JnJ2006

20 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Do the CR-1.

 

Search "apartment locators" in Phoenix.  Talk to some.  They'll have the insiders' knowledge to help you feel secure.

If "apartment locators" yields no hits, call a real estate company.  They can refer you or even help directly.

Okay, that's an excellent idea, thank you!

I'll try to convince her of the CR1, instead, as I do more research on it. 

8 minutes ago, Yani08 said:

There’s always Texas😁

She has a horse. We'd probably fit right in lol

11 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

If you have such a limited budget, SoCal is not a good choice, as it is not just about the costs of rent. EVERYTHING is more expensive. For example, average gas difference between California and Arizona is a dollar or more per gallon. Depending on where you both find jobs, the commutes will be LONG -going back and forth from Temecula at peak hours is INSANE-.

 

Maybe your best choice is getting married, filing for the spousal visa and moving to Phoenix. You'd be able to work as soon as you move, unlike with the fiance visa.

 

As for evidence, you won't need that much, as they understand you're in a long distance marriage.

We both like the idea of going to Arizona instead. Just not sure how we could manage to rent a place with solely her credentials. I guess she could get a co-sign or potentially use my savings balance as something? I wonder if anyone on here has some insight to the Phoenix area so we can better understand the good and bad areas to live.

I'll research the CR1 more, because I know it would be a lot easier in the grand scheme of things even though it takes a bit longer. Is the denial rate higher or lower than the K1, by chance? Not that I have any reason to be denied, but my fiancee, she's a bit of a worrier even when I reassure her about things. I would think there's less fraudulent cases with the CR1 than the K1, leading to a lower denial chance or scrutiny.

8 minutes ago, CJKylie said:

Where abouts in California?

A lot of areas you can not survive on $2,200 a month.

My rent alone is $3,200 for a 2 bedroom townhome in Orange County.

 

CR1 would probably be a better option so you can work straight away

SoCal. We were looking in the Temecula area and there were some spots around 1300-1500 a month just in rent, so 2200 would probably be pushing it. We'd only need a 1 bedroom. 

That's why were considering Arizona, specifically Phoenix. Just not sure how we go about getting out there from starting in California, especially with having to get married, file the AOS, EAD, etc. The company I work for in Canada won't transfer me, but they do operate in Phoenix, so I could eventually just re-apply with all of my work experience with them and hopefully start off that way.

I brought up the CR1, but she wants to see if we can figure anything out around the K1 first. Also, I'm not exactly certain how to go about providing the evidence required for the CR1. We don't have anything shared between us financially or anything right now.

Hello everyone,

My fiancee and I are trying to plan our living arrangements for when I finally make the move out to the US (California specifically) on a K1 Visa, and I'm looking for some ideas as to what we could consider giving our situation.

A little backstory, my fiancee resides with her parents, and that household is full so I will not be able to move in there. I am continually saving money, and I am basing my savings on the theoretical scenario that I don't find a job for a year, even though I know that shouldn't be the case, at the very least it will give us a safety net. Between us, we could afford about 2,200 a month in living expenses, but that doesn't leave us much wiggle room either, and I won't be much help in the application process for renting. 

I've looked at possibly subletting through Airbnb for a while, but it only goes for 6 months. I've looked at the possibility of buying an RV and renting space on a campground or something, but that would cost just as much as renting an apartment per month, and that's factoring out the cost of the RV. We've looked at Arizona as a potential destination, as well, as California's cost of living is really high, but it comes back to renting again, and I don't want to make her rent somewhere unsafe just because it's cheaper.

So I'm at a road where I'm running slim on ideas. Not sure if anyone can even offer up any new ideas or advice, but it's worth a shot.

Also, as a side note, I know it's not related to this forum, but I've read a lot about the CR1 Visa being an option for engaged couples if they just get married, but aside from researching it myself, does anyone have any experience with trying to provide evidence required for the CR1 even though you don't have a joint ANYTHING yet with your partner? How does that work, exactly?

Anyways, thanks for any and all responses in advance.

