DBW

Thank you studioguitarist. I had it copied at Kinkos. The clerk noticed a small notification at the bottom of the certificate. It said that it is illegal to copy the document! I explained that the US Government REQUIRED me to copy it. He said he cannot make a color copy, but he could make a B&W copy. The B&W copy was very good and caught every detail on the front and back.

I used a Canon color scanner/copier/printer (at home) and made a color copy of the front and back printed on the front and back of one sheet of paper. I don't know if it was better to do it this way or to have two separate sheets (front and back) -- that's just how I did it. It came out quite nice. Perhaps a copy store can do this for you if your home scanner didn't pick up the details.

DHL quoted me $110 for a single letter !! Does anyone know WHY they want original signatures? This whole K-1 process COULD be done electronically. Why even have us MAIL in the application?

The instructions say to provide copies of the front and back of my birth certificate. But when I scan the backside, the water mark does not copy. The result is a blank paper! Should I include a blank paper, with maybe a note saying the backside does not scan? Or, I might be able to photograph the watermark, and then print the photo? The birth certificate is from Missouri. Has anyone else had this problem?

Your mileage may vary on this, BUT I emailed a pdf, had my wife sign and scan it and send it back. I submitted it with no problems whatsoever.

HOWEVER

It does say it must be original so I don't know if we were just lucky or what.

Perhaps with a really good printer, they can't tell it's not original?

Thank you!

I am beginning to assemble our i-129f package. She is emailing her forms to me. But the "Letter of intent to Marry" requires her signature. What is a good, fast way to get it here? Is there an acceptable way for her to send it to me electronically? Snail mail from Kazakhstan can take weeks!

Thank you all for your advice! I found the USCIS definition on their website at http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-129finstr.pdf, and I quote:

I now feel confident that the website is not an IMB.

We met through a free dating website. I don't consider it a "marriage broker" as we didn't pay money. But the I-129f next asks for their internet address. Should I mention it here, or in the description of "the circumstances under which we met"?

I visited my girl friend in her country, met her family, and we decided to pursue marriage. But she wanted to first visit the U.S., experience my life, and meet my family. We planned that she would then return to her country, and set up the wedding. I wanted to get married over there so all her family and friends could be involved. Neither of us had any experience with U.S. imigration, and were quite naive. We paid the fee, filled out the application for a tourist visa and submitted the DS-130. We were completely honest, and at the interview she told him all about me and our plans. He denied her visa due to not enough incentive to return to her country.

Now I have read about denials, the process for K-1 and K-3, and understand why they thought someone might try to get to they U.S. on the quick-and-easy tourist visa, and marry here. I also learned that the K-1 visa will require her to submit a DS-160. The government website says you can use a copy saved to your hard drive to complete some of the fields. But my question is: can we use the same DS-160 for the K-1, and not have to pay the fee again?