SocratesJohnson

34 minutes ago, Kacie and Ivan said:

Just FYI, we did not have any problems even with the smaller photo. The i129f was approved and now we are about to schedule the interview with the Consulate in Madrid.  Good luck to you!

Oh that's encouraging to hear! We spent like 6 hours perfecting the I-29F, I would be so mad at myself if that causes an RFE! Thanks for the well wishes, and good luck to you, too! You must be so excited! 

13 hours ago, trudi said:

If you like Sainsburys you will love Waitrose if there is one near him...

 

 

I actually do not like Waitrose! It's overpriced lol 

1 hour ago, trudi said:

If he's in the U.K. then the photo booths in Sainburys, Tesco, post office etc have US sized photos as an option.

Its where I got mine done.

I don't think he chose that option, but it was a Sainsburys photo booth. I was with him when he did it. We'll make sure to choose correctly next time! And it'll give me an excuse to go to Sainsburys, I miss that store so much! 

On 8/16/2017 at 11:11 AM, Kacie and Ivan said:

I have not, however I am severely paranoid now because my beneficiary's photo was slightly smaller than mine.  Did you receive an RFE for this? 

I am also paranoid that I will get a second RFE for the photo size, even though if that was a problem, they should have already included that in the first RFE, right??  

I'm going through the same worry. The U.K. passport booth photos are so similar to ours, all I really paid attention to was the 2 x 2 and white background....the dimensions are the same to the naked eye as well. I'm now wishing I had my fiancé take a new photo when he was here. 

https://www.gov.uk/photos-for-passports

As you can see, the differences are minimal. Minimal enough to avoid an RFE? Eh. But, I'm going to visit him soon, so I'll make sure to get proper photos just in case. The thing that is even more confusing to me is that I saw for the medical they will accept either U.K. or US style passport photos? This is what alerted me to the potential issue to begin with. I really thought ours were the same. 

45 minutes ago, WandY said:

Not sure what you are asking, but the U.S. rules for passport photos can be found here:  https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/photos.html

 

Visa photos:  https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/photos.html

 

 

I'm asking if anyone from the U.K. used a similar photo to the one my fiancé used. I thought it was fine when comparing it to mine, but now I'm not sure. 

My fiancé had his photo taken at a photo booth outside of Sainsburys. I lined his up to mine, and they were the same size, and from I could tell from the front, the same dimensions. His definitely doesn't look way smaller than mine. The only difference was that his has a white border around the frame of the picture, and an off white background. Has anyone else used a similar pic? Neither of us realized that there is a difference between US and UK photos, as there isn't much of one. 

3 hours ago, Limey said:

I moved after starting AOS (bought a house). We were in the same town, but I updated my address with USCIS and it didn't cause any problems. Its probably a good idea to setup mail forwarding so you'd get any mail sent to old address for a few months, just in case.

Congratulations on the house! The mail thing is good advice. I would just have it sent to my mom's, as this has been my mailing address for years. 

8 minutes ago, KULtoATL said:

That's only the petition stage  Moving on to the visa application stage, it's another month or two, sometimes more depending on the speed of case file transfer, the local embassy contacting the foreign beneficiary, interview availability etc.

It's still better than 6-8 months at the petition stage. Our embassy is London, so I've been following others' timelines from the U.K. Overall, it seems like a less stressful process than in other countries. I feel so badly for those who have to go through extra headaches and wait times....not to say that I won't, but comparing averages. It's a weird world with all these borders. 

1 hour ago, KULtoATL said:

What you received was the NOA1, simply an acknowledgment of receipt It's currently taking at least 4 months till you get the NOA2 (approval notice), denial notice or RFE. 

 

In the meantime, you can read up and/or start gathering the documents that you may need for your foreign beneficiary's K-1 visa application. Refer to: http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide.

4 months is not bad!

Thank you guys, now I can start seriously looking at jobs to relocate after the new year!

Hi guys,

I'm not married yet, as we've just begun our visa journey, but I was curious, as I like to plan ahead....

I am currently living in my hometown, and have no plans to stay long-term. My fiance and I would like to move out west once he is over here and we are married. Is it advisable to move during the AOS process, from one state to another, or just wait until the AOS is approved? Obviously this would mean a new job for me as well, and I don't know if that would be an issue to USCIS, even if it were well-paid. If I have to stay put for the process, I will.....but I would rather not. 

Just now, Zumbadaddy said:

is the NOA1 the approval to get married?

I wish, it's only the first receipt that you get acknowledging that USCIS has your paperwork for processing.

1 hour ago, Zumbadaddy said:

When did you 1st submit your application to begin the process I am trying to figure out a close time line to plan our wedding. And we really don't want my fiancee's K1 approved before may 2018 

Oh god, we just received our NOA1 on August 17th....I sent the package August 11th. I'm no where near planning my wedding, apart from looking at dresses : )

On 5/25/2017 at 0:38 PM, Yaztalksalot said:

Hi All

 

I'm just back from visiting my fiance in the US whilst our K1 is processing (we have the interview booked!) and had absolutely no problems!  

 

I've wrote a blog post about it if you want to hear about my personal experience: https://yaztalksalot.wordpress.com/

 

All that worrying for nothing! 

 

Yaz xo

Thank you for posting this, my fiance is from Scotland as well so reading your experience and following your timeline is very interesting!

Just now, Zumbadaddy said:

My fiance is about the most honest person I have ever known... (example my daughter's cell phone died... just stopped working.... the warranty repalces if lost or stolen but not for software issues- the Apple Store guy said tell them you lost it... my fiance was appalled that they said this... I would NEVER lie about it... I went to verizon they said they'd replace it and they did but she wanted to make sure I didn't lie about it even though the guy at the Apple store said to- I didn't lie about it.. the warranty was through Verzon and it's good--- just letting you know she's so honest.)

