AmandaBN

We had a similar situation with much of our daily communication happening via kik which deletes messages over time. As others have said the emphasis in the I-129F is on having met in person so photos of you together, boarding passes etc. are best at this stage. Before my fiance had his embassy interview I printed off key points in our relationship that were chronicled on facebook, e.g. our engagement post and people's reaction, the event page for the engagement party we had in his country, and a few messages every few months to show how our relationship progressed from dating to engaged. The facebook stuff was nice because it showed our friends and family getting to know each other and supporting our relationship. Best of luck to you both

As others have said it's always in your best interest to be completely honest and up front with USCIS. My husband had a drunk driving citation on his record that was about five years old at the time of his embassy interview and it was no problem at all. They are really focused on "crimes of moral turpitude" so be upfront about your mistakes and you should be fine

Harry's POE on 2/23 in Seattle went smoothly and we were married at the Portland courthouse yesterday! The big family wedding is next month but it feels so good to have taken another huge step in the immigration journey. Now we file AOS and another round of forms, fees and waiting commences. Thank goodness for all of you to keep me sane(ish)  

Harry is in the air now on his way from London to do POE in Seattle!

Yes, when I got an RFE it specifically said to include the original letter (or a copy) with the evidence I sent back, make a copy and send the original back, better safe than sorry.

The VJ estimate started out at several months then shifted forward considerably and stayed there just like you're describing. And yes, it was pretty spot on once it settled down. We went from an initial estimate of late November to early October and received NOA2 on October 6th. So I think it's fair to be hopeful

33 minutes ago, bcking said:

Congrats! Enjoy Portland Oregon! (My hometown).

 

Hoping my wife isn't too far behind (Still waiting on case complete, going on 9 weeks now)

I love living in Portland and hopefully Harry will too, he always has fun visiting and the culture shock will be less than if he were coming from Southeast England to other parts of the US. Do you live in Houston? Funnily enough that's my hometown. Sending good thoughts for your wife's speedy arrival

P.S. Thank you for your thoughtful posts on CEHST, they help me feel less like the world has gone mad.

Harry had his interview and was approved today! We truly would not have made it to this point without all of the support and wisdom here on VJ. Thank you everyone!

We met on OKCupid (a huge, free, international site one would think USCIS is aware of) and got an RFE.  I sent in the terms and conditions as recommended by another VJ user and we were approved with no further problems. I definitely recommend front loading your application with your letter from the website the two of you connected on to save yourself the additional few weeks of receiving an RFE and replying. Meeting online is no issue at all but some USCIS employees seem to be more thorough than others so it doesn't hurt to cover your bases in the first round of application materials. Best of luck to you

Thank you all so very much! They didn't mention anything at the time and there are no ongoing health concerns so it looks like I was right to tell him to relax. I really appreciate all of the support and amazing information I have received on these forums. Happy new year everyone

Apologies if this has been asked and answered, I've searched through the forums and haven't found this specific question addressed. How long after the medical are you notified if there is a problem or they want more information? My fiance had his medical at the beginning of December and his interview is January 24th. He is worried that he will show up to the interview and be denied because of the medical. I keep telling him that he's being (understandably) anxious and that they would let him know ahead of time of any major issue but I realized that I don't actually know that and thought I'd ask the ever helpful denizens of VJ

I got the exact same RFE. I printed the terms of service and highlighted the sentence on page two that says the site is free. I also included a brief letter explaining that OK Cupid is a free online dating site and not an International Marriage Broker and giving a more detailed timeline. We had NOA2 less than two weeks after I sent the RFE back so don't let it get you down too much. Best of luck!

NOA2 came in the mail this week! Thanks for the support with our RFE

Did you send a copy of the website Ts and Cs? I'm not familiar with online dating sites but from what I've seen here a copy of the Ts and Cs usually does the trick. Good luck!

I agree about the waiting. We filed in February and are hoping for a late November interview and a December move. I was talking to my husband about waiting today and we both said the same thing. We feel like we are on either side of a locked door waiting for someone to bring the key to open it. We just wish the key holder would hurry up!

I did send a copy of the terms and conditions, I hope that does the trick! This website and the forum members have been such a source of information and support and have definitely saved me from moments of unnecessary panic.

The "key holder" is a perfect analogy, wishing you luck for a November interview and December move

Alas, we got an RFE. They asked for evidence that OKCupid is not an IMBRA. I was in the UK with Harry having our engagement celebrations with his family and friends when it arrived but I sent back everything I could think of as soon as I got home. Hopefully it satisfies them and everything goes smoothly from here forward. There is just so much waiting during this process it can be really demoralizing not knowing when your loved one can finally move and start a life with you.

Thank you all for letting me vent and I'll update my timeline and this forum as soon as I hear anything on the RFE

Hi OP, I'm sorry you're family is being less than supportive. My fiance is moving from England to Portland, Oregon to be with me and I worry that he experiences similar push back from family and friends. Those that I've met have been wonderful but I know how negatively Americans are viewed in general and am sort of dreading our engagement party in the UK next month for just that reason. I think it's lovely that you are committed both to your new life in Seattle and to bringing your family around to a more balanced view of America.

Thanks for the update, I'm glad everything worked out!

We have enlisted a few close friends and family who will be coming for the wedding to bring an extra suitcase or box with my fiance's necessities in them. We'll unpack my fiance's things and then they have an empty suitcase to fill up with clothes they buy here. Apparently clothes (jeans especially) a much less expensive here than in the UK and our groomsmen are all dying to visit the Nike factory stores here in Portland.

Thank you for posting this, I got stuck in the same terrible situation while trying to fly home from visiting my fiance last year. Luckily there were so many people stuck in line from my flight they held it for us. I got flagged by the scanning machine because I was wearing glasses and though the wait was about 45 minutes in the second room they have you queue in they sent multiple officers on break. The Dublin airport is not set up for the volume of traffic that this pre-screening process is generating and I had no warning that I would be going through customs in Dublin rather than Boston. I scheduled a two hour layover in Dublin and a six hour layover in Boston expecting customs to take forever on the American side. I'm headed back to the UK to see Harry in September and booked my itinerary to avoid flying through Dublin at all costs.

I'm sorry this happened to you