nineohtwo

I totally understand and would never complain to them. It's just... frustrating.

Still no response.

I'm sure we've all had these thoughts before but... as an American citizen, it sure is frustrating knowing your government doesn't answer your (succinct!) e-mail. 

Yes I did. 

Good to know!

Does anyone know what to do when you cannot get in touch with the consulate at all?

Hi all.

I am wondering if anyone has any familiarity with DCF for exceptional circumstances (job offer) in Italy?

I e-mailed on August 6th and have not even received acknowledgement of my e-mail. Can anyone help give me some clarity on what I might expect?

Also: I spend 6 months every year in the US and have US income above the means test for sponsorship of a foreign spouse. Does this mean I still have to show $65,000 in assets and my spouse $110,000 in assets?

Hi everyone!

I wanted to know if anyone has experience specifically with DCF for exceptional circumstances (job offer) in Italy. I e-mailed the embassy on August 6th and it's been radio silence. They are incredibly difficult to get a hold of and I am losing hope. 

6 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

K-1 is no longer quicker than CR-1 though, plus K-1s cannot travel or work for upwards of 8 months after arrival.

This is interesting. Can you speak some more about this?

Literally every single source I read says the opposite (that K-1 is quicker if you want to get to the US right away). 

Oh, great! So we could move to the US together then.

That makes me happy!

I feel like an annoying gnat always buzzing around asking questions here, lol. Thank you all for your patience! This forum is awesome and filled with so many nice people. 

Recap: fiance (Dutch) and I (American with Italian dual citizenship) live in Italy. We've been together since 2014 and live in Italy together since 2018. 

We've done a bit of considerable back and forth on the matter and both agree that the k-1 visa is appropriate for our situation because it would allow us to move to the US quicker which is important for us. That said, my question is: can he and I continue to live together in Italy while waiting for the k-1 visa? Or do I have to go to the US first and precede him?

Thanks, all! 

Does anyone have any ideas? Many thanks.

No. I think the option was simply turned off for the Milan consulate due to Covid. 

There was no option to go into the existing booking and re-book. The only way to re-book was to go to the actual calendar page and go through the entire process from the start. It's been incredibly frustrating. 

He's Dutch, I'm American/Italian and we would file out of Italy. 

I'm not sure what you mean by it not being a binding document. Can you please explain? Thank you!

Just wanted to update you guys.

We have a visa appointment for January that so far has not been cancelled!

However, I am still annoyed. I've paid for three prior appointments now and was told via e-mail that due to cancellations I could just use the money paid for one appointment to book another one. There was no option to do so on the website and the consular workers did not respond to my repeated e-mails about this. So I've ended up paying for four appointments now... what do I do?

Hi everyone!

For the past two years prior to the tail end of 2020 and all of 2021 I was living off of savings as I was starting a new business venture. I am currently self-employed and make well over the income guidelines to sponsor my fiancé. 

I am worried that I will need to provide the past three years of income tax returns. They may be too low (effectively I had a net income of around $10,000 or less as my business was getting off the ground) and I may be denied, despite making more than enough now. Will this be a problem? I do not intend to apply for a K-1 or spousal visa until 2022 so I will have 2021 with sufficient income.

Many thanks!

Thank you. It is distressing that someone here would openly advocate for immigration fraud.

I would never allow my SO to do that nor would he ever even want to.

Of course.

He would never lie, nor would I make him lie. I actually work in immigration (but backwards--Americans coming to Europe) so I know the importance of being forthcoming. There is nothing wrong with him having visited Iraq (he went to Kurdistan with a childhood friend and had an amazing time), so why would he lie? It's a bureaucratic formality we unfortunately must comply with. In the grand scheme of things, worse things could happen than having to wait another year or two to visit NYC. 

That poster suggesting we commit fraud is way out of line.

3 hours ago, Electrichead64 said:

I'm not buying into the story that he can't enter the US on a Netherlands passport because he visited Iraq in 2013, but assuming that is true, he's probably better off just getting a new passport.  They only last 10 years anyway in ANY country that I know of and so 2013-2023 .. its about time.  The US itself will issue dual passports on request for travelers that go to sensitive countries .. like if I visited Israel or Saudi Arabia and wanted to go to the other, you would use different passports.

