wazzujoel

Just to be clear - I am not saying that by providing "proof of relationship" that you will receive an RFE. You have to think of this from USCIS's perspective. They have a checklist of things they need to verify for them to give you approval. You application should be clear, and concise on exactly what they are looking for, such that they can give you a quick approval. Let me give an absurd example to prove my point : Perhaps someone applying starts thinking that passport photo isn't sufficient evidence to prove they are really a US citizen. Maybe they decide they wanted to send USCIS pictures from when they were 8 years old and their family took them on a road trip to Disneyland.... Maybe they include 20 pictures of their diary during that time so USCIS can see they really did go to Disneyland so they must be a US citizen. USCIS is not going to reject or RFE the application because they added this evidence of a family trip to Disneyland. The agent will probably roll their eyes and be slightly annoyed that people don't just follow the instructions. Now if this person decided not to send the passport photo because the "Disney pictures should be proof enough they are a US citizen", well then they are going to receive an RFE. I absolutely disagree with your immigration lawyers advice, and makes me question their capabilities. I am not saying you will receive an RFE for providing unnecessary information, however my biggest concern would be that you have not overlooked providing the correct evidence that they do require - "Evidence of two year meeting" and "Evidence of marriage Intent" being the two major pieces of evidence. You want to make the agents job as easy as you can. As I previously said, I saw someone get an RFE for "proving they had a relationship" because the "proof of having met within the last two years" was completely not-obvious. They had provided a dozen different flights, and 4 pages of passport stamps, and lot of whatsapp conversations and yet everything they provided only 1 of the trips was during the correct time period to count. Be clear, concise, and organized. I highly recommend a cover letter such that you can keep everything organized and clear.

I read through this thread and yes that was an RFE for "Intent to marry" Evidence. Again they are not asking for proof of a relationship, they are asking for proof that you two intend to actually marry. Note that it is very possible to be in a decade old relationship, having dozens of trips yearly to see each other, but not intend to ever really get married. So, what you need to prove to USCIS in this situation is that you really do intend to marry. People who receive this RFE shouldn't get caught up in trying to prove they have a relationship. They listed things on the RFE that could be used for this evidence, but let me give you an example of so anyone reading this can understand the distinction I am making. One of the items you could send for evidence of "intent to marry" is "ongoing communication". Now lets assume two hypothetical communications that I will number for clarity. 1. 10 pages of WhatsApp history where you are discussing the March Madness basketball tournament. This is a topic you both enjoy a lot so every day you are engaging in lots of discussion about what team is going to beat the other. Since you are partners, lets also assume there is an occasional "I love you" thrown in there. 2. 10 pages of WhatsApp history where you are discussing your future wedding. Discussing how much is appropriate to spend on the dress, cake, venue, music. You are talking about friends you want to come to your wedding and who will be the best man. Basically you are talking about your life plans. Hopefully it's perfectly clear that in these two hypotheticals, #2 is what USCIS is wanting to see. They are not looking for evidence that you have a relationship, they are specifically looking for evidence that you "intend to marry". My evidence I submitted for "intent to marry" was light. What I included was two signed letters, one from me and one from my partner, that was addressed to USCIS and explained our marriage intent. This was sufficient for the agent that reviewed my case. Here is one of the two signed letters that I provided so you can see how simple it was. I have redacted the names and addresses but kept the coloring the same so hopefully it is still readable.

Thank you 😄 I was recently on this large Facebook group "K1 fiance Visa Filers" where I often times helps many people with detailed comments like above. Anyways the Admin of the group (Sabrina) kept telling everyone that they needed to provide evidence of a relationship otherwise they would get an RFE. She was advocating for sending 100's of pages of Whatsapp chat logs and other ridiculous pieces of evidence to "Prove you have a relationship otherwise USCIS will give you a RFE to prove your relationship". I asked her to show me a single RFE from USCIS showing me you needed to "prove you had a relationship". First she shows me a RFE from the embassy asking for extra relationship evidence, and then when I point out that this was not an RFE from USCIS then she provides me with a USCIS RFE for "2 year meet evidence". She then banned me from the group since my advise was contrary to hers. Anyways, stupid story I know, but just telling it because after that it's nice to have my posts here appreciated 🙂

