neophi

Congrats!!

Craig & Karina,

I'm glad someone else has a similar timeline to mine! My goal is for us to be together by the end of October, or starting November (for my b-day)!

Let's keep our prayers up! Some words someone told me last week: "God has a funny way of putting papers on peoples' desks."

It seems like I'm a broken record but I'm explaining this to people several times a week. It is extremely unlikely you will have the option of pursuing anything but the K3, because the procedures changed last fall. Now your I-130 will be held at the service center while the K3 proceeds. There is a procedure to get it going again but so far, few have succeeded and it has taken several months.

If you want a CR1 visa, don't file an I-129F. For all intents and purposes, if you've filed an I-129F for a spouse, CR1 and/or IR1 are dead issues.

I see. Thanks for the clarification. I guess I had seen an old post about keeping both up.

The difference is only 1 month? Man, I am so tempted to drop the K-3 and go with the CR1 visa, if they end up being approved simultaneously. But in my case, 1-2 months would definitely justify the extra money and hassle of AOS of the K-3. We'll have a newborn by that time, and I need to be next to my wife.

PS: I just uploaded a pic for my avatar since it seems like all the colombians here have one. hehehe.

CG,

I've only heard of 1 person filing both petitions together here on VJ. The rest have sent a copy of the NOA2 for the I-130, and a handful have sent the I-129F with the receipt# on the cover letter. I haven't heard of anyone getting RFE'd because of it, but I might have missed the posts.

I'm also with pushbrk on what he said regarding the CR1 visa. Right now the only difference in waiting time between the CR1 and K3 for Bogotá is about 1 month or so. And regardless of how much the fees will be, the CR1 definitely takes away a lot of the hassle that has to be dealt with once they arrive in the States.

I would look at the timelines of the people who have filed for both visas going through Bogotá such as maviwaro, parkpapa, Cartagena, jediknight and myself and you'll see that there is a slight difference in processing time, but not much.

Just a thought.

Diana

But he could also "keep both horses in the race" if he wanted to?

Do not respond to any mail from NVC, and the CR1 will not proceed. What is better is to respond with a letter indicating you would like the I-130 returned to the service center to await your adjustment of status. Don't pay any bills associated with the I-130 because you won't get the money back.

Wow... I'm so glad I didn't marry my wife when she was here on her P-3 visa. Although pregnancy could have helped prove the spur of the moment marriage.

In any case, I wish you the best of luck and may God watch over your case.

I guess my question now is if anybody knows a good lawyer in Wisconsin or Michigan. I've only dealt with a lawyer once in my life (house purchase) and that was in Canada so that does me no good now.

I don't have a recommendation for an attorney but I think I should elaborate on my earlier brief post. My wife was calling me for lunch, quite insistently. I'm sure you didn't intend to attempt visa fraud but unfortunately ignorance is no excuse in these matters.

From what I understand, your husband entered the US with the intention of marrying you and later adjusting status and you've now attempted to do so. This is a big no no. If the two of you decided during his visit that, you wanted to get married that's a different story. Based on your dates, it appears the marriage was planned before he crossed the border. Now that you've filed the I-130 and been denied, its a bit too late to be claiming a spur of the moment marriage occured. Even if you could truthfully claim that, your husband has overstayed his leave to enter.

An attorney may be able to assist you in clearing up these matters, as overstays tend to be forgiven when one marries a USC. Attempted visa fraud isn't so simple. You may end up wishing you spoke to the Attorney before you filed any petition.

Thanks for the link to the other post! I usually only peruse the K-3 forums and search for anything specific:)

I now understand that one thing is having your visa expire, and another is having your I-94 expire. The other post cleared it all up.

No you can apply for AOS up to a few days before the expire date on the I-94 card stapled in the in the passport, much like K-1s having to file with in the 90 days of the I-94, K-3s file within the 2 years of their I-94 card, this date can in fact be well after the K-3 visa expire date.

Nothing happens to the AOS process when the K-3 expires, the AOS process just continues on it's way.

In fact you can file to extend the K-3 visa's expiration by filing I-539.

SEE post from earlier: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...st&p=999824

Actually, she already has an SSN from when she entered the country on a P-3 visa last year. It's not valid for work since she has no EAD, but it's still an SSN.

Unless you want to deal with extending the validity of the K3 visa, you can delay the filing of AOS for up to about 21 months after her entry. I wouldn't have delayed that long. I wanted to file 2-3 months before our second wedding anniversary.

A disadvantage I see in your situation is that you'll have to file a W7 for an ITIN instead of getting an SSN for your joint tax return. You've already made your judgment calls on the other issues.

Thanks for the link. Helpful tool indeed.

