cjgator

Thanks a bunch, you all have been very kind and helpful. Just to let you know, my wife is here now, she just got here in the US 4 days ago after a year-long wait. It sounds to me, from your advice, like I need to contact the IRS directly and confirm what I need to send if I want to file for 2008, and then get the W-7 in for the "long haul", even though it will not be back by the time I have to file (April 15).

Best wishes, and thanks again.

C

An older thread with lots of tax info:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=170514&hl=

I saw this post a few months ago, and I can't find it again to save my life. Someone explained how they got a Tax ID # for their K3 spouse so she could be reported on their 2008 joint tax return. I need the same. I can't get her SS# until we receive the EAD back from USCIS, so if someone has memory or knowledge of how to do this, could you share? I would appreciate it.

C

I wish you well, man, but speak to some others who have dealt with pinays. In general, they re-define the meaning of the term "opportunist". And, for those of you who are offended by that statement, get a life. You either do not know the truth, or you are avoiding it.

As the old saying goes, "be careful what you ask for, you may get it."

You may hate me for what I say today, but one day, you will see it. Stay away from that area. It is bad news.

I met a girl through a family I know--and we fell in love and quick (right or wrong it happened). She married in Philippines not quite 2 years ago and came here 2 months ago. Since she was married she felt she made a mistake the guy wasn't what she thought he was. After he finally petitioned her on what I believe is the K-3 Visa and she came 2 months ago she has been miserable. He is controlling, lazy drunk, who does have a decent job--but still lives at home with his mother (where she now lives too). She is hoping I can wait until her 2 years here is up and she get her 'condition' of marriage removed.

I imagine instead of waiting for this girl for two years or more while that process takes place there must be an easier way.

Can she leave him now (separation of six months is required before the state will grant divorce here) and live with her sister and eventually me? How long would she be allowed to stay in country?

Is it possible that once her divorce is final that I could marry her quickly after that and petition somehow for her to stay here without her having to go back to the Philippines?

Note: The guy isn't abusive--yet, and it really isn't an 'extreme' hardship if she went back. I actually also wonder if she left him now, was able to stay until the divorce was final and voluntarily went back to the Philippines--How long would she have to stay there before she could come back if I petetion her?

Thanks for any advice or personal experience with this type of issue anyone can share.

Thank you very much for your answer. Quite helpful.

For the most part - any requirements/restrictions (or lack thereof) that were in place for those of her nationality are still in place - will still be traveling on her foreign passport (and will until/if she acquires US citizenship) and as a citizen of that country. The K3 itself is not a travel document - but is good for re-entry into the US.

That is what I thought. Thank you.

If this seems like a very basic question, I apologize in advance, but I have seen conflicting information on this. My wife will be arriving in the US soon on a K-3 visa. With the K-3, does she have to fill out and turn in the I-94 card to customs officials upon her entry into the US? My assumption has always been yes, but, believe it or not, I have seen diametrically opposite answers given to this question, albeit not on VJ - which is why I ask now. I appreiciate the input.

CJ

An I-94 is prepared by all arriving non-immigrant visa holders... Any "K" visa is classified as non-immigrant visa... an I-94 will be required.

It is my understanding that, with the K3 visa, my wife will be able to travel after she enters the US and before she receives her AOS. My question is, if she travels to another country that is not her home or the US (for example, say we take a cruise to Mexico), are visa guidelines contingent upon US standards, or her home country's standards? So, if she tries to enter Mexico, would she be received under a US standard, or the standard of her home country? They way I interpret things, she would need the same documents for that trip as if she were going there from her home country.

I appreciate the help.

CJ

If this seems like a very basic question, I apologize in advance, but I have seen conflicting information on this. My wife will be arriving in the US soon on a K-3 visa. With the K-3, does she have to fill out and turn in the I-94 card to customs officials upon her entry into the US? My assumption has always been yes, but, believe it or not, I have seen diametrically opposite answers given to this question, albeit not on VJ - which is why I ask now. I appreiciate the input.

CJ

wow:

sasha, cuchita, I miss her:

Thank you all, lots of love to you, and best of luck!!

C

VERY cool..

congrats..

Great stuff. Congratulations.

CJ-G

Monica & Isha thank you. Best of luck to you two.

CJ

congratulations cjgator! I hope you and your wife have a wonderful life together! Finally!

CJ, good to hear from you again, brother. Yeah, just spoke with Natasha a couple of hours ago, she has the visa now. Next step, get her on a plane & get her over here.

Yeah, I need a break from USCIS & NVC for a while. Those clowns have caused me more stress & expense than my ex-wife.

Take it easy, man. Best of luck to you.

CJ-G

many congrats my namesake...I am glad to be done with the horrors of USCIS as well...well, at least for now.

amber I left you out. I'm sorry. I want to personally thank everyone who wishes me well. I saw your post earlier, I just realized that I left your name out of the responses.

All the best to you.

Chris

wonderful news!!!

mina, pink, beloved, thanks for the great words, and best of luck to you!!

-CJ

Congratulations!!

Yu is right, 1 is all that is required. I have seen many who put three in, if their most recent tax return showed weak income, which may put them in an "at risk" condition with regards to poverty guidelines. It can be especially helpful for a person who is self-employed and has seen year to year fluctuations in their business income.

CJ

How many years of taxes will we need to provide? My lawyer said that just this years taxes would be fine, however i have read elsewhere that we need our last 3. Can someone please clarify? Thanks in advance!

Thanks mk!

Congrats!!!!!!!

Hey GS, thank you very much! To answer your question, yes, we focused on the K-3 from the beginning, mainly because of logistics. She could interview for the K-3 in her home country (Minsk, Belarus), while a CR-1 interview would have required her going to Warsaw, Poland. While Warsaw is actually a little closer to her home than Minsk, she would have needed an additional travel visa to go to Poland. Residents of Russia and Belarus cannot travel to Poland anymore without travel visas.

