Little_Vixen

I'm not sure what you're trying to say? I understand people judge. I judge. It's a human thing to do. It's a survival skill. But I hate to see people get treated unfairly over it. Yes it's a red flag, but that does not mean all cases are fraudulent. 
 
What do you mean immigration is a two way street? You mean the USC can always move to the beneficiaries country? Thats not always an option. My bf has teens. He can't drag them all across the world to a country where they have no friends, they don't know the language nor the customs. I choose to go to the US cause it's easier for him. Not cause I want to be there. I want to be with him, wherever that is. I imagine it's the same for other people. Especially if the woman is older and has kids. She can't just up and leave them nor drag them off to a foreign country. What kind of an example would that be. 

I'm so glad most government officials are more understanding. It would break my heart to know that I'd denied people their chance of happiness by being so close minded. Who are we to judge? Why would age be less acceptable than a difference in religion, education, intelligence, color? Where does it end?

Completely agree with you here!
 
Writing in all capitals comes across as screaming, so yes, you came across as rude. In fact, you just did it again with this reply. A 'thank you for your concern, but those fees are covered' would have looked a lot nicer.
 
I completely agree with you on this. I've been looking into the K1 for a while now and I still come up with fee's here or there that I haven't thought of before. There's always an extra $50 here of $20 there. It doesn't look like much, but if you add it all up it really adds to the financial stress. It won't be a walk in the park even for us, and we both have full time well paying jobs.
 
 
To answer your original question. No, you do not need a job as long as you have a sponsor that is able to provide for you, your fiancé and every other person in the household. Look up that povertyline thingy. It gets higher as there's more people in the household.
Make sure you and the sponsors realize that they are 100% financially responsible for you! So if you **** up they will pay for it.

Completely agree with you here!
 
Writing in all capitals comes across as screaming, so yes, you came across as rude. In fact, you just did it again with this reply. A 'thank you for your concern, but those fees are covered' would have looked a lot nicer.
 
I completely agree with you on this. I've been looking into the K1 for a while now and I still come up with fee's here or there that I haven't thought of before. There's always an extra $50 here of $20 there. It doesn't look like much, but if you add it all up it really adds to the financial stress. It won't be a walk in the park even for us, and we both have full time well paying jobs.
 
 
To answer your original question. No, you do not need a job as long as you have a sponsor that is able to provide for you, your fiancé and every other person in the household. Look up that povertyline thingy. It gets higher as there's more people in the household.
Make sure you and the sponsors realize that they are 100% financially responsible for you! So if you **** up they will pay for it.

Who is paying for the $535 I-129F fee and the $300 medical and $250 or so Visa app fee , the Adj of status fee $1,200 after you marry. The fees for wedding, flights to bring her here?
You can apply now but as others have said by the time of interview you may need to present proof of income.
 
Steven

Fixed. 

I agree with IDWAF, people flock together with what they know and are comfortable with. It's something I've been thinking about recently too. I am a member of a Dutch in America page and I notice I feel drawn to seek them out. To share experiences and hear their stories. I would love to meet them in real life and become friends, hang out. That made me pause, cause in the past I often criticized immigrants for flocking together and 'not integrating' in Dutch culture. But I find myself doing the very same thing. This whole immigration process has made me reconsider many prejudices I didn't even know I had. I count it as a blessing.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say? I understand people judge. I judge. It's a human thing to do. It's a survival skill. But I hate to see people get treated unfairly over it. Yes it's a red flag, but that does not mean all cases are fraudulent. 
 
What do you mean immigration is a two way street? You mean the USC can always move to the beneficiaries country? Thats not always an option. My bf has teens. He can't drag them all across the world to a country where they have no friends, they don't know the language nor the customs. I choose to go to the US cause it's easier for him. Not cause I want to be there. I want to be with him, wherever that is. I imagine it's the same for other people. Especially if the woman is older and has kids. She can't just up and leave them nor drag them off to a foreign country. What kind of an example would that be. 

