Hi Im GOIY

Oh OK thank you so much. I was really confused... I was getting the majority of my info from my father who went through this process himself. But that was over a decade ago... All the same, thank you so so much I was so worried that we had done something terribly wrong. This website has been a lifesaver throughout this entire process. Thanks again!

-Goiy.

When we went through immigration at the Chicago O'Hare airport, we asked for an EAD so that my fiance could acquire temporary employment authorization and begin working a couple weeks after arriving here. But they only said "we don't do that" and refused to answer any more questions (our harassment level overall was relatively low but I was still displeased with the way they treated my fiance). Anyways so as soon as we got home I got on the USCIS website and pulled up the form to e-file for the EAD. Here's my question... They're asking for a $340 filing fee... I was always put under the impression that the Temporary Employment Authorization was free? They listed some exceptions, people that don't have to pay the fee, but a K1 was not listed. Do we have to pay because we apparently went through an airport that didn't offer the EAD? Thanks so much!!!

-Goiy.

It's finally here! I'm still incredibly anxious, but I think we've done everything right. I have a letter from my employer saying I make enough to qualify (which has always been our cause for concern), my new job's finally picking up and my fiance and I officially have a stable place to live! It's all very exciting and absolutely driving me nuts

Anyways I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone on this wonderful website that has helped us out over the past year or so. This place is a God send. Thank you so so so so much!!! Wish us luck If his visa is issued Max will be here on March 16th and we'll be married April 13th! I'm so happy this is all coming to a close and we'll finally be together again You guys are awesome!

-Goiy.

Allison is in Scotland, and has to travel 300+ miles to London for the interview. I'm free during Spring Break in March, and I'd like to accompany her there. She has just received (last week) the letter from the embassy.

Can she/we request a date for the interview during the time I can be there? I know it can't hurt to try, but has anyone had success with the embassy accommodating their schedule?

Thanks for all answers.

I dunno what it's like in Scotland, but in Manila they let you pick whichever day you want. For that reason I would assume you won't have any problems Just get on their embassy website and hunt down the phone number over there to make sure. Good luck!

-Goiy.

The DS-156 from what I remember contains his information, not your information. It is one of the forms he completes before his interview.

I'd use your parents address and if at any time your address changes, complete the paperwork to change it if you feel it necessary. I don't even think it matters that much - it wouldn't to me if I were remaining in the same area as your parents so I could still drop by to pick up the mail. Anyway, it isn't a reason to get denied. If it ever became an issue, it is easily explainable... you moved and didn't want to complicate the process or miss any correspondence due to an address change.

I know that he's supposed to be the one who fills it out, and I am putting his info on it They ask him where I live though. Thanks for the advice! That was what I was planning to do... I'm just so anxious that they'll find any reason to deny us that I don't want it to be over something silly. Our Affidavit of Support is going to raise eyebrows as it is... Thanks again! You're awesome =]

-Goiy.

I'm filling out my fiance's DS-156 for him because he was having a hard time with it... And I've run into a problem myself. I am currently living with my parents so as to make the money saving process easier, (I'm barely 20 and in college), but am in the process of buying a home, although I don't know exactly where yet. No matter what we will NOT be living at my parents house when my fiance arrives, but as that is where I am currently residing and I have no clue where we're actually going to be living once he gets here... What should I put down when they ask "At what address will you be staying in the US?"...? If I do put down my parents address, is that going to cause problems? Am I going to have to list all of their names (little brothers live here too) on my Affidavit of Support and will I have to include their income..? Or can I just omit that information..? Also, when I originally filed the I-129F petition I listed my address and our future address as something altogether different............. Will they ask strange questions if that information differs from form to form? If you have answers to ANY of these many questions I would greatly appreciate your input

Thanks for your speedy replies! I have to send all of this stuff off to my fiance tomorrow morning because our interview is on the 13th of February. Thanks again!

-Goiy.

I am sure you are fine. Thousands of K1/K3 visas interview get approved each week at the US Embassy in Manila.

When I was there in August, there were over 100 people to get the K1/K3 Visa, and the gaurd told me we were in slow season.

Most all get approved.

Just have all your paperwork in order, Follow the instruction, and play the waiting game. Overall it's a simple process.....

