Duke

My fiance and I were engaged on Feb 1st and filed our K1 fiance visa application a few weeks later. Our goal was to have a church wedding in April, spend the next 3 months together in the USA while her visa was being processed, and then have her fly home in July just in time to pickup her visa and return to the USA. Unfortunately, we were using the dreaded CSC ... not the lovely VSC.

Our plans also included a few hot-button issues on this board, namely (a) having a religious ceremony while a K1 application is pending, and (b) entering the USA on the 90-day Visa Waiver Program (VWP) while an application is pending.

We received negative feedback that our plans were "too ambitious", "too risky", that we needed to "wait" and "be patient".

I found the negative feedback interesting, as if we were all going to to everything 100% proper (and take no risks) we would all have hired immigration attorneys and turned our applications over to them. The mere fact that we're going the "Visa Journey" route, and doing it ourselves, involves a certain degree of risk.

I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion, however, the following is what we learned from what actually transpired:

* You CAN have a "religious" wedding ceremony prior to receiving your K1 Fiance Visa. I know this is a real hot-button issue ... and everyone seems to have an opinion ... but this is our experience, not our opinion.

* You CAN enter the USA on the 90-day Visa Waiver Program (VWP) while your Fiance Visa application is pending (this is another hot-button issue.) My fiance simply stated that she was visiting her boyfriend/fiance. Since it was her 3rd trip under the VWP in six months, they did ask for proof of ties to Australia, but the whole process only took a few minutes.

The following was our experience in AUSTRALIA ... although it may apply to other countries, as well:

* You CAN get your medical exam before receiving your Packet-3. My fiance did her medical exam 5 months in advance. Obviously, she did not have a case# assigned yet, so the doctor was kind enough to leave the case# blank and hold onto the exam report for 5 months.

* You CAN get your police report done in advance. Once again, my fiance did hers 5 months in advance.

* You can request a speedy interview. My fiance mailed in her "statement of readiness to be interviewed" on a Monday and had her interview conducted 8 days later.

Wow, how lucky was that!

Good luck with your wedding!!!!

Well, our "wedding" will consist of filling out a form at the courthouse, lol. We had a nice wedding, reception and honeymoon back in April, though

In your interview DON'T lose your passport at the Consulate, especially when your flight to America is 4 days later, lol.

After all the months of forms & delays, we were so estatic to have the Visa granted ... only to get completely deflated when we learned she no longer possessed a passport. And she couldn't immediately go back to the Consulate, as she jumped onto a train back home right after the interview.

Thankfully, the Consulate found the passport and she got it back less than 24 hours before her flight. It was a nerve-wracking few days though. Thank God for small miracles!

I'll try to remember that next week...

Did you decide the interview itself wasn't stressful enough??

Apparently, the 2 minute interview was a breeze. Thankfully, we went over the paperwork a dozen times in advance.

You can do the Economy Plus upgrade up until the moment you fly. And it's good for a year. And only one person has to be a member, for two to fly in economy Plus. We used ours, nto only for Oz, but also to go to Europe in April. I got my value out of that $200 I spent on Ebay, lol.

So, even though I have booked my ticket, can I still do the upgrade. cause that would be excellent if I could...I am dreading of being squashed up for 14 hours!

Yes, you can still do the upgrade. The eBay United Premier memebrships (which are cheaper, and better) take about 2 weeks to be active. The united Economy Plus Access memberships activate immediately: https://www.unitedpromotions.com/epahome/control/epa Once you purchase the membership, you can change your seat (online) to the better seats.

I wanted the better eBay United Premier membeship, but I needed to fly immediately, so I bought the united Economy Plus Access form United, got my great seat, and then bought the United Premier membeship from Ebay the same day. After I flew, I cancelled the united Economy Plus Access and got a refund (there's a 7-day cancellation window) and then my United Premier membeship from Ebay kicked in in tiem for my return flight.

In your interview DON'T lose your passport at the Consulate, especially when your flight to America is 4 days later, lol.

After all the months of forms & delays, we were so estatic to have the Visa granted ... only to get completely deflated when we learned she no longer possessed a passport. And she couldn't immediately go back to the Consulate, as she jumped onto a train back home right after the interview.

Thankfully, the Consulate found the passport and she got it back less than 24 hours before her flight. It was a nerve-wracking few days though. Thank God for small miracles!

United and you can take a extra bag? is that on board or on the luggage part?

Thats for checked in luggage, I am not quite sure if you have to be a mileage plus member for that, but it is easy to become a member when you book with them, just get your travel agent to help if you wanted to go that way.

Duke-I know, I should have gone with Economy Plus, cause I def need the extra leg room!

You can do the Economy Plus upgrade up until the moment you fly. And it's good for a year. And only one person has to be a member, for two to fly in economy Plus. We used ours, nto only for Oz, but also to go to Europe in April. I got my value out of that $200 I spent on Ebay, lol.

