kenneme

Great - thank you! (Sorry for posting in the wrong forum, didn't realize it!) Thanks for the link also, it only talks about customs (what you can bring back to mainland) but maybe that is a default way of saying it DOES count as a departure/reentry. I'll try contacting them.

Anybody actually done it, and could you tell us your experience?

I read the FAQ section (http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1k2visa-enter.html#5.12) regarding honeymoooning in the the US Virgin Islands after entering the US on a K1 visa and getting married (but before getting advance parole). It seems like the answer should be fairly straight forward - either going to USVI is "departure from the US" or it is not - but the two answers under FAQs aren't fully conclusive. The way I read them is that it is "risky" but that according to the law, going from the mainland US to the USVI territory and back does NOT constitute departure from the US (even if you pass through customs on return) and therefore does not result in abandonmnet of the K1 process.

What then is the "risk"? That you "accidently" leave USVI territory (for example go to the British Virgin Islands) while you are there and thus depart the US? Or is there actually confusion on the law? Where could I check this - I've searched all over the UCSIC, State Department website and other places and can't find anything.

The only reason I'm asking is that my mom won a week vacation in the USVI and wants to give it to us for our honeymoon (very nice) but the week is unfortunately too close to the wedding to allow time for advanced parole.

We had also travelled a lot and lived together in other countries so I put in as many airplane tickets as possible showing flights together, and I included a photo copy of both whole passports, and then put post-it notes showing the corresponding stamps (ie: 1a/1b, 2a/2b, etc. showing the stamp in mine and his) and a highlighter arrow to the stamp on the page (not on the image of the passport, just next to it). I did that so they wouldn't ahve to dig through every page and figure out when and where we were at the same time.

I think it was a bit of overkill, but it seemed to make it clearer and I saw the post-it notes were still in place 10 months later when the file finally got to Paris for our interview! They handed me back a lot of the supporting documents (including many of the passport photocopy pages) during the K1 interview and said they didn't need them, but I think it never hurts to include.

Thank you Penguin for your reply .

Yes, unfortunately that seems to be the case. We'll keep hoping for the best...

Thanks for updating on that other member...

Thank you Penguin for your reply .

Yes, unfortunately that seems to be the case. We'll keep hoping for the best...

Thanks for updating on that other member...

You're right, from what I've seen of other France K1/K3 timelines, it sounds like AP is not a big deal here in Paris (crossing our fingers!) even though as you said, it can happy to anyone. So I think you should be ok. Also, when they did the administrative checks for his B1 visa it was pretty quick - even though R is Algerian so presumably they did some checks on his background there too...So I think that's a good sign?

Don't fret Kenza! I'll let you know what happens to ours (though it's a K1) and ensha'Allah they'll both be flying across the Atlantic before we know it! I'm trying to stay +

Thanks for the reassurance...

No, they didn't give us a slip of paper and they did not ask for any additional documents.

We left the passport and the prepaid envelope with them (they gave us the tracking #).

We had our K-1 visa interview here in Paris yesterday. It went really well, but the agent didn't say definitely yes or no! I don't get it... it seems like everyone else got their answer (or request for more info) during the interview...

The first person, who took all the papers and arranged the file, said everything was in order. She confirmed some of the questions, our addresses, etc. She even took our wedding invitation and said how lovely it was! Then we had the interview and that was straightforward. She seemed happy with all his answers. At the end she said, "normally it is all fine... everything looks good. So unless there is some other issue with the file or with the consul, it should be ok." She said she had no more questions and R asked if that meant it was approved and he could go ahead and buy his plane tickets, she kind of laughed like "you're in a hurry!" and said it would be better to wait until we have it in hand (of course)... We told her we were planning our wedding and she said we should receive the Chronopost envelope sometime next week. At the end she smiled and said "Congratulations!" but we left still not sure if we could start celebrating or not! (or at least half celebrating while we wait to get the visa in hand!)

Anyone have any idea what that means?! Does the lack of response mean it's going into AP or do they just prefer to not risk giving you the wrong idea about when it wil arrive in the mail until its sure? My fiancé went through AP for a B2 visa last year and it took < 1 week. Will the fact that he's been "checked out" before help this time around or do they start fresh?

Oh, no! I'm nervous this will happen to us too! We had our interview yesterday in Paris and it seemingly all went fine, but they didn't say yes or no (or even that it was going into AP) - see full description below. She said normally it should all be fine, and congratulations on the wedding, but didn't say for sure it was approved! He went through AP in less than ten days for a B2 visa last year, does that help at all? Steve and Nathalie, what ended up happening with yours?

