Roxyroo

Hi all,

Ok, probably a silly worry, but I will be here in Bogotá during this whole process and will put the I129F in the mail in a couple weeks. So I want any and all contact from the USCIS to be sent to my apartment in Bogotá. But I guess I'm a little doubtful about the guarantees of that happening.

Do I have to request all contact by email? Should I do that? Or is that a given?

Where would I write my email address, just in my contact info that will appear on every letter/attachment in the package?

Thanks (again)

Hi All,

What usually are the questions for k1 visa interview??? Thank u !!!

Here is a link for sample questions on the VJ site...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...age=exampleq#k1

I am constantly surprised with how many resources there are on VJ....you should check out all the links because you can often find an answer quicker than on the forums.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot, guys! Good advice!

Aw, c'mon guys....

I really am confused about this. If NY is where we plan to live, but my parents address in Ohio is where we will first spend time when we get to the US and it is the address I use as my "domicile" in the US, AND I live out of the country, which service center should I be sending my stuff to?

Should I attach a letter explaining this????

Thanks....

I posted an earlier question about residence/domicile, because I will be living in Bogotá with my fiance while awaiting this whole process.

For the answer to #14 on the I-129F, where the fiance will live in the US, I will put my parents' address in Ohio, because I assume we'll spend around a month there visiting when we first arrive in the States together, and that's where I have my mail sent and such. But that's really just to have an address in the States to put....we are not going to live with my parents. We are not going to live in Ohio. We are moving to New York City and finding an apt together, so I have no other address to put.

So.....since the service center is based on where you and fiance will be living, which is mine? Vermont for our ultimate destination, New York? Or California for our first place we land, Ohio?

This seems like such a dumb question....I'm sorry...but just even beginning this process I have started to second guess everything....

Thanks a lot....Anyone else want to weigh in? We can use all the help we can get.....

Hi All,

I have lived in Colombia (in 2 different cities) for the past 2 years, but lived in each apartment for about 10 months before going home to visit my parents for about a month in the summer. I will be living here for the next year also as we do the visa process. I have not "resided" at my parents' home in the past 5 years. But it is the address I use to have mail sent and such. However, I want any correspondence from the USCIS sent to my address in Bogotá, not my parents´address.

How do I reconcile all this on the forms? Does my parents' address need show up somewhere, as proof of "domicile" in the US? If so, where and how?

Also, on the I-129F form, Question 14: Address in the US where your fiancé intends to live? What do I put? We are living in Colombia until the end of this process and then moving to New York City together and finding an apartment together. Said apartment does not yet exist. Do I attach something explaining this? I'm certainly not putting my parents' address...

Any help is appreciated...

Great, thanks!!

I understand you don't want your mom and dad to be co-sponsors but what about your friends in USA? Why not ask them to be a co-sponsor - explain to them that the sponsorship entails supporting the intending immigrant but it 'may' never be needed or officially enforced because you would be taking care of her with your assets and the new job. Most friends might be willing to be a co-sponsor - and the only requirement is that they must be US citizens or Legal Permanent residents - and make enough money to support themselves plus one (I am assuming your fiance is by herself). Good Luck

Thanks...I have thought about asking a friend, though there is really only one I think I can ask, as now most of my friends are married with babies or young children and I don't know that they would be eager to take on other "dependents".

I am confused about what you mean about my fiance being "by himself" (I'm the woman in the scenario, btw... ). The way I have understood it, the sponsor would be responsible for 3 "dependents": themselves, me, and my fiance. That would figure out to an income of $22,000 to meet the 3 person 125% guideline. This is correct, right?

Thanks!!

Yes, you're grasping at straws. Either option COULD work but far from a sure thing. As a practical matter, unless you're retired or flush with cash, living abroad during the visa process means you'll need a co-sponsor. Of course, you have few months before the I-134's need to be submitted.

Thanks again for the advice. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and do the co-sponsor. I'll look into having money in my US account or having my US job more when that time comes, but I will be living and working here in Colombia for the entire visa process, no two ways about it. So I guess I may have no other real option.

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

Wow, obviously this is news to me and a new kink in the works. The most likely candidate for the sponsor would of course be good old Mom and Dad...but I am really hoping to avoid going that route. They have not been overly enthused, to say the least, about me living in Colombia at all and it will take a long time for me to work up the courage to even tell them about the engagement...then to have to ask about sponsoring? Ugh.

Would borrowing money to have in my US accounts do anything to help me avoid the sponsor?? I'm pretty sure no, but I just thought I would ask.

What about when I have a job with a high school in the States (which I should have by Spring)? Would a letter from that employer do anything to help me avoid the sponsor??

Just grasping at straws here...

Thanks for any advice.

You won't qualify to sponsor because your income in Columbia won't continue from the same source once you return to the US. The solution is a qualified co-sponsor.

Hi All,

I am just beginning this whole K 1 process, but I am already worrying about how my income will be looked at when we get to that stage. I live and work in Bogotá, Colombia (where I met my fiance), and will continue to live and work here next year.

2 things concern me. When all of this gets underway, I will be:

1. For the most part, self-employed, teaching private English as a Second Language classes (have my Master's, that's what I do)

2. I will be earning Colombian pesos and depositing them into my Colombian bank account.

I am hoping to earn around $20,000US all told, but I am still wondering, am I screwed when it comes to the Affidavit of Support? If this money is from my self-employment, my private classes, and going into a foreign account, will it just be considered nothing in the eyes of the embassy?? I have read (on this site) that only a US bank account "counts" for anything. Is this true? I am hoping to avoid a sponsor by all means. I'll have about $8,000 in accounts in the States, but is that worth anything?