I am flying United, and I can take a 3rd suitcase, which is great, cause I have so much stuff...the 3rd bag is only costing an extra $120, which I am willing to pay.

United Economy Plus seating is so much better than regular coach. United sells the Economy Plus Access membership for $300/year, but you can buy United Premier memberships (the same thing) on eBay for half that price.

On my SYD-LAX flight, not only did I have the extra half a foot of legroom, but I had a whole ROW of seats to myself. And there wasn't a single empty seat in regular coach ... they were packed in like sardines back there, while I was sleeping on practically a bed. It was the best $200 I ever spent.

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VISA APPROVED!!!!

It's great hearing words of encouragement because I just received a RFE Boy did I cry I am so scared that they ask for something impossible... it sounds stupid but it's the stress . seeing your timeline it made me feel better that RFE isn't going to stop the process...... Lots of luck and happiness Bye DIANA

I'm almost sure we will get a RFE also what was yours about?

We're all going to make it through this! Stay strong

Our RFE was for proof of relationship & having met in person. A few days after mailing the initial application, I realized (from reading this site) that the evidence I provided was a little weak.

Up until now, our K1 Visa application has been very slow going through the process. I've constantly monitored the other CSC applications filed around the same time as ours, and each step of the way, it seems like we were in the slowest 10 percentile. It felt like our application was made of lead or something, and it was very disheartening to see people who filed at the same time, several steps ahead of us in the process.

Anyhow, that all changed these past few days .... praise God! We appear to have made up for much lost time (and may have even set a new speed record) as NVC issued the letter on July 16th confirming receipt of our file from CSC, and her interview is scheduled in Sydney for July 31st .... which is only 15 days from NVC receiving the file from CSC, to her interview date in Australia!

We received our NOA2 about 2 weeks ago, and our K1 petition is heading towards the NVC now. My question is, will the USCIS website continue to update our case after the issuance of the NOA2? In other words, will the USCIS website announce when our petition hits (or departs from) the NVC?

I've been advised that the "Applicant's Statement of Readiness to be Interviewed" is part of the Packet-3. My Aussie fiance is in the States right now, and will remain in the States until after her packet-3 arrives back at her home in Oz. We already have the entire packet-3 prepared .... except for this "Applicant's Statement of Readiness to be Interviewed".

Does anyone have a copy of this form?

I've been advised that the "Applicant's Statement of Readiness to be Interviewed" is part of the Packet-3. My Aussie fiance is in the States right now, and will remain in the States until after her packet-3 arrives back at her home in Oz. We have the entire packet-3 prepared, however .... except for this "Applicant's Statement of Readiness to be Interviewed".

Does anyone have a copy of this form?

Does anyone have a list of exactly what's in the Packet-3? My fiance is from Australia.

I setup an account on the USCIS website and signed up for the email updates. The website shows our petition as having been "touched" on 5/2, 5/15 and 5/16, but no email notice of the "touches" were sent out.

HOWEVER, on 5/19 USCIS generated an RFE, which they mailed on 5/23. For some reason the RFE didn't appear on the USCIS website, nor was an email notification sent out.

We responded to the RFE, and USCIS received our response on 5/29. Once again, our response was not recorded on the USCIS website, nor was an email notification sent out.

5/16 is still the "Last Updated" date for our petition.

I phoned USCIS and all they could do was read the information off of the website to me (big help!)

*QUESTION: Has anyone else had the experience of the USCIS website not updating their case staus properly? If so, were you able to fix it somehow?

Just follow the guidelines... enough with the "fake" or "Non-Legal" marriages. One slip up and you're going to regret it. Just get your fiance over here first, get married in one of the FIFTY States in the U.S., not the territories, not Virgin Islands, etc. Your future is just too precious to be second-guessing this way. Good Luck!!

A non-licensed religious ceremony is as legally binding as two 12-year olds declaring that they're going steady. For someone to declare to a governmental official that they're "married" after having such a ceremony would be a lie.

Everyone on this site is trying to push the envelope and/or cut corners to some degree. If not, we would have all done things the "proper" way and hired immigration lawyers.

yes, that would be a good heading but I'm still wondering whether they just had a ceremony or whether they submitted a legal document. I mean if they were planning to get married again later why would they get a marriage license? I thought in the US there was separation of Church and State?

Wowsers! This should be pinned with huge wording that says:

DO NOT GET MARRIED BEFORE YOU GET YOUR FIANCE VISA!!!

I feel bad for these folks!

I've read several different articles about their story, and it appears that they had a legally recorded wedding in Hawaii.

There seems to be a false assumption prevelant. The US Government does not automatically recognize all foreign marriages. Foreign marriages have to conform to certain guidelines, and a specific process has to be followed, to be regognized in the USA. In the absence of such, the marriage does not exist under US law. And if the foreign marriage is not legally recorded with the foreign government, then the marriage definitely doesn't exist under US law. And if the marriage doesn't exist, then one can legally enter the US on a K1 Visa (as my wife/fiance did last week.)