The OP has a significant concern about the Affidavit of Support. If denied for public charge concerns the cure is CR1 not K3 as a joint sponsor can definitely be used with a CR1 or IR1 case. Support issues are decided Stateside by NVC in CR1 and IR1 cases. Also filing just an I-130 removes the need to file for a waiver of the IMBRA two-year filing limitations.

Okay so if you could dumb that down for me a little I would greatly appreciate it =] Either way I'm not going to have a co-sponsor. My family doesn't want to be legally bound to pay for anything my fiance might do wrong, like get in a car accident... I know they'd be there for us if we needed them, but they won't sign anything... My financial situation is this:

I'm going to show a bit short of the 125% for 2008, but my new job I acquired in October promises to be much better and to be enough to meet the requirement. I will have recent pay stubs, I will have a letter from my supervisor, and I will also have a letter from me explaining things a bit since I can't be at the interview. I'll also be including a letter from my stepfather who has a spot open at his mechanic shop for my fiance once he gets here and is legally able to work. Hopefully my telling them my fiance is virtually guaranteed a job won't look like fraud

If these supplements to the Affidavit don't look like they'll be enough to qualify us, what is the best next move? I'm very confident that within another 6 months I'll have more than enough evidence to prove that my financial situation has really improved and everything's up to par.

Thanks again for all of your insight... I can't wait to not have to worry about this anymore

-Goiy.

Thanks so much =] That makes more sense than what I had been hearing before... I was beside myself when people started telling me we were going to have to wait 2 years between petitions... Thanks again!!!

Goiy.

I have been on here a lot recently asking the same basic questions over and over... Sorry about that I'm just so anxious and worrying myself into a state of depression haha...

If our I-129F petition is denied at the interview because of the Affidavit of Support, (which I think would be a bit ludicrous as I would NEVER have filed in the first place if I wasn't confident that our bills would be paid and we'd eat three times a day ), what happens..? Do we have to wait years before we can file any sort of petition after that or can we file a K3 the next month and start over that way..?

Obviously I would prefer our petition not be denied and not have to deal with this at all... But if it is, it would really take a lot off my mind just to know what the next step would be... I've heard rumors that we have to wait a minimum of 2 years before we can file a second petition, K1 or K3... That would be utterly devastating but having the time to formulate a plan in case the worst does happen would all the same be reassuring...

Thanks in advance for everything =]

Goiy.

Thanks so much... I feel like a child living with my dad but it's so much easier to save money that way... It's got me really down and then I started to worry whether or not it would cause our petition to be denied and I started to panic... Thanks again for the reply =]

Goiy.

Do I have to prove anywhere that I am actually paying to live where I currently live..? Or does it matter to them whether or not I rent/own a home..? Our interview is in 24 days so I'm trying to make sure I've tied all my loose ends... Because my financial situation isn't the best, I've actually been living with my dad so that I can save money for our trips and how expensive this visa is and I'm definitely not paying rent, although I will be able to once all of the trips to the Philippines are out of the way Do they need to know that, or will it make a difference if they remain uninformed..? Thanks in advance and happy new year!

Goiy.

So... My concern, as it has always been, is the Affidavit of Support. My 2008 Tax Documents are NOT going to show that I made the income requirement; I'll probably be short by about $3000... The thing is, I currently have a job that will more than likely exceed this requirement in the future, and I can get a letter from my employer stating this to be true. I don't have any kind of assets to speak of, and there is no way I'll be able to snag a co-sponsor because my family doesn't want to be legally obligated to anything.

My question is this. If the numbers aren't there, but I have some kind of documentation saying that it will be there this year of 2009, and I send letters for my fiance to take to his interview with him that explain my situation a bit, what are the honest odds that he'll be approved? How strict are they on this poverty guideline..? Technically, my current or past income would be well enough to cover our bills every month, even if it is a ways below the poverty line. Also, would it be beneficial in any way for me to assure the embassy that my fiance will be able to secure a job of his own that will increase our household income to well above the poverty level, or will that make them curious as to the legitimacy of our relationship..? I don't see why his having a job secured over here should be a BAD sign seeing as how we've been planning his journey over here for over a year and a half, but if it will obviously I'm not going to mention it...

