TatiyPablo

Some other questions as I am filling out Form I-485.
  @058rocale  @forena99 @eruiz3 if you guys went through any of these I would be so appreciative for your help, like always!  
 
Questions 23.c. Status on I-94
My husband's I-94 says "Class of Admission: K1", am I supposed to enter that? The form doesn't let me enter numbers or special characters only letters, so would I have to handwrite "K1"?

24. What is your current immigration status? (If it has changed since arrival.)
Do we fill this out? If so, what do we enter? He came on a K1, we married, and now are doing AoS.

Part 2. 2. Are you applying for adjustment based on the Immigration and Nationality Act INA section 245i?
Assuming thats a No, for K1 Visa?

Part 3: 1. Have you ever applied for an immigrant visa to obtain permanent resident status at a US Embassy or Consulate Abroad?
Does our K1 visa application count? Or do I answer no?

Part 3: Did you write the addresses of old residences and employer in Spanish or English, how they would appear in Cuba or us?

For residences and employment there are two sections - the first two questions ask for most recent, then the next two ask for most recent residences/employment out of US, should we just follow in chronological order? For instance, my husbands current address is in New York, US, and his previous was in Havana, Cuba. Do these need to be listed in the separate sections, or consecutively?

Part 8:  1. Have you ever been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with any organization, association, fund, foundation, party,  club, society, or similar group in the US or any other location in the world including any military service?
My husband spent 9 months doing the obligatory Cuban military service, in a general position. Would we have to mark YES for this question? And it has implications for the following questions:
 
49. Have you EVER received any type of military, paramilitary, or weapons training?
We are hesitant to answer yes because he truly did the most basic form of general military service. Thoughts?
 
55. Have you EVER served in, been a member of, assisted, or participated in any military unit, paramilitary unit, police unit, self defense unit...etc?
Would we answer yes to this since he was technically in the military?
 
Thank you for reading through this! Obsessing over the details a bit as we want everything to be correct. Any help would be so appreciated!
 
 

Hey any follow up on this? We have the same question. My fiancé is thinking about doing his LLM, since he has his law degree from U of Havana and we are wondering if we have to legalize his law degree here? We have his official transcripts but they're in paper form, I don't think universeity of Havana has digital transcripts - do they? 
 
@forena99 @058rocale thank you!!! It's crazy and amazing that he's finally here  he had a very easy time going through security, they asked him no questions, and he was able to buy a one way direct flight from Havana to NYC on JetBlue thru Havanatur. (FYI for any Cuban finances, they can buy their tickets thru havanatur or other travel agencies in Cuba). Another follow up I have is about your AoS process. Did you apply for social security and work permit before getting married and submitting your application for the green card? Or did you do them all at once?
 

Nice! definitely include your offer letter. I was also hired for a new position right before my interview and included my offer letter and a letter from HR, plus my old pay stubs from May-June. One of the questions I asked was whether or not I'm working. 
 
Good luck 🤗

Approved!!!! Wow. What an experience, all went well for us. See my review here and let me know if you have any specific follow up questions. Thank you to all of the people in this thread for sharing your advice and comments, it was immensely helpful throughout the whole process! I will probably be posting with more questions once he picks up his visa, which as of today says Issued on the NVC site!
 
---
 
Hi all! Happy to report that my fiance and I were approved for our K1 Visa at the US Embassy in Havana. My experience was very similar to the below two reviews, but I will do a general overview. I highly suggest anyone applying read related reviews and forums on the K1 process in Cuba on Visa Journey. It is unique in many ways and myself and others have benefited from the wealth of information that is available in these forums.
1. Prepare. I cannot stress this enough. I came with four packets in clear folders, included cover letters and paper dividers in each, as well as small post it notes on each document identifying its purpose. Packet one included all of our personal information and interview documents - passports, appointment confirmation, ds 160 confirmation, visa fee payment confirmation, NVC letter with case number, NOA2, NOA1, fiance's birth certificate, single certificate, antecedentes penales, carnet de identidad, medical exam and receipt, updated statement of intent to marry, my birth certificate, copies of my passports (i have dual citizenship), updated and notarized letter of intent to marry. Packet two, which we learned should be combined with packet one, included affidavit of support and all related documents - my letter of employment, pay stubs, bank statements, w2s and tax returns. Packet three included continuing evidence - photos, a mix of hardcopy and printed, IMO screenshots, copies of airline tickets, baggage fee receipts, passport entry and exit stamps for my trips to visit him, notarized affidavits of bona fide relationship from my mother and one of our close friends, wedding plan proof - our invitation, emails with photographer, I booked for the wedding day, wedding reception guest list, wedding reception restaurant reservation proof, a relationship timeline, hundreds of emails, boss revolution and rebtel call and billing history, my fiance's etecsa phone records showing his calls to me, facebook messenger logs, and instagram and facebook photos from each other social media pages. Packet four included a a copy of our I-129F. I printed everything in color. The embassy workers laughed at how much I provided but thanked me a number of times for making everything so organized and easy for them, ha. 
 
