SanneQ

Thanks for your help and tips. I am about to request the international birth certificate extract so that's sorted. I am just wondering about the police record that I need to request. On the Dutch website, it says that not the entire document will be in English, just the headers but not the statement (see attached). Could you share the link where I could request this international form for the police records? I do see at the bottom a small translation in English, would that be sufficient?

Thank you very much in advance. I appreciate your help.voorbeeld-vog-2015_tcm123-529365.pdf

Also you mention that I shouldn't forget to take it with me to the US for the AOS, but does this mean that after you went to the embassy for the interview that I will get those documents back? Or would I have to request two copies of each?

You can request the international 'verklaring van goed gedrag' at the municipality just like the birth certificate. Bring this document with you (or send it to The Hague since you live in the UK?) so that they know exactly what they need to provide and why.

And yes, make copies of everything and take them to your interview. Take all the original forms with you to the US after approval.

You are welcome!

I attached an example of the international birth certificate. In my case, I made an appointment with the municipality and explained my K1 situation and that I needed an international birth certificate. I am not sure how this would work if you live abroad like you do, but maybe you could call the The Hague municipality office to find out?

Good luck!

It is the international version (3rd paragraph of your attachment).

I also attached a part of the k1 instructions stating that the Amsterdam US embassy wants you to collect the international version (doc. a).

Are you applying for the k1 visum? I can only tell you about my experience with the US embassy in Amsterdam so I am not sure if it hold true when you'd go to the US embassy in the UK, but maybe it still helps. I have a certified international birth certificate (it has French, German and English translations) and this document is signed and stamped by the Dutch municipality. I did not notarize it. I submitted a copy of this to the embassy and showed the original when I went in for my interview in Amsterdam. I had no problems in getting my k1 visum.

I don't see how it would hurt you. You are simply trying to plan your life, right? When you marry and intend to migrate to the US, it makes sense to explore job options as well.

I have a k1 visa status and at my interview at the Amsterdam consulate the interviewer even asked me about my career plans in the US. I said I had been exploring several job opportunities since we got engaged. That was not a problem. Your husband's contract is conditional upon his POE stamp, so you are not doing anything illegal I'd say.

I had a similar question (see here) and I called USCIS yesterday to ask if I could work for my former Dutch employer from home (that is, the United States) while waiting for my EAD. I repeated very explicitly that I'd be employed by a Dutch company and taxed by the Netherlands to make sure the representative fully understood the situation.

The representative told me that I could not work without an EAD, even for a Dutch company, because I entered the country on a k1-status.

It is mandatory to have the VOG for your interview. Also, you need a police certificate from ALL countries you lived in since you were 16.

You can find the instructions on how to get the VOG in the post above.

Also, make sure you don't apply for it too early, as they want a new one (issued in less than 6 months), so I would suggest applying for one once you have your interview date.

Although achmph is right that your VOG should be issued recently, I'd like to add that you are supposed to collect the VOG before the consulate schedules you for an interview (see attached pic of the form in package 3), not after the consulate schedules your interview. You are even certifying and signing that you did collect everything.

The reason why the consulate makes your certify collecting everything before they set an interview date is probably because they experience people coming in without all required materials.

The time between my interview invitation (package 4) and interview date was about 1 month. Getting a VOG may take 1 month if you do not have any criminal records and it may take 2 months if you do have a criminal record. I received my VOG within 2 weeks of requesting it, so acgmph's strategy would have worked for me, but I would have worried for two weeks if it would come in time. So, I collected the VOG before I had an interview date in line with the consulate's instructions.

Hi there!

I had my interview July 30 and received my passport and the k1 package back on August 4 end of the day. The consulate had a technical problem with printing visa just before I went in for my interview and the interviewer explained that they were still working on a backlog of delayed visa and that I should really take 5 business days as an indication. I got the k1 package + passport back in 3 business days, so I thought that was pretty quick.

I understand you are worried - I had that too and would have preferred the option of just picking the package up myself - but it sounds like your package is coming your way soon. You have a track and trace code, so you know your package is not lost or something. Worst case is that they don't find you at home when they deliver and you will have to pick it up at some PostNL point.

I agree with all the above: keep things in perspective, Skype, write, send each other cute things by post, and travel as much as you can.

Also, cherish family, friends, and the Netherlands. I am incredibly happy being finally together with the love of my life. But, when we started the K1 process, I also knew my time with family and friends would be limited significantly, so I made a real effort to spend some extra time with them.

Also, I ate a lot of Dutch stuff. Dropjes, kaas, hagelslag, haring you name it .

Thank you for sharing that link Teeak!

Hey everyone,

I am a K1 visum holder from the Netherlands and moved to California last month. My fiancé and me marry next week (big yays and hoorays!) and I will start the AOS procedure and apply for a work permit (EAD) directly the day after.

I understand that I am not eligible to work in the United Stated until I receive my EAD.

I am a researcher and my previous employer wants to offer me a post-doc where I would collect data in the United States. In other words: I will be paid and employed by a Dutch organization, but my work would take place in the United States. I am very enthusiastic about the job and the extra income is wanted (but not necessary), so preferably I'd start asap and not wait 3 to 4 months for my EAD.

Is it possible for me to work without a work permit, considering that I'm not being paid by a US organization but a Dutch one? I can see it might be problematic considering the work would take place in the US. I tried calling USCIS to ask this question, but I just can't get a peron on the phone in that maze of menu options. If anyone has experience with a similar issue, I'd love to hear about it.

We made a mistake on a different form (I-129f - petition for a fiancé visa). I listed the wrong embassy in the form (The Hague instead of Amsterdam).

We did not wait for an RFE and my fiancé called the office responsible (I don't exactly recall which, sorry). We were told we could send a letter with the correction, including the case number that was already assigned to our case. I think it does not harm you to send such a correction, as long as you are very clear on what needs to be corrected and very clear which case needs to be changed. Worst case scenario is that they don't know what to do with it, don't take your correction into account and give you an RFE (that you would have gotten anyway)?

After your NOA2 the next correspondence will come from the US consulate, I believe, stating that they received the paperwork from NVC and including instructions for the further process (pkg 3).

I recall PostNL moving fees are quite expensive.

I assume you will have your visa handled by the Amsterdam Consulate as you live in the Netherlands (you specified the consulate in the I-129f form)? You could write an email with a notification of address change to immigrantvisasAMS@state.gov. Provide the WAC number of the NOA2, or maybe even a scan of your NOA2, and ask for a confirmation that your address has been updated.

Also, just to be sure, you could phone your old landlady again when you should have received correspondence. For example, my US fiancé received the NOA2 March 24 in the US and I received pkg 3 on May 26 on my Dutch address.