 

Lol, this is an oddly hostile reply for being so ill-informed. No offense, but you really shouldn't suggest things like this especially when someone wants to immigrate to a country legally. I can assure you we have researched this ad nauseum and it is true that he lost his ESTA privileges due to the Iraq visit.

We'll wait for the tourist visa but marry in the meantime and if he likes the U.S. after finally being able to visit again, we'll start the spousal visa. Thanks all!

So it could potentially be 2023 or 2024 before he can even visit?!

I figured as much! Does anyone have an estimate of when visitor visas might be processed again?

This is such a bummer! I realize how privileged most Europeans are now not needing a visa to enter the US (and us vice versa). Waiting for a visa just to visit has been horrible and uncertain. 

3 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

If the goal is for him to just visit the US, the spousal visa does not make sense, nor will it be any faster than getting a B2 will be.

I agree. At the end of the day, the immediate goal is to get him to visit the US as quickly as possible. I hate that he visited Iraq (No offense to Iraq! He had a wonderful time in Erbil with his friend and still raves about it to this day) because it just makes things so much harder. 

We want to be absolutely sure he likes living in the US before making concrete plans to move our lives there, hence why we want to take multiple trips first. I have a good job that I work remotely and I speak Italian fluently so living in Italy is not a huge life hurdle for me; I could stay here indefinitely though I really would love to return to the US. 

If we were to get married and start the spousal visa process and by some miracle the consulate allowed him a tourist visa, it would be nigh impossible for him to come to the US, right? Am I correct in stating that CBP officers don't look very kindly on people with a pending spousal visa visiting? So, our two options are basically: get the zoom wedding, DON'T do the spousal visa yet and instead wait for the tourist visa to be processed at some as of yet uncertain date and then visit the US to my heart's content... or get married and start the spousal visa and hope he likes the US because he can't visit! 😝

4 hours ago, Dashinka said:

You can stay together during the process in Italy or the Netherlands, or where ever, but when the time comes for him to actually apply for the spousal visa (DS260/medical exam), you will have to prove intent to re-establish domicile back in the US.  The fact that you have the items you listed (especially an apartment you are still renting) is generally good for that, but do not forget about filing US taxes.  I would search in your preferred search engine or using the search function here on VJ "re-establishing domicile US spousal visa" (you can probably leave out the US spousal visa part if searching on VJ), and there should be several sites discussing this item.  As to the location of the eventual interview for the spousal visa, that depends on where you are living when that time comes and where he has legal residency.  If still in Italy and as you say, then it should be in Italy.  Once the visa is actually issued, you will have to either proceed him to the US, or come at the same time, to my knowledge, he cannot enter first.

 

As far as I know, Zoom wedding are in fact legal for immigration purposes as long as there is a physical meeting between the married parties after the Zoom wedding ceremony.  Of course, this should not be an issue for you considering your situation, so I would certainly look into it.  There is another recent thread about this exact subject.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

 

Thank you for the reply! I forgot to mention that I do pay US taxes at my US address, so that's good! I will look into the Zoom wedding. 

Ah! One more thing: in doing a bit of research I've found that it is way easier to get married via Zoom (US marriage) than to get married physically in city hall here in Turin. The paperwork required to marry in Italy is far more difficult to obtain. 

Is a Zoom marriage okay for US immigration purposes?

Ah, okay. Cool! What a relief. 

Since he's a resident in Italy would he have his interview here when the time comes? Or the Netherlands as he is a Dutch citizen?

Also, I don't want to move to the US first and wait for him. Our main goal if at all possible is to stay physically together throughout this process. I'm concerned about showing ties to the US/US domicile. I'm wondering if this is enough:

• Every year I take a minimum of 4 trips back to the States (pre-Covid, that is)
• I hold a US bank account/retirement account/investment account
• I vote in US elections
• I have a US apartment I pay rent on

Anything else I should be doing?