kikiyut

good evening

(i searched the forum for this but received 0 hits for "k-2".)

my stepson arrived 4 months after my fiance, he on a k-2 she on a k-1. she and i have been happily married for 2++ years, we filed her I-751 in July, now its time for my stepson's I-751. i am unsure what supporting information we need to include with his filing, as it is separate from his mother's application. for his mother/my wife's i-751, we needed to prove our bona-fide relationship, but for his i assume we only need to show he lives with us and is our dependant, correct?

so far we have : copies of his green card, social security card, selective service registration, school ID, birth certificate and certified translation,  my tax transcripts for last 3 years with him as dependant hilighted, a page of photos of him with us, all three of our health insurance cards (same insurance), a dentist bill (one of many) and a doctor bill, and a bank statement for an account he has jointly with his mother (my wife).

do i need more? do i need to include all the supporting evidence we assembled for his mother? he has his father's last name, i assume if that needed to be addressed they would not have issued him a k-2 visa in the first place, right?

did i miss anything? further thoughts?

thank you

(bottom of page 6 of the instructions for form I-751, in case anyone is wondering)

thanks for the quick reply!

i actually couldn't find another place on the form with such a question, so i went to the instructions for the form and there it all is very clearly explained.

once again: when in doubt, read the instructions!

background: my wife is from Thailand, and she had a court case brought against her many years ago. (it is, apparently, not unheard of to bribe the police to bring cases for purposes of extortion). she didn't take it seriously (since it was a false accusation) and she didn't hire a lawyer, and was convicted in a lower court. the case was completely dismissed upon appeal.

this happened before the court system was computerised, so it did not appear in her police record.

nonetheless, we reported it on our k-1 application, because it happened, and if it somehow popped up later, i didn't want seem to be in the position of concealing facts.

the interviewer thanked us for sharing this information. it has seemed to give us no further problem, and it might have even helped out credibility. our approvals have been at or better than average times, and we didn't have to have an interview for the conditional greencard.

now: we are applying to lift conditions.

question 20 on the I-751 form asks "have you ever been... charged...for...any crime which you were not arrested in the united states or abroad?" this question seems ambiguous, as if we are to self report any infractions for which we were NOT arrested. I'm assuming this is a grammatical error, and they want to know everything, arrested or not.

tl:dr my question: do i need to drag out all 60+ pages of documents about her case, or was dealing with it in the k-1 interview sufficient?  thanks.

woooooow jaime you definitely win the fast track award and the spicy chili award too ha ha ha. congrats!

@ landl

no, you absolutely do not need elaborate wedding plans/payments.

we submitted none, as did many (most?) others, and the embassy is aware that most people can't make plans because there is no way to know when the visa will be granted.

they want to know your relationship is real, and your presence at the interview (you can't go inside the embassy, but give your fiancee your passport as proof you are there) is more convincing than any wedding plan receipts (which can be faked anyway)

Jaime & Aisha, on 21 Mar 2016 - 11:06 PM,

said:

Aisha and Niman crashed tonight at 7pm. it is

great to see them here, sleeping......

Yes I am exhausted, and somewhat still annoyed,

but seeing them here, sleeping........

Nothing else need be said---

yes, exactly jaime...and while nothing else need be said, I'm going to say more anyway... because when you see them there with you, everything else, the worry, the struggle, the fear that we've lived with in this process, it all just fades away and the love and joy of the new life you make together takes over. not that there won't be struggles to come, there will...but that's not my point, the struggle that passed is past, and disappears. if I can send out one message to those in this group still waiting, and to anyone who reads this in the future: use whatever you need to calm yourself, be it paper bags, copious writing, or just steely determination, there is nothing to worry about because when you see them there with you, it's a bliss I can't even describe...nothing else need be said!

@ wmelo25,

we are very sorry to hear of your troubles...you don't need to post details I'd you don't want to, but without more information the best this group can offer is sympathy rather than strategy.

peace and good luck to you!

JJGussiaas (Gush)

30 Mar 2016

Shawn&Jaque, on 30 Mar 2016 - 10:30 AM,

said:

" 'My fiance is leaving tonight at 9:30. I am sooooo

anxious. I am praying everything goes smoothly

for her. She is arriving here at 11:00 tomorrow

morning. It is very difficult for me to work right

now when she is preparing for her adventure. At

least I have tomorrow and Friday off to spend time

with her and acclimate her to her new world.