Any advice?

Thanks so much!

You won't qualify to sponsor because your income in Columbia won't continue from the same source once you return to the US. The solution is a qualified co-sponsor.

Hi All,

I am just beginning this whole K 1 process, but I am already worrying about how my income will be looked at when we get to that stage. I live and work in Bogotá, Colombia (where I met my fiance), and will continue to live and work here next year.

2 things concern me. When all of this gets underway, I will be:

1. For the most part, self-employed, teaching private English as a Second Language classes (have my Master's, that's what I do)

2. I will be earning Colombian pesos and depositing them into my Colombian bank account.

I am hoping to earn around $20,000US all told, but I am still wondering, am I screwed when it comes to the Affidavit of Support? If this money is from my self-employment, my private classes, and going into a foreign account, will it just be considered nothing in the eyes of the embassy?? I have read (on this site) that only a US bank account "counts" for anything. Is this true? I am hoping to avoid a sponsor by all means. I'll have about $8,000 in accounts in the States, but is that worth anything?

Any advice?

Thanks so much!

Hi all--

Think I posted this in the wrong place. So:

I have lived and worked in Bogotá for about the last 2 years, with a couple trips home to the States to visit family. I am planning on living here again until summer of 2009. I am planning to marry my Colombian fiance and was planning to do the K-1 process, but some VJ people said that doing DCS might be easier and faster.

But, couple problems:

I have read that DCS is not available in Bogotá. Does anyone know?

Also, if I go home to the States in the summer to visit family, will all my previous residency in Colombia be wiped out and I will have to start from scratch when I return in August? (Not going home is not an option; as I won't have been home since Christmas.)

And, when I return this time, it will most likely be on a tourist visa and not a work visa as I previously had. This is negative for DCS, right?

I really don't know what the better option is for us, with me living here.

Thanks to everyone...

Mostly for Big City Dave....

I think it is dawning on me what you wrote--What I understand is that when I go home to the States to visit my family this summer, my previous 2 years in Colombia will be wiped out? That is, when I return in August, it will be as if I have never been in Colombia before, even if the DCF is an option here (which I still don't think it is)? I start my "residency" in Colombia from that point?

Hola--

I have lived in Colombia since July of 2006, and will be living here in Bogotá at least until summer of 2009. I recently posted about beginning the whole K-1 process with my fiance and several people suggested since I am living here it would just be easier to get married here and go the DCF route.

But....I had already researched that and had read that DCF is no longer an option in Bogotá. Does anyone know? If I can avoid the K-1 process I would like to.

Has anyone done DCF from Bogotá? If so, would my previous residency (with 2 year-long work visas) count, or would I have to stay on after we get married?

Thanks and as always good luck to all.....

For questions #1 & #2:

As Dave pointed out, you can likely make the process much shorter by marrying and filing overseas via Direct Consular Filing. I would use the above advice and research into it some more to see if you and your fiance prefer that option over the K-1, K-3, etc visas.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it...I actually looked into DCF, because that seemed to be the easiest route, but read on many websites that that option is no longer available in Bogotá. Anyone know if that is true or not?

Hola a todos--

Especially to those doing this process in Bogotá!

I am going to start this whole process this summer, to bring my fiance to the US, and I have some questions about doing it right. My main thing is that I have lived in Colombia for the past 2 years teaching high school. It seems that most people on this forum are living in the US with finaces/ees in other countries. So one thing I am wondering is how this will affect me.

One thing I am concerned about is having all the possible forms I would need here with me in Colombia. Most tax records and such are in my parent's attic in the States. However, I will be in the States for about 5 weeks this summer. So:

1. Can someone please give me advice about ALL the documents I should bring back with me to Colombia for the entire process, so that I have them here when I need them? What should I have notarized? Do I need to have anything apostilled?

2. I-129F: I am also curious about how we will demonstrate "proof" of our relationship. I have been in Bogota since July 2006 and we work at a school here together. Obviously, I am not going to be able to show plane tickets/hotel receipts/letters/emails, etc. I have an apartment and we have a totally normal relationship, sending text messages, talking on the phone, going on dates. What on earth do I use as "proof"?

3. Affidavit of Support: Another thing I am concerned about is when I get to the affidavit segment of this journey, as I won't have worked in the US for 2 years. Last year, the school I worked at paid only about $1000 US a month, but with a $8500 bonus as the end of the year. This year, I'll have earned about $24,000 US. Will showing the contracts and pay stubs from these schools be sufficient to demonstrate my income? My income from the year before I came to Colombia was not very high, as I was finishing my Master's half the year. And....to make matters worse, next year I will be self-employed, as I have decided to tutor privately here instead of working at a school. I expect to earn at least $30,000 US doing so, but it will be off the books....so how do I prove it? Is there someway I can demonstrate my projected income as a NY public school teacher when I return to the US, which will be $52,000? How much does what he earns here factor in?

We plan to send the I-129F packet this summer, and to be in the US by summer 2009, so I can start teaching the new school year there. A year seems realistic based on timelines I have seen here...is it?

Thanks to anyone who can answer any questions...I really appreciate it. Good luck to all of you...