USA-Turk

If you two plan on living in Turkey, why do an immigration process to the US in the first place?

Hi,

We had originally planned for me to move to Turkey until I found out in April that I had breast cancer.

I'm right in the middle of chemo now and totally bald. I have to keep my U.S. job and insurance for a couple more years... because if the cancer does return, it often does so the first two years.

So for now, Sansal will be moving here. After 2-3 years in remission (leaning towards 3 after this thread!), we hope to find jobs in Turkey with insurance that covers a pre-existing condition. If we can't get insurance there through our jobs, we'll need to work a couple years in the U.S. to save up enough money to buy private insurance once we get to Turkey.

Sharon

Hi everybody,

Thanks for the great info!

I guess we'll stay here for 3 years, and get the 10 yr. green card. Then when we do go to Turkey, we'll make sure to come back to the U.S. at least once a year. That should hopefully work out...

Thanks,

Sharon & Sansal

Hi all,

We've just sent in our I-129 last week. I had a question about what happens if we want to move back to Turkey in a couple of years.

When our K-1 is approved and Sansal arrives here, he plans to begin work immediately, and to file for his AOS, etc. etc. as if we were going to live here for the rest of our lives. However, we would both like to move to Istanbul in a couple of years when I'm in remission from cancer. After we get bored with Istanbul, we may come back to the U.S. And no matter where we live, we plan to travel frequently to the other person's home country.

Since we may not be in the U.S. long enough for Sansal to get permanent residency, much less citizenship, I was wondering if this will cause a lot of problems in the future.

For instance... will we have to apply for a K-3 every time we move back to the U.S.? When we are living in Turkey and want to visit the U.S. for a vacation, will Sansal have to apply for a visa, just like any other Turkish guy, with the same chance of rejection? If so, what is the amount of time we would have to live in the U.S. for Sansal to be able to come and go as if he were an American?

Also, if it takes 6 years before he can apply for U.S. citizenship, do those 6 years all have to be spent in the U.S.... or does he just need to be married to an American for 6 years?

Thanks,

Sharon & Sansal

Hi everybody,

Thanks a lot for all the great answers and links! The links have answered my questions, so now we'll get working on that "No Objection" procedure at the State Dept. Just one more hoop to jump through for our K-1!

Thanks again,

Sharon & Sansal

Hi all,

After almost 2 months of gathering paperwork, I thought we were ready to mail our petition out this week. But then I found out we may have problems regarding the "2-year rule."

My Turkish fiance went to a Turkish university for undergrad, but did his final year at the Univ. of Texas in 2002-2003 as an exchange student on a J-1 visa. Then he went to Canada for 3 years to get his M.S. degree. He returned to Turkey last fall and is just now finishing up his mandatory military service. We were hoping he'd be able to come here on his K-1 visa around November.

Sansal's J-1 visa says "2 year rule applies." Originally, I thought the "2 year rule" meant he couldn't come back to the U.S. for 2 years after doing his exchange year. So he'd be fine. He left the U.S. 4 years ago and hasn't come back.

But I found out yesterday it means he has to return to Turkey for 2 years. He hasn't even been in Turkey for ONE year since being in the U.S., even counting vacations during grad school.

I heard there was some kind of waiver we can file so he can get his K-1 without staying in Turkey another 1+ years. Does anybody know how to file this or where to find out more about it? Have any of you had experience handling a "2-year rule" situation?

Thanks,

Sharon & Sansal

(No timeline, because we haven't filed yet)

Hi Sharon Welcome to VJ!

My name is Mina and we have a wonderful Turkish/American forum that you can come and meet with other turkish couples also waiting for their visa process and also meet with other couples like myself who had already gone through the K-1 process, this is the link---http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1039

Here is also the link that would help you to get an idea of what involves in getting a police record and it's not really that difficult to get---http://travel.state.gov/visa/reciprocity/Country%20Folder/T/Turkey.htm

Good luck in your visa process and take care,

Mina

Hi Mina,

Thanks for your very helpful reply and the links. I'll go join the Turkish/American forum... I didn't realize there was one here!