Lol, that is funny Jaime. I know my fiance will say

the same things. Except replace Dr. Pepper with

Mountain Dew in my case. I hope my fiance likes

Mexican. I tried to explain to my fiance that no

one walks here unless you are inside a big city,

she can't comprehend that. She walks everywhere

or takes the bus. I live in the suburbs north of

Atlanta and she said she wants to walk to the

grocery store. I told her it is too far, but she

doesn't believe me.'

Awesome. I hope the POE goes smoothly for her!

Maybe you can get her a petal bike? We got my

husband one so he doesn't have to take the car 2

miles down the road to visit his friends or go to the

soccer field... and to save a few pennies on gas

Of course I also ride 2.5 miles to work so the car is

free for him to use. The land is flat here so it's only a

10 minute ride anyway."

+1 on getting a bike! things that seem "too far" are often an easy bike ride away once you make the paradigm shift out of the car.

ha ha ha I have the opposite issue, Thai people don't walk anywhere, they'll take a moto taxi to go 2 blocks. I was the one that taught her to take the bus in Bangkok (she would always take taxi before). I am a stubborn car-free new Yorker, and will ride my bike an hr just about anywhere. fortunately she likes walking around this amazing city, and loves to ride the bike....when it gets warmer, that is. right now, 70°f is unacceptably cold for her, and it hasn't been nearly that warm most days.

and, she likes Mexican food, it's just not quite spicy enough for her

we applied for police clearance for her son on 19 Feb, and we received the clearance certificate yesterday, 25 March.

meeting only one time is not in itself a problem. I'm sure the visa denial was based on the CO not believing there was a real relationship and the key but not sole point of evidence for the CO was the single meeting time. many people get approved with only a single in person meeting, but those people can show evidence of a real relationship with continuity before and after that meeting.

if you can show you were together for 3 months, then your "single meeting" will not be a problem at all.

I'm glad to hear official confirmation from the us embassy about the police form being ok to submit at the interview.

and really glad to hear the police have been smacked down about their extortion. my wife has been there twice, once for herself, one for her son, and both times they have her a hard time, really pressured her to pay the bribe. luckily she is a tough girl and didn't give in. another reason I love her!

oops! my bad! I guess I didn't read your profile and myopically forgot that visa journey isn't just for k-1 visa.... or maybe subconsciously I'm still having a hard time referring to my fiancee as "wife" 55555 (just married under a week now)

I don't remember if we had a cover letter, or if I wrote on the 2001 readiness form. let me ask my fiancee- oops! wife when she wakes up.

I do remember stating that "we are waiting only in the police report, may we have our interview any time after the 17th" which was the date they said the report would be ready. it actually arrived in the mail almost 2 weeks before that- 4 weeks rather than the 6 they quoted us while trying to extort us. I wouldn't count in it talking less than a month however....it might, but I wouldn't count on it.

my wife spends a lot of time with some fb group "usa visa for Thai". there may also be forums on some Thai websight....I can read a menu, but anything more is beyond me.

we submitted packet 3 without the police report.

further, we specified we wanted the interview any time after the 17th, and they scheduled us for the 18th.

we got the idea from Thai language forums about usa visa for Thai. personal anecdotes there led us to believe (correctly) that both of these were possible. if you or your fiancee can read Thai they are invaluable sources of information.

there is no such thing as an expedited police clearance in Thailand. period.

this is not a tip, this is bribing state officials to do their job. bribing state officials is illegal in the United states. I'm not sure why people think it's a good idea to engage in corruption in connection with a visa filling with the American government.

you may not have the same moral scruples as I, but let me tell you it is 100% unnecessary to engage in.

order the form as soon as you get your nvc number. you will receive the form in the mail in less than a month. plenty of time for your interview. if you are certain there is going to be nothing on the report, you MAY SUBMIT packet 3 without the form.

we did it this way, and numerous other couples have as well.

if I can suggest, there are tons of Thai language resources about this process that will give your fiancee insight into details that are not covered on vj.

good luck.

and yes jaime, I did the redress control, it took hrs and hrs and dozens of cycles of attempts at uploading their form and waiting for acknowledgement and trying again, each cycle took a week...total nightmare. and it was from your good stories too that I learned that this detainment was being put under arrest.

it was so wonderful to breeze thru this time!

formerly, one could receive a permission to work stamp at jfk, but that practice was discontinued several years ago (3-5). I did some forum searching about it because I had heard the same thing.

now, panic! my (possibly first) paper bag moment...we didn't get an i-94. seems like one now goes to a websight and prints the form out....is this correct? are we ok? the entry was so strange that I wonder if she should've waited??

jaime, I respectfully disagree about the influence of tax records. tax records, w-2's and one (1) paystubb were all I provided. if they had no bearing I certainly would not have been approved!