-JnJ

20 hours ago, prolixus said:

I had my interview at the Montreal consulate in 2015, but it was for an IR-1 visa. At that point my spouse and I were already married for 4.5 years. I was really worried about the outcome too but the Montreal consulate is pretty relaxed, and the interview was very easy and straight forward. The interviewer was a guy probably in his late 20's or early 30's and was very friendly. One of their biggest concerns is when the US citizen petitioner is living in Canada, and domicile becomes an issue, but that won't apply to your case. Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your experience! Any positive or reassuring stories help a lot! 

16 hours ago, boris64 said:

Boarding passes, passport stamps and some photos showing you together should do the trick.  A short narrative about how you met should be more than enough. Good Luck)

It's good to know that an extensive list of evidence may not be required, but I'm definitely going to give everything that I have available. Whether it be something as simple as a boarding pass, a banking statement, or a photo of us together at an event with something proving the date the of the event. No stone will be left unturned. 

15 hours ago, NikLR said:

Honestly CR1 is easy when you havent lived together.  You send some evidence of regular communication and spending time together.  They don't expect newlyweds to have joint things. That takes time.  

CR1 means you can work and travel right away without waiting 6 months without ead or ap. 

Hmm... I didn't spend too much time considering it. I think we went in with the K-1 mainly because we wanted to be together sooner? Also, I'll be bringing quite a bit of savings with me for the purposes of helping her support us until I can get working, as I know it's a bit of a wait. Do you have happen to have any insight on getting an apartment in the US while currently residing in a different country? I want to help my fiancee get us a place, but unsure about how to go about making it happen. 

1 hour ago, nguoivietnam2019 said:

When I had K-1 petition, I just included my pre-wedding pictures* & traditional wedding pictures*  + passport stamps (I never keep flight tickets).

*I then realized it was stupid but I included a statement that there was wedding, just not a legal marriage. Petition got approved, visa got approved.  

 

Anyway, back to OP's question: passport stamps, flight tickets (or flight itineraries + credit card statements), and a few pictures will do the job.  No needs to explain the details of the relationships. USCIS looks into evidences to approve, the details may be asked later at the interview.

 

I'll get a print out of my banking statement from that month to corroborate my itineraries, as well. I'll make sure the evidence more abundant than any statement. Thanks!

1 hour ago, NikLR said:

The hardest thing for Canadian beneficiaries is proving the first meeting.  You didn't use a stamped boarding pass and likely they didn't stamp your passport.  Do what you can.  You dont need a tonne of details. 

 

Also have you guys considered the CR1 instead? 

They stamped by passport on the way in, but not on the return. I may be able to get the e-tickets I used on the way there, as they were sent via text message. I have a physical ticket from the way back, though, plus all of my itineraries. We have photos of us together, and we're going to get some photos of me and her family when I go again soon. 

We did consider the CR-1, but my biggest thing about that was the evidence they require is stuff with both our names on it, so I'm not sure how we would go about doing that when we haven't lived together or anything. If we were going to do the CR-1, I might as well bring her up to Canada instead. 

Just now, Cryssiekins said:

Try to focus on something that shows both of you were at the same spot at the same time.  My husband and I lived within an hour of each other, so when we visited we stayed at each other’s house, and since there is no i94 (or Canadian equivalent) issued for land crossings, to meet this requirement with no doubt, we booked a hotel one weekend, which had both names on the receipt (and we both signed it).  Canada is low fraud, so whatever you have should be sufficient, I just didn’t want to delay the process at all (and when we filed, processing times were quicker than they are now).

I'll make sure to build on tying us together at the same spot, as much as I can for sure. If we don't have certain types of evidence, well then... we just don't have it, and will have to hope we don't get hit with an RFE. Thank you for your suggestions in regards to evidence needed! 

1 minute ago, Ash&Jaye said:

We used Facebook Messenger screenshots and had nicknames as well! 😂 You should be fine! Especially with the photos being each of you!

