Mary0221

If you're seeing her aoon why not do CR1 instead? 

On 9/26/2022 at 8:55 PM, vivster said:

My partner and I just sent away our i-129f and got our NOA1 in August. I have been seeing people concerned about the backlog from COVID and expecting delays for up to two years. Should I be worried; should I be discouraged? I was not sure if this is only for specific countries or embassies, but if you possibly know he is from the UK. Let me know anything that you know! 

I came from the Philippines and I think the USEM in Manila had one of the worst backlogs compared to other countries. Our NOA1 was December 30 2019 and NOA2 was March 2021 but because of the pandemic our case got stuck at NVC until February 2022. I believe almost all embassies are catching up on backlogs though. I've seen posts on Facebook groups that people have been getting NOA2s after 12-14 months and then 2-4 months at NVC. Not so bad compared to our timeline. 

On 2/19/2022 at 11:55 AM, Aelius said:

I'm Canadian, and for three years my American fiancée has lived in Buffalo and drives across the border to visit me every week. I received my NOA1 back in September and would like to make sure I have enough evidence proving the genuineness of our relationship once we get interviewed later this year.

 

The problem is, we don't have the usual sorts of evidence that most K1 applicants have. Here are some common examples of evidence that other K1 applicants use, and why I don't have them:

 

1. Visa stamps. Canada does not stamp American passports when they cross.
2. Phone call logs. We don't call each other (what year is it anyway?).
3. Mail deliveries. We don't mail each other stuff. She visits so often anyway that we just give each other stuff in person.
4. Flight bookings, boarding passes, etc. She drives.
5. Hotel bookings. She stays at my residence when she visits.
6. Pictures. We don't really go out and do anything. What would be the occasion for which we would take a picture? I suppose we could just take selfies in my home, but that's... odd.
7. Credit card or bank statements of our purchases at the same time and place. Again, we don't really go out and do anything. Besides, I usually just pay for anything (e.g., pizza delivery). If we suddenly started paying for things together now after three years, wouldn't that be suspicious?
8. Engagement ring purchase. I never got one (I was intending to just get a wedding ring when the time comes; engagement rings never made sense to me.) We sent our I-129F (along with a letter of intent to marry, of course) back in August. It's now February. I suppose we could buy rings now, but wouldn't that look even more suspicious than not having rings at all? ("It says here you bought rings in February, but your letter of intent to marry was from August. Why would you buy engagement rings so many months after your stated intention to marry?")
9. Chat logs. We do indeed have 91,000 messages sent between us on Discord. But does that matter? Anyone can manufacture chat logs, and she doesn't use her real name on the application we use (Discord).
10. Names on lease. This one has never made sense to me. The whole point of immigrating is so that we can live together. Obviously we don't currently live together; we're in different countries!

I'm fine with doing some new things to get some of this evidence, but it seems so... obvious... that I would just be doing it for the sake of the K1 instead of organically. Like, there's little evidence of these things for years, and then all the sudden a few months before the interview we start doing all this stuff together? I don't know... Am I wrong to be concerned about that? And is there any sort of evidence I haven't mentioned above that might be compelling?

 

Thanks!

All we provided during the initial petition (I-129F) were 5 pages of pictures, each page containing 4 pictures of us with family and friends. He hasn't been back here because of Covid19 restrictions but we intend to use the same pics as evidence and maybe a few screenshots of convos and calls (video and audio) via messenger during my interview this March. That's pretty much it. I hear that they seldom ask for those anyway and focus on what is stated in the I-134 and DS-160. 

On 7/15/2021 at 11:29 PM, Ryan76 said:

 I'm American, married to a Colombian since 2012. We live in the US. We have a very happy marriage. And I am REALLY stressing out right now.

 

On June 10 my wife's mom, sister and brother all came to visit, which is a lot for our tiny little house, and a lot for me to deal with. For a couple weeks, okay that would be great, but they are staying two months, which is just absurd to me.  In the past they have never stayed more than 10 days or so. I do like them and want my wife to be happy, but this is VERY difficult for me.

 

In latin culture it can be normal to have several people packed in a small living area, but for me...the complete lack of privacy and peace and quiet is very hard to deal with. Not to mention how much extra money we are spending. (Plus i'm the only one who drives.) So more or less all of our routines and our life in general is completely upside down right now. Everything from planning meals to going to the grocery store is a major project.

 

So last night a bomb drops, my wife tells me that her mom and sister keep asking if we can "help them move" here...i guess at some point in the next couple years.  In the past 10 years there's never been ANY talk of them wanting to leave Colombia. Ever.

 

This would involve them "living with us for a while." Until the sister has a job and apartment. 

The mom is 60, has zero money, and hasn't worked in years.  I've never understood this, but apparently older people in Colombia just don't work.  The sister currently has a really good job, and lives with and pays for the mother. Her work medical insurance even covers her mother.

