L&C ARG

Thanks all. Super helpful.

I understand where the CR1 promoters are coming from. Big question for you all: are visits on a tourist visa allowed during the CR1 process?

Also, what worries me most right now is the "domiciled" part. Any more advice on that would be super helpful.

Thank you!

Hi All,

This community is incredibly helpful. We have a number of questions that we'd love to get people's thoughts on. Quick backround: 

+ We are an engaged couple that is planning on moving to the U.S. in september because one of us (the U.S. citizen) is starting grad school. 

+ My fiancée is an Argentine citizen. She currently has a long-term tourist visa

We've decided to go with the K-1 process. We know it's not an ideal from a work perspective for my fiancée, but we understand it gives us the best shot at being together in the U.S. as soon as possible (our primary goal).

Here go the questions.

1) We understand that even though we have both been living outside the U.S. for the last 3.5 years, we can go through the K-1 process. I understand that I need to be "domiciled" in the U.S. Currently in the U.S. I have:

- A bank account (registered to my parents' address)

- An investment account (registered to my parents' address)

- Credit cards I use regularly (registered to my parents' address)

- Have paid taxes the last 3 years

- I have voted in the U.S. in the 2016 election and will do so again for 2020

Do I qualify as being "domiciled" in the U.S.? At what point do we have to send proof of being "domiciled" (when sending the I-129F or later on?) Anything else I need to be aware of since I'm applying from abroad?

2) For the application, do we have to translate proof documents such as bank statements, bills or plane tickets in Spanish? If so, do they have to be done by an "official" translator?

3) If the K1 is not approved by September, can my fiancée go to US with tourist visa to visit me at least periodically? Or would that be a problem?

4) Once we get the K1, get married and start the EAD process, could my fiancée still work remote for her Argentine employer being paid in Argentina? This while waiting for the EAD process. 

Thanks so much. This community is everything!

Good question (and thanks all again for the help!). Unfortunately it is unclear. Could be the U.S. as much as it could be somewhere else (50-50 today).

This is all super helpful but just want to be clear that the J1 is not intended as a way to get to the U.S. My fiancee wants to study in the U.S., and has this program she's really excited about. The thing is that by pure coincidence it aligns with when we want to get married (i.e. we got engaged and applied to this program basically at the same time, but for totally different reasons). 

So there's an "intent" to do this program as well as an "intent" to get married and live in the U.S....

Thanks all, super helpful. A couple of additional questions.

1) We prefer to go with K1 vs IRI1 because of timing. Even if she can't work in the U.S., we prefer to be together. And I understand the IR1 does take 4-5 months longer... 

2) If she gets a J1 through this grad school application, would it be incompatible with a K1. In other words, can she enter on a J1 while a K1 is processing? I don't see why not...

3) (maybe a dumb question) but we can apply for a fiancee visa even though we both live outside the U.S. right? It's not that I (as the U.S. citizen) have to live in the U.S. at the moment. 

Thanks!

Hello All,

What a great community. My girlfriend and I live in Argentina (I'm a US citizen, she's an Argentine citizen) and are planning on getting married in the short future. In the meantime we are both also applying to graduate school in the U.S. (I'm already admitted, her application is pending and the chances of being admitted are not high).

We are thus deciding how to proceed so that whatever the case is, we can both be in the U.S. as of September. 

Our big question revolves around whether we should start a K-1 process before she hears back from her program (which would give her a J1). What we don't have clarity on is what happens if she is admitted and we have a K1 in process. Does that supersede the J1? And if that's the case, what happens if the K1 isn't approved by september and she can't go to school?

Anyway, our thinking is that this needs some help from a lawyer. Anyone have good contacts that could help us out with this? I saw the VJ partners, but there don't seem to be many verified opinions there (nor links to their pages).

Any advice more than welcome!