yuna628

Do we have to have guns to have opinions on them?
I mean, that is okay with me if we're gonna make it a rule, but I propose we extend it. That way I can stop listening to old white men talk about reproductive systems they don't own.

NOA1!
We got our text/email! Finally! So excited. Can't wait to get the paper copy to read the heartbreaking news that we are stuck in Texas! Lol.

Homicide rates in the UK are around a fifth of that in the US. There isn't an industrialized country on this planet that comes even close to the US in terms of homicide. Not one.
No wonder with all these fools running around armed around these parts.

A bit of a random post here but bear with me...
I came to the US on a K1 in July and i'm living blissfully happy with my wife here in California. This website helped me the whole way through the grueling process - I certainly could not have done it without all the support and advice this brilliant resource provides. US immigration can be unbearably drawn out and I remember toiling through days and weeks on my own wondering if it was ever going to end. It's a huge mountain of confusing paperwork and documentation and reference numbers and all kinds of strict administrative processes. It can also leach plenty of hard earned money out of your pocket, with no recourse to getting it back if it all falls through. Oh and on top of that I had further stress from minor historic offenses which could've cost me everything.
Its clearly long winded, hard work, and expensive. They don't make it easy.
So now I'm reflecting on this struggle, nine months after starting it all, from the privileged position of having successfully completed much of it. I'm living with my wonderful wife, I have permission to work, social security sorted and driver license on the way, and hopefully green card delivered in the not too distant future. I came from a position of disadvantage, I fought against it, I read hard and took advice, and I came through it.
This morning I updated my timeline and it felt great to be looking at all those blue boxes with green ticks. There's still plenty to do, I know, but I feel like a hill has been climbed and that feels good.
On the rare occasions I check back here at visajourney, I feel great sympathy for all the honest, well-meaning folks who are despairing at their current K1 circumstances. Its important to stay focused, keep your convictions, be honest, take advice from people who know better and be humble with Uncle Sam's way of doing things. I just want to let those people know that time falls away, things will move for you, and I wish you all the best in your struggle to get wherever you're going.
Keep the love and nothing can separate you from the person you've chosen to be with!
Peace,
D
x

You become a US citizen by going through the process and paying the fee.
You get an American passport using your shiny new naturalization certificate.
You keep your British passport and renew it when necessary.
There is no "choice" to be made. You are simply adding a second citizenship. The Brits will never cross you off their roles unless you file a form and pay a fee to the home office to formally revoke.

I had the shot when I was 15 and I don't recall any after effects >.>

https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrants/documentation/
https://www.healthcare.gov/help/immigration-document-types/
Check out the above links for document requirements to be eligible.

Good morning everyone,
I do not know about the rest of you but it gets depressing seeing all the posts where someone was "scammed" so the love of their life can get that prized green card, they got married and the love of their life magically changed into someone they do not know, the love of their life left them and is now talking about VAWA, they found out the love of their life really had a secret lover back in their home country and once they got the green card they were going to bring that lover to the US, blah, blah, blah. I guess I could go on but I think you get the picture. Marriage is something real that real people that really know each other and want to spend the rest of their life together till death do us part so help us God desire to make that commitment. Finding someone on a web site and talking on Skype will find you in the first stage of love...Romantic Love. Hey I fully understand she/he and you experience the emotions of joy and excitement. The novelty of a new love leads you to think about your partner day and night, imagining all the possibilities of how this person can fulfill your deepest desires. You want to spend every moment of every day with your new partner in the bliss of newly discovered love. At this point (and I am sure each and everyone of you have heard) if it is too good to be true it usually is...but what a great feeling. You have to think about realistic and mature love and how the love of your life coming to the US will be thrown not only into a marriage but a complete different world from their home country.
okay I guess I will get off my soap box but I pray that everyone will step back and let common sense drive their decisions and not let emotions take control.
Elizabeth (my beautiful and wonderful wife) came from Mexico to work in the US on a TN visa. She is an accountant and we met while my company provided accounting consulting services for her company. There was zero conflict of interest when I asked her out to eat after we had known of each other almost a year. That night we sat and talked for over two hours and yes I was hooked (romantic love!). We dated for almost 6 years before I popped the question. Mind you we did not live together and simply dated. September 14th of 2013 we said I Do. I will be the first to say the whole visa process was very hard. Since we applied for a K1 visa she had to give up her TN visa and go back to Mexico City. The great news is she also had a tourist visa so was able to travel from Mexico to the US a number of times while we waited on USCIS as I also traveled from Atlanta to Mexico City a number of times. We made it through those times which made our relationship stronger. Our faith in God has been the foundation of our marriage. We have not waited for times to get bad (too late sometimes) before we try marriage counseling as we are doing that when the times are great. Our church offers a number of marriage seminars and counseling services which we have used. Those services have helped with the day to day life of being married and life itself. We do not have the perfect marriage but we are making every effort to keep our commitment to God until death do us part. Have we had a major disagreement picking out a color of paint when I painted the kitchen??? oh yes! But folks that is everyday life and what a joy it is to share it with your wife. I wanted to share some good news for a change and we will keep each and everyone of you in our prayers.
May God richly bless and keep you.
Elizabeth and John