Any opinions or input on this scenario will be very greatly appreciated His interview is on the 29th of this month and I can't sleep for how anxious I am... What happens if he's denied? What is the procedure for starting over.....? I'm worried sick about this haha... I thought I'd be over joyed when they scheduled his interview, but it is quite the opposite. It would be devastating to put so much effort into our relationship and our eagerness to marry and start a life together, only to have it been for nothing because of a technicality... Thanks again so much for your advice and ideas!!! Oh, and Happy New Year

Oh and I do plan on faxing him the forms he needs in light that he apparently can't acquire them himself. My only real question is which ones are sent where and what everything ends up costing. I've found lots of websites with lots of different answers to this question, so that's why I've decided to just go ahead and ask people that have already done it =]

So he'll be receiving the letter telling him what everything costs then..? I'm still the one paying for it haha. And he has internet cafe's, but they don't have Acrobat Reader, believe it or not, so he's incapable of downloading the forms. We spent hours trying =[

Our NOA2 came on October 16th, our interview is already scheduled for the 23rd of January, but my fiancee JUST got his packet 3... This is now an issue because he doesn't live in an area where he has any sort of access to a computer capable of downloading the forms he needs... Aside from the fact that I think it's ludicrous for them to expect a person living in an underdeveloped country to have ready internet access and give them a website instead of the actual forms, which ones are the ones he brings to the interview, and which ones are the ones he sends off and have processing fees? And when do I get a letter from the Embassy telling me I owe them these processing fees? This part of the immigration nonsense has me confused... The beginning was easy where you just submitted a couple forms and hurried up and waited... This section of things is so rushed though that it has me pulling out my hair

If anyone who knows what they're doing feels like giving me detailed instructions starting from the point we're at and continuing up to when he'll get his visa, I would GREATLY appreciate it....... Thank you SO much...

My father and stepmother went through this immigration thing back in the 90's and I'm doing it now.... He was 45 and she was 20. They had no issues what so ever so don't worry so much They just celebrated their 14th anniversary and have another baby on the way. Couldn't be happier

I have heard through the grapevine that if you co-sponsor someone, the government can require you to put aside a sum of money, making you incapable of accessing it, in the assumption that there might be some kind of emergency involving the people you're co-sponsoring...... Is that true? If my dad co-sponsor's me, will the gov't make him put aside a decent percentage of his money in order to do so? If so, that's going to make it so he won't do it and will make my situation much more unpredictable... Thanks for the feedback!

Hooray we were finally approved! Exactly a month ago today actually... At any rate, what comes next in this whole process? When should my fiance get his packet 4, what's in it, how do I schedule the interview, is there even any way I can decide when the interview will be..? I'm planning on being at the interview with him because my financial information is a little strange. That's another question... The Affidavit of Support...... I have been dreading that little piece of paper and what it might mean for my fiance's visa... I recently got a new job that makes pretty decent money and I will probably average roughly $30,000 this year although that's not going to be 100% evident after only being with this new company for two months... So my questions regarding that are: What is the likelyhood that they will deny his petition based on a possibly stable but not absolutely perfect Affidavit of Support? What is the next step if that DOES happen? Will my having my mother literally as a roommate affect this process in any way..? (She receives food stamps). Would having my father act as a co-sponser help me at all if he has 3 dependent children, a wife that brings home maybe $25,000 a year, roughly $150,000 in the bank and roughly $400,000 in total assets including the assessed value of his home and property, if he also has not been employed in over 8 years....? If anyone has Philippines experience, are the interviewers especially cranky over there...? *Sigh* I basically have about 10,000 questions and no one who can give me a straight answer... OH and what do I have to do to ensure that my fiance WILL get his visa within a week of his interview????? This is especially important as the other reason I want to be at the interview is so that I can also fly back to Florida with him... Aren't there special little forms that need to be sent in way ahead of time that make that process faster..?

