DaveAndAnastasia

15 hours ago, Mike E said:

How do these  show consummation?

I think you're well aware that as far as USCIS and the state department are concerned, showing you were in the same place at the same time while married is sufficient and they don't need or want any more details than that :D.

A spousal visa is definitely superior to a K-1, but with your petition already approved I probably wouldn't start over with a CR-1 as while you might be okay with, and even want, some delay, another two years or so is another matter.

/also note that you need a marriage visa to come to the UK and get married even if you're not planning on staying, though my understanding is that's not too big of a deal to get and you could have a ceremony there but legally get married via a Utah online marriage, or you could marry in the US or a third country (back when we were considering our options -- marrying in Russia was out because I couldn't spend enough time in Russia or make multiple trips in a relatively short time -- Iceland and Denmark were the countries that most frequently came up for two foreigners marrying quickly in Europe-ish, but I don't know if that's still the case as that was in 2018; we ended up doing a K-1).

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

To be fair, the OP did not mention coming to the US on WVP/ESTA and staying to adjust status.  It is perfectly legal to come on a visitor visa (B2/VWP), get married and leave for consular processing of a spousal visa.

It's even perfectly legal to come on a visitor visa, get married, and adjust status and stay. It's just not legal to arrive in the US intending to do that.

Given the unpredictability of processing times, I'd suggest that if it's at all practical to either depart from a pre-clearance airport (only ones in the Eurozone are in Ireland) or have your POE be your final destination in the US, I'd probably try and do that.

Though that depends a lot on where you're coming from and going to.

In our case, back before Covid and Vlad's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow to LA was a daily flight so even though that was a two-hour or more drive to my place instead of the 30 minutes to San Diego airport, it was a lot simpler to do that. And given that Anastasia didn't get to me until about two hours after her plane landed (and there was no free WiFi in the line she was in), I'm very glad she didn't have to navigate a connection.

On 6/19/2023 at 11:10 AM, Dashinka said:

My wife traveled like this for years until she naturalized and now she has her US passport in her married name.  When her GC and Russian passport name did not match, she always booked the tickets in the name on her Russian passport and carried a copy of the marriage  certificate with her.  After traveling like this for a little more than 3 years, I don't believe any CBP officer ever asked to see the marriage certificate when she was re-entering the US with her GC in her married name.  Now she uses her US Passport except for domestic Russian flights.

 

This is very common particularly from former Soviet Union countries.

... and largely an artifact of it being somewhat complicated to legally change your name in those countries, particularly if you're not residing there.

Although we ended up not traveling internationally between my wife arriving on a K-1 and naturalizing (between K-1 travel restrictions, pregnancy, having a small child, Covid, buying a home, Putin invading Ukraine, and me losing my job we never had a good opportunity).

On 6/8/2023 at 8:48 AM, beloved_dingo said:

This is kind of meaningless because yes K-1s are technically eligible for EAD but it is irrelevant, there's no point in trying to get an EAD under this technicality. K-1s apply for EAD with their AOS.

Well, more that it's useless to apply for an EAD under that technicality, but being technically eligible for an EAD means someone who just arrived on a K-1 can apply for a Social Security Number and 100% should do that. So that technicality is not completely useless.

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

This is the drag and the bummer, sigh DA man.  It's a numbers game, si DA man:  your Many'th (or Many'nd, or Many'rd) attempt will succeed, si DA man.

Yup. Have a few more lined up today and next week.

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Leaving California will help you to lose money even more slowly, strongly consider DA man.

Strongly considering this (current idea is around Atlanta, where I have some extended family, and the parents of the little girl below are likely moving soon; close enough for parents to drive to in a day and many flights to around where they live too, still a big city where it shouldn't be too difficult to find a job if I can't find a remote one, and as Delta's mega-hub is rather better connected to places outside of North America than San Diego -- usually drove up to LA before flying to meet PRG before she came here), but don't want to up and move without having a job; differences in interest rates means even borrowing a few hundred thousand less could end up with nearly the same payment (although as an actual house rather than a townhouse, much less in HOA fees and between a less expensive place and lower rates, much less in property taxes). Might hedge our bets and get a management company to rent out this place for a year while we rent something there (not sure how that would work), but would need to sell this one to have enough money for a reasonable down payment on another place.

