bly

Well, for all i've read the last few days, they already perform all the checks but now they'll only start to inform the foreign fiance about the USC's background. If that's the case, then it shouldn't slow things down..... and the only people that will see any difference are the ones getting informed or the ones who are hiding something.

I have to disagree.

When a USC and USC get married, neither USC has the right to see the others past records. This law goes past the "RIGHT" to know and makes it a "MANDATE".

Before a USC can get contact information for a forgiener via an international contact, we must release all of our personal criminal history, wether we have any or not (and I do not)

This law puts a time based restriction on the number of petitions which can be filed. Since when is love and marriage timelines dictated by the govt?

A second application puts you in an abusers database to have extra screening, like there isn't enough and this process isn't slow enough?

Since when did your govt decide they have the right to tell us what we must disclose about ourselves prior to ever meeting someone?

It also creates two set of marriage standards. Marry another USC and you have to do nothing. Marry a none USC and you must disclose everything about yourself to the govt, an over seas embassy, and your potential mate.

If it went to CSC it should have a WAC in front of it....

I don't see anythign with WAC ... only ACC. Does anybody know which center that is for? What are the letters for Texas?

3AD

I have no idea! It's been so long since anyone has gotten an NOA1 actually from Texas as well....but I wouldn't think it would be so similar (ACC and WAC).

The 4 are: "EAC" "LIN" "SRC" and "WAC"

Hold your left shift key as you go to the page that has the dates. Holding the shift key forces Internet Explorer to reload the page and not use cache.

Easist way to make sure you have current information.

It's possible if you're using a Proxy server (like a company connection), that it wont update for a day or 2. Proxy connections can lag a good deal. If this applies to you it has nothing to do with the internet and everything to do with your company trying to limit bandwidth consumption.

Not only is it a sell out to the big corporations like yahoo, match.com etc who are exempt from this but it's not going to do a thing to slow down any exploitation of women.

Further, to suggest that ANY law is a good law that is signed into law by the president or any other leader of a country without so much as a discussion and debate is unbelievable.

There are already laws on the books. Enforce them. But to suggest that American men are abusers, and foreign women are poor lowly waifs who will anything just to get out of their homelands including be abused by those mean old Americans who will now have to submit to an invasion of privacy before even saying hellow is outrageous.

Too late though, the king has spoken

If it protects the ones that may face abuse then I cant see how its a bad thing.

If it protects while violating someone's civil rights, then it can't be a good thing.

I bet this law is one day found unconstitutional. It requires a US citizen to disclose their entire criminal history PRIOR to ever even talking to a foreigner via an international broker.

This would be like making a law that says every peson that comes up to you in a bar has to declare his entire criminal history to you before conversing with you.

I have zero criminal history.. so the law would have little affect on me, however, I still have to disagree with it 100%.

The new law as it stands only affects meeting through Marriage Brokers....hence the title 'International Marriage Broker Regulation Act'

Below is a link re the new law.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1155

Well I could be wrong but it sounded like you were trying to say I'm reckless or irresponsible or something like that. And of all the relationships you'll find here on VJ, mine is one of the ones you sure can't come down on... so if you like to hear stories about people that don't know each other very well and decide to get married, so that you can criticize them, I'm not what you're looking for.

Not what I meant, nor tried to imply.

*cough*

Sorry, this is completely wrong.

The new law AFFECTS EVERYONE, not only people meeting via a marriage broker. Doesn't matter how you meet, the US citizen will have to disclose his/her full criminal past. Doesn't matter how you met, the embassy interview will contain all the criminal information from your US citizen spouse PLUS an explanation of our domestic violence laws in the foreigners native language.

Doesn't matter how you meet, K1's now have a time based limit on apply for additional K1s. 2 k1s and you're put into a special database to track abusers.

The part about marriage brokers is very small part of the entire law. Marriage brokers must disclose the US citizen’s criminal history to the foreigner BEFORE disclosing any information about the foreigner to the US citizen.

This is a very intrusive law that affects everyone equally. I suspect this law will be repealed and/or found unconstitutional.

read more here: http://usaimmigrationattorney.com/nucleus/...p?itemid=2#more

Seems to me that Nebraska has no order to them at all.

Just 3 months ago I got mine in 14 days. Yes, 14 days from NOA1 to NOA2. There were a slew of us who all applied at the end of Nov. who were approved at the beginning of december.

I have seen others wait 3 plus months, and some of these people filed within 2 weeks of my application. The 30 to 60 days is a rough estimate at best.

