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The CA processing date on Visa Journey is finally in April.. 😀 

I just submitted my inquiry today.. Expecting the same response but staying hopeful. 

I just submitted my inquiry today.. Expecting the same response but staying hopeful. 

It’s a myriad of problems, including staffing, covid, overall USCIS incompetence, etc. It’s easy to point at Trump based on his anti immigration stand and just solely blame him (and believe me I detest Trump), and the EOs have affected a lot of folks, but it’s a multi faceted issue.

Fear mongering. Trump with all his supposed 'tightening' of immigration didn't speed the process up. One of the slowest and inefficient in modern history.
Biden to the rescue to make America great again after trump messed it up.

Just found this thread. April 13th, 2020 NOA1 here. Hoping to be approved next month but will be happy if it happens before the New Year at this point. We are in this together! 💞

We have been using Transferwise as well for the past two years and have always had a great experience. Their currency conversion rates and transfer fees are very reasonable IMO. The amounts we exchanged so far have never exceeded $5,000, so we will probably explore all options before he moves here just to be sure. Good luck with your journey, OP!

Applicant/petitioner is you choice.

My NOA1 is also April 13th! I hope we get really good news within a month

Hi there! I'm just curious what your reasoning for waiting is? The longer you wait, the further back in the line you will get and petitions in front of you will get approved before you.

My French fiance used his B visa to visit me for 5 months last year. He was very honest with CBP about his intentions. They asked for his return ticket as well as proof of funds. He got sent to a room for additional questioning, but they eventually let him through. Honesty is the best policy in my opinion. There is a chance you get refused entry, but being dishonest and getting caught is far worse.
 
We are K-1 filers as well and know that we have a long road ahead of us due to everything that is going on at the moment. While I understand that it is very difficult to be away from your lover, try to prioritize long term success over short term gratification. Later on you will be happy you did things the legal and honest way to avoid any potential negative consequences. 
 
I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming trip and your visa application as well!

Welcome to VJ!  My fiancé is from France as well. We filed our petition in April and are still waiting for the NOA2. Good luck with your journey!

A very large majority of k1 are dying to get married and would have already been married if it wasn't for the unexpected delays. We may be "unmarried" but it's not by choice and the process preventing us from doing so shouldn't be judging on that considering it's the very thing keeping us from doing it. I've wanted to marry my fiance for months now and it's wrong we are being considered low priority just because we aren't allowed to marry yet.

Hi there, I am in the same situation as you and I feel your pain. The going back and forth is the worst! Here are things I’ve used to evaluate as well that may be helpful: 
 
1. Do you prefer your family to be at the wedding? It may be harder in a foreign country for this to happen. 
2. The money used to travel, get married, stay in a hotel (etc) may VERY well be more than the new adjustment of status fees (~2200). So “saving money” by just getting married isn’t so cut and dry. You could save hardcore in the next (possibly year it will take) so you could absorb the brunt of being the sole provider from anywhere from 6-12 months.. or longer. 
3. At least you are in the system already, especially with impending furloughs. 
4. Don’t feel bad about your decision to do the K1. You made the best choice you could at the time. 
5. No one has any idea when embassies will open, how long the backlog will take to process, or how the furloughs will prolong the process. You just have to make the best decision for you ❤️
6. You can at anytime still make the decision to get married and process the CR-1. Even in a year from now if you are still waiting. If that’s what’s best. 
 
hope that helps and hang in there!! 
 

You said the k1 appealed to you because it gave you time to strengthen and deepen your relationship .. that’s a good reason !! While the covid situation is preventing you from meeting again in person right now , it’s really not stopping you from doing what you felt you needed to do .. I’d encourage you to continue to do this in all the ways you can. Long distance relationships are hard yes .. but you have a great advantage in already having spent significant time together in person.. you do know each other already .. you can grow your relationship  really well during these challenging times .. even if it’s not in person .. read books together .. do some solid discussing of how you are each reacting and responding to the current challenges .. grow in knowing each other’s heart.. understand what’s important to each other and why even if you don’t understand .. and I believe it will serve you well in the years to come by doing so .. just my thoughts ! 

You really only have 2 options:
1) wait out the K-1 process (we also applied in June and we decided to stick with it due to the difficulties with traveling)
2) don't withdraw K-1 until you either can get your fiancé to visit you in the US or you arrange to get married in a third country 
 

Ok, I didn't want to post, but it seems it needs to be said. I am not trying to diminish anyone's journey or trying to say that we are the only ones that have it hard or have ever had it hard or will ever have it hard. But I have also noticed that in a lot of threads where people are discussing taking action and trying to get political figures to please do something about K1 visas, there is often at least one person coming in saying something along the lines: "I am so glad we did CR1" or "this just proves that K1 is not a good choice" and so on and so forth. And it then has a tendency to turn into a discussion of why CR1 is superior. Or they start to discuss politics and who is the worse politician. And the original intent of the thread is lost. I am not going to tell anyone not to post, but can't you see how such statements are not helpful. Some of us did our research, had very good reasons why we chose the K1 and were willing to live with all the consequences of this. But NONE of us knew Covid would strike, NONE of us knew we will be stuck. And of course people get emotional when they read statements like I listed above. Don't you think we aren't asking ourselves if we were idiots for doing K1, if we made the wrong choice?  Even if we had all the info and did all the research. I know I do.
Again, I am not telling you not to comment, you have a right to, but maybe, just maybe consider if what you want to post will be helpful, or if it's just adding noise or changing the direction of the conversation.

I am so thankful to have found this site. While I’m in the infant phase of the process, I have done a TON of research about it and ultimately it’s my decision to go down this path and sponsor a foreign fiancé.
 
The petitioners have the burden of the proof to show USCIS that it’s a real relationship, that they can support the beneficiary until they are able to work, that they will not become a public charge. It is a long, long process with lots of time, money, frustration... 

I see a lot of people saying that the AOS fees will hurt the pocketbook, but I feel that travel to another country to get married will also be incredibly expensive. The flights. The hotel. I spent a considerable amount of money last week going to Turkey to see my fiancé. 

Thank you for saying this!

Most of us doing a k1 would already be married if it wasnt for covid. So you can pretty much think of them as our spouse.

Look if you don't agree with the post fine. But don't sit there and tell us not to do something. So you mean to tell me a professional athlete should be able to get in but not my fiancée? I'm sick and tired of hearing CR-1 IR-1 people saying that our Visas don't matter. Go to another forum if you don't like it.
 
K Thanks 🤬 

Sure I understand that. There are some pretty major disadvantages of the K1. My frustration from this site comes from many times when someone asks about the K1, some people automatically reply about how much it sucks, when each couple has their own circumstances and priorities.

You hit on the main reason we did K1. I couldn't fathom marrying the love of my life and then having to be apart for 1-2 years. Everyone has their own reasons for the route they take!

K-1 meant I got to see the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with sooner rather than later and just suited what we wanted to do with our lives more.
Even if it's a harder overall timeline, the most important thing for us was seeing each other sooner rather than later. None of us could have predicted a global pandemic that could have affected timelines this severely last November when we filed.