KM Cam

Thanks! Hope yours goes good too. The couple of people that went before us all got accepted too. 

We just had our interview in rio on april 2. They didnt ask for any proof of relationship at all. It was pretty easy they just asked how we met, how long together, how many times i came to brazil and if she has ever been to Us. Good luck!

🙌 yay!!!!!!!
Congratulations you guys!!!!!! 
 

I had trouble finding this thread but luckily Greenbaum showed me where it was!!! 
 
I'm the petitioner in Washington, DC.  My fiance is from Espirito Santo, Brazil.  I'm off to a rough start because my package got delayed by USPS in the mail, and then I waited a week and a half for the text message and for my check to be cashed.  Still no hard copy NOA1.  It seems like things have gone generally must more quickly/smoothly for everyone else so far.  I am REALLY hoping the rest of my process has less delays but I know a lot of it comes down to luck.  Here's my timeline so far:
 
December 17, 2018 - Packet mailed
December 24, 2018 - NOA1 date on web site
January 2, 2019 - Check cashed/text message received
 
Good luck to all!!!

Just a little rough patch, you'll be fine, it won't have a bearing on how your application is processed. Congrats on the submission of your petition. I'm sure your journey will be smooth.

I had trouble finding this thread but luckily Greenbaum showed me where it was!!! 
 
I'm the petitioner in Washington, DC.  My fiance is from Espirito Santo, Brazil.  I'm off to a rough start because my package got delayed by USPS in the mail, and then I waited a week and a half for the text message and for my check to be cashed.  Still no hard copy NOA1.  It seems like things have gone generally must more quickly/smoothly for everyone else so far.  I am REALLY hoping the rest of my process has less delays but I know a lot of it comes down to luck.  Here's my timeline so far:
 
December 17, 2018 - Packet mailed
December 24, 2018 - NOA1 date on web site
January 2, 2019 - Check cashed/text message received
 
Good luck to all!!!

I had trouble finding this thread but luckily Greenbaum showed me where it was!!! 
 
I'm the petitioner in Washington, DC.  My fiance is from Espirito Santo, Brazil.  I'm off to a rough start because my package got delayed by USPS in the mail, and then I waited a week and a half for the text message and for my check to be cashed.  Still no hard copy NOA1.  It seems like things have gone generally must more quickly/smoothly for everyone else so far.  I am REALLY hoping the rest of my process has less delays but I know a lot of it comes down to luck.  Here's my timeline so far:
 
December 17, 2018 - Packet mailed
December 24, 2018 - NOA1 date on web site
January 2, 2019 - Check cashed/text message received
 
Good luck to all!!!

Wow crazy!  WE definitely don't have an issue with that right now, but will keep it in mind for collecting additional evidence later.  Thanks!!
OMG why didn't I think of looking on archive.org?!?!!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!  I'm so glad we can add this to our packet!!!

