SR VS

hey all,

My nurse called me the other day and told me she had managed to get the HPV on the NHS which saves me some huge $$$! I dont know how she did it as i dont fall into the catgory. She said she had to wrangle a bit but eventually it paid off! Good news for me!

Im in USA at the moment with Andrew :) I didnt take any documentation with me as proof i was coming back as the trip was totally last min. I did have to sit in border control and be questioned but they told me the reason why the let me in was coz i was totally honest with them, phew! No gunna spend 1 amazing week here. Feels like im home haha

Congrats!

I've been in contact with border control/customs and really all I've found out, regarding my fiancee visiting again is that her being allowed entry with a pending K1 visa is depending on the mood of the agent.

I mean, I won't see her til Christmas in Athens (she was here in April), and us getting even more pictures and documentation supporting our togetherness would only help our cause. However, I would like her to visit here again in a few months.

Does anyone else have any success stories (with customs) about their foreign fiancee visiting while there's a pending K1? If all they want is a return ticket, that's no problem. She has a valid tourist B2 visa (required with a passport to visit here anyways since Greece doesn't yet have a special agreement that many other countries do have) and it's an insult to our intelligence that we'd try to get her here with an already pending K1 visa and expect her to be able to stay.

My god, look at all the other California filers.

I went through a rather difficult process, and I hope everything turns out ok. The lawyer I had, who is a part of an activist immigration service, is used to doing things the way I wanted it to happen -- B2 Visa, marriage, AOS. It is highly surprising how I got a funny look when I told him I am doing a K1. I feel kind of sheepish in a sense, but I also know whoever looks over my fiancee's records knows she owns a business and would have to sell it to move over here. It simply isn't worth the risk, and she's worth the wait, so, with a bittersweet feeling, I had to file a K1.

I just hope everything plays out okay. I was in school off and on during the last few years, so obviously didn't make too much on my tax returns, and have many job changes, but the same address since 1994. However, been doing full time and putting off school just to get her here.

The worst part of it all was, talking to some people at customs in four airports, I found out there is a high likelihood she would be denied if she came to visit again in October because of a pending K1 visa (even though she still has her B2). So I'll end up visiting Greece in December for Christmas and New Years. The consulate in Athens seems pretty fast, but I'm also in California, which obviously has the slowest system since there's so many people filing. At least there's no quota.

Wishing for a speedy process for all of us May filers.

Do they have a history of lagging around the holiday season?

She can come in on a tourist visa and you can marry here. There's no fraud in that. BUT, she will need to go back home before the visa expires. You would then file a K3 to have her enter the US as the spouse of a USC.

Would this route be less complicated/expensive/time consuming than going the K1 route?

Thanks again for those who have responded, especially those who are willing to understand one's situation.

I did get much further information from a friend who dealt with the INS and their backgrounds and it would seem it's too much of a high risk move considering my girlfriend who owns businesses and would have to give them up. Not worth the possible results.

So looks like she's going to come here for a visit, go back, and we'll file the K1, and hope things happen as quickly as possible.

Thanks to those who have answered thoughtfully with regard to my situation, and of course I don't want to commit fraud, so I'll certainly be careful with that. And to those other U.S. born citizens getting too easily fired up, relax, I'm just merely getting information. I somehow doubt your ancestors came over on a K1 or K3, and even more sure you exploit legal loopholes elsewhere, as pretty much every other citizen does to avoid paying taxes, or for whatever other reason, so I can't say I'd feel too bad.

I've tried searching the FAQs here, searching furiously all over the internet in general, and while my hopes were high for the information the diocese here gave to me, I would also like some second opinions of people here, as I can tell there's a good amount of friendly people here who know first-hand about it. I'm also sure some people understand the urgency we have to be together.

My girlfriend is from Greece, and plans on moving here (California), and we are going to get married.

What I was told is things can happen in this order:

- She gets her passport + tourist visa (B2?) from the embassy in Athens

- She comes here on the tourist visa

- We get married here

- Immediately file change of status for her

- She stays here, possibly needing at some point to get an extension until the change of status goes through

- After some 6 months or so she gets a permanent residency status, or something relative to where she can legally work.

Was this correct information that I was given?