 

I briefly tried to explain how much different,  and more expensive things will be for her in the USA. Like how in the USA a 60 year old woman cannot be on her daughter's work insurance.  And my wife and i are by no means wealthy and basically live paycheck to paycheck.

 

Also the sister doesn't drive and her English is pretty bad.

 

For some context, No matter what we do with them...like planning vacations for example, they never think things through, or make good plans.  It's always just a blind leap and hoping they figure it out along the way.

 

I feel like i could write for hours about all this, but in general it just seems like a terrible idea to me, and i'm terrified about all this.  I feel like they have no comprehension of how long it could take for the sister to find a good job and get on her feet, as well as how much more expensive it will be for her to pay for everything for her mother.  My wife has this idea that they would only need to stay with us for a couple months.  I feel like it could take a year or longer. Who really knows.

 

I don't even know what i'm thinking.  And it's hard to talk about it with my wife.  I have to choose every word carefully because obviously this is her mom and sister and she loves them.  But i don't think she grasps how this would radically change our life, and i don't think the sister and mom are even remotely thinking about all the details and ramifications.

 

And for what it's worth, in Colombia they live in a very nice apartment in a beautiful city.  It's not like they're in some terrible situation that they need to escape.  If that were true i would think differently about all this.  But they have a good life down there.

 

Another important piece in all of this is that the sister has been struggling emotionally for a while. She's been making terrible decisions, she's dated 3 guys who have all had wives or girlfriends, then she gets devastated when they break it off. It's a long story but even my wife admits that everything with her is messy.  I feel like telling her she needs to see a therapist and get some things worked out before making any drastic life altering decisions.

 

I know this is a huge stressful rant, i'm not even sure if i'm looking for advice or what...but has anyone been in a situation like this???  Does this seem like i'm a  selfish ####### for having these thoughts? What do i do here?  Part of me just wants to ignore it and hope they get back to Colombia and change their minds. I'm just imagining how all these scenarios could play out and it's driving me crazy. 

Hi! I'm Filipino and I'm thinking Colombians are kind of like us when it comes to family. Like as soon as we decided to do K1 I gave my fiancé the heads up that a portion of whatever I earn in the US will go to my parents in the Philippines. I'm thinking it all boils down to whether the couple understands each other's cultures before getting married. My fiancé even brought up a couple of times that he sees my brother living in his shed at the backyard because he says he needs to be with family when my parents are long gone (mom is 76 dad is 77). I told him it'll be a very long process to petition my brother but he said I should be open to it. During talks about us raising a family of our own he always brings the topic of one day petitioning my brother. My partner doesn't know it but it means so much to me that he's even considering this. I don't think you're selfish at all. I just think you need to see the bigger picture. Although you say your wife's family lives in a good neighborhood, Colombia is Colombia and it isn't a very safe country in general. Just like the Philippines, it us a third world country. 

On 4/15/2021 at 11:25 AM, kev and julia said:

From what I gathered so far, it is pretty much pure luck.  If you can come up with a sad story, essential workers, mental distress, physical health distress, whatever, just try to submit the request.  The request itself is free.    

Depends on the embassy too. I've seen people get approvals for mental hardship in one embassy and some with more valid reasons like brain tumor (in another embassy) that didn't approved. Good luck. Please let us know how it goes. 💜

Hi everyone. We're nearing the completion of our I-129f and woukd like to know if we need to write our names at the back of our passport photos. 

If we do, should we write in pencil our whole names? 

Quick question please on the I-129f: if my address has always been the same since I was born can I just put N/A on Part 2, 12.a.?

26 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

He and I and others answer so many post from those like yourself that sometimes we skip the fluff and go straight to the "meat" of the answer. So just keep that in mind. We are here to help but sometimes we don't spell everything out in detail. Just bare with us. 

Duly noted! 😁 And I'm thankful for any input that's given but detailed ones are for sure highly appreciated. 

1 minute ago, Greenbaum said:

@payxibka is correct. Just a few lines is needed. Nothing that you will say will enhance your file. They are more interested in the facts and that would be your receipts, airline tickets and the passport stamps. Keep it simple will get you to your goal. 

Thank you! Now this kind advice is just what we need. Thanks so much for this. 

Noted with thanks. 

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

If the response to the circumstances of meeting doesn't fit in the space provided it is time to rethink your reply.   

 

The uscis isn't interested in a love story 

Hello. We're not trying to narrate our love story. We just wanted to add specific details of his trip to see me. But thanks for your input though . 😃

We need your thoughts in using a separate sheet in lieu of part 8 (additional information). 

We figured we'd explain how we met and  the space provided in part 8 of the I-129f isn't enough. 

Is there any template we need to follow? 

We're trying to complete our I-129f and got confused with Part 8 (Additional Information). If we don't want to utilize this page should we just leave the part blank where my fiancé's name is requested? 

Hi. I'm new here. My fiancé and I have heard that the K1 visa requirements have been updated last October 15th but have no idea what they are. Could someone please point us to a thread wherein we'd have better insight as to what the updated requirements are? Thanks! 😀