feddi420

5 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

No.  

Is there anywhere that specifically states this? 

Hi Everyone,

Would it be possible to get a medical done by a panel physician in a country (Australia) other than the one you will be interviewing in (New Zealand)? I ask because my wife and I will be out of our country of residence for the next couple of weeks and are expecting our interview letter to come any day now. Rather than fly out for a medical then fly out again for the interview, would we be able to go to a panel physician in the country we are currently in?

Note, our residence has not changed and we will not be requesting to have the interview in a country other than NZ.

Thanks for the help!

3 hours ago, geowrian said:

Yes it is possible. You can contact them via askNVC to make the request.

The delay varies by embassies/consulates involved. About 2 weeks is on the low side and it could be months on the higher side. I don't know the timelines for the specific embassies in your case.

You must be a legal resident of the country to interview there.

Thanks a lot for the response! So it seems best to just fly back for the interview.

Hello Everyone,

I recently received my NOA2 and am awaiting my case number for the NVC stage.

My work may require my wife and I to spend some time in another country, which would likely mean we either travel back to New Zealand for the interview or we schedule the interview in another embassy.

Is it possible to make a change to the country/embassy during the NVC stage?

If so, does this delay your visa? By how much time?

Or is it best to just keep the embassy as-is and attempt to fly back once the interview is scheduled?

Thank you in advance!

Does anyone know how long it will take from the time the email is received until the letter is received?

Will I receive a letter from USCIS and another one from NVC?

Just received an email approval! Case was received on March 6 at Potomac service center. What are the next steps and what is the typical time frame? Does the consulate location pay a major role in how long until the visa is approved? 

Do we need to add a letter explaining our relationship under the evidence of a bona fide marriage section? Or are the other items I have listed in black suitable?

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

You do not have to submit a letter explaining anything.  When it comes time to submit the actual visa application at the NVC stage, the DS260 will ask about this and she will explain it in her visa application.  Do not file an I-131 in any immigrant VISA case.  Once the visa is used and an entry stamp is placed next to it, the combination of the visa and stamp serve as a temporary green card for a year.  

Do we need to add a letter explaining our relationship under the evidence of a bona fide marriage section? Or are the other items I have listed in black suitable?

Hi Everyone,

I posted a while back about applying for a fiance visa after my then fiance had been turned away at the border while trying to visit me. The original post can be found here:

A lot has changed since then. I ended up receiving and accepting a job offer in NZ which allowed me to bring my fiance with me. We have officially moved to NZ and gotten a legal marriage certificate (without an actual wedding as we plan on having a small private dinner/party with family when I can take her to the US). 

My questions are as follows:

1. Having been turned away at the airport while trying to visit me and having received an "Application for Admission Withdrawn" stamp in her passport, do we need to include a letter explaining the application withdraw and what happened that led to it along with our I-130? 
2. If her spousal visa is approved, can she enter and leave the US normally without having a physical green card? I ask this because we would like to visit the US once her visa is accepted but will likely have to come back to NZ for a short period to finish my work contract. Do we have to submit an advanced parole form or is it not necessary? Does the visa count as a single entry or multiple entry visa?

___________________

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer!

8 minutes ago, KULtoATL said:

@feddi420 If you do not mind, could you please share how you and your fiancee obtain the religious marriage contract? Was it through nikah? Maybe it's different in the UK but no religious marriage contract is usually issued unless an Islamic ceremony has been carried out. Never really heard of one being issued for the purpose to allow the couple to spend time together without a chaperone. 

It is done through Nikah by a religious figure. It is standard in the west for Muslim couples to do this in order for families to be comfortable letting the future bride and groom get to know one another without the need for a chaperone during the engagement period.

1 hour ago, NuestraUnion said:

You mentioned a religious marriage contract. What is that? Like @Coco8 mentioned, things like that can be skewed as "too married for a fiance visa" which could lead to a denial.

1 hour ago, liefde_overzee said:

27 minutes ago, geowrian said:

 

The religious marriage contract is potentially an issue as well. People have been denied a K-1 for much less for fear that they are already married - even if it's not legally registered. You can search the threads here and see many cases of this. Personally, the safer choice would be to do a CR-1 (spousal) visa after getting legally married.

Just as a warning, be careful with the religious marriage contract. Many people have had that before (or elaborate engagement parties) & the CO felt the couple was already married and denied the K1 visa telling them to apply for spousal. You can read plenty of stories about similar circumstances here on VisaJourney. 

The religious marriage contract is typically done in Islamic engagements as a way to allow the couple to spend time together without a chaperone. Culturally, the couple is not considered married until a ceremony takes place and a legal marriage contract is obtained. The officer found a copy of the contract while going through her emails and questioned her about it and she explained that. He proceeded to tell her if she wants to come to the US, she needs to apply for a fiance visa. 

Now my concern is if I apply for a fiance visa, it gets rejected due to the religious contract. however, since we do not have a legal marriage contract  through the courts (since we aren't married), can I apply for the souse visa if needed?

Just now, NuestraUnion said:

It won't effect a K1 or spousal visa so she will be fine to file.

 

The only way to move forward is to either file for a visitor visa, which could be effected by what happen. Higher possibility of a denial but still worth a try. Otherwise, file for fiancé or spousal visa.

 

Of course there is no way to remove the remarks. There is a very good reason it is there. Trying to remove it shouldn't even be attempted. There are major consequences to trying to physically erase a remark made by an official.

Which visa typically is easier and quicker? We have a religious marriage contract from when we got engaged but aren't legally married and didn't plan on doing a legal marriage contract until we officially had a wedding and got married. 

Just now, Coco8 said:

It won't affect her fiance or spousal visa application.

I spoke to an attorney for a bit and they mentioned that the process will take two years for her to get her visa. Is that accurate? Also, is there any way for her to visit as a tourist now? She has no intention of using the tourist visa as a means of immigration but if the process takes a long time, we'd like to be able to visit each other during the wait.

Hello Everyone, I'm writing because my fiance, who lives in the UK, was attempting to visit for a couple of weeks using the ESTA Visa Waiver program. She had the waiver approved but when she went through US Customs in Ireland, they questions what the purpose of her visit was and why she had 3 bags with her. She told them she was going on vacation to see friends and had 3 bags because there were gifts and she had clothes for several weddings she was invited to. They ended up interrogating her for several hours, took her phone and went through every text, email, and even her Facebook posts. They told her that she was not going to visit friends but rather going to visit her fiance. She told them that she was going to visit both and intended to come back in 3 weeks due to her having a job and had a return ticket. After hours of interrogation, the officer told her he didn't care about the luggage or the fiance part but was denying her entry because she lied to 3 officers about who she was going to see. They accused her of trying to use the Visa Waiver as a means to bypass the fiance or spousal visa and said she intended to stay in the US, which obviously wasn't true. He stamped her passport with an "Application for Admission Withdrawn" stamp and said if she wanted to enter the US, she has to apply for a fiance visa (which we intended on applying for in the near future anyways. This prevents her from being able to visit me in the US and our concern was how this would affect her chances of getting approved for the fiance visa when we apply for it. Does this negatively impact her chances? What are our best steps moving forward with getting her to the US and is there any way to remove the negative remarks associated with her traveling to the US? Any help would be appreciated!