Be glad you aren't at TSC or CSC, those to service centers are 6 plus months. 2 years ago, NSC was taking 9 months to a year. So it could be a LOT worse. I personally know someone who waited 332 days in 2003/2004.

Goodluck to you..

Godspeed on getting your NOA2

You can buy a one way ticket, the K-1 visa allows it, but often it's cheaper to get a round trip. So whatever works better for you.

Hi, so for my sake ok as Im a bit put of touch with the travel thingy, if my US fiancee wants to come over to the UK to be here with me prior to my going to the USA and she was to book herself a return ticket from there and also book me a return ticket from there because its cheaper that way but I obviosly would not be using the USA Outbound part of that ticket just the return half then that would not raise any eyebrows with the POE Officer ...is that a correct understanding of this situation, because her booking flights there including a single flight for me to go back with her would make my single ticket cost almost twice her return fare but if what you say is ok then we can save maybe 300 bucks by booking 2 return tickets and dumping the outbound half of my ticket.

I wouldn't try this. The airline can and probably will void your ticket unless you use the first part. If you're going to use only half of a round trip the only safe way to do it is not use the second half.

Have him get you a round trip but have the round trip start in your home country. You should still be able to fly back together. Then don't use your return ticket home.

Hi Brad!

I am also applying for a K-1 visa for a Ukrainian girl. It is my first time though. I was wondering, why do you think your first attempt did not succeed? Did you want to send the woman home, or did she decide to go on her own? I think that it would be helpful for those of us who do not have the experience of doing this before to learn from those who have. Any tips on how to make things more successful after the woman arrives in the USA?

Thanks!

Honestly my first K1 I wasn't serious enough with. I rushed into it, and the relationship wasn't right. I went ahead with the K1 because well, I wanted to see if things would change here in the USA and it changed for the worse, not better. Also, K1s were so easy to get, and before the new law took affect this year K1s were unlimited, so a lot of people used K1s as more of a test drive than serious marriage material.

First k1: We had the deal we planned on getting married within 90 days (if things worked out). We just left the part in parenthesis out when applying to the consulate.

Second k1: We know we're getting married.

I have spent months over there getting to know my current fiancée. This engagement is like coke, it's the real thing.

My Fiancée passed her K1 in Kiev today. She got a lot of questions, more than anyone else in line about our relationship. Most women spent 2 or 3 minutes getting interviewed, Svetlana was interviewed for about 10 minutes. (this is the actual interview part, not collecting of paperwork).

I'm sure she was grilled a lot harder because this is my second k1 in 18 months. (My first k1 failed before marriage and the woman returned to her home country)

Lana said she felt like the interviewer was trying to trick her into saying something like we weren't really engaged or she didn't really love me. They asked a lot of questions about me, my work, my family, and my ex fiancée. Svetlana stayed persistent in her love for me and desire to marry me and the interviewer approved the visa. Luckily I had prepared her for this type of questioning, and told her just to stand firm and stay committed and the visa would be approved.

Anyway, this is only like day 85 or something and we're done...

G' luck to the rest of you, may your journey be simple and quick..

Brad

Hello guys,

Any one know about administrative processing? We have been on AP for 3 months now...any idea about what is the time line for it? it drives me nuts, not knowing the result. Any comments, would be highly appreciated.

Thank you

Vicki/Bala

I spent about 10 days on AP (NOT AR) due to an incorrect spelling on my I-129F orginal petition.

We spelled her name one way, when she got her Ukraine international passport back they spelled her name differently in English than we did. They had to have her "NEW" english spelling run again at the DOS, luckily it was done in about 10 days.

This happens alot at Keiv and Moscow, but AP with each consulate is different and each AP reason can be different.

It's usually a paperwork screw up somewhere...

Best of luck

If you're married technically you can't enter on the K1. Well you could enter by saying your not married, but then getting married again to stay would be tough.

Best bet is to have a ceremony in the Philippines that is not a legal wedding. This way her family could enjoy it, and she's still able to use a K1. I don't know the law there, but as long as it's not considered a legal marriage your fine then.

Then when she gets to the USA go to the justice of the peace and make it legal.

if it takes time ok i can always wait till i get the ead or aos....my real issue is...am i driving legally???? i was added to my husbands insurance with just my name, they didnt even ask for my licnse # from ontario (?????) but I dont know if my ontario license is legal since i dont reside in ontario anymore...the girl at the bmv said 'you should be ok' ...thats not reassuring enuf!!!

Ohio laws states you are allowed to drive on a foreign liscense for 1 year from the time on entry into the USA.

I just went thru the most ridiculous time trying to get my Ohio drivers license.