As a person who will most likely be stuck at TSC for the future until whatever planets align and result in an approval, yes it is sad to see how fast CSC applications get approved. BUT at the same time, I'm so very happy for every one of those persons that do get approved. It means they are just one step closer to be together with their loved ones. I'm neither envious or impatient. Life is never easy or fair. Look how long my fiancé and I have been apart. That was not easy, and it continues to not be easy every single time we have had to say goodbye at an airport or every day we say goodnight. I think there are a variety of reasons why TSC is slow. Some of those reasons make sense to me even when they are not fair. And sure, your elected representatives are supposed to work for you. However, what's supposed to happen and what does happen can leave one with a very bad taste in their mouths. Maybe they will do something for you, but don't expect a miracle.
Every time I become frustrated my fiancé reminds me that having a period of waiting can actually work to one's benefit. If your fiancés are employed it gives them an opportunity to save to help ensure greater stability and freedom. It gives them time to get their house in order. It gives you time to get your house in order. It even gives you time to plan out your wedding if you want something special, like we're trying to do. It gives them time to say goodbye and spend precious moments with their family members which they won't see for a very long time afterwards.
Look, we're all crabby when we're waiting.. when we encounter mind-numbing infuriating bureaucracy. Do whatever it is that makes you feel useful, what passes the time. And remember if you think that this is bad, I'd be apt to remind you that things involving UK immigration are not pleasant or favourable to US citizens right now -- even to those who have already married their UK spouse.

As a person who will most likely be stuck at TSC for the future until whatever planets align and result in an approval, yes it is sad to see how fast CSC applications get approved. BUT at the same time, I'm so very happy for every one of those persons that do get approved. It means they are just one step closer to be together with their loved ones. I'm neither envious or impatient. Life is never easy or fair. Look how long my fiancé and I have been apart. That was not easy, and it continues to not be easy every single time we have had to say goodbye at an airport or every day we say goodnight. I think there are a variety of reasons why TSC is slow. Some of those reasons make sense to me even when they are not fair. And sure, your elected representatives are supposed to work for you. However, what's supposed to happen and what does happen can leave one with a very bad taste in their mouths. Maybe they will do something for you, but don't expect a miracle.
Every time I become frustrated my fiancé reminds me that having a period of waiting can actually work to one's benefit. If your fiancés are employed it gives them an opportunity to save to help ensure greater stability and freedom. It gives them time to get their house in order. It gives you time to get your house in order. It even gives you time to plan out your wedding if you want something special, like we're trying to do. It gives them time to say goodbye and spend precious moments with their family members which they won't see for a very long time afterwards.
Look, we're all crabby when we're waiting.. when we encounter mind-numbing infuriating bureaucracy. Do whatever it is that makes you feel useful, what passes the time. And remember if you think that this is bad, I'd be apt to remind you that things involving UK immigration are not pleasant or favourable to US citizens right now -- even to those who have already married their UK spouse.