This is asked about time and time again. The instructions state to mail the I-129F petition to the Dallas Lockbox facility, but people are still often confused about where to mail it, where it goes, and where it gets processed.
The Dallas Lockbox is an intake facility. It is not a USCIS service center. They do not process and adjudicate the petitions there.
The address for regular mail is a Dallas address and the address for courier mail is a Lewisville address. They are still both being sent to the Dallas Lockbox. The difference in addresses is just because the Dallas PO Box address cannot accept courier mail.
This is exactly what happens when your petition is received at the Dallas Lockbox > http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/directorates-and-program-offices/lockbox-intake/lockbox-intake-processing-questions-and-answers
The Lockbox Service provider performs the following activities when processing incoming applications:
Receive, open, sort and stage mail. Prepare and scan documents. Enter document data in system from scanned images. Accept or reject applications and related fees based on business rules. Balance applications and fees. Deposit payments to the U.S. Treasury Send receipt notices for accepted applications to the applicant and designated representative. Return rejected applications to the applicant or designated representative. Transmit application data to USCIS and payment data to U.S. Department of Treasury. Send application files to the appropriate USCIS service center or field office for further processing. Once your petition is received and dealt with by the Lockbox facility, it will be sent to one of the USCIS service centers to be adjudicated. This is not a transfer of your case. Transfers only happen between one service center and another. If your petition was to be transferred, then you would receive a transfer notice stating such. Don't enter a transfer into your VJ timeline unless you actually receive a transfer notice, which is something entirely separate/different from your NOA1 receipt notice of filing.
Your receipt notice (NOA1) will contain your receipt number and the service center location that your petition was sent to. Currently there are only two service centers processing the I-129F petitions. They are California (CSC) and Texas (TSC). If your receipt number begins with WAC, then your petition is at the CSC. If your receipt number begins with SRC then your petition is at the TSC.
Typically the petitions are sent to one of the two service centers based on where the USC petitioner resides. I have seen some report that is not always 100% the case, but for the most part this is correct.
California Service Center: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Texas Service Center: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Thanks for the tips about the chat logs...I'll prob include a few brief excerpts just for good measure (continuity of relationship) but won't go crazy.  I think we have more than enough evidence of our relationship since we've had 5 visits already and have one more planned.  Lots of photos taken, just have to decide which ones to print and include.

Thanks for the tips about the chat logs...I'll prob include a few brief excerpts just for good measure (continuity of relationship) but won't go crazy.  I think we have more than enough evidence of our relationship since we've had 5 visits already and have one more planned.  Lots of photos taken, just have to decide which ones to print and include.

I wish I’d gone the CR1 spouse visa route instead, as I am currently in the US after having married on a K1 visa now working on the AOS paperwork. For the sake of a few more months and a little more money upfront I could have bypassed all this. Oh well. I read you mentioned somewhere you have “4 years of Facebook chat logs”. Common misunderstanding and this topic is ubiquitous on this sites. I printed 17 pages of text messages and I now realize this was total overkill. You do not need to print out years worth of chat logs. They don’t have the time or the desire to sift through a voluminous petition. It is only required at this stage to prove that you have met in the last 2 years so a boarding passes, flight tickets, perhaps a photo of the two of you (recommended) will all work in conjunction to prove you were in the same place at the same time at least once. Don’t waste a bunch of time on printing out chats and other Facebook things. They don’t prove much. 

Yes makes sense about getting married and filing the papers ASAP...I figure we'll get the first city hall wedding date we can once he arrives and apply immediately, then plan a real party later down the road.

I still support the K1 Visa, but the days of comparing are years behind me. He had his EAD in less than 2 months after filing AOS. 

We did the K1 visa also. Although the spousal visa is a more straight forward route and would have eliminated some stress but we survived and it all worked out. We couldn't be happier these days! 
 
If you do go the K1 route my suggestion is save money, save money, and save more money. My husband and I both picked up an extra job to save before the big move.  Life gets expensive during immigration (buying cars, health insurance, car insurance, cell phone, paying for weddings, immigration fees, etc) if you are prepared financially it will eliminate one big stress during the process.  
 
My husband is a worker bee and doesn't like to sit around and not feel useful. It was hard for the last couple of months before his EAD came in. We made sure we planned a lot of friend nights to look forward too (game nights were we invited friends over, my husband maintained his gym membership so he could get out of the house and socialize while I was at work, etc).
 
 
Know it is a stressful process but also knowing it is stressful will help give you a little patience while you are going through it  

Totally second this. We got married the first possible day after my arrival (weekends they are closed, and I arrived on a Friday so we had to wait until Monday morning) and went to Fedex between the legal ceremony and the family dinner to send off our AOS/EAD/AP application right away. My EAD/AP arrived 3.5 months later (check my timeline. i am not sure how this compares to the average waiting time right now, it might be longer), and while I am still waiting for the greencard, at least travelling and working are no issue anymore. 
 