 

Now what is VWP... I don't know these acronyms... IO's and POE?  sorry for my ignorance

IO= Immigration Officer, POE= Point of Entry or Port of Entry. Is Japan on the VWP, aka Visa Waiver Program?

Just now, Boiler said:

That is exactly what you do, if asked do you know the time the answer is yes or no.

Cool. We've never had problems thus far, but we only just filed our paperwork while he was here visiting this Summer. He told the IO he was coming to visit his girlfriend for two months, and all she said is "have a great time!" I know it's not always like that, I actually got taken into secondary on my second entrance to Scotland, and am anticipating that again when I visit.....but I'll have my paperwork with me to show we're going to live in the US, anyway.

Can I ask, if your fiance is on the VWP, and they visit you, is this information available to IO's at POE? I'm not advocating being deceitful, I just don't understand why one can't be brief with their answers like during any normal visit? Is it advisable to only bring up/out K1 paperwork if you're being grilled or taken into secondary?

Oh good, thank you guys! I kinda figured this as well, but it's always good to talk to people who have done this. I think I'm getting a bit carried away about perfecting everything. 

My fiancé and I filled out our K1 petition last month while he was visiting for the Summer. When he left last week, I sent him home with a copy of the packet, everything except his passport photo, which I kept for my records....now I'm reading that when he goes to his interview, he needs 4 passport photos for the medical, and two for the embassy? (London.) Is it acceptable for him to get new photos to bring? We each only got two passport photos, as that is what they give you when you take them, and obviously they only ask for one each for the petition. Thanks! 

7 hours ago, luv2teach77 said:

I would make sure you detail exactly how you met, even if that includes information prior to any documented visits.  I know that my Fiance (now wife) and I stated in our application that we met online, talked / texted / called for ~2 years before meeting in person for the first time and then made multiple trips back and forth to visit before applying for the K-1.  Technically you only need to prove you've met in person once.  Everything else you provide is just further valuable evidence of your ongoing relationship.  Don't leave anything out, especially if doing so would appear to shorten your relationship.

 

Good luck !!

 

Mark

This is exactly what I did for our app; short and to the point, but detailed. They don't want to read a book, but a little elaboration goes a long way! And you have evidence of visits that are current, so that is great! 

4 hours ago, Sarah&Facundo said:

The embassy said they would allow him to keep the passport with the tourist visa and come back to get the K1 later. That's what I was referring to earlier when I said he has to go back for the K1 sticker. Why would he go through all of this AND get the sticker to just run into the US illegally?

That is pretty awesome that they are allowing a concurrent tourist and K1 visa. I would feel nervous, too, thinking that visiting might jeopardize the status of the K1, but not so much nervous about a visit while a K1 was in the works in and of itself.....it's just that you're in the final stages that makes it slightly tricky. Anyway, congratulations, you're nearly there! How exciting! 

33 minutes ago, Peot said:

This depends on the consulate / embassy. MOST want to see IRS forms even though (for some reason) it doesn't say this on the form instructions itself. You do often get a document from the embassy telling you to submit them for K-1 specifically. This can definitely be frustrating when using friends as a co-sponsor, because they don't believe that it's a requirement. I even had one co-sponsor contact a lawyer, and the lawyer said to absolutely NOT include the tax documents. However, at my interview, they DEFINITELY looked for them. They absolutely should add this to the back of the documentation!

 

You only need to provide the most recent tax year. 3 years is way overkill, outdated, and unnecessary.

 

They definitely will care more about your current employment. Last year I could make $1 and show that on my taxes, but if I got a job making well above the 125% this year, they'll want to know that. Like you thought, I think it has more to do with showing that they are "tax payers" rather than the info meeting the requirement. However, I also think that in most cases it can be easier to prove income of 125% on last year's taxes rather than having to show various employment letters, stubs, etc.. Both could be the case.

 

My experience was this: I went to the interview and submitted THREE I-134 forms. One from my fiance (not meeting the financial requirement) and two from friends of mine. One friend included tax documents and the other did not. When I got up to the interview window and handed the documents in, she right away noted that one of them did not have tax information. She did not look at this one when making her decision.

This is great to know, thank you! My taxes from 2016 won't be great, and I have no idea if my fiances interview will be scheduled before tax season, so I hope they will consider my pay stubs, letter of employment, etc. I spent May 2016-March 2017 in Europe with him, and regardless, I was only working part time and finishing up my (second) degree. I had to claim school credits for extra tax return, so I suppose they will consider the entire picture (I hope!) I considered getting a co-sponsor, but I really don't know that it's necessary because by the time the visa approval interview comes, I'll be at my job well over six months, and it is a permanent position that I've been working hard and doing well in. I'm confident my boss will write me a nice letter, she's so excited that I'm going through this process and has met my fiancé! 

Hey guys,

We just received our NOA1, but I am starting to prepare for what comes next so that I don't overwhelm myself. I noticed that when I printed out the I-34 form via USCIS, it only asks for tax returns if you are self-employed; however, Nolo advises to send 1-3 years of returns. Is this for legal purposes, ie, you are paying your taxes properly, or to judge past income? I think I've stated here before that I was away from the states for nearly a year, and only began working again in March. My income level is comfortably above the 125% line, so I'm not stressing too much, but I was wondering, what were some of your stories/experiences with submitting documentation? Thanks!

Just got our receipt in the mail! I have to start a timeline now!