INTERVIEW: We had our K-1 visa interview here in Paris yesterday. It went really well, but the agent didn't say definitely yes or no! I don't get it... it seems like everyone else got their answer during the interview!

The first person, who took all the papers and arranged the file, was very friendly and said everything was in order and looked fine. She even took our wedding invitation and said how lovely it was! Then we had the interview and that was quick and straightforward (we'll write a review later). She seemed happy with all the answers and the papers. At the end she said, "normally it is all fine... everything looks good. So unless there is some other issue with the file or with the consul, it should be ok." Does that mean someone else still has to look at it?

When R asked if that meant he could go ahead and buy his plane tickets, she kind of laughed like "you're in a hurry!" and said it would be better to wait until we have it in hand (of course)... so we were wondering if there is still some chance they would reject it? or if they just prefer to not risk giving you the wrong answer? She kept his passport and envelope and said we should receive the passport in the mail next week/within ten days, and at the end she smiled and said "Congratulations!" but we left still not sure if we should start celebrating or not!

Anyone have any experience/advice?

I strongly agree with the various bit of excellent advice above, especially regarding the vital importance of patience, communication and humour. At the begining language and other communication barriers seem less important because you take the time to make sure you understand and are understood, and it can even be kind of a nice challenge or whatever, but once life really picks up and the novelty wears off you can loose that and start missing things or misinterpreting things, and that leads to frustration and conflict - so it is really important to stay "on the same page" as someone said. And you have to take the time to make that happen.

Another key to success for intercultural couples is to believe in your relationship and be positive about it and, like everyone has said, be smart but don't get bogged down by horror stories. I remember at the outset of our relationship, his friends were warning him that I must work for the CIA and my friends were warning me that he must be Al-Qaeda!! That was five years ago nad now we can laugh about those things because we know each other and trust one another... (plus it will make a good story for the kids some day!! )

The last advice I would give to you is: don't loose yourself. Don't forget who you are or where you come from. You are part of a cultural group that has value - not in an ethnocentric way or anything, but just in a human way, that's how we all work! It is easy in an intercultural relationship to loose that base - I think espeically for the partner living abroad or if you are both in a third country. Sometimes we don't realize what we are compromising or "forgetting" until we see we have become a different person! Sometimes that's good but not always. So even while you are being flexible and learning to compromise to make things work, it is also important for both of you to know what parts of yourself you will NOT compromise on and stick to those values of yourself that. Those are the things that made him love you in the first palce so don't let them get left by the way side.

I believe diversity is a challenge but if you are both strong and sure of yourselves and who you are as individuals, the different cultural and life backgrounds should contribute to the relationship's richness.

Thanks! That's reassuring! Sounds like we should be ok then!

Congratulations for getting your B2! I think CO's in most situations will understand that life changes happen, and as long as you are clear and have good supporting evidence showing why things have changed and what you know intend to do, it can be done! You seem frank and responsible, so I'm sure this was noted at the interview.

I don't think you're out of your mind for switching to a B2 when your circumstance changed, after all, he was no longer intending to reside in the US after the wedding, which is the point of the K1. We had a similar situation and ended up going for K1 but it meant making difficult choices about jobs, where we would live, etc. and given how lengthy and stressful that process was we kind of wished we had gone for the B2 instead to bring him to the states for the wedding and go back abroad afterwards...but, that's life, and hopefully things work out ok with our K1!

Best of luck to you both.

We had our K-1 visa interview here in Paris yesterday. It went really well, but the agent didn't say definitely yes or no! I don't get it... it seems like everyone else got their answer during the interview!

The first person, who took all the papers and arranged the file, was very friendly and said everything was in order and looked fine. She even took our wedding invitation and said how lovely it was! Then we had the interview and that was quick and straightforward (we'll write a review later). She seemed happy with all the answers and the papers. At the end she said, "normally it is all fine... everything looks good. So unless there is some other issue with the file or with the consul, it should be ok." Does that mean someone else still has to look at it?

When R asked if that meant he could go ahead and buy his plane tickets, she kind of laughed like "you're in a hurry!" and said it would be better to wait until we have it in hand (of course)... so we were wondering if there is still some chance they would reject it? or if they just prefer to not risk giving you the wrong answer? She kept his passport and envelope and said we should receive the passport in the mail next week/within ten days, and at the end she smiled and said "Congratulations!" but we left still not sure if we should start celebrating or not!

