Metope

Yayy Camilla that is so great! I'm so jealous you're leaving so soon, but I'm not that far behind either so it's totally fine. And a Hawaii wedding, that sounds perfect! We're thinking of maybe Hawaii as a honeymoon, but that won't be until next summer again. We're getting married just the two of us right after I arrive, and then our proper wedding party will be next summer since it'll be easier for my friends and family to book and plan in advance.

And yeah, my envelope looked pretty banged up when I got it too, luckily no tears or holes though. I'm going to bring it in an old laptop sleeve in my carry on bag, so it's extra secure in there. I'm not going to ship anything, I had my fiance bring home a large suitcase with all my winter clothes/boots/jackets and some books when he visited in March, and then Icelandair lets you bring two large suitcases plus a carry on, so I think I'll be good for now. I won't be able to bring everything of course, but my plan is to leave a lot of stuff packed with my parents and then they can bring it over when they come visit. I used to live in Glasgow, Scotland (studied there for four years), and it was MUCH harder to move back to Norway then since I had so much stuff and I couldn't leave anything behind like I'm doing now. I had all my friends and family members visit me and bring empty suitcases to fill up, it was so stressful! This will be a breeze in comparison!

Wow Martina, that's awful! I'm so sorry you're going through that, and I hope you manage to get all your stuff back. I agree with everyone here, sounds like it's for the best that you didn't get to travel back with him, and I hope you decide to not go through with the marriage. The way he's behaving is incredibly abusive, that's no way to act towards anyone let alone the person you supposedly love. His obvious control and jealousy issues are really worrying, if you do end up going to the states on an ESTA like Camilla suggested, you probably shouldn't travel alone, bring a close friend or relative! I hope you manage to sort it out and get all your belongings back so you never have to talk to him again. Good luck!

I don't know about the other shots, but I needed a tetanus shot too and they just did it right there during the medical. Maybe ask if they do other shots as well if you need it? The tetanus shot was only 100 kr extra, and it saves you an extra trip to the doctor!

Oh wow that's so soon! You must be over the moon! I'm so jealous, I wish I could leave so soon but I have to stay and work to earn some much needed money... I'm over halfway in my wait since my interview now though, and it did go pretty fast, so I'm hoping the next few weeks will fly by! Not packed yet, but I do want to get started soon... Getting impatient, haha!

Awesome, congrats!! Have you set a date for when you're going home yet? I'm counting down the days now, 55 left!

Yeah, that's the thing about Icelandair I think. They're really great if they fly where you're going, but unfortunately they don't have that many destinations yet since they're so small, so for a lot of people it just won't make any sense to use them. I live 30 minutes away from Gardermoen airport where they fly from, and they fly to Seattle which is where I'll live when I move. The layover on Iceland is usually around 1-2 hours, and since Iceland is geographically directly en-route between Oslo and Seattle it's the quickest option by far. Flying south to other places in Europe before heading to Seattle really makes no sense for me except when it's a lot cheaper than Icelandair, which it was that one time with KLM/Delta.

I flew KLM/Delta once and it was horrible! I think I was really unlucky though. I usually fly Icelandair since they're the quickest and usually the cheapest, but one time KLM/Delta was cheaper so I went for it. First leg of the trip was fine, but then I had an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam, boarded the plane and jeez. Smallest seat ever with no leg space, the interior looked like it hadn't been updated since the 80's and it was boiling hot! I was one of the first to board, and the pilot said over the speakers that they wouldn't get the air conditioning on until we were in air. Flight got delayed so we sat over an hour in a crammed and sweaty plane before takeoff, and then the flight was 10 hours long and I'm used to 7 from Iceland... You never really feel fresh after a long trip like that, but that time I felt particularly gross, and my fiance and I were going to a concert straight from the airport. Fun times!

Yeah this place is great! We can all help each other out when we get to the states and need to do all the adjustment of status stuff too, not looking forward to that

Maria, about the envelope stuff earlier: I think the procedures might be different for Swedes than for us Norwegians and Danes!

I just re-read the information sheet about procedures at the embassy (because I have nothing better todo on a Friday night, hah), and it says:

How to get your visa mailed: FOR RESIDENTS OF SWEDEN:

IV Delivery Confirmation Page. This service is only available for applicants residing in Sweden. Prior to your appointment date, you must go to http://www.ustraveldocs.com/seand follow the steps to register and arrange for delivery of your visa and documents. Please do this for ALL applicants that will be applying for the visa (including children). Please register your delivery location BEFORE going to your interview. If you do not, there may be a delay in the return of your visa.

After completing the visa delivery registration at http://www.ustraveldocs.com/seyou should PRINT out the IV Delivery Confirmation page that contains a computer-generated barcode and BRING IT with you at the interview.

FOR RESIDENTS OF DENMARK AND NORWAY: No further action is required for residents of Denmark and Norway.

This is the sheet I'm referring to: http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/STK%20-%20Stockholm.pdf

Hah weird, I didn't know that! Clearly the security guard who worked the day I was there knew his stuff, I just said "K1 visa" and he directed me to window G immediately!

I only saw one line outside the security area, and that's where everyone lined up. Only one of the other people there were applying for a K1 visa, and she stood in the same (and only) line as me. Once I'd gone through security, I went inside and there was a security guard who asked why I was there, when I told him he told me to go to window G, just like the brochure in the checklist email said.

Camilla that's great, congrats on completing the form and booking your interview!

The DS-160 accepts all kinds of addresses, after all it's a form everyone from everywhere has to fill out, so don't worry about it there. It's just when you create an account on the site itself (after your DS-160 is all filled out) where it only accepts Swedish addresses, I assume it's because the electronic booking system is relatively new and they're not used to us non-Swedes using it yet. You'll see what I mean when you get there, it's a spot where you have to fill out your address and the country is set to "Sweden" by default with no option to change it. It doesn't matter what you put in there at all!

