shiny1713

Congrats on the new approvals and good luck for those who have medicals and interviews coming up!

Unfortunately, we ran into an issue this morning when my fiancé tried to enter the country. He had previously lived in the US (and had a green card) and when he left, he never formally renounced his residency. His green card was expiring so he just went home. Well...apparently he needed to formally renounce it so the customs agents at the airport wouldn't let him through this morning and he had to fill out special paperwork to come through. He missed his flight but thankfully they're letting him through to take one later, just with some kind of caveat or special entry permission as opposed to his K-1. What's really frustrating is both agents said this is something that absolutely should have come up during the visa process, so the fact that he made it this far without this ever being raised made no sense. If we'd known we would have filed whatever form needed to be filed!

We're also really bummed since they advised him to not get married until this is fixed, and we were supposed to get married this Thursday, so now we have to postpone until after we can schedule an appt with the appropriate office here in Seattle and get this fixed. In the grand scheme of things it's not the end of the world, but it's still disappointing.

From what I've read, I think the confusion may be coming from the fact that things have changed in the last few years with regards to when people with K-1 visas can get their EAD. Apparently, K-1 visas used to get an EAD stamp at POE, which is what I'm guessing the person at the SS office is assuming is still the case. Apparently this still happens sometimes, but for the most part, is no longer a common practice. Meaning your fiancé can't work until he actually files and receives his EAD. It's confusing, but all the recent info on the US gov't site seems to support that you need the EAD to work.

Visa officially in hand!! WOOT WOOT! Fiancé flies down June 18th. So close!

Update...

My fiancée's mother just got approved for her Tourist Visa - she will be joining us for our wedding! Wedding celebration, Aug 5th and legally getting married maybe by the end of the month

That's fantastic!!

We just went from AP to issued! Woot woot!!

Thanks!

We also put N/A and had no issues!

Congrats everyone!

Medical scheduled for the 8th. Interview the 24th and hopefully he'll be here before 4th of July!!! Wedding date August 6th ❤❤❤❤ honeymoon in Vegas staying in Paris ?

Good luck!! I bet your honeymoon will be a blast!

We're doing a courthouse ceremony on the 23rd, but not doing a honeymoon or anything until next year when we do a wedding with family and friends. Then we're going to Antigua. I can't wait!

Ours just updated to AP. Fingers crossed it moves to Issued quickly and there's no more hold up.

Ha yes. So close! For now...

A friend recently congratulated us on being done with paperwork and we laughed. That being said, this was the big one since it gets him in the country. While I'm sure the next step will have its frustrations, at least we get to be frustrated together.

Nice work other approved people.

We're now in AP. So back to refreshing CEAC constantly waiting for issued.

I was just about to ask/confirm if that's where it updates again after approval. I've already started the repeated refresh cycle. This can't be healthy.

My Visa approved today!!! Yeahhh. Thank you so much everyone in here for all the help and support. Now we waiting for Visa in hand to book airline ticket. Hopefully sometime next week

Congrats!

Approved!

2 other UKers were as well

Congrats!!

We had our interview yesterday and were approved!

Fiancé moves down June 18th, and we hit the courthouse June 23rd!

Sending good vibes for those still waiting!

Visa APPROVED!!!!!!

Congrats!!!

Oh wow, $45 per copy?! In Mexico, they have like some sort of "ATM" system for the birth certificates! With the conversion rate right now (in favor of the dollar), it comes out to like $10 dollars per copy. I told her to get 3 copies juuuust in case hahaha

Yep. $39 per copy plus shipping. If it was only $10 I probably would have done the same! LOL.

It does vary by country embassy... for us, all they did was just look and verify she had the originals of the birth certificates and that was it, gave them back. I'm assuming because I sent copies with the original I-129F packet.

And yes, the foreign beneficiary needs at least 2 certified copies to bring back with them to the U.S. You're going to need one for sure when you do AOS and you never know when you'll need another one

Thankfully it's easy to order additional copies in my fiancé's country. Just a simple online form and we can have it mailed to us directly in the US. Basically just an annoyace to have to order multiple copies at $45 a pop more than anything.

When I went to the embassy they took my originals but they gave them back to me after the interview.

They kept his original

You are correct. Bring both and they will take the copy. I had to make a copy there and paid 2 dollars

So basically...as with everything else in this process, it looks like it may vary by country.

Embassy took both!! You will need an original here...

Ugh. We have the original and the copy. Hoping maybe it varies a bit by embassy as I don't want to have to order another one for the AOS. Guess we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Sigh...

Good luck!!!

Thanks!

Wooohooo

Just got back from an interview. We're approved. Thank you so much. Would have not been able to do it without this awesome site filled with awesome members.

Congrats!!

Congratulations!!! I've already started AOS Paperwork since wedding is June 18... Make sure your fiancé'S all have a birth certificate to bring with them! The embassy took his and he needs one for AOS and now my suegra has to send to us....

You mean have a copy for them to take? Or an extra original?

Everything I've read said to bring the original, but have a copy as they'll take that.

Just checked and my visa was issued and printed! hopefully it arrives this week so that I can book my flights!

Woohoo!

Got a tracking number for the package today!! Woohoooo!!! From Juarez to Hermosillo, Sonora via DHL I'd say she gets the package by Wed.... she's coming home this weekend with me!!

Yay! Congrats!

Congrats!!!!

One more step!!! So close!!! Hope it comes soon!!!

Anybody else notice how quiet our thread is now??

I've admittedly been really busy at work so I haven't been posting nearly as much.

I drive up to Vancouver tonight, his medical is tomorrow, and then we're exploring the city for the long weekend before his interview on Tuesday! Eek!

Oh man, we can't do that. If he goes back to his country of citizenship, he won't be able to come back to the student visa country. That country won't allow him to enter the country. And our interview is taking place in the student visa country. This all sucks. I can't believe we're going to be denied for something out of our control. If I knew about this since day one, I would have told him to go back to his citizenship country and we would've done everything through there. But since he's in student visa country, I wasn't sure if the visa center would've sent his application to citizenship country or student visa country.

Could he maybe request it online? Is his country of citizenship Canada? If I were him I'd call the RCMP and ask if they have any potential solutions considering his specific case. They may be able to help.

My fiance's interview is set for May 31 in Rio de Janiero! I am so nervous but excited at the same time!

Same day as ours in Canada! Good luck!

Congrats!! June 11 for us here at the aquarium in town!

Oooh! So fun! Congrats!

Things have been crazy at work so I haven't posted in a while but just wanted to say congrats to all those making progress and send "move it along" vibes for those still waiting.

As for where we are, my fiancé's medical is on the 26th, followed by his interview on the 31st. Assuming all goes well he'll move down to Seattle on June 18th and we'll head to the courthouse on the 23rd!

I've definitely been incredibly patient, and incredibly stubborn at varying points in this process.

Technical issues resolved and interview is official scheduled for May 24th!! Woot!

Sending good vibes to all of those still waiting!

Called the help line for the visa appt site this morning and they say the issue isn't due to the change in K1 visa process for Vancouver, but simply that they have no visa appts available, and to keep checking until one shows up. I don't believe for a second the two aren't related. I already emailed the consulate directly so hopefully they can confirm or correct what I was told. For now I'll just keep checking the site. It's beyond frustrating to be this close and not able to schedule the interview. I've been pretty patient along this process but I've reached a point where I'm incredibly disheartened.