I am happy to hear my post is helping people. 🙂 I think scanning the plane tickets is the best approach because scans are very easy to read, However pictures of the plane tickets are also okay. The important thing is if dates and locations and names are readable. Just remember, you want to make your evidence clear, concise, and easy to follow. The evidence you are supplying should only be evidence that establishes clearly that you met each other in real life, and I would personally only include evidence from one trip. Although copy of boarding passes, photo of passport stamp, hotel receipt, and pictures are sufficient, I personally don't have an issue with providing any potential extra information you might have to establish you met each other. For example, if you two went to a zoo on this trip, have two dated tickets for the zoo during this trip, and have a photo of you two together at the zoo, then this would be excellent evidence. For me I only supplied plane tickets, passport stamp photo, hotel receipt, and photos together because that's all the evidence I really had of the trip. And I received NOA2 without an RFE. My main recommendation is to avoid suppling evidence of relationship because USCIS does not ask for that. And I would strongly recommend if you have multiple trips that would qualify, pick the best one that you have the most evidence for. No reason to confuse USCIS with multiple trips and timelines.

Follow this.

You have provided USCIS information extra information that they don't need. And I have seen cases where people provided extra information and they ended up getting an RFE because the evidence they provided was not concise and it was hard to follow. I honestly don't know why people keep doing what you have done, because you are operating outside the scope of what USCIS asked in the i-129f instructions. You do not need to prove to USCIS that you have a relationship. In fact, it's literally not USCIS's job to confirm that you have a relationship, that's the job of NVC/Embassy. USCIS's job is to confirm that you filled out the form without errors, that the petitioner is a US citizen, that both parties provide evidence that you intend to marry, and that you have evidence that met at least once in the previous 2 years prior to filing. Additionally there are some extra steps you might have to prove if either has been previously married, if either have a criminal record, or if you met through a marriage broker. That's literally all USCIS is going to verify.... USCIS will NOT send a RFE for you to "prove you have a relationship" and if they did I would like to see it because it would be a legal case against USCIS for asking for material outside of their scope. I was approved by USCIS (NOA2) on 2/10/2023. I Provided a correctly filled out i-129f, check for 535, two passport style photos, copy of my birth certificate, two signed letters stating that each of us intended to marry the other, copy of our divorce decrees, and finally evidence of meeting in the prior 2 years. This evidence included exactly copy of plane tickets to/from my fiancée's country, copy of passport stamps, 4 dated pictures during this visit, and one hotel receipt during this visit. I provided literally nothing else and was approved without a RFE. You might ask "What was the situation I saw where someone received an RFE by providing too much information?" Well this person was not a English speaker and they didn't understand the RFE they received. The RFE said they needed to provide clear evidence of seeing each other in the last two years. They then showed me 4 pages of passport stamps proving they had a relationship, said they sent them 10 airline tickets, and 30 pages of whatsapp chat logs, and lots of pictures. Well I looked over their evidence and no wonder USCIS denied them... on the 10 flights they submitted only 1 of them actually met the 2 year meeting requirements. Whoever advised this person to submit a massive packet of evidence that USCIS doesn't ask for was wrong. These agents approving applications are working on a checklist of things they need to look for. If you drown them in information then maybe they overlook the actual information they need to give you a checkmark and approve you.

Unfortunately I've made no progress. USCIS is a mess.

My application was approved last Friday. NOA1 - 10/18/2021. NOA2 2/10/2023. No RFE.

K1 Process (481 Days and counting) 10/18/2021: I129F NOA1 02/10/2023: I-129F NOA2 No RFE received Waiting for NVC case now

I have seen one example of a case being approved where the sponsor did not meet the requirements of the system. I am not saying my case is any more qualified than the others that are applying... But I am saying that I did apply on the first day, my case remains untouched, and I have credible information that the Cuban regime is moving forward with blocking my beneficiary from ever being able to leave the country. My beneficiary is not unique in this urgent issue, however I do believe anyone under similar circumstances should have their processing accelerated.