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Is she a rubia, huh DA man?   

Given mama is a Russian brunette and papa is Puerto Rican, this could not happen naturally ...

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

1.  Consider looking also for remote/WFC (work-from-casa) positions if same exist, si DA man.

Have been looking (and interviewed for some). As per above, that would be my preference, but seems like the hit rate is better on hybrid or in-office positions.

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

2.  Sign up with hunt-headers if not already done, si DA man.

But I like my head where it is. 🤣

/in fact have talked to ... lots .. of them.

14 hours ago, Neonred said:

So sorry to hear this.

Thanks, man.

14 hours ago, Neonred said:

Wow, I don't even know what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Magical tools to make the internet work.

13 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Rant, grrrr man:  Whoever invented stairs needs to be dug up and tortured to death, si and grrrr man.

Better than ladders, man.

So I was laid off on March 1 (which came as a complete surprise to me, though granted I didn't watch the company's earnings calls), which is the major reason for no updates on the adventures of PRG and mini-Dave for a few months.

Despite many interviews (really, enough that I lost count, not giving in to P-math), no one has decided my l33t software development skillz (anyone need a C#/SQL Server/Angular guy?)  are what their company needs yet.

Fortunately they did give me a generous severance package, and between PRG's income and unemployment insurance we're only losing money slowly.

Still went to my parents' 50th anniversary party in Florida in April, tickets and some of hotels already paid for when we found out. Ended up ditching some of planned activities because mini-Dave had no interest in going to the beach (lives in California, man) and getting a 3-year-old who likes to randomly wave his arms around a mini-golf club seemed like a bad idea. Mini-Dave did play with his 5-year-old second cousin at the party and had some fun there, though didn't want to join the guys for a picture. Mini-Dave got three birthday cakes due to when his birthday was; one after breakfast with my parents, one in the evening on the other side of Florida with PRG's first grade teacher (who's been in the US for a while now) and her daughter's family (including a little girl about mini-Dave's age who quickly became his best friend though we only spent one evening and one morning with them). Was really good to see them.

Got to airport in the middle of Florida (used alternative route to avoid traffic) with plenty of time for flight home. A bit after plane lands, mechanical issues announced say it'll be at least two hours until they can board. About 4 hours after scheduled boarding time, announce that although they still think they'll be able to fly tonight (even though already almost late enough that landing in San Diego will incur a $many -- I don't know how much, but it's a lot -- fine for landing between midnight and 6:00 am) they'll start taking rebookings. I'm not sure everyone on our flight got in line, but certainly most of them did (including us, as mini-Dave was getting tired and I wasn't keen on driving home after midnight Pacific when I'd been in Eastern time all day). Rebooked flight, got comped meals (attempt to find decent sit-down meal late at night at an airport wasn't super-successful but at least the airline paid for it) and hotel and Lyft to hotel and back, checked in. Also one of our bags didn't get back to us (fortunately mostly just had mini-Dave's toys); was assured it would be in San Diego when we got there.

Joked that we were almost home because we were near Sea World. Realize next morning that all three of us are in different rows on our first flight; doesn't work with 3-year-old, no man, but couldn't fix it until at the gate. Apparently needed to wait for everyone to board and then they convinced someone next to PRG to switch. I watched The Suicide Squad on that flight, not showing that one where mini-Dave can see it, no, man (not bad, but lots of gratuitous violence). All in one row for final flight, boards on time, everything seems fine... and then we sat on the taxiway for about an hour because of funny wind conditions. Had a bumpy takeoff, scared mini-Dave. But eventually got back home, then needed to reschedule a few interviews.

Mini-Dave had yet another birthday party with his daycare the Friday after we got back home (hence the third birthday cake). Now seems to think he should have a birthday party whenever he wants 🤣🤣. Carefully explained that his next birthday will not be until next year.

Anyway, that was March and April ...