 

Another thing we did was screenshots of our facebook profile pages. Showed we were in a relationship and had mutual friends and pictures together! Might not make any difference, but again, it's a good second layer of evidence!

Hahaha I figured we weren't the only ones! That's good to know, for sure. We don't really have mutual friends right now, because hers are very scattered and I haven't had a chance to meet them, but I'll take photos of our profiles just as extra! Thanks again. 

1 minute ago, Ash&Jaye said:

Yes! Definitely use message logs! Just adds another layer of evidence. Especially if it's talking about seeing each other in person soon and dated around the same time to when you went there! My husband and I lived in the same city when we filed but we still put in messages of like me telling him I was on the train to his house, etc!  hope that helps!

Very helpful, thank you! I did not think about it like that. I'll be sure to get screenshots of stuff like that!

Might be a bit of an oddball question... but we use Facebook Messenger for all our contact in recent times. Our usernames on the chat head is set to nicknamed... will that cause an issue in proving that it's us, even though our profile pictures are both set to a different picture we took together?

1 minute ago, Ash&Jaye said:

You should be fine! As long as you guys write down exactly how you met and you share some ticket stubs, photos, messages, etc, you should be good to go  p.s. make sure to put the date on everything!

Thanks! I'll be as detailed as possible about the in-person meeting. I've got some boarding passes from my first trip. My flight there I used an e-ticket, so I'm not sure how much I can get from that. We've got receipts from things while I was there, photos, and I will be sure to date them!

Are messages useful? I could maybe pull up some messages of us talking about the in-person meeting, prior? We shared a lot of excitement about it. 

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

If it was Nigeria,  we might have a different opinion 

Which does make sense in my mind, absolutely. I already mentioned what you had confirmed to me, and she seems a little at ease already about it. Thank you. 

Just now, payxibka said:

It's Canada,  she can relax

That's my angle on it, but it never hurts to be reaffirmed of that! Thank you lol

8 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Much of the advice you will receive here on VJ is consulate-specific, so please fill in your timeline.

 

That said, I feel that sticking to the official USCIS checklist for the I-129f petition is best.  For question 54 (I believe that was the #), we simply listed the dates of our visits and provided passport stamps to confirm those.

 

We didn't include the backstory that we were high school penpals in 1985, or that we first met in person in 1991.  We didn't include any chat logs or even photos.  My husband's consulate, Auckland, is very low fraud though.

 

YMMV

No.  And it likely won't even come up.  USCIS does not care about love stories.  They only care about eligibility to file the petition.

Profile has been updated. Thanks for the heads up! I'll be going to the only choice in Canada, which is Montreal. 

Okay, I'll just stick to the describing the in-person meeting in detail, and omit any lengthy parts about before any of that happened. You don't think proposing on the first meeting won't raise any red flags? I guess if it doesn't come up, there's no way it could.

Just trying to get a better handle on that specific question, because my fiancee is quite worried about being denied, even though I feel our case strong. I'm trying to help ease her mind some by taking on the bigger sections of the application.

Thank you for your timely response! 

Hello everyone! First time poster here.

So, I've been browsing the site a lot, researching while me and my fiancee put together our application for the K-1. I wanted to grab some advice in regards to the question pertaining to providing more detail about the in-person meeting within 2 years, as I know every case is different.

Me and my now fiancee met way back in 2006 while playing a video game. We started as friends then, and we talked all the time over the years before we finally started dating last November, and then I went to visit her in February where I then proposed. I've booked another visit at the end of May for her birthday.

In regards to answering the question they're asking, I've seen some people say that you only need to explain any meetings in the last 2 years, and others say that information about the progression up to that first meeting can also help. I figure in our case, since I proposed on the first meeting, I should give some back story. 

I'm curious to whether or not they'll start trying to get evidence from me that dates ALL the way back to when we first talked, if I include that part of the story when answering. Chat logs aren't necessarily available from back then, but she can corroborate the story obviously. 

Also, is it necessary to talk about the proposal in that section of the application, or is that something that will come up later at the interview?

Thanks for any suggestions/advice, in advance!