I am an engineer. Of course I am over analyzing this to death.... Need to remember to stay calm, deep breaths, one day at a time.... I suspect (and have no proof) but applications regardless of the country are thrown into a big pool of applicants. The numbers for the cases being assigned are random, and a lower number 100% does not mean you applied first. The agents working on these cases have no obvious pattern, and it is my belief that the allocation is not spread evenly but is determined by random draw and approval numbers are likely skewed to the country that has the most applicants. Again I don't have proof of this, but I am plugged into a lot of communities tracking all this, and it's what I have seen. Many many people are filing multiple duplicate applications because there is no application fee. I have heard that USCIS gets cranky when people do this, however this is a problem that USCIS has created for themselves so I don't feel sorry. If they didn't want to have a problem of duplicate applications then it has a very simple solution.... process applications IN ORDER

Last month they approved 5k Cubans, and I would imagine Cuba would have the most applications from these 4 countries because they have a larger representation here. Not that this is any surprise, however I applied on the first day (Jan 6th). I can assure you that my application couldn't be any more simple and straight forward approval. If someone at USCIS looked at my application for 5 minutes it would be a clear an obvious immediate approval. I would bet anyone who is against immigration in general, if they looked at the details of my sponsorship they would say "This is the sort of immigration we should be approving". Anyways, not that this is surprising, but my application submitted on the first day remain completely untouched, while people who submitted days ago already have their beneficiary in the US. I even read about someone getting approved to be a sponsor when they are living in Section 8 housing and on SNAP food stamps. It's extremely frustrating when you read about unqualified people getting approved in a matter of days for people that will come here and also live off the taxpayers like the sponsor is, while people like me who are sponsoring a highly educated person and have a clean background and ideal financial picture sit completely untouched.

Thanks for the link. I can't really comment on what you said as I have never tried this. I am going to look into it though.

Yes, expect to pay 1k in airfare, and then living in Trinidad and Tobago isn't cheap either. Trying to get to Nicaragua or Guyana would be cheaper to live, but I think most flights you find will need to transit between Panama which requires a transit visa and they aren't really given them to cubans anymore. I wish I had better news for you but it's a lot of dead ends no matter what way I look. And USCIS is no help in trying to get urgent support. I've read stories of people being approved for parole when the sponsor is living in Section 8 housing and is on SNAP (food stamps). Yet here I am with a spotless record, hold government clearances so I've had more stringent background investigations than anything USCIS can do, hold advanced degrees in Engineering and work for a prestigious fortune 500 company, no debt, own my own home... And my beneficiary holds a dental degree, has plans to practice dentistry in the US after she passes her boards and does two additional years of education in a International Dental Program, and has also never had trouble with the law. Applied on 1/6 and my application hasn't been touched. I've been in line to talk to a Tier 2 agent for 120 business hours which they have told me multiple times I would be contracted within 72 hours. Oh and my case is marked Urgent. USCIS is awful. I wish I could get some national news to pick up my story. I'd love to put them on blast and show the would just how incompetent they are. Oh and my K1 application has been in process now for 16 months while the bulk of approvals for K1 now are people that have been waiting 14 months. I wish you a luck but I can't say I have any faith in the US immigration process. I swear their goal is to keep families apart and do nothing to help people that might actually contribute to our society. Sorry Im a little jaded and frustrated right now.

Sent you a PM. I will update the thread when we get some good news, but I am just hitting roadblocks at every corner. I never would have imagined an immigration case could get this stressful and life uprooting. I am just trying to stay calm, take it a day at a time, and hope nothing detrimental affects our long term plans.

