Tom & Erin

Yea?! But how long ago was their interview?

It was on February 18th. But he said his letter clearly states that official languages are fine, so if yours says it must be accompanied by a translation, then I guess do that. I wonder if it has anything to do with you being from an English-speaking country? Or maybe they just REALLY recently changed their policy.

I spoke to someone else who had their interview in Belgium and was approved, and they said they didn't have to get it translated, so that's interesting. I don't know what to believe!

Ah well, better safe than sorry.

I think I've read that you're allowed to do the translation yourself, though, right?

I never said anything about doing it yourself I wouldn't do that. It is just a list over places with price in the bottom

Ah yes, but the first part of the page talks about how you can do it yourself much cheaper and then just get it printed at these places. I thought you were pointing that out; my mistake!

Passport pic. prices compared:

http://therewardboss.com/cheapest-places-to-get-passport-photos-visa-photos-taken/

Yeah, doing it yourself is definitely cheapest, but I'm always paranoid that I'm not going to get something right -- the amount of space my head should take up, the lighting, the background, etc. For now I just prefer to put it in someone else's hands

I got my interview date today and on the instructions it says that I can have them in the local language but they need to be accompanied by a translated and legalised version.

I have sent another mail to the Ministry of Justice requesting them in English, the first set they sent me were in French which wasn't really ideal for me as I live in Mechelen (Vlanders).

Interesting! Seems a little silly that they "let" you have them in French/Flemish, but then need them in English anyway.

This is really good to know as my fiance is in Antwerp and we'll be dealing with this relatively soon. When you say a legalized version, what does that entail exactly? An apostille? How are you going about getting this? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure we're prepared!

Are you interviewing at the consulate in Belgium? I was under the impression that official documents had to be either in English OR the local language?

I'm a few days late to the party, but just a PSA for everyone discussing passport pictures:

In my experience, Costco is the cheapest place. I have no idea if the price varies by region, but at our local Costco (I'm in California) it's $5 for four pictures. I've used Costco passport pictures for my own passport and multiple visas, so they appear to know what they're doing. Seems like this whole immigration process requires quite a few passport pictures, so it's not a bad thing to keep in mind!

***

In other news, I'm hoping for an NOA2 any day now (our projected adjudication dates are 3/17 - 3/20) so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Working remotely is also a grey area. As you are on US soil, and that is your place of residence, I believe it is considered "working in the US". I believe it's only possible if you are not resident there. For example a company in France sends employees to New York for a conference and the employees log on remotely from their hotel rooms to send reports and read emails or you are on holiday and you use your iPhone to answer some work emails or make some calls.

Question about this. My fiance is currently doing some developing/programming with a friend of his in Belgium, with the hope that they'll be able to sell the project in the future. Obviously nothing may come of this, but once he moves to the US is he still allowed to work on it in the meantime if he's not getting paid for it?

Me and my now husband met on OkCupid when I was working in the US as an Au Pair. We did not receive an RFE. I guess it could be because we met while I was in the US and we were together about a year before I went back to Sweden and we started the K1. Who knows.

This was exactly the situation for us! I was working as an au pair in Belgium when we met on OKC. I was there for about five more months before I returned to the US, and it was another year and a half before we started the K1. This was basically what I was wondering -- would they be less "suspicious" because, while we did meet online, we weren't living in different countries at the time? Your situation makes me optimistic Thank you!

It is best to provide the proof that it is not an IMB along with your initial filing.

If you get an RFE>>

Contact the website and ask them for their Terms of Service stating that they are not an IMB. Send a copy of the email response from them stating it is not a marriage broker and a copy of their TOS. Read through the IMBRA forum. There are plenty of posts about this topic.

Thanks, I actually already have that all together. I just didn't know until after I'd filed that it was even something that might happen. My question was really whether it's more likely they won't see it as an IMB since we were both living in the same country when we met, but maybe that won't make much of a difference at all.

It's hard to say, I have seen people get RFE's for it OKCupid specifically, but at the same time others who haven't. On our I-129f I actually just vaguely stated we "met online" and was not given and RFE or asked to specify whether it was or was not through an IMB (it wasn't, but still).

If you have all the documentation already, I don't see how sending it in can hurt you.