I can also only stress what others said before: Make sure you are on top of your documents, get familiar with your specific embassy, be diligent with everything regarding the process. This is more relevant for the beneficiary (your fiancé) overall, but applies to both of course. You have very little power over the waiting times (for example, we waited over 50 day alone to have our approved petition transferred from USCIS to NVC, despite the fact this historically took no more than two weeks) so it is really crucial that whenever something IS in your power (filling out the forms, gathering the right documents, sending in additional info if needed, booking the medical, prep for the interview etc) you do it correctly and are always clear on what you need to do next so the process goes as fast as possible. I found the most difficult part to be the waiting time, as it is out of your control entirely, but that's also because we wanted to be together again ASAP. Which is also why we did not do the Spousal visa, although it is clearly superior at this point on many aspects. It's a personal choice of course, and I saw your reasoning as to why you dont think spousal would be better for you, but I actually think if you dont care about being together ASAP and you do find a place to get married with less hassle than Brazil (or fly down twice- remember having to support a second person for 3+ (likely more) months and the more expensive K1 process might add up to more than the flights either way, anyways), the Spousal visa is probably the better option.
 
Whatever you choose, good luck!

Hi! 

We did the K1 in 2016 when the wait times were significantly shorter and we would still have chosen the CR1 if we knew then what we know now. However, I understand if you are unable to go that route for whatever reasons. 

Everyone else has given you good advice on k1 - keep all of your documentation. The advice that I wish we were given is about after your significant other arrives in the USA. Get married ASAP. K1 is not about a fancy wedding. Start working on your AOS paperwork before your significant other even lands in the US. The quicker you get your AOS documentation turned in then the quicker you will be out of the horrible waiting period for the EAD and Greencard. We mailed in our AOS paperwork within the 90 days, but I wish we had mailed  it in sooner. (Shoulda, woulda, coulda) But I hope this advice might help you.  

Good luck with your journey! 

Like others have said start gathering and saving “proof” of relationships. Print out photos, photocopies of passport stamps, airline tickets etc and put it aside as you will need to submit these. 

@missileman @Jaquelly  @BRENTWOOD @Kim and Jermaine @agrabs  Thanks to all of you for pointing out the spousal visa.  The benefits of that route are abundantly clear.  I did look into it further.  Unfortunately, I don't think it will work in my situation.  Marriage is complicated in Brazil (even for people who live there and were born there).  The whole marriage process can take up to 3 months (because you have to register the marriage IN PERSON and then wait up to 60 days to get approved and get a wedding date).  It's not like the USA where you can hire a minister, get a marriage certificate and be married in a matter of days.  I have a really good job here in the states and I cannot take 3 months off to go to Brazil to get married.  In theory I could take two trips down there to accomplish this, but that would be pretty costly and complicated thus eliminating some of the benefits of the spousal visa route (plus, again, not sure I could get the time off from work needed for this kind of plan).  If it were easier to get married in Brazil, I'd prob go the spousal visa route, but I don't think it's logistically possible for us right now.  I know how hard it will be for my boyfriend when he first moves here and can't work (and hard on both of us financially), and I have talked to him about it.  I am truly worried about his mental well-being during that time, but he says he can handle it so I guess I just have to trust him on that!  It won't be easy but I can afford (financially) to support him during those months.

@missileman @Jaquelly  @BRENTWOOD @Kim and Jermaine @agrabs  Thanks to all of you for pointing out the spousal visa.  The benefits of that route are abundantly clear.  I did look into it further.  Unfortunately, I don't think it will work in my situation.  Marriage is complicated in Brazil (even for people who live there and were born there).  The whole marriage process can take up to 3 months (because you have to register the marriage IN PERSON and then wait up to 60 days to get approved and get a wedding date).  It's not like the USA where you can hire a minister, get a marriage certificate and be married in a matter of days.  I have a really good job here in the states and I cannot take 3 months off to go to Brazil to get married.  In theory I could take two trips down there to accomplish this, but that would be pretty costly and complicated thus eliminating some of the benefits of the spousal visa route (plus, again, not sure I could get the time off from work needed for this kind of plan).  If it were easier to get married in Brazil, I'd prob go the spousal visa route, but I don't think it's logistically possible for us right now.  I know how hard it will be for my boyfriend when he first moves here and can't work (and hard on both of us financially), and I have talked to him about it.  I am truly worried about his mental well-being during that time, but he says he can handle it so I guess I just have to trust him on that!  It won't be easy but I can afford (financially) to support him during those months.