However, my question really is for how much time can I delay AOS? I think pushbrk said 11 months before K-3 expires. I'm assuming this is to ensure AOS is completed before K-3 expires. Which then makes me wonder what would happen if AOS is still in process and K-3 expires?

Hello guys,

We all know the AOS fees are jumping to a little over $1000 by July 30th. Even if by a miracle of God my wife is granted her visa within a month, she would not be able to travel as she is in her 7th month of pregnancy. So I'm pretty much screwed by the fee increase already.

Now, not only would these $1000 be better off in my money market savings account earning 5% interest, but I could definitely use them elsewhere, considering that once she arrives I will have to move to an apartment with her and our baby, buy furniture, start buying diapers, etc., etc., etc.

So, why not delay this process until next year or so, hoping that I'll have a better job/salary by then and still have the money AND, as pushbrk suggested in his "K3 Delay of Status Adjustment, To skip Removal of Conditions" post, maybe even avoid having to file for Removal of Conditions, depending on when she arrives?

If something were to happen to me before she got her green card, she definitely would move back home. Like pushbrk's wife, she is not moving here in pursuit of the "American dream," she is only moving here to be with me. My question does not regard whether or not we are risking her permanent stay in the U.S.

From what I understand:

1. She can travel to and from the U.S. and Colombia as many times as she wants.

2. She can work here if we wanted to with the EAD (but we're planning on her being a full-time mom).

3. To travel to other countries, she will need the respective visas.

So, except for #3, which is more an obstacle rather than a problem, what are the disadvantages of delaying the AOS? How much time could I buy by delaying filing of the AOS? What would happen if AOS is still in process and K-3 expires?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Congratulations!!

Wow, that blows. I'll have to evaluate the two and decide.

Oh man I had the worst experience with Crossfone. I hate them. I even went off on a poor phone rep once which I never do. I canceled back in March and they are still charging me monthly no matter how many faxes and e-mails I've sent them regarding the issue.

Thanks for the info!

I would even dare to say that it would actually make things easier for you. No need to worry about discrepancies between your civil documents abroad and the U.S. I don't know about Jamaica, but I think I read here on VJ that Russia, for example, makes it a pain or something.

This will not be a problem

I'm glad for you. Likewise, my wife never expected me to support her financially when we were dating. But with a baby on the way, I told her it was fine to stay home with the baby at least until he is ready for kindergarten. She had a tough time accepting this, as she did not want to feel useless. After a couple of months speaking with her mom and mine, she now knows she'll be far from useless.

It's ironic how most people around us (i.e. friends, family, coworkers) expect her to arrive here and straight to the mall to get a job in a store or the foodcourt, while someone takes care of the baby (if not day care). We want the exact opposite. Why do people have to get into other people's business? Oh well, we ignore them.

In a near future, she would also like to "contribute to our livelihood." I tell her to finish college first, we'll manage thanks to God.

I got to tell ya. This illustrates one of the reasons I love her. I had gone out with plenty of girls in Colombia. Because of where my family lives (Northern Bogota and Poblado in Medellin) they were mostly little rich girls who had lived on daddy's dime their whole lives. Most were just looking for a husband to take daddy's place.

However, although she lives with her middle class parents, she works full-time, goes to school at night and helps her family out. It really bothers her that she won't be able to "pull her own weight" over here. Even though we shouldn't have any financial problems, I appreciate the fact that she wants to contribute to our livelihood.

LOL! That's hilarious. I'm also spending $200-$300 monthly in long distance calls through Skype, plus the occasional trip. However, I'm not paying rent right now, so having her here won't be cheaper for me hehe.

Regarding unlimited calls to Colombian land lines, I think you're talking about El Telefono Rojo. I'm living with my parents until my wife arrives, and they've had it for quite a while. I love it. Not only is it cheaper but the quality is at least 90% better. I don't know why I never got my own account. Probably cuz I'd have to buy another phone and ATA box and/or complicate the set up we have now. Damn it! I'd be saving over $200 a month. It's probably not too late to start now anyway. That's it, I'm calling them tomorrow.

Thanks for the info folks. The income requirements would not be a problem. I am not about to take a pay cut, but I just want to avoid causing any delays in the K-3.

You know what's funny is that my wife says she worries about being a drain on our finances as she won't be able to work for a while once she comes here. I just laugh and explain to her that the cost of having a wife here is a hell of a lot cheaper than having a girlfriend in another country. Heck, I was spending $200-300 a month on long distance alone before I found a company that gives me unlimited calls to Colombian land lines for a set monthly fee. On top of that, the cost of going to visit her every few months is outrageous.

Thanks again,

CG

I typed in None, and then Bogota, Colombia for the next question.