Can I send it in pre-emptively, before getting an RFE? I've already filed, so I can't include it with the initial application, but is it possible to send it now, or do I just have to wait and see what they do?

Hi, I have met my fiancé on okcupid too but I did not get an RFE. But we fully loaded the packet we have sent to USCIS. All are cleared copies of our call logs on viber, facetime, Skype, e-mails, photos, copy of receipts when we travlled together etc. Also, I organized it therefore whoever will review it, it will be very easy to read & check. I was also worrying a lot but Thanks God, NO RFE for us and hopefully you won't get too.

Thanks! We didn't include many chat logs, but plenty of pictures, boarding passes, facebook posts, etc. We've spent a ton of time together in person, so we had plenty of evidence, and I included an explanation of all of the evidence. So hopefully that will be enough

Hi guys! So I've read that sometimes having met on OkCupid can trigger an RFE under suspicion of the site being an international marriage broker. I have the necessary evidence put together should that happen, but does anyone know if living in the same country at the time of meeting would have any influence on whether we get an RFE or not? (We were both living in Belgium at the time.)

Since we've already filed, knowing one way or the other at this point won't really do any good, of course -- we'll either get an RFE or we won't -- but the suspense is killing me!

We were originally hoping to get him here in August, but we filed way at the end of January, so I have a feeling it'll be more like early September. I guess we'll see! I'm also a little nervous that we'll get an RFE because we met on OkCupid and apparently sometimes that's a problem.

Does anyone know how long AOS takes? I know he's not supposed to leave the country until it goes through, but we bought tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London in March 2017 and I REALLY want that to work out

Sorry this isn't an answer to your question (though I don't think the change of job will affect your petition), but I'm excited to see another Belgian/American couple on here! My fiancé and I are waiting on our NOA2 as well. Good luck with everything!

The whole AOS process went quite quick for us and we ended up getting called in for our interview 2 days after our "real" wedding celebration. We didn't even announce that we were engaged publicly because we didn't feel like having the attention. (our families of course knew as soon as we decided! But not social medias, etc) We simply waited until our planned date of celebration to announce and celebrate even if the interview fell somewhere in between there. It did not pose as any problem to them. Just be honest

This makes me feel SO much better. Other than our immediate families and a few very close friends, no one knows we're engaged. We really want our wedding (when we do it the way we want it) to be the day that people think of us as getting married, so until then, it's not really public information. This kind of worried me for the AOS interview too (like if they ask why we're not married on facebook or whatever), but I think as long as we're honest about our thought process, it'll be okay.

And we definitely have pictures of us with each other's families. We even made sure to get one of our families together when my parents came to visit me in Europe last year!

I just hope we get the same interviewer in LA that you did!

We had a civil ceremony and then had a big wedding months later (because I'm crazy and I planned a wedding in 5 months). I don't advise it. I loved my wedding but I nearly went nuts planning it in such a short time, we had to change the date because we weren't sure when he would do his POE. You have a wonderful plan, many couples do it.

Don't agree with what Loki_Go was saying. Plenty of my friends here in NYC had civil ceremonies and then had rabbis/ministers marry them. They don't care, legal and religious vows are not the same. Maybe orthodox rabbis but again never heard of that issue. If you do encounter this issue, may I suggest a wonderful solution. A justice of the peace, non denominational GORGEOUSLY worded ceremonies, you can work with them on how the ceremony will be done and worded and it's great. We had one and he was happy to incorporate Jewish elements and was really excited about the opportunity.

And really, put all these worries out of your mind until you have the K1 in hand, there are much more pertinent things to consider like where you will live and work

Man, with the number of people mentioning rabbis on here, I had to double check my profile to see if I'd mentioned being Jewish We figure we'll get legally married by judge, and then when we later have what we consider to be our "real" wedding, we'll have a close friend perform the ceremony. And since we'll already be married, the friend won't even have to be ordained, which is convenient.

My fiancé isn't religious, but I am Jewish, and want to incorporate certain elements as well. And after he attended my brother's wedding, he now really wants to smash a glass (read: lightbulb wrapped in a napkin) with his foot. And he thinks chuppahs are pretty : )

Thanks for the encouragement, I really appreciate it.