:-)  hey fellow Dutchie

I agree with IDWAF, people flock together with what they know and are comfortable with. It's something I've been thinking about recently too. I am a member of a Dutch in America page and I notice I feel drawn to seek them out. To share experiences and hear their stories. I would love to meet them in real life and become friends, hang out. That made me pause, cause in the past I often criticized immigrants for flocking together and 'not integrating' in Dutch culture. But I find myself doing the very same thing. This whole immigration process has made me reconsider many prejudices I didn't even know I had. I count it as a blessing.

And lots of times it proves to be that,  but you can't say that for everyone.  There are lots of genuine relationships with big age gaps that have in fact made it. Lots of them are on here as active members like @Cathi and @Adil & Jeanne for instance.  You saying anyone older marrying someone younger is always a scam, is a closed minded way of thinking. End of story. 

I'm so glad most government officials are more understanding. It would break my heart to know that I'd denied people their chance of happiness by being so close minded. Who are we to judge? Why would age be less acceptable than a difference in religion, education, intelligence, color? Where does it end?

I'm so glad most government officials are more understanding. It would break my heart to know that I'd denied people their chance of happiness by being so close minded. Who are we to judge? Why would age be less acceptable than a difference in religion, education, intelligence, color? Where does it end?

My life has changed a lot over the past year. Divorce, lawsuit, selling the farm, meeting the love of my life. Most of it was by choice, some of it was decided for me. One of the changes I had to make was give up my horse. The cost of shipping him and keeping him would be too much for us to bear. Luckily I found the perfect new home for him with people who are familiar with the breed and their needs. 
To say goodbye I booked a photoshoot. The pictures turned out absolutely beautiful.
 
I know it has little to do with immigration, but I would really like to share them with you. 
 
For the ones who are interested. Stef is a 7 year old Belgian Draft gelding. He stands a little over 17 hands high (5'7")
 
 
 
 

The ones for the countries on the terrorist watchlist come to mind. The possibility of ending the diversity visa.
The change in wether or not the 'dreamers' will be granted a visa. The press release about looking deeper into social media channels of immigrants and anyone dealing with immigrants.
 
You can agree or disagree on either of these, thats beside my point. (Cause believe it or not I agree with some) But the way I see it, he is trying very hard to limit immigration and that scares me. Cause he not only bars the possibility for the terrorists and the moochers and the bums, he will also make it very difficult for the regular people who actually fell in love and want to be together. It scares me. I feel like if you wish to fall in love with a foreigner you better well make damn sure you're part of the upper class cause the common man won't be able to afford it very soon. 
 
And yes, I would totally agree with 3 weeks and 100 bucks. 
No seriously. It has to cost what it costs. The paperwork, the people, the stamps, the overhead costs ect. But it should not become a) a milk cow or b) a deterrent. Second, I think it's ridiculous the procedures last as long as they sometimes to. In the Netherlands we have a code of conduct for the government in which they need to come to a decision within a certain period, usually 8 weeks. You will be notified at the beginning within what period a decisions will be taken. If it has not been decided on within that period the request is granted. Period. No questions asked. 
If they think immigration is such a hot topic and they want to monitor the people coming in more they should put more and better educated people on the task. 
In my opinion it's not fair to have people put their life on hold for almost a year just cause the government doesn't employ enough people.
 
Just my opinion. Like it or leave it.

I am a government official myself and I totally see where you come from. I have battled trying to explain to the public why some things take so long a hundred times. And I agree, it has to take the time and effort needed and an appropriate fee should be attached to that. 
 
I'm sure you agree with me that staffing the offices with more qualified personnel would solve a lot of the issues we currently see. You mention it yourself, thousands apply and officers get hundreds of files to go through. You can't tell me that an 8 month wait period now is acceptable when an application can be processed in three months? (Bar of course the exception) as we've seen a few months back. It's not the paperwork that's taking this long. It's being understaffed.
It's not just unfair to the immigrants and partners but also to the officers themselves. I read stories about grumpy and stressed out interviewers on here all the time. That's no way to do your job. 
 
