bigskells

Congratulations on your experience being relatively painless. As far as the need for lawyers, I found one in the phone book who gave a one-hour free consultation. His advice was do the fiance visa instead of the marriage visa. He also said that I would be wasting money retaining him to file the papers. Without that piece of free advice, I don't know how long it would have taken for my wife and I to get married.

Depends on the fiance's country and the US service center location. Our process from beginning to end was three months. If you haven't already done so, start planning your wedding!

No travel outside of the US unless you have received an Advance Parole. Given all that you have gone through to be together, why bother with the expense and aggravation of filing yet another immigration document that won't be approved before your wedding anyway?

The US is large enough for you to find a really nice, memorable honeymoon destination.

Not sure of where you bank, but talk to the bank manager and explain your situation. Given that the bank has to produce a document as part of the K-1 process, they can be surprisingly understanding. In my case, my fiancee (now wife) had no documents other than her passport and the K-1 visa. Bank of America agreed to let her open an account with me on the condition that she return after she had some form of US ID. Didn't hurt that I had banked with them for 20 years. After our wedding, she was able to get a Virginia photo ID and we took that to the bank to add to our file with no problem.

As far as the SSN, I suspect that you will be waiting until the EAD comes through. In my wife's case, the two actually arrived on the same day, even though they had been filed at different times. But she had to sit at home for six months before that happened.

Good luck!

It's more than enough. We used all of the same items that you described. The total process from filing the petition to my wife's (then fiance) visa approval was 3 1/2 months.

Your fiancee will have to fill out originals of the G-325 and send them back to you. Just be sure that you have them sent by FedEx or some similar method.

Usually, the Embassy will provide the translator.

Generally, you do not need an SSN to get married. We were married in Las Vegas and my wife's only ID was her passport.