As a person who will most likely be stuck at TSC for the future until whatever planets align and result in an approval, yes it is sad to see how fast CSC applications get approved. BUT at the same time, I'm so very happy for every one of those persons that do get approved. It means they are just one step closer to be together with their loved ones. I'm neither envious or impatient. Life is never easy or fair. Look how long my fiancé and I have been apart. That was not easy, and it continues to not be easy every single time we have had to say goodbye at an airport or every day we say goodnight. I think there are a variety of reasons why TSC is slow. Some of those reasons make sense to me even when they are not fair. And sure, your elected representatives are supposed to work for you. However, what's supposed to happen and what does happen can leave one with a very bad taste in their mouths. Maybe they will do something for you, but don't expect a miracle.
Every time I become frustrated my fiancé reminds me that having a period of waiting can actually work to one's benefit. If your fiancés are employed it gives them an opportunity to save to help ensure greater stability and freedom. It gives them time to get their house in order. It gives you time to get your house in order. It even gives you time to plan out your wedding if you want something special, like we're trying to do. It gives them time to say goodbye and spend precious moments with their family members which they won't see for a very long time afterwards.
Look, we're all crabby when we're waiting.. when we encounter mind-numbing infuriating bureaucracy. Do whatever it is that makes you feel useful, what passes the time. And remember if you think that this is bad, I'd be apt to remind you that things involving UK immigration are not pleasant or favourable to US citizens right now -- even to those who have already married their UK spouse.

The processing times also include the folks in April and May who were transferred to CSC unfortunately. If you filter the K-1 Timelines page to 'Texas Service Center' then 'Not transferred' you'll get a better picture of how sad their approval rates have been. All the TSC approvals lately were CSC transfers TSC has not approved many on their own in the past two weeks.
That's really awesome for the folks who were transferred, or will be transferred if they do another push to get TSC in standard.. but doesn't bode well for those of us still stuck at TSC and waiting.

The 13-day approval might have been a newly received petition that was grabbed as a training exercise for a new adjudicator. This happens.
There are rumors that the service centers might (from time to time) process some recently received petitions first, to get their "speed-of-processing numbers" to look better. Even corporate departments do similar things.
When the VSC was processing I-129F petitions, it was verified that the VSC would shift its workload focus from one petition type to another, depending on backlog. It's possible that the CSC and the TSC are operating similarly.
The variance of helpfulness among elected officials -- Congressmen and U.S. (not "state") senators -- is as wide as the population of VJ is. Some place a priority on assisting constituents with immigration matters, and some blow their constituents off. During my time of agony, a now-former Congressman's immigration staffer treated me as though I were the only constituent in the world. Conversely, the very top aide to a blessedly former U.S. Senator (whom I'd tried for 2 solid days to reach) cut me off in mid-first sentence and said, "The Senator has far more important things to do than to concern herself with one person's K-1 matters." Thank you very much.
As I recall, my I-129F petition was among the last, or was THE very last, to be processed in my monthly group. A kindly Immigration Officer tracked down where it had been misplaced on the CSC processing floor, and he helped to get it moved to where it next had to go. This was when the CSC was processing at the speed of molasses and the VSC was whipping approvals out in a matter of weeks.
The abovementioned Congressman's aide remarked to me, "USCIS is our very worst [Federal agency]." However, this initial experience with USCIS was nothing when compared with the hellhole horrors of the consular stage. These many years later, I'm still actively steamed and would (figuratively) take scalps if they could be found. I would be joined in the endeavor by at least a half-dozen other VJ petitioners of my era.
This entire process is not rapid, not pleasant, and not easy except in the rarest of instances. If Mrs. T-B. were to turn out not to be my final wife, I would rather die alone than repeat this process.
To get a perspective on the completed end of the process, see here:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/410945-k-1-journey-completed/ For a light-hearted (?!) look at the very end of the process, see here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/382775-mrs-t-b-the-citizenship-test/