Just a note if you insist on trying to plan a wedding after the small civil marriage- you may have a hard time finding a minister or rabbi to perform another marriage. We couldn't find anyone to do it- they'd reaffirm our vows but not perform another marriage because we were already married.

Good to know. While my family is mixed Christian/Jewish, neither my fiancé nor I are very religious, and we had planned on having a close friend perform the "ceremony." And since we'll already be legally married, that person won't even have to be ordained! Super convenient.

I've also read that they like things like wedding invitations, save-the-dates, etc. as evidence of the wedding,

Shouldn't really be planning any wedding yet, since you do not have the visa in hand. The Embassy would give you the same advice.

but with a civil ceremony with only a few guests in attendance (likely just my family -- MAYBE his parents if they can make it out -- and a couple very close friends), we probably wouldn't have any of that. Maybe we should send out some kind of invitation and RSVP cards, so we at least have something to show?

NO....stop, do not do that. You would be creating more suspicion of pre-planning assuming the visa will be approved. You have to wait. The Embassy will tell you the same thing.

That and lots of pictures, of course.

Great

There's no deception here, but I'm afraid that these things will be taken as signs that we're not genuine. I would very much appreciate any advice.

Detailed wedding plans should not be included since the Embassy will tell you to not assume anything or any timeline for visa approval. Not having this shows you understand the process. Having this could show you do not understand the process or are being arrogant. Be humble and follow the process. It works.

I think I was unclear here. Some of my questions had to do with when we have our green card interviews later. I know we won't have things like wedding invitations, etc. for the K-1 interview, but when we are working towards his green card, I've read that having that kind of stuff can help to "corroborate" your wedding, though as long as you're legally married, I'm not sure why they'd need it. Regardless, we'll get over this K-1 hurdle first and then cross that bridge when we come to it

Thank you for all of the advice! Really appreciate it.

I feel much better now! Thank you guys for taking the time to respond.

I was a January filer! I want to be in on this thread : ) Our NOA1 date was 1/29. Now it's just a waiting game, I guess? There's nothing else to be done right now, right? (Other than preparing stuff for the Affidavit of Support, which I'm already doing.)

Hey guys

I have a few concerns about the way my fiancé and I are proceeding with everything, and I'm afraid it might be looked at with suspicion when the time comes for his K-1 interview and eventually our green card interview.

First of all, we don't really have an engagement date. We talked a lot about it, and sort of just arrived at the decision that this was the right thing to do. It happened over several months, and I couldn't point to an exact date that we became engaged. I feel like it is likely he will be asked about this, but would it be better to figure out a date to point to as our engagement, or just be honest that it sort of happened gradually? (We would never plan to lie; our engagement date would just have to be retroactively determined.)

The other thing is that, assuming we do get approved for K-1, we're only planning a very small civil ceremony to satisfy the marriage requirement, but will hold off on a wedding the way we want it until we've saved a bit and he's settled well into living here. We'd prefer not even to wear rings until we have our wedding the way we want it, but I understand that showing up to a green card interview without rings could be seen as pretty suspicious.

I've also read that they like things like wedding invitations, save-the-dates, etc. as evidence of the wedding, but with a civil ceremony with only a few guests in attendance (likely just my family -- MAYBE his parents if they can make it out -- and a couple very close friends), we probably wouldn't have any of that. Maybe we should send out some kind of invitation and RSVP cards, so we at least have something to show? That and lots of pictures, of course.

There's no deception here, but I'm afraid that these things will be taken as signs that we're not genuine. I would very much appreciate any advice.

Thank you!

Thank you guys! That's what I thought too, but the conflicting information was confusing. I'm sure he'll bring it anyway; better to be over-prepared than under-prepared

I apologize if this has been asked and answered a million times, but I'm finding conflicting information online. Here it says, "You may present evidence that you are able to financially support yourself OR that your U.S. citizen fiancé(e) is able to provide support," (emphasis mine) but I was under the impression from things I've read here on VJ that the beneficiary's income does not count at all.

It's not that big a deal because both of us make well above the minimum amount, but I want to know if he's going to have to prepare evidence of his own financial situation before the interview as well.

Thanks in advance for any help!