StarLord22

But for love, rather than just for immigration benefits, right? 

Even if they gave you a waiver for not meeting how did you intend proving a valid relationship with someone you have not seen for 10 years?
 
Who told you this was a good idea?

In-person "face time" is crucial, both to prove a bona fide relationship and to head off unpleasant surprises after marriage.  Marriage is a lot more permanent than people often realize.  Marry in haste, repent in leisure.  Invest ample time in person before proceeding.
 
Administrative processing is routine at Middle Eastern & North African consulates.

You need to get some quality time, multiple visits in before you consider marriage.

UK does not have a sibling category at all.

Immediately file for divorce. Have him legally evicted from your residence. You do not have to get him an apartment that is extortion. Do not worry about him filing VAWA. They know false claims when they see them. 

In my understanding they won’t know people are gay unless you do super PDA (public displays of affection). But even heterosexual couples can’t do a lot of PDA because of Asian culture - so any PDA for any kind of couple, gay or not gay is still unacceptable. 
 
The reason that I mention this is because I don’t want our country to be generalized as a homophobic country. Of course there are homophobic people anywhere.
 
I really hope you will get the tourist visa, but if you cant get it, like I said…your bf can come to indonesia safely and won’t be stoned. 

AOS always looks like a great idea until it doesn’t. I think people underestimate the ‘not being able to work or leave the US’ part.
 
I assume you were aware of all the implications when deciding to do AOS? You could have told your partner that doing AOS would put you in a difficult spot, and that leaving the US on time and doing the CR1 would be a better decision for the long run.
 
My husband and I were in the same boat, I was visiting the US and when we talked with a lawyer, they said I would be eligible for AOS, but I was not going to put myself in that situation and my husband completely understood. 

Pre-war many Ukrainians would go work in Europe for a good part of the year. Save Money. Repeat for a year years.   Buy an apartment with cash.  Actually most apartments are traded in USD, Second in Euro.  Now they own it debt free.
 
It isnt sunshine and roses but outside of the frontlines it isn't what the media portrays. My wife's friend opened a salon 6 months ago and every day she is booked doing facials, massages, skin care treatments.  Her schedule is booked two weeks out. 

2. It's much cheaper and she has a massive family in her country to support her. Also tradition for the mother to support their daughters giving birth there.
 
3. The kid will be born a citizen regardless where it is born because I am a citizen

Should ask what their priorities are before blanket recommending a Zoom marriage and CR-1 - there are tradeoffs.
 
Some people care more about time together than cost or time-to-greencard.
 
K-1 processing has improved immensely in recent months, it's probably down to ~12-15 months total for recent filers. CR-1 can have long delays for the NVC and embassy stages, especially for certain countries.
 
In terms of entry to the US, using VJ data:
Difference in US Entry
Percentage of Filers
31-100 days faster for CR-1
12.6%
1-30 days faster for CR-1
13.5%
 
 
1-30 days faster for K-1
16.7%
31-90 days faster for K-1
22.8%
91-180 days faster for K-1
9.0%
181-360 days faster for K-1
15.9%
361-650 days faster for K-1
9.5%

 
 
 
   
I'd certainly want to know which group someone was in before pushing one visa over another on them.
 
                                   

I don't know what the procedure is so that's why I asked. So many people enter the US on a tourist visa and then switch to work visas or student visas which is all legal. The Biden administration has also allowed those that lose their jobs while on work visas to switch to tourist visas while they search for new employment which technically is considered fraudulent. 
 
There's no law that says you can't sponsor parents while they are already present in the US on tourist visas. 

Having kids together actually is strong evidence for immigration, perhaps the strongest.  
 

Bring vaccination records, school transcripts, Walmart receipts, old drivers licenses, your latest ultrasound, your paystubs 
 
Just joking. Bring what the letter says, nothing more, nothing less

You must meet first. Full stop.
 
This is not about immigration but taking marriage seriously: online infatuation is nice but having actual interaction with someone and getting to know them in real life is necessary in order to know if that is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. 

To all my I-90 renewal of green card filers (10 yr renewal). If you are doubting for any reason between N-400 or GC and see the greencard wait time is bigger than the N-400, don’t let yourself be fooled by those estimated times. At this moment, I just felt like I wanted to do things simple and renew my GC so I filed March 20. March 22 I got a notification saying it has been approved and card has been sent. Today (March 26), I received my new greencard in the mail. Total time from filing to receiving the card 6 days. The USCiS website says 20 months. Just your reminder that each case is different so if you have nothing outstanding, 20 months won’t necessarily be your wait time. 