This is very good advice. My Fianceé and I watch Movies/TV Shows all the time over Skype, she counts to 3 and we both hit play at the same time. We also like to sleep on Skype together (it's not everyone's thing) but for us it gives us a real sense of being there for one another every night no matter our distance.
Anything that you both feel would help to "close" the distance will make this emotional roller-coaster of a process that much easier to get through.
Best wishes on your journey

Correct. This is a change in the visa processing fees. The K-1 visa processing fee is changing from $240 to $265. The I-129F form filing fee is still currently $340.

I have known my future Brit husband for around ten years, and have been engaged to him since 2009. We're both approaching 30 now. That is a pretty long time for a long distance relationship, and there was never any doubt in my mind that this is the man I will marry. My family is accepting of him and treat him like a son. We had to make some tough choices, such as which country should we apply in? There were never really any other options when it comes to being in love and wanting to be together... caring for my elderly mother, and the new rules in the UK have pretty much decided for us where we are applying. But I can tell you, even if my family didn't approve of him, wouldn't matter to me in the slightest. It's our life, and our choice. In reading what you have said about your relationship case, I have to make the following observations, and I say this in kindness. If the only way you feel you can keep the relationship together is by marrying (that is you don't feel it is strong enough without it) there may be a problem. Yes, there have been sometimes ourselves when we've felt frustrated at being apart, if not a little hopeless at the hoops to jump through -- but if being together is what the *both* of you want (and it has to be *both* of you) then marriage is typically what it leads to. International couples don't have the luxury of staying together in the same country without marriage in most cases. And yes, marriage is serious. If she is not ready or wanting marriage at this time, you have many questions to ask yourself. Is, at your age, her father's approval and financial support more meaningful than what has to be done to be together? If the reason to marry is not actually for love at this time and is a great importance placed on the father's feelings, then neither party is ready. And this would really be the same case, even if you were the guy next door. When will you be the right ''catch'' you know? I would encourage reflection and waiting at this time. The job market is difficult in the UK in some parts, I'd suggest focusing on maintaining one at the moment, saving as much as you can -- perhaps you can find somewhere able to offer a transfer... and even if not you're making yourself just a bit more secure. You can only do so much, and it sounds as if you've done a lot.

I have known my future Brit husband for around ten years, and have been engaged to him since 2009. We're both approaching 30 now. That is a pretty long time for a long distance relationship, and there was never any doubt in my mind that this is the man I will marry. My family is accepting of him and treat him like a son. We had to make some tough choices, such as which country should we apply in? There were never really any other options when it comes to being in love and wanting to be together... caring for my elderly mother, and the new rules in the UK have pretty much decided for us where we are applying. But I can tell you, even if my family didn't approve of him, wouldn't matter to me in the slightest. It's our life, and our choice. In reading what you have said about your relationship case, I have to make the following observations, and I say this in kindness. If the only way you feel you can keep the relationship together is by marrying (that is you don't feel it is strong enough without it) there may be a problem. Yes, there have been sometimes ourselves when we've felt frustrated at being apart, if not a little hopeless at the hoops to jump through -- but if being together is what the *both* of you want (and it has to be *both* of you) then marriage is typically what it leads to. International couples don't have the luxury of staying together in the same country without marriage in most cases. And yes, marriage is serious. If she is not ready or wanting marriage at this time, you have many questions to ask yourself. Is, at your age, her father's approval and financial support more meaningful than what has to be done to be together? If the reason to marry is not actually for love at this time and is a great importance placed on the father's feelings, then neither party is ready. And this would really be the same case, even if you were the guy next door. When will you be the right ''catch'' you know? I would encourage reflection and waiting at this time. The job market is difficult in the UK in some parts, I'd suggest focusing on maintaining one at the moment, saving as much as you can -- perhaps you can find somewhere able to offer a transfer... and even if not you're making yourself just a bit more secure. You can only do so much, and it sounds as if you've done a lot.