Of course whatever wait we have to endure is worth it. In the end we all go through it to be with our loved ones and I dont care how long it takes I will go that road. But that does not mean we should just accept the long wait because of understaffed offices. That's ludicrous. 

The ones for the countries on the terrorist watchlist come to mind. The possibility of ending the diversity visa.
The change in wether or not the 'dreamers' will be granted a visa. The press release about looking deeper into social media channels of immigrants and anyone dealing with immigrants.
 
You can agree or disagree on either of these, thats beside my point. (Cause believe it or not I agree with some) But the way I see it, he is trying very hard to limit immigration and that scares me. Cause he not only bars the possibility for the terrorists and the moochers and the bums, he will also make it very difficult for the regular people who actually fell in love and want to be together. It scares me. I feel like if you wish to fall in love with a foreigner you better well make damn sure you're part of the upper class cause the common man won't be able to afford it very soon. 
 
And yes, I would totally agree with 3 weeks and 100 bucks. 
No seriously. It has to cost what it costs. The paperwork, the people, the stamps, the overhead costs ect. But it should not become a) a milk cow or b) a deterrent. Second, I think it's ridiculous the procedures last as long as they sometimes to. In the Netherlands we have a code of conduct for the government in which they need to come to a decision within a certain period, usually 8 weeks. You will be notified at the beginning within what period a decisions will be taken. If it has not been decided on within that period the request is granted. Period. No questions asked. 
If they think immigration is such a hot topic and they want to monitor the people coming in more they should put more and better educated people on the task. 
In my opinion it's not fair to have people put their life on hold for almost a year just cause the government doesn't employ enough people.
 
Just my opinion. Like it or leave it.

I am a government official myself and I totally see where you come from. I have battled trying to explain to the public why some things take so long a hundred times. And I agree, it has to take the time and effort needed and an appropriate fee should be attached to that. 
 
I'm sure you agree with me that staffing the offices with more qualified personnel would solve a lot of the issues we currently see. You mention it yourself, thousands apply and officers get hundreds of files to go through. You can't tell me that an 8 month wait period now is acceptable when an application can be processed in three months? (Bar of course the exception) as we've seen a few months back. It's not the paperwork that's taking this long. It's being understaffed.
It's not just unfair to the immigrants and partners but also to the officers themselves. I read stories about grumpy and stressed out interviewers on here all the time. That's no way to do your job. 
 
Of course whatever wait we have to endure is worth it. In the end we all go through it to be with our loved ones and I dont care how long it takes I will go that road. But that does not mean we should just accept the long wait because of understaffed offices. That's ludicrous. 

The people on this forum can help you with visa related issues. This sounds like a relationship problem. Nothing we can help you with I'm afraid. I'm sorry. I hope you can work it out with her.

I've read the whole topic with a lot of interest and I'd like to put my 2ct in.
 
When you are new like me and start researching its all very confusing. Theres nowhere you see that states that you can't get married on an esta or visa and you start wondering why not more people go that route. After all, it will take you to your lover much faster and it's cheaper. So what's up with that?
I am a researcher by trade, so I dig deep and want to know every detail. But even after months of almost daily reading and researching, it's still not clear to me why the 'wrong way round' is so wrong. All I can go by is you people telling me it's wrong. But just because you did it the long way around and had to wait a year to be with your love is not a valid reason. In fact. I think it's a very childish and immature thing to say and it really raises my hackles every time I seen that comment. 
 
After several months I can now understand why the 'wrong way around' is not the best way to go, even though it's not as wrong as it's made out to be.
It's not the route you're meant to take and it can make things more difficult if your motives are questioned. That being said, I sometimes still question why not...
But I'm not. I'm going to do this the right way. But boy is it frustrating....
 
All this comes from a well educated person who does research for a living and has a pretty firm grasp of the English language. 
I can imagine that it's even more difficult, if not impossible, for people who are less fortunate.
 

Hello people. I am soon embarking on the K1 journey. I'd love to get in touch with others who are going, or have gone, through the process.