brian&yani

10k pesos is about 230 dollars btw

source: changed money in dominican republic 9 times over the past 1.5 years last time being december 20th...

1 dollar = 44.9~ pesos depends if u go to bank or a supermarket/other place.

Look for local social agencies that provide regular social programming such as English classes or other commingling opportunities. I am in the exact same boat. My Dominican fiancée arrives in two weeks. She is not particularly religious so the church route doesn't work, but in my town there is a dense Spanish speaking population and as such, services agencies tailored to acclimating immigrants, both mom and child. I reached out to one of local agencies weeks ago to get the ball rolling because she may not realize what she faces but I do, and I will do whatever is needed to help her.

By the way the USCIS does publish a book on coming to the USA that is available in Spanish. It's a free pdf which you can find if you poke around on their website.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it so much

Can't help with that, but this might achieve much the same:

Soon after landfall, and regardless of how religious she is, drop her on a Sunday at a church that has services in Spanish. Pick her up when services end.

I did this with Mrs. T-B. on her second (or was it the first?) Sunday here. She emerged late from the services, bubbling with enthusiasm, and she excitedly introduced me to a family that she'd met.

We repeated the church process twice more. During the next many weeks, Mrs. T-B. spent a lot of phone time and substantial face time with her new circle, including at a Spanish-people party (holy mackerel!) to which I accompanied her. Although none of the direct contacts lasted much longer than a year, she developed other friendships by referral. In short, this all served as a nexus for social activity and to impart a crucial feeling of being included.

The above has the obvious advantages of socialization. It minimizes feelings of isolation, of being a "pescado out of agua" in a strange culture, and even of homesickness (which WILL strike). The unsung benefit is that churchgoers tend to be respectable people, so she won't risk inadvertently falling in with a wrong or unknown crowd. You can drop her at church and shuttle her to outside activities with these people without trepidation.

Of note, Mrs. T-B. isn't particularly religious, and it didn't matter -- in retrospect, the above idea was the best and healthiest technique that there could have been for promoting her comfort in a new country.

thank you for your response.. I have been considering this since it's an easy way for her to mingle with others who have also immigrated. Since I too am spanish, this is something we can do together. I'll run it by her and we'll consider it really. I would love for her to hear the coming to america story of people especially people who have achieved some level of success here as well as passed through the difficult changes I can imagine for a person in a new world.. Thank you for your advice I appreciate the time you took to type it out..

-B

My dominican fiancee is a little scared of having to leave everything and go to a new country where she doesn't know anybody besides my family and doesn't speak the language.

Does anyone know of any spanish either movie or book to help her through the transition? PoE will be in a week or two for us i wish to make it smooth for her even with me right next to her.

Any info is appreciated.

we went on nov 30 and got approved, they didn't ask for anything affadavit or income or anything at all. Just her documents and some quick questions every been married, have kids?, have u ever traveled outside of the country, to her and to me they asked where I live my phone number and have I ever been married.. after that approved they didn't ask me for any documents about myself even tho I had them in my briefcase just incase.

for the affadavit I put intend to contribute and put exactly my plan for apartment and pay for food, board, expenses for her as my wife and blah blah blah but they didn't ask for it at all.

We already did the medical exam too, did I fu*k up???? do we have to do it all over again???

SI De Sabaneta turns out is inside Santiago Rodriguez.. so it's kind of not the wrong place but it won't match the passport word for word... i'm freakin out right now

I made a ds-160 a week ago and scheduled the interview... after reading the forums here... I *may* not have put my fiance's place of birth EXACTLY like the passport says... i'm here with her and she told me place of birth was Santiago Rodriguez and now I see on her passport it says SI DE SABANETA, RD... is this going to mess up my VAC appointment??? what will happen? Should I make another ds-160 right away? If I make another ds-160 do I have to reschedule? I already got the plane tickets setup so I want to be sure before I do anything... thanks in advance for any input

edit: If I have to do the ds-160 again, what happens to my payment? do I have to pay again?

The VAC reciept says

Place of Birth:

SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

While her passport says "Place of birth: SI DE SABANETA, RD"

I'm freaking out a little bit here, did I up???? any help is appreciated :x

I was able to schedule the VAC for a friday and the interview for the following monday after the VAC (3 days after/ over the weekend). Is this a mistake??? Should I do the VAC a minimum number of days before the interview? Please advise, I already bought my plane tickets but I will change if it needed, thank you.

k1 visa for dominican fiancee close to interview, fiancee worried about being denied in 2014 for invitation to spain she was invited as a friend and they denied her for not having any money in her bank account and for the invitee not ever having visited dominican republic (never have met)...

Will this denial of a spain invitation affect my k1 visa interview/application for coming to USA or does it not have anything to do with US embassy for being spain embassy? please advise

I never got anything in the mail from them. I even got the NVC Welcome This is your case # after I returned from my interview

Thank you for your reply. Can you explain a little about the process? We have 2 interviews one for VAC (not sure what VAC is) and the other for the embassy. What should we do prior to the first interview? nothing? I was under the impression that we needed to get the medical + police letter of good conduct part done.

How did it go exactly for you? Thanks so much for your response!

Please excuse me if this is not the right place to post.

I have completed all forms inside of USA and our case was sent to santo domingo, US embassy. It has been 1 month since it was forwarded to the US embassy in Santo Domingo. I am here in DR now with my fiance and we are wondering if the embassy will send anything, the local post office does not have anything yet.

We have completed the DS-160 form online and everything on UStraveldocs.com and have scheduled the 2 appointments one for VAC and the other for the embassy.