Anyone have any experience/advice?

We had our interview here in Paris yesterday. It went really well, but the agent didn't say definitely yes or no! I don't get it... it seems like everyone else got their answer during the interview!

The first person, who took all the papers, arranged the file and everything was very friendly and said everything was in order and looked fine. Then we had the interview and that was quick and fairly straightforward (we'll write a review later) She seemed happy with all the answers and the papers. At the end she said, "normally it is all fine... everything looks good. So unless there is some other issue with the file or with the consul, it should be ok." Does that mean someone else still has to look at it? Could they still say 'no'?!

She kept his passport and the envelope and said normally we should expect it in the mail next week - and explaiend about getting married, what to do at the POE, etc. but she didn't say "approved"! When Rahim asked if he could go ahead and buy his plane tickets, she kind of laughed like "you're in a hurry!" and said it would be better to wait until we have it in hand (of course)... so we were wondering if there is still some chance they would reject it? or if they just prefer to not risk giving you the wrong answer? At the end she smiled and said "Congratulations!" but we left still not sure if we should start celebrating or not! We feel relieved and happy, but not 100% - anybody know anything that might help releive us?

Thanks, and congratulations to everyone else!

Yay! we finally got the interview date from the embassy in Paris yesterday!

Ugh, it has been such a long stressful wait! Here in Paris you cannot talk to anyone on the phone and you can't go there either to get any information either. I emailed once at the begining of June and they called me back (so that was somewhat reassuring, but still not really clear - she told me I had to send a letter saying I still intend to marry, and I said "isn't that one of the forms to bring to the interview?" and she didn't really seem to know - kind of disconcerting!) I followed up with an email senidng them the fiancée letter of intent (just in case!) and resending the "readiness for appointment" form and a letter from the place we hope to host our wedding giving the date etc. They didn't respond

We heard nothing for a long time, and I was just about to give up and call my congressman (we had reached the 10 week mark since sending in pack 3, which is pretty much the outlying limit for setting an appointment date). R emailed the embassy one last time on Friday and yesterday/Wednesday he finally got the packet 4 letter!! The interview is July 22! Can't wait!!!

Congratulations to all of you who are already married and living happily ever after Be thankful for what you've got! That's so great it all worked out.

Anyone have any tips for us for the interview, now that you've been through it?

Best wishes,

Megan

Thanks for your input everyone and for the practical advice.

We're going to move to the US as soon as the K1 is approved for travel. It's not ideal financially but sounds like the safest option.

Thanks for your input everyone and for the practical advice.

We have decided to go ahead and move to the US this August as soon as the K1 is approved for travel! It's not ideal financially but sounds like the safest option.

Thank you very much Yu and Dan for this complete explanation and for your heads up on the POE risks. (also for clarifying K3...good to know!)

Greetings,

Looking for some more help on our situation.

We are waiting for our K-1 interview here in Paris (where we both live/work currently). We are planning to go to the US 1 August to get married if fiancé has the visa in time. We did K-1 because that was the best option at the time. However, my job offered me an extension to stay through the end of the year.

So, the most logical thing would be for him to come to the US for the wedding in August on a regular tourist visitors visa B1/B2 and return to France. Eventually when we decide to move to the US for good - ie probably early next year - we would do DCF or K3 spouse visa....Does this sound like the best thing to do?

and what do we do now?! I don't want to cancel the K1 until we're sure the other option would work.Should we make an apointment for the tourist visa and explain it to them at the interview that we plan to marry and then return to France? Or should we wait until we get the interview date for the K1 and explain it to them then (but then it might be too late to apply for a tourist visa if they say he can't get the K1?).... Or just go through with the K1 as normal but not apply for change of status?

Help appreciated!!! Thanks...

cooo cooo!

Anyone still checking this forum?

Well, I have a question - we sent Packet 3 in over three weeks ago and haven't heard anything from the embassy about packet 4/interview. Should I be getting nervous? Should I call them?

Thanks,

Megan

Thank you Nik + Heather for outlining some of the potential risks - you're right that there are many potential pitfalls, including the possiiblity of him being stuck in the US without me!

Thank you for your support.

I would still discourage you from using the visa in any way other than intended (to enter the US to stay and AOS).