It's actually quite amazing how fast this process is as soon as an agent at USCIS processes your application. If an agent gives my application 5 minutes of time, I will get an approval which will kick off an email to my fiancée. She then signs up for a CDP application, submits her info and a few hours later is given a travel authorization paper. This could all literally happen on Monday and I could have her on a flight to the US on Tuesday. Considering how slow processes like K1 and CR-1 move, it's crazy how quick this can move..... But USCIS is so disorganized on what applications they work on. It seems like it is random. and there is no way to expediate these sort of applications because by definitions they are all already expeditated. Anyways, my plan right now is like TBone said... Talk to a travel agent on Monday and get her out of the country. I have a location in mind already which I think is my best bet. I will get an Airbnb there and go live there with her until we are approved. When USCIS finally touches my application then I will fly with her to the US without her never going back to Cuba. She actually might never be able to return when the details of the Cuban law emerge. Now to focus on the main part.... "Dont panic" - easier said than done.

Thank you. All spot on and exactly what I am planning. Regarding point 4... Yes, I am not fooling myself and I know they are going to be affected. I am hoping this plan I have will result in only at most 60 days away. Even 60 days away is a lot in the lives of my kids, and it is something I never thought I would consider. I feel a little trapped though. I can't leave my fiancée alone in another country, and I need to get her out of Cuba asap. i-134a parole processing is taking anywhere from 2 days to 90 days.... and I am currently 30 days into it. Hopefully my congressman and/or his aide can help get this pushed through a little quicker.

I agree with you. I understand everyone in Cuba can make a humanitarian claim to flee the country and get away from this oppressive regime. And this law specifically targets anyone associated with medical facilities which isn't everyone, but I agree it is probably a large percentage. Maybe as high as 10% of the total population might be restricted by this law. I hope the regime comes to their senses and doesn't activate it, because doing so would kill all medical education in their country. You'll see an overnight mass drop out of medical school with no one ever considering this sort of education in Cuba again. Right now I am focused on getting her out asap. Finding direct flights between Havana and a country she can go to visa free is not easy. I have a few leads but nothing yet. so many flights want to go through places like Panama or Miami, which kills the option for her because they wont issue her transit visas. As an American it's super easy to get to almost any country I want to. I can buy tickets tonight and leave tomorrow and be almost anywhere I want to. When you are a Cuban national your options are severely limited and it's difficult to find these airlines that are an option.

It's very difficult to get visa's in most country's. Trying to get her a visa for Mexico would likely take many bribes and months and months of processing. The best bet right now is Trinidad and Tobago, or Guyana as both don't require Visa's. One issue I am having with these two places is to get to Guyana I need to somehow secure a transit visa through panama which is looking like it could be quite difficult and maybe impossible. According to flight tracker I found an airline with direct flights 3 times a week between HAV and POS, however using their website I can't locate any fares and I can't get anyone on the phone from reservations because I think they dont work on the weekend. It sure is difficult trying to make travel arrangements for a Cuban who can only travel to a couple countries Visa free. Technically there are 31 countries she could travel too, but of those 31 realistically there is only 3-4 that she could take because all the rest would require impossible to get transit Visa's.

This is different from that law and it's new. It is not public knowledge yet, and it is not in place. Under the new law ALL people that work in the medical field will be banned from leaving Cuba. This includes all doctors, all dentist, all nurses, all technicians, all specialist, and anyone who works in and around medical facilities such as hospital janitors, food workers, people answering phones, security guards. If your paycheck comes because of work associated to a medical facility then you will be added to this list and banned from leaving the country. I am adding a link below so you can see rumors of this list. My fiancée's mom knows a lawyer with close ties in the regime, and this lawyer confirmed that this law is real, that it isn't active yet, and doesn't know when (or if) it will be enforced. His advise was for her to immediately leave the country before she no longer can. Additionally she got confirmation from someone of importance in the dental organization (I don't want to state their position as it would be easy to track down who they are), that yes this law is real, and that they didn't know when it was going to be enacted. He advised her to immediately flee the country before she no longer can leave. She "quit" being a dentist around January 3rd-5th. I don't remember the exact date. Because she quit a few days into January, she was still in the system for some work pay for January which is paid any day now in February (This money is basically nothing... Normally it's roughly 30 USD for the month, but she expects this Feb pay will be less than a dollar for her). Anyways, It's not until March that her name will be removed from the financial system and then MAYBE she wouldn't be included on this list. Quite honestly I think March will be too late. https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2023-01-30-u191143-e191143-s27061-gobierno-cubano-impedira-salida-especialistas-medicos?fbclid=IwAR0wcG189pYMxR8XoFKMPl0VuSvCpgqhG4yvu6KVsvf9x2EqLWjDX5tmUX4 I feel I am in a desperate situation. I have three daughters (8,16,17) that I am going to leave and go live abroad with my fiancée if I can find SOME place where we can live. I have exhausted just about every avenue I can. My application for parole submitted on January 6th (The first day) sits untouched. I have called USCIS multiple times and have been told my application is marked Urgent for a Tier 2 agent to contact me. They have not contacted me yet. I have sent urgent emails to my congressman urging his help. I am not complaining about unfair processing times, which I could be because they are certainly not processing in order... I am concerned about a real threat that could destroy what I have been working towards for over the last 2 years by a criminal regime that has brought nothing but hardships to the people in Cuba.