Sharon

Hi TimsDaisy,

We posted at the same time. Okay, I understand now! Since I haven't filed, I didn't realize I would have online access to the status and dates of the filing.

Thanks for explaining.

Sharon

Me again...

Just after posting, I discovered that "touch" is defined on the definitions page as the file being physically touched or moved. But I still don't know how a person would know their file was physically moved unless they received some sort of written notice. In this case, why say "touched" instead of explicitly stating what was done to the file when it was touched? For instance: "paperwork sent to the U.S. embassy in Turkey today."

Thanks,

Sharon

Hi all,

I've been reading posts on this site for a month, and eagerly reading everybody's timelines. But I have *NO* idea what "touched" means. Could somebody please explain? I know it is something good, but I can't for the life of me figure out what Immigration does to "touch" somebody's K-1 paperwork!

Thanks,

Sharon in Missouri

Sansal in Turkey

Our timeline: Ready to file for our K-1 this week if Sansal's passport photos finally arrive from Turkey!

Hi all,

I am about to file the K-1 paperwork for my Turkish fiance. I know that before the visa interview (hopefully in October!), we have to obtain clear police reports from everywhere that Sansal has lived since he was 16. He went to grad school in the U.S. and Canada, and I have just written to his university towns to ask about how to get his clear police record.

Sansal is under the impression that it is VERY difficult to obtain the corresponding info from the Turkish police. He normally lives in Istanbul and went to undergrad in Ankara. He is currently finishing up his mandatory service in the Turkish Navy and will be out in September. I hoped he could get his Turkish police records by mail, but he believes that he will need a bunch of weekdays to stand in line, give fingerprints, etc. So he thinks he'll have to wait until he is out of the Navy and has an actual weekday free. I would like to do this ASAP, this summer if possible. I don't want this to delay his visa interview date when fall arrives.

Has anybody been through this procedure and can let us know what is involved? I would love to have addresses that he can write to obtain the Turkish police reports, but a general description of what needs to be done and how long it takes would be great!

Thanks,

Sharon in Missouri

& Sansal in Turkey

Timeline: Waiting for Sansal's passport photos to arrive in the mail... then ready to file this week.

Hi everybody,

Thanks for your great advice, support, comments, etc. It is so nice to have this resource available. You guys are wonderful!

Sharon in Missouri

Hi everybody,

Thanks so much for all of your great replies! That was very fast, too!

My fiance just phoned from the Navy a few minutes ago and asked if I would like to go get married there in a couple of weeks so we could then do a K-3 visa. I don't know if it will be more stressful waiting for my FIANCE to get his visa or for my HUSBAND to get his visa... :-) I am still in shock at the 7 month waiting time...

Thanks again,

Sharon

Hi all,

I just discovered this website and forum today. I just posted on the K-1 forum, and thought I should probably write an intro on this forum as well.

I am a 42 year old American chemist and my fiance is a 27 year old Turkish chemical engineer who went to grad school in the U.S. and Canada. We met through his music lyrics website in January. We are absolutely head-over-heels, madly in love. We have written over 550 long e-mails and have talked for hundreds of hours on the phone. I also correspond with his brother and sister, both Ph.D. students. I visited Sansal for 9 days last month, which is when we got engaged. We had planned to marry and settle in Istanbul after he completed his 5 month mandatory stint in the Turkish Navy in September.

I sold my house, started taking Turkish lessons, and was preparing to quit my job and move to Turkey. I went in for my annual mammogram two weeks ago, and they discovered I had breast cancer. So now I can't quit my job or I'll lose my insurance. I go for surgery next week and will then begin 5-6 months of chemo and radiation. But we're still as keen as ever to get married, bald or not!

We have two options. Sansal said I can come to Turkey and we can get married right now--before I start chemo next month. Then I can apply for a K-3 visa. Or we can apply for a K-1 visa and get married here in the U.S. as soon as he gets out of the Navy (late Sept.)

In my mispent youth (1990), I applied for a K-1 for my Costa Rican "surfer dude" boyfriend. Just 5 WEEKS later, he was in the U.S. He hated the U.S. and went back to C.R. after six weeks.