I wonder if it would be a VJ first if the beneficiary was all alone in the US doing paper work while the Petitioner was in another country! What if your fiance stayed in the States after the August wedding to adjust status while you went back to France to finish out your contract, and then he went back over to France once the Advance Parole came through? You'd need someone to watch your US mail and also need to know how long he can be out of the country on AP....but...Is this idea TOO "creative"?

You may have made deposits, but it is my experience that many vendors will allow you to change the date and not loose your deposits, especially as we are still more than 90 days out. I would still strongly encourage you to spend some time considering moving your K1 plans to January instead of August.

I see lots of risks against you in trying to get married in August:

- May not be granted visitor visa.

- May not be admitted (even with visitor visa)

- Will have to go through the process of filing again

--- Extra money (How does this compare to money down already?)

--- Extra time & effort

--- Waivers?

--- Other unknowns you'll have to research and should be informed about before you make this decision.

Do you feel confident that you can mitigate all of these to have your perfect August wedding? I hope so....

Also, have you considered simply declining your contract extension? Something's got to give here.

I understand completely the desire to have an all inclusive wedding - the ceremony and the legal bit and all the family around all in one day. We are doing that, and will probably be separated an extra 3 months in order to do as we like. I'm not sure why moving from August to January is going to prevent that...

We don't have all the details like you do, so my previous suggestion still seems like the best path from what you've shared. When circumstances change, so must you revisit previously made decisions and reconsider from the beginning.

Wishing you the best, I hope that whatever you do in the end, it works out!

There is no penalty for entering the US using a K1 visa, marrying and then leaving before the 90 day I-94 expires. You then follow the appropriate spouse visa route when ready. People change plans. Nobody here is going to counsel you on just what lie to tell a Consular officer so that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Thank you for this concrete feedback. Rest assured we are not trying to be deceptive in how we use the visa (that's why I'm asking the question!). In fact it was because we were trying to "dot all the i's and cross all the t's" that we decided to go the K1 route in the first place (rather than trying for a tourist visa with the intent of getting married). As you said, life plans change, and I'm sure some of you can understand that. We are not naive about the high stakes and potential challenges we face - just asking for some honest advice. I'm thankful we have made it this far and I do recognise that we are fortunate to be together during this phase.

Hi everyone! Just checking in!

We got all of our papers together (took a while to get the last translations and docs mailed from Algeria) and mailed in our " ready for interview" paper - now just waiting for the interview date to be assigned. Hope everyone else is doing well!

I know most of you are far away from your sweetie's still - hang in there - I'm wishing you patience and determination - you're almost there!

Megan

Thank you Paris Heart, that's very helpful! I think you understand my situation...It's true that they may begin to question if we make too many changes.

My other thought was that you are not "required" to get married if you enter on a K1 as long as you leave the country, right? so I don't think they can force us or penalize us in anyways for legally doing the K1 entry and the wedding and then deciding not to do change of status...?

Thank you both for your input.

Yes, I know I know - we're not supposed to make definitive plans until visa is in hand, but we want to have a "real" wedding not just settle for some court house thing because he's not a US citizen Looking back now I wouldn't have put down the deposit for our wedding in August and would have waited until it was confirmed to do so, but this let us reserve a date that works better for the families and now it's done and we can't change it so, what would you recommend with keeping the August wedding date?

Greetings! Hope someone can help.

Our situation: We applied for K1 fiance visa in October 2008 (CA Center / Embassy: Paris, France) while I (US citizen fiancee) was still in grad school in the US, thinking that would be the best legally and leave us the most options open. Thankfully I got a work contract in France for January 2009 through May 2009. We are planning our wedding in California August 15 2009 and had planned to return to the US in June/July with him on the fiance visa. We just sent in the "ready for interview" papers to the embassy and are praying everything comes through in time. I have a cosponsor (my mom) in the US. BUT, my work just offered to extend my contract here through December, which means we wouldn't be able to stay in the US after the wedding to do change of status, get his green card, etc. I guess we would instead have to do DCF (we would qualify) later on when we decide to move to the US?

The problem is that my fiance needs a visa to come to the US for the August wedding (he's an Algerian citizen so he can't come without a visa). Our question is what to say in his interview? Do we explain everything and tell them that we will not be pursuing his residency yet, but will be getting married? (It seems inevitable this will come up because my employer is in France!). Or, do we say I plan to get a new job in the US after the wedding? Or do we switch and instead try to get him a tourist visa (while still being honest that he's definitely getting married)? Or go ahead and do the legal wedding here in France and try for DCF between now and the wedding?

Any help much appreciated.

Megan