Another consideration is that many countries have residency requirements in order to legally marry. For example, the UK has a 14-day residency requirement. So, in order to legally record a marriage in a foreign country (and begin the process of having it recognized in the USA,) you must meet that country's residency requirement.

Why didn't she say "fiancee"? was there a specific reason?

She said 'boyfriend' instead of 'fiance' to avoid raising any unnecessary flags. If the immigration officer had asked anything about marriage plans or intentions, she would have elaborated more.

I wrote about this topic several weeks ago, and have seen several more posts since. Anyhow, I thought I'd share our real-life experience this week. My Australian fiance traveled from Germany on a R/T ticket to the USA, intending to stay for the full 90 days allowed on the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

We were concered because (i) we have a fiance visa applciation pending, (ii) my fiance did not possess a return ticket to her country, (iii) this is the 3rd time she's entered the USA in the past 5 months (but the 1st since applying for a fiance visa) and (iv) she no longer has a 'home' in Australia, as this trip was her 'move' to the USA. When she returns to Australia after 90 days, she will stay with friends, and hopefully her interview will occur right away (she's already completed the police and medical.)

The Immigration officer questioned her for about 4 minutes. She did not ask for proof of my fiance's return ticket. The questons that my fiance remembers the Immigration officer asking are: (i) where she was staying in the USA (my fiance said 'with my boyfriend'), (ii) where her boyfriend lived, (iii) what her boyfriend did for a living, (iv) when she was returning to Australia, (v) if she had returned to Australia since her previous trip to the States in early Feb, (vi) how long she was staying in the USA this time, (vii) how much money she had on her, (viii) and since the answer to the previous question was "zero", how much money she had in the bank back in Australia (thankfully my fiance brought a copy of her bank statement. )

I noticed several posts about phone calling cards & prices, so I thought I would chime in with my experiece.

I use AT&T's plan (I think it's called "One Country") which allows me to make unlimited direct-dialed calls to Australia for $50 per month. The quality of the connection is far superior the calling cards I tried (espcially because I'm calling rural Australia) and it works out to a little over 1 cent per minute for us.

I just know that if I was planning my wedding with the possibility of it not being the 'real thing' on the 'big day' (which I am!!) that I'd want to know as soon as possible if there was a big chance I wasn't going to make it. You know? Maybe that's just me, but I think I'd want to have enough time as possible to come to grips with that and understand it.

It depends on what you consider the 'real thing'.

HUSKERKIEV, YOU'RE A LIFE SAVER! I read every one of your posts and learned more that I ever hoped for about the Visa process.

Anyhow, I'm concerned about an RFE because I went pretty light on the proof of relationship. I submitted:

(a) 3 photos of us together as a couple, 1 from each of our 3 in-person meetings. I wrote on the back the date and exact place each photo was taken.

(B) Pintouts of the 3 airline e-tickets from each of our 3 trips. I did not submit hardcopies of the boarding passes, just printouts of the e-ticket email confirmations that the airlines send out.

I did NOT submit copies of our passport stamps, phone records, copies of emails, or anything else.

<Q> Would you have issued an RFE in this case?

Also, concerning proof of relationship....

<Q> Do the processors take into consideration the country the fiance is coming from? I mean, are the processors inclined to let fiances from certain countries slide by with less evidence of relationship, whereas they might be a little more demanding from other countries?

<Q> Might the processors take any other factors (such as length of relationship, age difference, ect.) into consideration regarding proof of relationship and demand more or less evidence as a result?

Thanks a zillion!!!

I'm in the same boat as you. And, yes, our "wedding" date was set BEFORE I discovered this site, so I cannot go back and change history. However, I'm not stressed, as I consider the church ceremony the "real" wedding. In my mind, a marriage license doesn't make me married. It simply allows us to share last names, file joint tax returns, share in insurance benefits, own community property, etc.

Think of it this way: Suppose you have your big church wedding and mail your marriage license to the County. Then, several years later, you discover that the license was never received and/or registered by the County. In other words, LEGALLY you would not have been married all those years. However, would you FEEL unmarried? I know I wouldn't. I would simply file a new marriage license, and go on with life. It's the vows before God that matter to me, not a piece of paper filed with the courthouse.

In other words, I'm perfectly fine with my "legal" wedding occuring months after my "church" wedding. I just have to train my fiance to continue to use the terms "fiance" and "engaged" when she enters the States on the VWP, and when she goes in for her interview.

My understanding is the medical is valid for 1 year from exam date (that is what's listed in my fiance's consulate instruction). I am not sure if the same rule applies to the police certificate. To be on the safe side your fiance may ask the US consulate in his/her country so that they can give you guys the correct guidance regarding this situation.

I think the official position of the consulate is that we can't do ANYTHING until we receive the packet. Of course, if you know exactly what the packet is going to contain, then it reasons that you should be able to start early. Then again, governmental agencies don't necessarily operate on reason.