2. Relax and follow all steps by embassy workers. My fiance and I got to Anti-Imperialist park at 5:50 am, our appointment was scheduled for 10:30 am, and the park was filled with people. I was the only American there at the time, it was clear everyone else was Cuban and no one was speaking English. I recommend dressing nicely, though it is not required, it of course helps to look your best. There will be people in the park trying to sell you folders or just general information in order to make extra money, don't give them any of your information as they are not embassy workers. I recommend bringing dry food (we brought energy bars, cookies, water and juice) as it can be a very long process. Around 6:30 am two embassy workers came out and separated the mass into two groups on different sides of the park where they would read your name from a list. The embassy workers up until the interview will only speak in Spanish, which was a little stressful for me as I don't understand Spanish and my fiance had to translate everything to me as it was happening. After we moved to the other end of the park and had our names called, we had to move to another line across the street (the embassy workers will direct all of this, so if it sounds confusing now, it wont be in person). Be patient if they go through an alphabetical list and your fiances name isn't called, there are a number of lists they go through. Once you're in the second line, you wait for the embassy workers to walk you in a group to the embassy, line up again, and wait to go through security. It took us only a few minutes to go through security as we didn't bring cell phones and finished our liquids during the initial wait. We were then brought to a small waiting room to wait to be called into the filing room. After about twenty minutes we were called to this narrow room, which is filled with a number of teller windows. You wait until the teller calls your name to go up and file your packet one and two, which you hand in while on the security line. Once we were called, the woman asked me to slim down my continuing evidence and put it into a dark folder labeled "evidence". I didn't want to slim it down so i stuffed in as much as I could, ha, and then we were told that we could present any additional evidence from that packet and our original I-129F during the interview. They will have a copy of your I-129f (in black and white!) so it's not necessary but good to have in my opinion. Then we were cleared to go into the waiting room for our interview. This whole process took about three and a half hours.
 
3. Interview. The waiting room is clean and organized, however, interviews are done in teller windows all around you so you will hear people getting both accepted and denied. My fiance and I waited about four hours to be called for our interview. The officers receive each packet in a big pile and sort through them at random. This is why I say bring a lot of food, after the fourth hour and two energy bars my fiance was starting to get really hungry, haha. Every interview I heard was done in Spanish, but ours had to be in English, which I think was helpful and really appreciated by the officer. Before we were called, I saw through the window that the officer was doing a thorough search through our packets and evidence. Once called, we walked up and I said "Hi, how are you?" and she responded in English, and asked my fiance if I knew Spanish, to which he responded in English saying "no," and the visa officer said she was thankful to speak in English. Then she began the questions, she asked my fiance first if he had traveled and if he was a member of the communist party. Then, instead of asking us how we met, she led with information I included in my packet, "So you met last year while you were studying in Cuba..." and I filled in the rest, she then asked how many times I returned, and I responded the number and added, "all to visit Pablo," which made her laugh. Then she asked if I was working, to which I replied yes, and then moved to the wedding question, which was addressed to us both. I decided to take the lead and told her of our wedding plans, she asked why the date, I said because it aligned with my father's work schedule, everyone would be in New York then, etc., and then she asked Pablo, "Is your family sad that they will not be attending the wedding?" and he replied no, as we are planning to have a wedding party in Cuba next year. After this she turned to her computer, entered some information and looked at us and said "Congratulations, you've been approved." I screamed and kissed my fiance all over his face haha. We were so excited we almost forgot the paper she handed us with the approval. 
 