Thanks for all the help. I just finished my letter to the congressman and sent it to him and his director of special projects. This director of special projects has been pretty responsive to me in the past so hopefully these two will help me get some movement with USCIS. Yes, I am going to go try and get some sleep now. Deep breaths. try not to let this stress me too much. Even if this law comes down and she is "prevented" from leaving the country, I am sure there will then be new "alternate" paths that will open up to get her out. I've already been waiting 30 days for my i-134a approval... Perhaps the approval is coming soon before the law hits and I can quickly get her out. Thanks again for all these tips. I will be jotting down everything said here and trying every route. It's best to work all angles at the same time, and maybe one of them ends up saving us a lot of heartache and trouble later on. Thanks again TboneTX.

Message received, and yes, it's something we will be working towards. You're right that finding the right contact who is in a po$ition to help could resolve that issue... but sometimes finding those people and making those contact$ are easier said then done. Thanks again... This is something we are perusing.

Awesome great tips! 1. Yes she resigned from her job in January, hasn't worked since then, but technically her last pay was in Feb, so she believes she wont be removed from the payroll system until March 4th or something. Because of this if the law happens before March 4th then it will catch her, and there is no way that we know of to get her out of the system now. Maybe this law doesn't happen before then but it's causing me a lot of anxiety. The director of dentistry in Havana told her this law is coming and he wasn't sure if it will catch her or not. Additionally her mom knows a lawyer and the lawyer had some contacts and told them that the law is real, it's finished, but they haven't implemented it yet because they are still considering the ramifications of it. Long story short - It's real, it might prevent her from ever coming to the US, or maybe she will escape it. For me it's causing massive stress and anxiety. We've already been in this K1 process planning a life together for the last 2 years and waiting in K1 process for 16 months.... It's scary that all we have built might be torn away from us by this stupid regime. I have been in contact with my congressman's office, and I have already signed the release waiver. I have been so busy trying to get USCIS to help though I haven't asked him for help. I will send a email tonight. Thank you! WOw! another awesome link! thank you a lot!

Thank you for the tips. I am doing the best I can right now to try and find airfare that might work... It's harder than it seems. I will call a travel agent in the morning. If we forget things, I can always return to retrieve it. It's only she that wont be able to return to cuba for a long time. Maybe not even ever with the cuban law coming.

I am not allowed to immigrate to cuba, nor would I ever consider it. The regime has destroyed that country. I never had any problem waiting my fair turn in line knowing that my fiancée would eventually be able to be reunited with me, however I am in the situation where when USCIS finally decides approved on my very obvious application, the Cuban government will no longer allow her to leave. She will have papers from the USA saying she can leave, then their Customs officers will not allow her to leave because the government has barred it. Not everyone in Cuba will be subject to this law. It only targets people working in the medical field. If we had expediated immigration for people living in a warzone, and there was a known list of people that are actively being searched for to be murdered, those people on that list should have some priority. Everyone in cuba who has a sponsor will have their chance to leave... Unless you are in the medical field and then the criminal cuban regime will prevent that. Knowing what I know... Any Cuban working in the medical field should instantly be moved to the front for immediate (like hours) sort of processing.