I didn't know that you had to bring your own envelope before! I've never applied for a visa before this one (visa waiver's been good enough for me), and the checklist didn't mention anything about an envelope at all.

Camilla, write down your Danish address wherever they ask for it! When you create an account on the site (when you schedule your interview) it tells you to put down your Swedish address since that's where your packet will be sent, and it doesn't give you an option for a non-Swedish address. Obviously I was confused since I don't have a Swedish address, and I assume you don't either...

Yep, everything changed recently and everyone going through the embassy in Stockholm schedules interview dates for themselves!

This is what the checklist email says:

"IMPORTANT: The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm has implemented several changes in the visa procedures that affect fiancé(e) K1 visa applicants. The scheduling and collection of application fee will be done through http://www.ustraveldocs.com/se as of January 18, 2014 ."

Doesn't matter if you're Swedish, Danish or Norwegian, everyone have to do it this way. Also another thing to keep in mind, as a fellow over-thinker I was worried about the address you provide on the ustraveldocs website since there's only an option for a Swedish address! Being afraid of not being able to give them my address in Norway (after all this is where your visa package will be sent to!) I emailed them about that too (haha they must have been so annoyed at me emailing them every day), and they informed me that when you arrive at the embassy, they'll give you an envelope where you write your own name and address, and this is what they put all your stuff in. Got to the embassy a couple weeks later, and yep, had to write my address on a huge envelope, and when my visa came in the mail, that's the envelope I got. Super easy!

Yeah, no wonder everyone are so confused! It doesn't make it any better that both the STK number and the USCIS number have the same format with three letters and 10 numbers. I actually don't think it matters which one you put down to be honest, both numbers identify your case and since they're both in your name, they can find your case on either. I put down the wrong number when I made an account on the website (that's where you're supposed to use the STK and I used the other one), and I emailed them about that too and they said it didn't matter.

The question in the DS-160 definitely asks for the number you got from the USCIS! I did it that way too, but afterwards I panicked because I didn't remember the wording of the question and I thought I'd made a mistake. I emailed the embassy about it and they confirmed it is indeed the USCIS number they're looking for in the form. You need the STK case ID number to book the interview though, if I remember correctly. It's all kind of a blur for me now since I did so many things and I can't remember exactly which number I put down at which point, but I think that's how I did it!

No problem at all, I'm glad to help! We're all in the same boat here, so it's nice to be able to talk about it with someone else who gets it, none of my friends and family have a clue what I'm talking about when I try to vent, haha! My interview was March 12th and the visa was originally issued March 16th, so it went really fast! However it took a little longer for me to get my visa packet in the mail since it looks like the embassy made a mistake with my original visa. In my passport I actually have two K1 visas, one issued March 16th that has been cancelled and one issued March 19th, they got the expiry date wrong in the one dated 16th so I assume they had to cancel it and start over again. Gave me a scare though since when I opened the passport it opened on the cancelled visa first, so I just saw a visa with a giant stamp over it saying "CANCELLED WITHOUT PREJUDICE". A quick google search told me it's nothing to worry about and it won't affect my visa at all, phew!

Just sent you a PM and I think you're fine! Like I said there, I never received anything from the embassy personally before the interview, they just sent the checklist to my fiance and that's all. As long as you have the Case ID number (starts with STK for Stockholm) stated in the checklist email it means they have your case and you'll be fine! Good luck on scheduling the interview!!

When assembling my interview papers, the thing I struggled with the most was definitely the police certificates... Getting one from Norway was really easy, but since I've lived in the UK for four years I needed one from there too, and wow, what an ordeal. Managed in the end, but it took so long it was probably a good thing I waited until it was almost too late with scheduling my interview.

Hi everyone! I wish I'd known about this site before i went through the whole K1 process, I skimmed through the last pages of this thread and you all seem so organized and on top of everything! I got my visa last month, but I almost made some awful mistakes, worst one being that I waited too long to fill out my D-160 and schedule my interview at the embassy in Stockholm. Since I had no idea you could pick the date yourself I waited until I had absolutely everything, even after my medical exam, so when I finally scheduled my interview there was only one date left within the validity of the petition! Thankfully it all went smoothly, and now I have my visa and a ticket to Seattle on July 29th. Spending my days working and waiting to move, can't believe this is finally happening! Good luck to everyone having their interviews soon!

Thanks, that's good to know. I have a scanned copy of the certified translation, so I guess I could use that. Might get a new certified translation to keep for my own records just to be on the safe side though...

Thank you! And yeah, that makes sense, I should probably just get a new certified translation. It's kind of a hassle to get it here too, but definitely less of a hassle than getting it from Norway after I move. Does the copy of the birth certificate need to be certified too, or is a standard photocopy sufficient? Maybe I should just get my hands on a stack of certified copies and translations, hah.

My K1 visa got approved last month, and I've booked my flight for July, can't wait! I'm trying to make the weeks disappear by reading up on all the procedures that are yet to come and how to deal with them, and I've gotten kind of hung up on this one thing. Reading through the checklist on this site regarding filing for AOS, it says you need to provide a copy of your birth certificate with a translation in English. I'm wondering, does this copy need to be certified, and if so, does the translation need to be as well?

I have my original birth certificate, and I also have a certified translation that I used when applying for the K1 Visa. I got my birth certificate back in the mail together with the Visa and the sealed envelope, but I have no idea what they did to my certified translation. Is the translation inside of the sealed envelope? If so, will I get it back at the port of entry, or do they keep it? Kind of hoping I'll get it back since acquiring a new certified translation is pricey here in Norway, on top of being a hassle.

Thank you in advance for helping me figure this out!