I had assumed that the K-1 visa for Sansal would go through in 5 weeks, and had actually been afraid of applying too EARLY! However, some Internet searching showed that it now takes around 7 MONTHS!

In addition, a friend of a friend who works in the INS heard our story and said we will be declined for sure. We have several factors against us:

1) My fiance is a Muslim AND a chemical engineer.

2) I am a chemist.

3) I have already successfully obtained a K-1 visa in the past.

4) I am 15 years older than my fiance.

Apparently #1-2 make us looks like potential terrorists, and #3-4 make me look like a "green card bride."

Have any of you on this forum run into the "terrorist" issue in your applications? Can they deny a K-1 based on our occupations?! Does it mean we'll have to wait 12 months instead of the already outrageous 7?

Also, does anybody have suggestions of what to do to avoid looking like potential Muslim terrorists? Should I send a photo of Sansal drinking a beer with dinner? Do I need to specify very clearly that I am a chemist that studies the plastic in asthsma inhalers, and Sansal designs only big concrete storage tanks?

Should I avoid mentioning that he is currently in the Turkish Navy for his mandatory service? Will this make him look like a "trained militant" or something? What should I list as his job? The Navy? His old job he held until last month? (The same company has offered to hire him back after his service.)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice,

Sharon in Missouri

Hi all,

I just discovered this website and forum today.

I am a 42 year old American chemist and my fiance is a 27 year old Turkish chemical engineer who went to grad school in the U.S. and Canada. We met through his music lyrics website in January. We are absolutely head-over-heels, madly in love. We have written over 550 long e-mails and have talked for hundreds of hours on the phone. I also correspond with his brother and sister, both Ph.D. students. I visited Sansal for 9 days last month, which is when we got engaged. We had planned to marry and settle in Istanbul after he completed his 5 month mandatory stint in the Turkish Navy in September.

I sold my house, started taking Turkish lessons, and was preparing to quit my job and move to Turkey. I went in for my annual mammogram two weeks ago, and they discovered I had breast cancer. So now I can't quit my job or I'll lose my insurance. I go for surgery next week and will then begin 5-6 months of chemo and radiation. But we're still as keen as ever to get married, bald or not!

We have two options. Sansal said I can come to Turkey and we can get married right now. Then I can apply for a K-3 visa. Or we can apply for a K-1 visa and get married here in the U.S. as soon as he gets out of the Navy (late Sept.)

In my mispent youth (1990), I applied for a K-1 for my Costa Rican "surfer dude" boyfriend. Just 5 WEEKS later, he was in the U.S. He hated the U.S. and went back to C.R. after six weeks.

I had assumed that the K-1 visa for Sansal would go through in 5 weeks, and had actually been afraid of applying too EARLY! However, some Internet searching showed that it now takes around 7 MONTHS!

In addition, a friend of a friend who works in the INS heard our story and said we will be declined for sure. We have several factors against us:

1) My fiance is a Muslim AND a chemical engineer.

2) I am a chemist.

3) I have already successfully obtained a K-1 visa in the past.

4) I am 15 years older than my fiance.

Apparently #1-2 make us looks like potential terrorists, and #3-4 make me look like a "green card bride."

So I thought I might need the big guns that could be provided by an attorney. I clicked on one of the "Fiance Visa Lawyer" ads that pepper this website and have e-mailed them. I was wondering if anybody else on this forum has engaged a lawyer. Is it worth the money for something that I could technically do on my own for free? Does having a lawyer make things go faster? Is there any way to cut down the wait from 7 months to 3-4 months? Anybody have a lawyer they'd like to recommend?

Also, is there any easier way to do this? Would it be faster/easier for us to get married in Turkey and apply for a K-3? Can he come on a tourist visa and we get married and he can stay here that way? That is how it would work if I went to Turkey. I could just go as a tourist, get married, and could apply for permanent residency the very next day. However, I can no longer do this because of the stupid CANCER!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice,

Sharon in Missouri