4. Pick up the visa. My fiance left his passport at the embassy and was instructed to come back and pick it up in one week!
 
All in all it was a very smooth and orderly process, we were just unfortunate to be called close to the end, however, in the end none of matters when you are approved to be with the person you love! As everyone else has said, be very prepared, be calm and confident, and follow the embassy steps.
 
Good luck to all!
 

Your fiancé can pick up the visa one week after you are approved, if there are no AP issues 

Yep, I put the A# from his NOA2.
 
@058rocale thanks for the info!!  

Approved!!!! Wow. What an experience, all went well for us. See my review here and let me know if you have any specific follow up questions. Thank you to all of the people in this thread for sharing your advice and comments, it was immensely helpful throughout the whole process! I will probably be posting with more questions once he picks up his visa, which as of today says Issued on the NVC site!
 
---
 
Hi all! Happy to report that my fiance and I were approved for our K1 Visa at the US Embassy in Havana. My experience was very similar to the below two reviews, but I will do a general overview. I highly suggest anyone applying read related reviews and forums on the K1 process in Cuba on Visa Journey. It is unique in many ways and myself and others have benefited from the wealth of information that is available in these forums.
1. Prepare. I cannot stress this enough. I came with four packets in clear folders, included cover letters and paper dividers in each, as well as small post it notes on each document identifying its purpose. Packet one included all of our personal information and interview documents - passports, appointment confirmation, ds 160 confirmation, visa fee payment confirmation, NVC letter with case number, NOA2, NOA1, fiance's birth certificate, single certificate, antecedentes penales, carnet de identidad, medical exam and receipt, updated statement of intent to marry, my birth certificate, copies of my passports (i have dual citizenship), updated and notarized letter of intent to marry. Packet two, which we learned should be combined with packet one, included affidavit of support and all related documents - my letter of employment, pay stubs, bank statements, w2s and tax returns. Packet three included continuing evidence - photos, a mix of hardcopy and printed, IMO screenshots, copies of airline tickets, baggage fee receipts, passport entry and exit stamps for my trips to visit him, notarized affidavits of bona fide relationship from my mother and one of our close friends, wedding plan proof - our invitation, emails with photographer, I booked for the wedding day, wedding reception guest list, wedding reception restaurant reservation proof, a relationship timeline, hundreds of emails, boss revolution and rebtel call and billing history, my fiance's etecsa phone records showing his calls to me, facebook messenger logs, and instagram and facebook photos from each other social media pages. Packet four included a a copy of our I-129F. I printed everything in color. The embassy workers laughed at how much I provided but thanked me a number of times for making everything so organized and easy for them, ha. 
 
2. Relax and follow all steps by embassy workers. My fiance and I got to Anti-Imperialist park at 5:50 am, our appointment was scheduled for 10:30 am, and the park was filled with people. I was the only American there at the time, it was clear everyone else was Cuban and no one was speaking English. I recommend dressing nicely, though it is not required, it of course helps to look your best. There will be people in the park trying to sell you folders or just general information in order to make extra money, don't give them any of your information as they are not embassy workers. I recommend bringing dry food (we brought energy bars, cookies, water and juice) as it can be a very long process. Around 6:30 am two embassy workers came out and separated the mass into two groups on different sides of the park where they would read your name from a list. The embassy workers up until the interview will only speak in Spanish, which was a little stressful for me as I don't understand Spanish and my fiance had to translate everything to me as it was happening. After we moved to the other end of the park and had our names called, we had to move to another line across the street (the embassy workers will direct all of this, so if it sounds confusing now, it wont be in person). Be patient if they go through an alphabetical list and your fiances name isn't called, there are a number of lists they go through. Once you're in the second line, you wait for the embassy workers to walk you in a group to the embassy, line up again, and wait to go through security. It took us only a few minutes to go through security as we didn't bring cell phones and finished our liquids during the initial wait. We were then brought to a small waiting room to wait to be called into the filing room. After about twenty minutes we were called to this narrow room, which is filled with a number of teller windows. You wait until the teller calls your name to go up and file your packet one and two, which you hand in while on the security line. Once we were called, the woman asked me to slim down my continuing evidence and put it into a dark folder labeled "evidence". I didn't want to slim it down so i stuffed in as much as I could, ha, and then we were told that we could present any additional evidence from that packet and our original I-129F during the interview. They will have a copy of your I-129f (in black and white!) so it's not necessary but good to have in my opinion. Then we were cleared to go into the waiting room for our interview. This whole process took about three and a half hours.
 
