ga1jin

Thanks, all, for your replies.

We applied for the ss card in her maiden name as vj recommends in the K1 flowchart. However, the ssa would not allow us to change her name on the card with just the marriage certificate.

The drivers license problem has been resolved, though. I called the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and talked to about four people, including the Deputy Director of Driver Licenses (or something like that). They called the local DHSMV office and told them to issue my wife a license in her married name based on her I-797C, NOA for the EAD application. So we went back and got her license this afternoon. I guess it pays to be persistent! :-)

My wife has an expired Florida driver's license which we are attempting to renew. We were told they could not issue her a new license in her married name OR her maiden name, because her name according to the USCIS (married name) does not agree with the name on her SS card (maiden). They told us we must change the name on her SS card before we can renew the license.

The problem is, our local SSA office tells us we must wait until we receive her work permit (at least a month from now) with her married name on it before we can change her name on the SS card, even though we have a marriage certificate and USCIS documents (NOA'S) showing her new name. (From what I've read on vj, a marriage certificate seems to be adequate for some people change the SS card.)

So what this boils down to is that if she had not changed her name, all her documents would agree and there would be no problem. But because she has changed her name she's not allowed to drive right now. Seems absurd to me, but not surprising. Has anyone else come across this issue and found a way around it?

I haven't been keeping up with VJ lately, or this thread since a couple weeks after it started, but I just wanted to let y'all know my fiancee had her interview in Tokyo today and was approved! They said she'll get the visa in the mail in a week. When I get more details of the interview from her I'll post them in the Embassy Review section for anyone interested. Good luck everyone!

Can anyone make sense of the following paragraph from the Tokyo Embassy website?

"K1 visa applicants must complete two copies of DS-156, and a copy of DS-156(K). Do not sign DS-156(K), we will ask to sign it at the interview. Each K2 via applicant must also submit two copies of DS-156. Form DS-156 must be filled out online. Handwritten or typed forms will not be accepted."

If DS-156 is an online form, how do you submit 2 copies? Are they saying submit one online and then print a second copy and bring it to the interview? It's not very clear.

Thanks everyone for your replies. My question was whether anyone has had any issues at POE. We will not have had any ceremony at the time of the interview. I guess the bottom line is there's no reason to mention a ceremony in Japan at the interview or POE. There' no way they will know about it unless they happen to read vj in their spare time. I guess I'm just a little paranoid.

No worries in your case as long as the legal marriage takes place in the US within the 90 days allowed.

Thank you, pushbrk.

Thanks everyone for your replies. My question was whether anyone has had any issues at POE. We will not have had any ceremony at the time of the interview. I guess the bottom line is there's no reason to mention a ceremony in Japan at the interview or POE. There' no way they will know about it unless they happen to read vj in their spare time. I guess I'm just a little paranoid.

A ceremony that does not constitute a legal marriage "should" be ok, BUT in many cases when people admits having this type of ceremonies at the K-1 interview they had been denied or asked to withdraw their K-1 petition and asked to file a K-3 instead, even when their own country does not recognizes the marriage as legal.... I have no idea how the CO takes as legally binding a marriage that is not a legal marriage under the laws of the country, but they do it anyway!

Have you heard first-hand from people on vj (or elsewhere) who say they were denied entry at POE because they admitted to having a non-legal ceremony? The reason I'm asking is because my fiancee and I are planning on having a church ceremony in Japan before coming here (but after receiving the K-1). I've checked, and religious ceremonies are definitely not recognized by the Japanese government. Papers must be signed.

We have no reason to tell them we've had a ceremony, but if we are asked our options are to tell them or bold-faced lie. I don't want to tell them if this has really been a problem for people. But I also don't like the idea of lying. I hope you don't mind me challenging your post. I just want to know if this really is a problem since we have been moving forward with our visa and wedding plans.

We just got approved, too! Got the email today, but the notice said April 2, just like yours, Tuty.

:dance:

4-8 hrs/week on Skype with webcam.

As I understand it, with the I-129 you must establish that you have meet your fiancée in the last two years, and at the interview, your fiancée must establish that you have a real relationship.

With that in mind, does it make sense to send in with the I-129, the pile of evidence for establishing the real relationship, or is it better to keep your I-129 on message and not burden the processor with lots of items that really do not apply to the purpose of the review, and give your fiancée the evidence of the real relationship to take with her to the interview?

I like the idea of keeping the I-129 simple and easy to understand. But I am not sure I am correct on this point. The official instructions only mention “copies of any evidence you wish to submit to establish your mutual intent.”

I wondered the same thing, but I think most people on vj (myself included) send evidence of a relationship (emails, receipts, boarding passes, photos, etc.) with the I-129F. I would send 2-4 of each type. That will certainly not overburden the processor.

By the way, Jerry, it looks like we have very similar timelines. Maybe we're in the same "box."

It appears that your stuff has been touched more often than mine though, so I suspect you'll win the "race."

You never know. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the touches. We'll see. Good luck!

By the way, Jerry, it looks like we have very similar timelines. Maybe we're in the same "box."

I was touched on 3/23, Easter Sunday, too.

I believe appointment post are only for 'immigrant' visa's. A K1 is technically a non-immigrant visa. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

I think you're right about that. This link does say it applies to immigrant visas. And K-1 and K-3 visas are technically non-immigrant. Thanks for pointing that out. My mistake.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3734.html

Heaven forbid one day my journey is over and we get our ( her ) visa.

Do I understand this correctly? We will be married longer than one

year but less than two; ergo she will get a conditional two year GC.