This more specific answer that Craig suggests sounds better to me.

Hello,

For that question, I simply put: "We have never lived together. Married 5/18/07" I suggest that you do not make this any more difficult than it is...keep it simple and honest.

Regards,

Each of you have to sign your respective G-325A's personally. The easiset thing to do is use the saveable form and fill it our for your SO abroad, and e-mail it to them so they can just print/sign and FedEx it to you.

I want to know this so I know if my husband can print this for me, or if I have to sign it here and fedex it to him.

That's funny. I just asked a similar question in another thread.

Glad you found the form useful. It seemed silly that this was the only form you couldn't save without the full version of Acrobat.

Peace,

CG

Good job. Wish somebody had done this before I don't have Acrobat Pro on any machine.

I had to borrow a designer's computer here at work so I could save the form and e-mail it to my wife pre-filled so she could just print and sign.

I noticed that the G-325A PDF from the USCIS site cannot be filled in and saved in Acrobat Reader, while most of the other forms can.

I modified the form so you can fill it and save it in Acrobat Reader. You will have to "Save As" once you fill it in. I tested it at home with Acrobat Reader 7 and it works properly.

Here it is. Give it try if you need it.

Peace,

CG

That's what we did. You might want to wait for her to sign the G-325A pages and when sending to you, send the pictures along with the package. When I first decided to do the K-3 with my wife, I made the mistake of rushing and had her send me the pics first, only to then realize (after finding VJ) there were papers she needed to personally sign (G-325A). $40 down the drain.

CG,

You can also suggest to your wife to go to any Foto Japon in Colombia to have her pictures taken, that's where we went to get ours done. Just say they are US visa style photos and she can send them to you with her signed G-325A forms. Also, don't forget she has to sign all 4 pages and since you're filing for a K3 visa, she needs to sign a total of 8 pages.

Diana

I wish I would have done that and saved myself a month.

Lara,

A few VJers have reported sending the I-130 and I-129f petitions together, because they didn't know any better, and both petitions were accepted for processing. I haven't seen any reports of sending the petitions together and having the I-129f returned. Whether or not you want to try it is up to you - the odds look good, but the anecdotal evidence on which the odds are based is quite skimpy.

Read the petition instructions to find out what needs to be included with each.

Yodrak

Really? I followed the guides here on VJ and put the documents in the same order as stated there.

7. G-325A (all four pages) filled out by the US Citizen signed and dated

8. One passport-type photo (see specification) of the US Citizen. [...]

9. G-325A (all four pages) filled out by the foreign spouse signed and dated

10. One passport-type photo (see specification) of the foreign spouse [...]

I bought those vertical name tag plastics for lanyards/pins (for like conferences and stuff) and labeled them. I put my picture in one, and my wife's picture in another, and stapled them in separate blank pieces of paper right behind their respective G-325A.

neophi.

My and my wife's passport-style photos were in a baggie attached to the front of the petition - nowhere near the G-325As. Those photos have nothing to do with the G-325A.

Yodrak

.....

Regardless, I think the passport-style photo right behind the G-325A is a dead give-away. .....

Hehe yeah... I've had documents translated there before. However, I translated our marriage certificate here myself. Thank God you don't have to have official translations or apostilled documents or anything.

Oooooooooh I remember you from the Poorhappy forum! I'm glad you finally got married.

Anyway, we had our marriage certificate translated in Medellín but lucky for you, my husband just got back from Bogotá and had his birth certificate and everything else translated here:

Universal Traducciones

Transversal 17 #98-17 Tel: 257-1459

Bogotá

(Al lado del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores)

They charge $9.000 pesos per page so it's a lot less expensive then having it translated here. Also, don't worry about getting anything apostille for the visa process, it is not necessary.

Also, the DS-230 is the actual visa application. PM me if you want and I can help you out with any questions you may have.

Diana

Me neither. I never even thought about it. I simply thought it was a bug in the PDF functionality like many other nuisances I bumped into while filling out all these forms.

Regardless, I think the passport-style photo right behind the spouse's G-325A is a dead give-away. There's not much to figure out, it's not rocket science.

Nope, not I.

CG,

I put the word wife on my G325A, then filled in my wifes maiden name and first name, etc. I believe that this is what is expected. .....

Yep, I did the same. For my husband I put HUSBAND and then his name, on his form I put WIFE and then my name.

Yep, me too.

Yeah maybe I should have. It was no biggie though. Plus I'm kind of obsessive about presentation and stuff.

Craig, I think we used FedEx. I'm not sure if there is any another cheaper way though (a package for papers costs like $35). From here to there I think Avianca Express is prettygood. I'm not sure if there is one near you, but there's one in Plantation and Kendall.