3. Interview. The waiting room is clean and organized, however, interviews are done in teller windows all around you so you will hear people getting both accepted and denied. My fiance and I waited about four hours to be called for our interview. The officers receive each packet in a big pile and sort through them at random. This is why I say bring a lot of food, after the fourth hour and two energy bars my fiance was starting to get really hungry, haha. Every interview I heard was done in Spanish, but ours had to be in English, which I think was helpful and really appreciated by the officer. Before we were called, I saw through the window that the officer was doing a thorough search through our packets and evidence. Once called, we walked up and I said "Hi, how are you?" and she responded in English, and asked my fiance if I knew Spanish, to which he responded in English saying "no," and the visa officer said she was thankful to speak in English. Then she began the questions, she asked my fiance first if he had traveled and if he was a member of the communist party. Then, instead of asking us how we met, she led with information I included in my packet, "So you met last year while you were studying in Cuba..." and I filled in the rest, she then asked how many times I returned, and I responded the number and added, "all to visit Pablo," which made her laugh. Then she asked if I was working, to which I replied yes, and then moved to the wedding question, which was addressed to us both. I decided to take the lead and told her of our wedding plans, she asked why the date, I said because it aligned with my father's work schedule, everyone would be in New York then, etc., and then she asked Pablo, "Is your family sad that they will not be attending the wedding?" and he replied no, as we are planning to have a wedding party in Cuba next year. After this she turned to her computer, entered some information and looked at us and said "Congratulations, you've been approved." I screamed and kissed my fiance all over his face haha. We were so excited we almost forgot the paper she handed us with the approval. 
 
4. Pick up the visa. My fiance left his passport at the embassy and was instructed to come back and pick it up in one week!
 
All in all it was a very smooth and orderly process, we were just unfortunate to be called close to the end, however, in the end none of matters when you are approved to be with the person you love! As everyone else has said, be very prepared, be calm and confident, and follow the embassy steps.
 
Good luck to all!
 

Hi everyone,
 
This was a topic a few weeks back when the administration announced changes to the Cuba travel policy, but I am wondering if anyone on here has flown to Cuba since, under what category, and if they had any issues getting there or coming back. My interview is coming up and I am flying under the family category so any comments would be very helpful. thank you!
 

@forena99 GOOD LUCK!!!! Sending positive vibes!!!! Hoping for the best for you <3 <3 
 
@058rocale luckily they fixed the birthday error almost immediately! our case is now in transit to havana and we received a case number. We are thinking about redoing the DS 160 because Pablo found slight corrections to the addresses we initially submitted in his first DS160. What do you guys think?
 
Should I wait until the embassy in havana emails us with instructions before booking the appt? 
 
xx

Hi @Mayeli welcome to the thread  In my initial petition i provided two notarized affidavits of bona fide relationship from my spanish teacher/fiance's friend in Cuba and from one of our friends in New York. It's not necessary, but I don't think it hurts! I'm going to include one from my mom and best friend who both traveled to Cuba to meet my fiance this year. I used a template I found on visajourney (through search section) and tweaked it accordingly. 
Congrats! That is such wonderful news and so exciting, I'm glad he had an easy entry into the states!

Hi all, thank you guys for sharing all of this information! Congratulations @forena99 that is so wonderful!  very happy all went well!
 
i wanted to ask your guys advice on when to fill the I-134. Our interview is at the end of July, do you suggest preparing it closer to the date or would now be ok? My other question is more specific. My current job is a long term contract position that endangers in June 30. If I don't find a new position before the interview, how should I explain and fill out the form? Everything is a bit uncertain now. Regardless of what my new position will be in the next two months, it will differ from my current role. 
 
 
Another question - where is the consultoria juridicia in Havana? My fiancé doesn't know and thinks it's not necessary to go there but I'm telling him it is! Haha
 
thanks xx
 
 

Congrats that is so wonderful! A long journey but sooooo worth it  and congrats on the apartment and all!!! How come he's flying through FLand not direct? Just wondering cause my fiance will need to come to New York haha 
 
x

I am thinking to go as family visit, as i always stay with his family anyway. do they ask you to provide any proof for this?