Absolutely ANY advice that anyone feels like offering will be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you so much =]

I'm 19, female and living in Florida. My fiance is 21 and lives in the Philippines. I filed our I-129F petition in June and while we have gotten our first NOA, that's all we've gotten... When I look at the timelines on this site our "likely adjucation date" keeps being pushed back... What does "touched" mean and how do you know if this has happened..? I can't really understand why our petition is taking so long to even be approved because I'm confident that I did everything correctly and sent way more evidence of a relationship than is necessary... Maybe our situation with the age and unusual circumstances are making it all take longer? Maybe I just have horrible luck and our petition was handed off to the slacker of the immigration office....... Is there anything I can do to possibly jump start this process? I understand that applying for a visa involves a lot of waiting but it's been so long since I've heard anything at all from anyone that I'm beginning to worry

Another thing that has me concerned is when my fiance will actually receive his visa... Some people seem to receive it at their interview and others have to wait 6 weeks... He's a very intelligent guy but I really wanted to fly back with him as I'm planning on being at the interview. I obviously can't wait around for 6 weeks and I definitely can't afford to go for a week, buy him a ticket that won't be used, and then go back a month and a half later with two more tickets I'm a college student... I make enough to meet the income requirement but it's not like I have any kind of a nest egg laying around and waiting to be made use of...

This whole process is beginning to depress both of us... Him because he has 1000 questions I can't answer and me because I'm apparently so helpless to do anything to make this situation any better... If anyone can answer any of my questions or even wants to offer up personal testimony, I'd love to hear it

Thanks.

I live in Florida. Where do I send my K1 petition? I sent it to Vermont because that's where I was told to send it... But now that I look into things further, it looks like I was supposed to send it to Texas? They did cash my check though (5 days later) so I suppose that's a good sign? Thanks for your speedy replies!

Wait, you haven't filed because you don't want to be denied and wait a long time? You do understand that you don't need to provide financial documentation until your fiance gets an interview with the embassy. By this time you may have your tax returns and W2's and I assume you just filed taxes.

In terms of your fiance beign guarenteed a job when he arrives, I don't think you should even mention this, as this MAY hurt more than help.

If they see it as he/she already has a job lined up for them in the US, MAYBE they will think that the marriage isn't legit? I am not quite sure but I just don't see that helping at all. Also, your fiance can't legally work when they arrive in the US unless they enter through JFk and get an EAD.

I didn't even think about the illegitimate thing although I had planned to get him an EAD and all that... Basically the Affidavit of Support has been a huge thorn in my side and it's all I've really worried about. I was under the impression that they could just deny my application if my financial situation wasn't the best and tell me to try again next year when I was doing better hah... That probably sounds ridiculous to you but as previously mentioned, I'm completely on my own with all of this and I've been getting information from everywhere trying not to mess up. Thanks for all your honest input though! Truly appreciated =]

Do you have a co-sponsor?

I am a full-time student as well and only work occasionally, but nothing ever full-time. I am using a co-sponsor though. If you have pay stubs, and if you get a letter from your employer stating that you are an employee, how much your annual pay is, etc., then maybe you'll be okay without a co-sponsor...? Not 100% sure sorry!

I do not have a co-sponsor. My family isn't exactly supportive of all of this... They think 19 is way too young to be getting married I guess. I wish I had one heh... I haven't even actually filed yet because I don't want to get denied and have to wait way longer than necessary... I am working full time right now though because I've put my studies on hold unfortunately... I will also be starting a second job when I return from visiting my fiance this May that will put me WAY over the requirement while working 60 hours a week haha. But still, all I have are pay stubs and an attainable letter you mentioned... I can also have a letter saying my fiance is gauranteed a job once he arrives... Do you think that will help..?

So the Affidavit of Support. Say last year I made almost nothing because I was just studying full time, but nowadays I'm bringing in enough so that I will make the annual income requirement. I just haven't actually had the job for a year yet so no tax return reflects this although I do have every pay stub I've ever recieved. Will they deny my application? Thanks =]

Thanks!!! Really appreciate it!!! I thought that was the case, but I wanted to ask someone first Thank you again!!!

I'm a college student, and as such I need money for more than just this visa for my fiance... I also have tuition and room and board and other things to worry about at the moment and I have been seriously considering taking out a student loan. Will this hurt my petition in any way? If I'm $5,000 in debt because of this student loan, will they deny my affidavit of support? Just wondering... Oh and I have multiple alternate sponsors for the affidavit of support so... I know that I don't qualify on my own haha... If anyone has any idea about this, please let me know!!! Thanks a million!