On 5/11/2023 at 7:25 PM, JeanneAdil said:

Also add the new proposed fee for adjusting status once married in  USA is suppose to go up from $1225 to $2820  when u do a K1

Or rather, EAD and AP stop being free with AOS from a K1 (the fee for just AOS actually goes down very slightly because there's no biometrics fee anymore). Strictly speaking, you don't have to apply for either (though it's probably a bad idea not to).

9 hours ago, ChasUno said:

 

When I had my N400 interview in November 2022, it was just me being interviewed (my spouse had to wait in the waiting room). 

 

My interview was very easy compared with most of the other stages of immigration, and my case was simple as nothing had changed, we were still married, still living at the same address, everything up to date and above board and the Civics and English test were no problem. 

 

There were still some COVID restrictions in place last year that might have been a factor in my case, but I don't think spouses are jointly interviewed for the N400. Your interview letter will make it clear who needs to attend, and if your spouse isn't mentioned in the letter then you should be fine to attend on your own. 

If it's just an N400 interview, your spouse wouldn't need to be there (I wasn't allowed in for Anastasia's either).

But the original poster's I-751 hasn't been approved yet, and surprise combo interviews are not unheard of, so you should be ready for one. And for that you both should be there.

So I think I'd advise waiting as long as you're comfortable with to see if you get your 10-year green card in the mail (probably another week or two?), and then rescheduling if you don't. Which isn't fun, because it'll probably delay things for months and sometimes rescheduling requests are missed, but they can't approve the N400 without approving the I-751 first. So the absolute best case scenario for an N400 interview without an approved I-751 is that they do it and then can't schedule your oath until your ROC is approved anyway.

22 hours ago, Boiler said:

K1 and Canadian seems an odd combination but you have spent 8 months on this road.

Yeah. It's rarely a good idea to do a K-1 anymore (pre-Utah Zoom marriages, there used to be a lot more cases where a K-1 made sense -- like it did for us -- when the foreign fiancé(e) couldn't easily visit the US and marrying in their country was expensive, time consuming, or both), but that's especially true for people from visa-free countries (mostly Canada) or visa waiver program countries who have few legal restrictions on visiting the US.

On 3/26/2023 at 11:30 AM, seganku said:

Does anyone know whether ceremonies at Cabrillo National Monument are typically conducted indoors, or outside?

I'm not sure where they could hold a ceremony indoors there, FWIW (I've been there; it's quite pretty, but I don't think there's an indoor space anywhere big enough for more than a handful of people).

But my wife had a same-day oath ceremony at the San Diego USCIS office downtown last month and I wasn't allowed in for that, so I wouldn't know for sure.

On 3/25/2023 at 11:27 PM, farung said:

Why would you advise the marriage visa? Isn't it the same story as fiance? As far as I understand, it takes even longer on average...

I think these days the processing times are pretty similar (though you need to actually get married -- and be physically together after you do so in the case of an online marriage -- before you start a spousal visa). And the difficulty in actually getting legally married in Russia can be gotten around by a Utah Zoom marriage (this wasn't the case when my wife and I did a K-1 back in 2018).

But basically unless you're in a legal corner case where a fiancé(e) visa is better (children who would be 18-21 by the time you got the visa and want to come with you is the most notable there) or just really, really don't want to be apart for months or years while legally married, then a spousal visa is significantly better.

You don't have to adjust status which means

• your spouse can work immediately (doesn't need to wait for EAD or green card)
• your spouse can travel internationally immediately (doesn't need to wait for AP or green card)
• you don't have to pay the fees for adjusting status (or EAD if your spouse wants to work before green card, or AP if your spouse wants to travel internationally before green card; these are currently free with AOS, but the new fees will be in effect before a K-1 filed today will be approved); while a few thousand dollars in fees is not, in the context of an international relationship, really a large amount of money, it's a long way from nothing

Also, it means your partner is your spouse. And as Covid travel restrictions showed, your spouse has a lot more rights than your fiancé(e).

And it's likely the process will take long enough that your partner can delay their entry into the US until after you've been married two years (you have about six months from visa issuance to enter the US), in which case you get an IR-1 and can skip removing conditions too.