@058rocale Hope you had a wonderful interview yesterday and waiting excitedly to hear news of how it went! Enjoy the time with your fiance 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That is such wonderful news!!!! So happy for you
 
PS I have many questions that I'll send later but just wanted to congratulate you on this amazing news! 

@058rocale Hope you had a wonderful interview yesterday and waiting excitedly to hear news of how it went! Enjoy the time with your fiance 

Congratulations!!! The first big step
 
Now you have two options, follow the instructions of the NOA2, which instruct you to wait for the NVC to assign you a case number and send your case to Havana. Once you receive your case number and your status says ready, you should receive an email from the Embassy with instructions and at this time you submit the DS 160 and schedule the interview.
 
However, this process can take a while and one of our forum members @058rocale submitted the DS 160 and scheduled an interview using the WAC receipt number. @058rocale had more than enough time to get all her documents in order before her interview date...which is next week!!!!
 
So it is up to you, initially we did the DS 160 before receiving a case number but my fiance wanted to wait until we were assigned one. So I called the NVC everyday until we got a case #, that took a little over a month. And as of today I checked the case tracker site and it says Ready, so I will be scheduling the interview shortly.
 
@forena99 sending you lots of luck, I hope you have a smooth process and a nice time with your fiance. Let us know how it goes! <3

Uffff. Called NVC yesterday, was told my petition arrived but had not yet been assigned a case number. Called again today and found out that NVC entered in the WRONG birthday for my fiance. So annoyed! They wont give you any further information until the birthday is fixed in their system, but there's no sense of when that will be! 
 
I had to email them with me and my fiance's full names and DOBs, receipt number, and a scan of his passport. I'm worried they'll send it to the US Embassy in Havana with the wrong information! >:( 

Our case was approved last night! A little over three months after our hardcopy NOA1. Thanks everyone in this forum for sharing so much helpful information and @forena99 for initiating it. Now I'm going to read over every post and follow your footsteps haha. X

Our case was approved last night! A little over three months after our hardcopy NOA1. Thanks everyone in this forum for sharing so much helpful information and @forena99 for initiating it. Now I'm going to read over every post and follow your footsteps haha. X

Our case was approved last night! A little over three months after our hardcopy NOA1. Thanks everyone in this forum for sharing so much helpful information and @forena99 for initiating it. Now I'm going to read over every post and follow your footsteps haha. X

I'm crazy  refreshing the app constantly!!! So happy for everyone getting approved and feeling so much for people still waiting.

Hi all! This is a potentially very silly question, but I get confused with all of the moving pieces in the later stages of this process. Once we receive the NOA2, should we fill out the DS 160 and prepare affidavit of support and other interview material? Are we only able to submit DS 160, pay visa fee, and schedule interview once the NVC receives our case from USCIS? Or do we have to wait even longer, until NVC receives our case and forwards it to our embassy in order to complete these steps?

Thanks so much in advance for the clarification. Good luck to everyone!

Same question! Praying for some news this week! My app was received Dec 21 and hardcopy NOA1 received Jan 2.
 
Good luck everyone

Hello @TatiyPablo!
Thank you! My fiance figured out the certificado de solteria! 
I did star my Ds-160 before. Since they require so much information about your fiance, I had everything done. It gives you time to review the information and make sure everything is perfect. So when we got approved, I was able to submit it, pay and schedule an interview fast. May people wait until they have the case number from the NVC, but on the DS-160 you can put your NOA! case number. 
I already have my Affidavit of Support. I already filed my taxes for last year, so I have it ready. I made the i- 134 and i-1864. I also have all the necessary evidence prepared. 
I am glad you will be traveling to Cuba soon! When I went to see my fiance, I brought him the copy of my Noa1. I wanted him to know everything I included in the binder since the embassy will have a copy of it at our interview. 
I am going to Cuba in two days and I will bring him a copy of the NOA2, copy of the DS-160 form and confirmation, and a copy of the appointment confirmation. I will bring the originals for the interview, but just in case I want him to have this now. 
You can certainly do a lot of preparations! It helps while you wait