I do agree that it's not necessary to provide everything from the list of evidence. the "required evidence" list is a boiler plate designed to assess every situation (assets, employment, business ownership, etc). in your case (and I think the majority of cases) current employment is sufficient. in my case, since I am a day labourer, I only have current employment on the day I'm working, i felt it prudent to show years-on continuity in my "unstable" employment situation. I have definitely heard of embassies (including bkk) asking for 3 years of tax returns. I had 5, just in case. I would NOT recommend 5 years to anyone who has anything resembling a normal employment life.

some people over prepare by submitting hundreds of pictures. at the interview, we gave them four additional badly printed facebook photo pages. they were a bit surprised (since most people over prepare in this area) but it didn't seem to matter as we got the visa. beyond that, I can't say for sure what influence over- or under- submitting does for one's case. but in the case of my tax records, it was all I had, it didn't hurt and cost me almost nothing.

we entered the usa together last night @ jfk.

I have a generic name and for nearly a decade have had issues every time reentering the usa. if you think dealing with uscis is a pain for a fiancee visa, try getting your records, as a citizen, cleared of some error that results in being mistakenly arrested at the airport. finance visa is a breeze comparatively.

well, I did have to speak to an agent briefly but wasn't detained for an hour in the back room like usual. it actually would've been ok this time (kinda sorta) because that's the same room where my fiancee was led to. she came out remarkable quickly, but with a kind of strange look on her face. she said they took her packet and passport, told her to sit down. about 10 minutes later an officer gave her the passport back and walked away without saying anything. fiancee stood there a minute and then left, slowly, looking over her shoulder, but the officers pointedly ignored her. they didn't ask her a single question, let alone tell her she was done.

we waited 20 minutes for the baggage and then had to show our passports again to get out so if there had been some issue they certainly could have stopped her. nothing. very weird.

very very relieved and ecstatic to be here.

(not to mention great mirth at seeing my Thai love react to the just below freezing new york night, ah ha ha ha. but she is already adjusting really well)

I'm really looking forward to reading more interview/entry stories here...because there's always a story. may yours come soon, and resolve itself well!

@ shergills. put in the current income, as long as you have a pay stub that reflects the raise.

I was happy to be vastly over prepared for the financial part. from my reading of the instructions, they want one piece of convincing evidence from their list. I did not have a letter from a bank nor a letter from my employers (I have 20+ employers per year, most of them never meet me, I'm just a line item on their budget) nor a letter from my union. I did have several years of tax returns, and a copy of a couple recent paystubs. I sent even more to the interview; they never looked at it nor asked her any questions about it. I make more than double the minimum so I guess what I gave them was enough to convince them. the closer you are to the line, the more important I imagine it is for your proof to be compelling.

regarding vaccines:

my fiancee had no records either. the hospital was able to test her immunity for several of the more common vaccinations: cheaper than getting the vaccines.

for those they were unable to test for, she had to get them. they're should be a list on your country's us embassy websight, if not there then the state department websight

@ abisflores no need to print customs declaration, they will be available in the plane and in the airport

we fly on the 2nd...very excited

congratulations and have a great flight!

@ seysey. you don't say what you have filed for nor where in the process you are.

please fill out your timeline so we can help you!

Jaime- congratulations!

"either everything goes according to plan, or there is a story". in this case, a great story with a happy ending....and the best is this is just the beginning of a longer and more beautiful story of you and her (and your son)

cheers!

@ jennaleigh

sorry, I somehow didn't see your follow up post that you had tried to contract then again. sorry I wish I could add more information.

good luck and hope you can resolve it

congratulations to the numerous members getting approvals in the past few days. I am proud and relieved to join that club.

much gratitude and thanks for the supportive group here, the feedback and encouragement have been wonderful, and I hope I've been able to add at least a teeny bit to it.

I really am amazed at how fast this has gone. last year at this time it was taking 4-6 months just to get noa2, now here we are approved and plane tickets booked in 4 months, to the day. astonishing.

best of luck to everyone still crawling through the system. don't give up! you will get there, and it's certainly worth what we've been thru. and compared to last year, we are all still way ahead of the time frame. keep the faith!