Best of luck with the process!
We're in it with you, so any other questions feel free to ask. The trend has been improving, so applying now you may see a big difference in processing time from those of us already waiting.

You are missing the point.  Getting married or even rushing to get married to get a CR-1 just because it has more features and more convienent is foolish for many people.
Granted, for yourself, or for many other people, depending on their stage of life, it may make good sense to decide on it based on the features.
 
But for many others, they should decide based on whether they are really are ready to be married and then seperated for 2 years, or be engaged for 2 years before the K-1 is approved.  Its a very emotional issue, that can vary greaty depending on the couple and circumstances.
So pushing a cr-1 on many peopke and keep telling them its better may be 100% correct or 100% wrong.
 

If the K-1 and CR-1 only took 3-8 months like it used to take 20 years or so ago, then I agree.  But now it takes close to 2 years.  
So if you do a K-1. you will ultimately be engaged to each other for 2 years longer until they arrive in the USA when you will marry within 3 months,
During these 2 years, or so, you can video chat 2/day for hours, visit each other a few times a year .. or even meet in a neighboring country like Canada if you live near the border.   It will give you a chance to develop and deepen your relationship and get better prepare for marriage, and to flush out a bad marriage or scams that too many people end up having ... no marriage how confident they think they are .. 

That's a good point! Should add that to the list! The tax savings from the 2 years of filing married and working for 8 -12 months earlier can be huge!
 
I didn't think of that because for myself, I want my fiancee to first learn how to drive and then get in a few months of practice,, and maybe even go to school first for her Master's degree to get a better job. I have see so many divorces, and so many break-ups, and so many betrayals, that for me my priority is to be engaged for 2 years, and meet often while waiting.  When I was younger, I rushed into marriage and that was a mistake.
 
Buying a cake for tonight is very different than buying the ingredients with the plan to bake a cake down the road,  Don't be foolish.

You forgot about the tax savings. Doing a CR-1 allows you to file taxes as married, probably 2 years earlier.  For myself, that would save me about $25/year on taxes.
 
But I am still doing a K-1 instead of a CR-1 because a CR-1 requires you to get married, and then be separated for 2 years. A divorce will cost you even more.
 
The  cost of a wedding in a foreign country is also a lot different. 
 
Need to be realistic as many K-1 couples break up before they get married. Rushing to get  married to save a little bit on the application fee or on taxes is foolish.
You should get married if that is your priority, or do a K-1 if you prefer to have a longer engagement and get married in the USA. 
The money or time is going to be insignificant and all forgotten after being married for a while. What will be important is how you got married, or developed your relationship during your engagement.
 
Or there may be other issues to consider. For example, if you are an international travelor for buisness and can't afford to wait 8 monthes for your EAD, then a cr-1 is the only choice.
 
What I am trying to say is making a decision based on "which is better" is not the right attitude, it should be what do you need. A cr-1 because you are getting married, or a k-1 because you want to be engaged, or a cr-1 for work, etc....  not comparing the features like you compare different credit cards.
 
Another realistic considering is the possibility of divorce. Getting married and divorce in Thailand was trivial. In the Philippines, both are very dif

It took 4 months but I got approved for TSA precheck with my expired gc and 18 months extension letter. You can get TSA precheck during ROC

It took 4 months but I got approved for TSA precheck with my expired gc and 18 months extension letter. You can get TSA precheck during ROC

Hello everyone! 
 
Great news! On 1/31/23 the USCIS website updated to show that my husband's green card had been printed. On 2/1, it updated again to show that our petition was approved without an interview! His card was shipped on 2/3 and we received it yesterday, 2/6. Our service center was Nebraska.
 
We haven't applied for his citizenship and probably won't for a while, so I just wanted to update everyone with our timeline without the N-400 application.
 
To say we are relieved is a total understatement, it's such a huge weight of our shoulders to finally have a 10 year permanent residency card. The impending expiration of our extension letter was starting to cause some issues and with a trip to the UK coming up in May I was starting to freak out!
 
Did anyone else get differing estimates from VJ ranging anywhere from February 16th to May 15th? I had to stop opening them since they were freaking me out haha.
 
Anyway, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! I wish all of you good luck and hope that your approvals are on their way! 💞
 
 

Hello July 2022 Filers,
 
Just updating the thread that it is now official for us. N400 case is closed, Certificate of Naturalization issued last January 24th.
 

Godspeed for everyone else waiting for their turn to be sworn in as new American citizens.
 
Cheers,