In December, I went to the BMV to get my license, they sent me to a different office that does the actual tests....there I was told I would have to do the whole test as if I was a new driver...ok, I did the written test, made an appointment for the drivers test, passed that, oops failed the manouverbility part....I have to parallel park every day in my own driveway but I couldn't handle 5 pylons in an open parking lot...go figure! The wedding date was set and there was all sorts of things to do so I never got around to going back to do the manouverability test until today. I figured it would also be easier once we were married and I could change my name at the same time...so today I went and passed. Ok so they send me back to the office I went to in the first place to get my actual license......and hour and a half and several phone calls to supervisors and a trip home to get a copy of my i-797 I was informed that I cant have an Ohio license until my AOS is complete!!!!! #######?!?

So now I am still driving with my Ontario license and ave no idea if I am really valid or not because I am no longer an Ontario resident! The license place seems to not really know what to do about it, just said come back after AOS...and they are going to schedule a meeting with thier field rep to train the girls there on how to handle immigrants looking for licenses...meanwhile I am soooo confused!

When I wrote the test and took the road test I was told that was all I needed to do and to bring my passport with my K-1 stamp with me.

grrr

anyone else have this hard of a time or am I being jerked around????

(sigh), I live in ohio too and I'm about to head down this road. I was told you could have a Ohio DL once you got your NOA1 for AOS. No one really knows the law for sure. One thing to try, go to a DIFFERENT office and try your luck. We have 4 places to get a DL within 15 minutes of my house, some places are easier than others, some are morons.

I just did some more reading and found out ohio now requires POLP "Proof of Lawful Presence". A NOA for AOS is not enough to meet this burden, however if you applied for and recieved an EAD (Employment Authorization Document), this is an official INS document with dates states the alien can legally be employeed in the USA, this then proves "Lawful Presence". The DL will only be issued for the length of the EAD. I can't say Ohio is specifically taking the EAD, but I have found a documention showing other states are as POLP.

If you read this: http://www.bmv.ohio.gov/driver_license/nonrenewlic.htm it doesn't say what documents are acceptable for POLP, just that they are needed.

I'm trying to find the actual statue of Ohio Senate Bill 184 to see if there is a specific list of acceptable documents.

I just went thru the most ridiculous time trying to get my Ohio drivers license.

In December, I went to the BMV to get my license, they sent me to a different office that does the actual tests....there I was told I would have to do the whole test as if I was a new driver...ok, I did the written test, made an appointment for the drivers test, passed that, oops failed the manouverbility part....I have to parallel park every day in my own driveway but I couldn't handle 5 pylons in an open parking lot...go figure! The wedding date was set and there was all sorts of things to do so I never got around to going back to do the manouverability test until today. I figured it would also be easier once we were married and I could change my name at the same time...so today I went and passed. Ok so they send me back to the office I went to in the first place to get my actual license......and hour and a half and several phone calls to supervisors and a trip home to get a copy of my i-797 I was informed that I cant have an Ohio license until my AOS is complete!!!!! #######?!?

So now I am still driving with my Ontario license and ave no idea if I am really valid or not because I am no longer an Ontario resident! The license place seems to not really know what to do about it, just said come back after AOS...and they are going to schedule a meeting with thier field rep to train the girls there on how to handle immigrants looking for licenses...meanwhile I am soooo confused!

When I wrote the test and took the road test I was told that was all I needed to do and to bring my passport with my K-1 stamp with me.

grrr

anyone else have this hard of a time or am I being jerked around????

(sigh), I live in ohio too and I'm about to head down this road. I was told you could have a Ohio DL once you got your NOA1 for AOS. No one really knows the law for sure. One thing to try, go to a DIFFERENT office and try your luck. We have 4 places to get a DL within 15 minutes of my house, some places are easier than others, some are morons.

I agree with cristy....the new law ONLY applies to those going through marriage brokers and also those filing similtaneous petitions and those having filed 2 K visas in the past, or less than 2 years have passed since the petitioner filed for a K visa and that visa was approved.

Natasha, if you are both ready to file the petition then file.

The law does not only apply to people using marriage brokers. Marriage brokers have extra steps they must do under the new law, but the law applies to all K1 petitions.

All K1s must do the background domestic violence check.

All K1 petitioners now have the limitations of 2 K1s before 2 year limits are enforced.

All K1s can only file 1 K1 at a time now, regardless of meeting via a marriage broker or not.

If this is your first or second K1, and you don't have another K1 filed, then the only thing the law changes is the background/domestic violence check is done.