Basically, when a K-1 was a lot faster than a CR-1 and there weren't Utah Zoom marriages, then doing a K-1 with a Russian fiancée made a lot of sense unless you were living together in Russia at the time. Now? Not so much.

Though I don't recommend doing this from a "getting to know someone well enough to actually know if you want to marry them" standpoint, lots of people have successfully petitioned for a fiancé(e) or spouse they've spent less than two weeks together in-person with, and it's certainly not illegal. Back when we filed for a K-1 (in mid-2018, K-1s took about half as long as CR-1s to process -- 9 months vs 18 months, and since there were no Utah Zoom marriages then and getting married in Russia takes a lot of time in-country or multiple trips in a relatively short time actually getting married would have required a third-country wedding; this is not true today), it seemed to me that with three one-week-ish visits, we'd spent more time together than most people filing K-1s that posted about it on VJ.

Or look into getting a Schengen visa from another country (and if you're not looking to annoy that country's consulate, go there first). There are direct flights from SFO to several other countries in the Schengen area.

What's your country of citizenship? From most countries, you don't need a visa to visit Spain or can get a visa on arrival.

Exceptions are basically some African countries, Russia, a few former Soviet Republics, and one or two others.

No specific knowledge about Poland here, but anyone thinking about a third-country wedding for immigration purposes needs to look into what's required for two foreigners to legally marry in that country.

In a lot of places, it's not a simple and straightforward process (in particular for this subforum, legally marrying a foreigner in Russia takes a while and is only really doable if the foreigner is also living in Russia or otherwise free to spend a month or more there or to make multiple trips to Russia with a span of a couple months), hence the popularity of the Utah zoom marriages here on VisaJourney.

On 2/25/2023 at 7:38 AM, JayFromTexas said:

We are doing Utah zoom. We need the apostilled copy for my fiancé to change her name back in Russia. 

FWIW, many Russians never do that (my wife is Anastasiia [my last name] on all American documents since we filed for AOS, but changing her Russian documents when she doesn't live there is just too much hassle; she renewed her Russian passport recently when the embassy did a day in LA and it's still [her maiden name] Anastasiia there). Granted, she didn't change her name until after coming here because that was on a K-1 back in 2019.

16 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

It is INFERIOR, si man!  We will sell you a top-of-line unit at a handsome 0.00000002% discount off full retail, $i man.

I don't think even NASA's toilet seats are $many,000,000, so you'll need more than a sub-$.01 discount to close the sale, man ...

It should be okay, but note that transcripts

1) Include everything you need in one document (if you use tax return documents, you need the 1040, all W-2s and 1099s, and all schedules)

2) are the final record of what was submitted to the IRS 

3) are considerably shorter than full tax return forms

so it's almost always better to use transcripts

12 hours ago, Cathi said:

CR1 is by far the superior (not to mention far less expensive) choice. 

Though at this point for the OP switching would also mean the application fees for the I-129F and the time since they flied (granted, only a month so far, but they can't file an I-130 until they meet in person again) are a sunk cost.

Not a major issue (the biggest reason why a K-1 is more expensive isn't the actual fees -- even at the forthcoming much higher ones if you apply for EAD and AP -- and unless AOS processing gets a lot faster than you certainly should apply for both; it's that the beneficiary can't work until EAD or green card), but worth mentioning.

26 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Ciudadana Americana already spending your money profligately, what did we say just above man?  

Spending her money; PRG is highly skilled QA professional who has $many leftover after paying for mini-Dave's daycare, would not go out twice in a week (and rarely went out even once a week) for anything more than fast food (which she does not care for) if we were still living on just my money. 🤣

26 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Your next mission is to fully equip your crib with Pre-Owned Toilet Seats, special naturalization price$ man.

Toilet seats it came with still work fine, man. May even convince mini-Dave to use them (and the rest of the toilet) someday. 🤣

On 2/8/2023 at 4:32 PM, Naterson said:

This is true, but a judge blocked it. What are the odds that happens again?

Quite low, I think; IIRC the previous proposed fee changes were blocked due to not following proper procedures, not due to anything inherently wrong with the fee structure.