After the two years ( wedding or green card anniversary? ) she has

to file to remove conditions and then hopefully would get a 10 year

GC? If everything goes wrong and we would have to wait another

year, then be married more than two years, a 10 year green card

would await her?

The absurdity of that occurred to me as well. But think about this one: If someone enters the U.S. on a tourist visa and decides on a whim to marry someone, they can do so and apply for AOS and legally stay in the U.S. and be with their spouse. But everyone who takes their time and is deliberate about their decision to marry has to wait for months to be with the one they love. This process doesn't always make a lot of sense. Being a VSC filer, though, I guess I can't complain too much. Most people have been waiting a lot longer than I.

From what I read any US citizen living Japan can file the petition to the Embassy in Tokyo, the website for the consulate in Osaka points to Tokyo for filing the I-130.

http://osaka.usconsulate.gov/wwwhmain.html (Click the Visas link at the top of the page)

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivpetition.html (Instructions on filing the I-130 in Tokyo)

Yeah, that second link is the one that made me think he might be able to go through Tokyo. I guess he should call the embassy and ask. Thanks for the reply.

My brother lives in Osaka, Japan and is about to file an I-130 for his wife. He was going to send it to the Chicago Lockbox, but I was thinking he might be able to do DCF? Can he? Or does he need to live near Tokyo?

Normally, K1s are at NVC for a couple of days.

Apparently, the Tokyo Embassy is now an "Appointment Post." Not sure exactly what that means, except that a lot of the processing the consulate would normally do will be done by the NVC. I still don't know if that means it will be faster overall or slower or the same. But if Tokyo is your consulate, it will probably spend more time at the NVC than it would otherwise.

Hello to All,

This is my first time posting to a forum such as this, but I hope somebody may have some kind of idea on my two questions:

1) I received approval notice for my I-129F fiancee petition on Jan 31, 2008. At the same time (dated the same), I received a second envelope with a notice Request for Evidence. The USCIS wanted more proof of our having met in the last two years, so we sent more evidence for that. Now, does anybody have an idea how long it should take for the USCIS to process this next bit of information before it is forwarded on to the NVC?

2) I've read that it shouldn't be a problem for both of us to be in US, but my question is the opposite: I filed the I-129F fiancee petition while I was still in the States, but a couples months after that I moved to live with my fiancee in Lima, Peru. Has anybody heard of there being any kind of a problem with this? I'm able to get all the information and help I need from my family back in the US, so I don't see if being a problem.

After several months of this and a lot of Internet searching, I feel fairly knowledgable on a lot of this, but there seem to be a thousand individual scenarios. Any insight would be much appreciated.

You should not have gotten both an RFE and an approval notice on the same day. That must be a mistake. I would call the service center

As for living in Peru, I don't think it's a problem.

Awesome! Congrats!

All we know about this case is what little the OP has chosen to tell us, so, I will refrain from making any judgements.

Well said.

I grant that the questionable nature of the whole idea makes me feel extremely guilty, but consider this; Germany is a part of the visa waiver program. What if we married within 90 days? I'm 24, she's 23 btw.

The Visa Waiver Program has nothing to do with people intending to immigrate. It is for temporary business or pleasure. Babblesgirl and GabiandVi make an excellent point - if you've already applied once before, then the government KNOWS of your intent to marry and your fiancee's intent to immigrate. And if you try to do it on a tourist visa that is her ticket to getting kicked out and barred from entering for years. DON'T DO IT! Even if you didn't apply before and you think you could fool the government, it's not worth the risk. Your relationship has survived this long. It can survive a few more months. Besides, the K-1 process is getting faster all the time. Do it the right way and you will have nothing to worry about.

National Visa Center - Appointment Post List

For certain U.S. Embassies and Consulates General, the National Visa Center (NVC) provides additional document collection and review, and schedules the cases for interview. The Department of State refers to these embassies and consulates as Appointment Posts.

For immigrant visa cases assigned to an Appointment Post, the NVC will collect the fees, affidavit of support, civil documents and police certificates, as required. When the case is complete, NVC will schedule an appointment for an interview with a consular officer. At the time the appointment is scheduled, the NVC will send an appointment letter to all interested parties (applicant, petitioner, and agent/attorney of record, if applicable) notifying them of the date, time, and location of the interview; and forward the petition to the appropriate embassy/consulate.

As of February 21, 2008, the following US Embassies and Consulate Generals are provided with this support:

….

TAL Tallinn, Estonia

TBL Tbilisi, Georgia

TGG Tegucigalpa, Honduras

THT Tashkent, Uzbekistan

TIA Tirana, Albania

TKY Tokyo, Japan

TLV Tel Aviv, Israel T

NS Tunis, Tunisia

So, does that just mean that some of the processing that would normally occur at the Embassy will now occur at the NVC? If so, does that mean it will be faster or take longer? Any ideas?

As a lot of people say, for the majority of cases there is probably no advantage to hiring a lawyer, and there is the potential for more mistakes and delays than if you just did it yourself. For the Ho Chi Minh Consulate, however, that may not be true. But only hire a lawyer who has lots of experience with that consulate and whom you are very confident will do a good job. They should be willing to take the time to answer your questions and convince you that they know what they are doing.

This is bizarre. It seems that all the NOA2's from the VSC that have been received since last Friday are extremely short turnaround times, while there are plenty of VSC petitions that were sent much longer ago and are still waiting.

Anyway, congrats! I hope everyone get theirs soon. Especially you CSC filers!