Our question is, will they send something? The appointment is in less than 1 month and we have everything ready minus the medical exam and the police letter of good conduct but I am unclear as to exactly what the embassy wants because we are still waiting for them to make contact with my fiance. The mail system here does not compare to US postal so that's why we are a little worried and wondering about it.

Does anyone have any experience within the last year in regards to this step within the dominican republic?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

-b & y

Thank you so much for replying everyone! I am very happy to have found this community and information resource. I will definitely be starting the K1 visa application within a month or two and will look forward to reaching the interview part. We didn't want to be forced into marriage anyway so K1 will please both of us. I'm sure she will be happy to know that, thanks to this website, we can now be completely self sufficient and not be scammed by any lawyer especially for 3000USD (majority of dominicans don't earn close to that in 1 year and this lawyer wants to make it from 1 client :| )

Again thank you so much and any questions I have I will be sure to post. I enjoy reading all of your experiences. Bless you all, thanks again!

-brian & yani

Sorry for the long post. There's a TLDR at the bottom

Hello,

In June 2014 I decided to try online dating and gave latinamericancupid.com a try. I messaged quite a few females but only one girl really caught my attention and we hit it off right away. She is one of the few from Dominican Republic that didn't appear to me a money loving sanky panky. We really opened up to each other and she is great and we chatted everyday for about 4 weeks. Then came July 4th and I felt comfortable enough to fly down and spend 3 days to meet her quickly in Santiago, DR to see if she was really what I was looking for. I am 31 and she is 25 by the way. We met when I was 30 and she was 24. Also, I am an American Hispanic and speak pretty much fluent Spanish. She speaks only Spanish.

We hit it off, very well, it was love at first sight both with the online pics and in real life. She said when she first saw my picture online she knew she wanted that man for her right away and then she closed the webpage and went to sleep. Unknowingly at the same time I was looking at her picture and saw something special in her eyes and I messaged her only 10 minutes after she logged off. She had just missed my message but she was hoping to meet me already. Kind of a connection on first picture view.. things only intensified after we met in real life.

She's very warm and loving, much a person I could see myself with for a long time. She knows how to take care of a house, cook, clean, good with children, and has nursing ambitions and is certified to work in emergency rooms. We started the relationship with us both looking for something very serious. I was looking for someone who wanted to come to USA and eventually start a family with me, she was/is also looking for a family life with children. After about 6-7 months of talking and visiting she had begun to agree to come to USA. She's hesitant about leaving her homeland and worried she won't be able to learn english as I try to ease her worries. I tell her that raising kids in USA is much better than in DR because here I have a great job with security and lots of family support more than she has in DR. When she comes I will be ready to buy a house. Every day she sees more and more why she needs to come here, as opposed to me going there. Children education and education cost would be better here as well.

Our relationship is very good. We do video chat everyday and most of the day, when i'm not working. We chat on Whatsapp and do phone/video on LINE. Oh and I have been visiting her around every 6 weeks. (my job allows me to make my own hours) So at first I went for 3 days, then the next time I went in August for 3 weeks, then in Oct for 3 weeks, and in December for 4 weeks, and I am going again soon for a couple weeks. In this time I have moved her out of her home where her step parents were taking care of her and basically using her to do all the housework, meals and food shopping. This girl came from extreme poverty and broken family so she had to rely on kind of step parents to take care of her who ultimately ended up using her like the maid of the house while only allowing her to leave the house for going to university. They really treated her like a slave and I didn't like that. In Oct I offered to move her to an apartment so we could have our privacy and she could try to make her own life. She was hesitant at first but after a while she agreed and now we have an apartment where I bought her the basic things and pay around 200 bucks a month for rent and everything. It's going well, I enjoy my time with her, we are great together, tons of communication just like best friends.. and lovers... I might marry my best friend.

In December we started talking to a popular "multimigracion" lawyer who supposedly helps many Dominicans leave the country with marriage and family stuff. I paid the lawyer 1000 pesos which is around 25 bucks for a consultation to ask questions. The lawyer basically advised us that getting married was our best chance. She specifically said to me that a k1 fiance visa would require 2 years of relationship proof. This is conflicting of what I have read online. I don't know why she is giving me conflicting information but many Dominicans have told me that the consulate there is quick to question a couple's legitimacy and deny people for little reason. She told me I need to prove I make 18,000 or more income which I can by showing my taxes. She advises us to get married right away and start the process.

Below is a link to the image of the paper she gave to us which describes the process, required documents, and the amounts... She wants to charge me 3000 USD for the whole process of a marriage visa. Is 3000 is a lot of money for a marriage visa?

https://i.imgur.com/XGp2HW2.jpg

Anyway, I heard about people, instead, hiring a US lawyer for this. Also I have read the instructions on how to do the filing myself. I just want the best chance of a VISA going smoothly as possible because this is a real relationship and I am eager to start a family and believe this to be a suitable person for me.

We have much proof so far:

-both normal and intimate pictures together

-an apartment together with receipts of bed, stove, refrigerator, tables, some furniture

-western union receipts

-4+ plane tickets and itinerary

-over 300 pages of chat

-list of video chat call date and times

No bank account together yet. I feel like if someone were to look at all our evidence they would see it's a real relationship.

Our plan for now is to marry and go with the lawyer but I wanted to know what other people here thought? I am willing to wait 1 to 1.5 years and will continue supporting her no matter what, while visiting as much as I can. Does anyone have Dominican Republic specific advice? Experiences? I'm reading all of the interview process for Santo Domingo and am very grateful for this website and all the people here. Thanks for reading

TLDR: (too long didn't read) Met a girl online, now 9 months later, which way to start VISA? is 3000 bucks for a Dominican lawyer to help us a rip off?