@missileman @Jaquelly  @BRENTWOOD @Kim and Jermaine @agrabs  Thanks to all of you for pointing out the spousal visa.  The benefits of that route are abundantly clear.  I did look into it further.  Unfortunately, I don't think it will work in my situation.  Marriage is complicated in Brazil (even for people who live there and were born there).  The whole marriage process can take up to 3 months (because you have to register the marriage IN PERSON and then wait up to 60 days to get approved and get a wedding date).  It's not like the USA where you can hire a minister, get a marriage certificate and be married in a matter of days.  I have a really good job here in the states and I cannot take 3 months off to go to Brazil to get married.  In theory I could take two trips down there to accomplish this, but that would be pretty costly and complicated thus eliminating some of the benefits of the spousal visa route (plus, again, not sure I could get the time off from work needed for this kind of plan).  If it were easier to get married in Brazil, I'd prob go the spousal visa route, but I don't think it's logistically possible for us right now.  I know how hard it will be for my boyfriend when he first moves here and can't work (and hard on both of us financially), and I have talked to him about it.  I am truly worried about his mental well-being during that time, but he says he can handle it so I guess I just have to trust him on that!  It won't be easy but I can afford (financially) to support him during those months.

@missileman @Jaquelly  @BRENTWOOD @Kim and Jermaine @agrabs  Thanks to all of you for pointing out the spousal visa.  The benefits of that route are abundantly clear.  I did look into it further.  Unfortunately, I don't think it will work in my situation.  Marriage is complicated in Brazil (even for people who live there and were born there).  The whole marriage process can take up to 3 months (because you have to register the marriage IN PERSON and then wait up to 60 days to get approved and get a wedding date).  It's not like the USA where you can hire a minister, get a marriage certificate and be married in a matter of days.  I have a really good job here in the states and I cannot take 3 months off to go to Brazil to get married.  In theory I could take two trips down there to accomplish this, but that would be pretty costly and complicated thus eliminating some of the benefits of the spousal visa route (plus, again, not sure I could get the time off from work needed for this kind of plan).  If it were easier to get married in Brazil, I'd prob go the spousal visa route, but I don't think it's logistically possible for us right now.  I know how hard it will be for my boyfriend when he first moves here and can't work (and hard on both of us financially), and I have talked to him about it.  I am truly worried about his mental well-being during that time, but he says he can handle it so I guess I just have to trust him on that!  It won't be easy but I can afford (financially) to support him during those months.

In theory at least, you could get married in a third country (probably somewhere where they do a lot of destination weddings and so local law allows two foreigners to marry quickly). Though similar reasons are why we applied for a K-1.

We did the K1 and If we were to do it over again I would do the CR1 (marriage) visa so he could have his green card when he entered the US.
 
  I underestimated how difficult it would be during those first 6 months while we were waiting for him to get his work permit and green card.  I didn't think it would be that big of deal because we were in a good place financially so we weren't in need of  income from him and we would finally be together so I thought it would all be wonderful.   However, until the work permit (EAD) is approved, he could not get a driver's license and where we live there really isn't a public transit system (and in 2012 Uber wasn't an option).  He pretty much sat around all day waiting for me to get home from work.  He didn't know anyone here so its not like he could go hang out with friends.   He was completely dependent upon me for most everything - tough for a man.   My husband is a tough guy but he was getting a bit homesick after a few months,not to mention the pressure I felt to make sure he was happy and adjusting to his new life here.  Having the green card from the start would make things a whole lot easier. 
 
Either way, have lots of patience!   Congratulations and good luck on your visa journey!