving (oh yeah, you won't be driving for a while... that is hard here). We have our son and he takes most of our time and energy. We have only had a few adjustments to make, and have snipped at each other a couple of times, but both of us recognize that things are going great. Washington weather has cooperated so far and she has seen the best of Seattle and Olympia, but I worry about when the rains start in earnest She is studying for her driving exam and then I will teach her to drive (hopefully that won't end our relationship) and luckily you can do this in Washington state, but can you in California? If not, you will wait longer to start that part. I got her a membership at a gym, which reanimates her each time she goes. We registered her in English classes right away (even though her English is very good and she was put in advanced, she is meeting people and making friends). I take the boy and we go off to have fun on our own for a couple of hours every day, just so she can have some "me" time. My point here is that there are all kinds of adjustments and the two of us work at them. I want her to be happy and she wants me to be happy and we both want to be together, so we work at it. And so far it is working. But, even so, in these 3 short weeks she has gone through a few days where she was depressed and missing her friends and family. There was one day, that she even had a little break-down. Both of you need to be prepared for this. You should be talking about this now.
No one will be able to tell you what you should do (and I don't think you even asked), but I hope my sharing this at least sheds a little light on what you should be thinking about.
I wish you all the best.
Mark

Here in the US you will probably only ever need one. You can usually just make copies or let people make copies. We have two for my fiancee and so far have not needed them.
* Social Security only wanted her passport and the I94
* County only wanted to see her passport for the marriage license.
* Department of Licensing was okay with her passport, the I94 and her Social Security card.
* Bank wanted her passport, social security card and Washington state ID.
Having worked for the agency that determines eligibility for welfare benefits, I can say we would not have needed the BC and would have gone with the passport and been fine with that (of course she wouldn't be eligible for any kind of benefits prior to having her residency (except pregnancy medical, of course).

Here in the US you will probably only ever need one. You can usually just make copies or let people make copies. We have two for my fiancee and so far have not needed them.
* Social Security only wanted her passport and the I94
* County only wanted to see her passport for the marriage license.
* Department of Licensing was okay with her passport, the I94 and her Social Security card.
* Bank wanted her passport, social security card and Washington state ID.
Having worked for the agency that determines eligibility for welfare benefits, I can say we would not have needed the BC and would have gone with the passport and been fine with that (of course she wouldn't be eligible for any kind of benefits prior to having her residency (except pregnancy medical, of course).

You guys, we have plane tickets!!!!! POE Miami on 09/05 She and the little dude will spend a week with her bestie and then I will fly down to spend a weekend in Miami, then we will all come back together to WA. Woo hoooooo. Almost there.

We just did our K-1 interview in Lima. I was allowed at the "final" interview. It went down like this:
1. There is a huge line outside. Ignore that line, it is for the tourist visas. Walk up and ask someone up front. Tell them you are a "visa citada". Someone will come and get you and take you back.
2. Once you get back, you will be called up to hand in the completed forms, in duplicate (I forgot the duplicate, but the nice lady made copies, so no harm no foul). Then you will go pay.
3. You will go over to another window to pay. If no one is there, don't just stand there joking about not pushing the green button like we did, push the button
4. Soon, another lady will call your fiance(e) over. She made me take a seat. This "interview" was sort of an intake. She took all the evidence, the affidavit of financial support, etc. Then your fiance(e) will be told to have a seat.
5. Wait
6. Wait
7. Wait some more
8. Your fiance(e) will be called to a window or a little room for the interview. You can be with him/her at that time. I let me fiancee answer most of the questions, but one or two were thrown my way. In our case, I believe it definitely helped (or at least definitely did not hurt).
Good luck to you.
Oh. We got the visa about a week later.

Yayyyy!!! Finally! I was starting to worry about you, man!
Our interview is next week, too. I am here in country to be at the embassy as evidence of on-going relationship Of course we have a little walking terror that does pretty good in that department.
Good luck. I will be thinking of you guys and wishing you the best.

Thanks everybody. My fiancee and I are super excited right now. I have been in touch with the embassy, I have already started on the affidavit of support and she has begun to coordinate the docs she can get now.
I hope the rest of the journey is quick. I hope it is quick for everyone else too. If you haven't gotten your NOA2 yet, keep the faith, but don't be afraid to whine and moan and kick and scream. It is your case, it is your life, stand up for it
VJ and the forums have been very important to me thus far and I hope that I have given back at least a little of what I have gotten.
Mark

That first letter is about Immigrant Visas. The K-1 is considered a non-immigrant visa. You fill out the I-134 for the K-1. Feel free to contact the consulate for confirmation of this information. At least with the consulate in Lima, they are very quick to respond and the information should be of higher quality, since it comes straight from the horse's mouth.

That first letter is about Immigrant Visas. The K-1 is considered a non-immigrant visa. You fill out the I-134 for the K-1. Feel free to contact the consulate for confirmation of this information. At least with the consulate in Lima, they are very quick to respond and the information should be of higher quality, since it comes straight from the horse's mouth.

Thanks everybody. My fiancee and I are super excited right now. I have been in touch with the embassy, I have already started on the affidavit of support and she has begun to coordinate the docs she can get now.
I hope the rest of the journey is quick. I hope it is quick for everyone else too. If you haven't gotten your NOA2 yet, keep the faith, but don't be afraid to whine and moan and kick and scream. It is your case, it is your life, stand up for it
VJ and the forums have been very important to me thus far and I hope that I have given back at least a little of what I have gotten.
Mark

Just a heads up for recent petition approvals. If you need to get tax transcripts, get them now. The IRS site says that the service will be unavailable from 05/23 to 05/28.