We did start considering the CR-1 route when NVC mis-routed her packet to the wrong embassy, because it took so long to A} get NVC to admit they had made a mistake, B} follow up on the problem, and C} wait for the packet to get re-routed to Minsk. Like I mentioned before, that last "circus" basically cost us an additional six weeks of waiting.

Again, I really appreciate the thanks and support. I wish you all the best of luck in your journey as well.

CJ

Thanks jasman!!

C

Congratulations

thanks queuedup!!

C

Congratulations!!!

We still have to work that out, hon. She wants to have a few days to say goodbye to family and several of friends, which I want her to do also. My thoughts right now are to get her over here somewhere between the 16th and the 19th. We agreed to talk about it once she got back to her parents' home, which is on the Belarus/Poland border, about 4 hours away from Minsk. She has to hang out in Minsk until tomorrow afternoon, her visa won't be ready until 3. So, we'll probably discuss a specific travel itinerary either tomorrow night or Friday.

I definitely want a family reunion with you all as soon as you get your sweethearts here.

And, of course, I'll continue to keep you in the loop about the next stage - how she adjusts, the AOS & employment phase, and all of that other good stuff. I'm also going to regularly pop in and see how you all are doing. I really hope NVC and the embassy goes smooth for you.

It's been hard to work today. I'm in this really weird state of over-the-top relief, disbelief, and quiet excitement. I think the school-kid enthusiasm will hit me on the day of her flight to the States.

Take care, dear..

C

So when will she fly out? Hopefully soon!!!

Definitely dinner and drinks for you all! My treat! But don't forget...still having the big bash K3 party/reunion once our spouses are here.

Thanks Zee Bee!!

C

Congratulations

Thanks man. Best to you too.

CJ

CJ-G big congrats! It was a big and long journey, have a great life together.

Lisa thanks to you, and thanks to you Narnia, and waithatter, and all of you cool people.

Definitely big dinner and drinks at the table, Narnia.

Crazy thing - I woke up out of a dead sleep at 3:25 am. That was about 5 minutes after she finished her interview. She waited until 6:30 my time to call - she said she didn't want to wake me up.

I told her, "I think it would have been OK to wake me up for this one."

Big hugs & kisses.

CJ

Chris, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was thinking about you guys last night..I wasnt sure what time her interview was but I figured it woudl be sometime in the middle of last night our time.

Im SO happy that she will be coming home soon.

And you ,my brother held us together too

Lisa

and yes...dinner for six

Hey Sonia, thanks for the congrats.

Well, she said the first thing the consular officer did is apologize to her for the process having taken so long. I thought that was very classy on CO's part. She then said that the CO quickly looked over her paperwork (DS 156, I-134, Police Birth Marriage Certificates), and asked her three questions: When did you meet your husband, where did you meet him, and how did you come to know him? After she answered those three questions, the CO told her everything was fine, and she could pick up her passport with visa after 3 pm local time on Thursday. She said the whole process took about 15 minutes once she got into the CO's office.

good luck.

BTW - thank you also espos and seren..you all are part of this great K3 group. All my best..

CJ

Natasha passed her interview 4 hours ago. She said it was very brief, officer was very nice. She'll get the visa tomorrow after 3 pm Minsk time.

I'll update the VJ timeline later, but for those of you keeping score:

Time from Marriage to Visa: 1 year, 4 days.

Time from I-130 NOA 1 to Visa: 341 days

Time from I-129F NOA 1 to Visa: 334 days

Time from I-130 NOA 2 to Visa: 72 days

Time from I-129F NOA 2 to Visa: 71 days

I'm very happy, but I offer NO thanks to the USCIS system that made this wait so long and the NVC staff who screwed up our package transfer to the embassy, adding an extra six weeks to the wait. YOUR SYSTEM IS BROKEN - HORRIBLY.

Kudos to the Consular staff at American Embassy Minsk. They were awesome, and they did their best to re-assure us and make up for NVC's f-ups.

God knows I hope the Obama administration does something to make this process work better.

And, for any of you who want to defend USCIS and leave a smarmy response about my hammering them (there are a few ususal suspects on here who typically do), I have a message: GO POUND SAND. I don't care what you think.

Finally: Lisa, Narnia, and all of my K3 friends who gave great advice and kept me quasi-sane through this completely insane process, you all deserve the majority of the credit for getting us to this point. For those of you who are finally with your spouses, I'm very happy for you, and for those who are still waiting, I hope it ends soon for you. You deserve it.

-CJ

Congrats CJ...Well, what was ur wife asked in the interview? Please post these things, so that we can prepare ourselves...

Again...Wish a very happy married life in US...

Sonia

Natasha passed her interview 4 hours ago. She said it was very brief, officer was very nice. She'll get the visa tomorrow after 3 pm Minsk time.

I'll update the VJ timeline later, but for those of you keeping score:

Time from Marriage to Visa: 1 year, 4 days.

Time from I-130 NOA 1 to Visa: 341 days

Time from I-129F NOA 1 to Visa: 334 days

Time from I-130 NOA 2 to Visa: 72 days

Time from I-129F NOA 2 to Visa: 71 days

I'm very happy, but I offer NO thanks to the USCIS system that made this wait so long and the NVC staff who screwed up our package transfer to the embassy, adding an extra six weeks to the wait. YOUR SYSTEM IS BROKEN - HORRIBLY.

Kudos to the Consular staff at American Embassy Minsk. They were awesome, and they did their best to re-assure us and make up for NVC's f-ups.

God knows I hope the Obama administration does something to make this process work better.

And, for any of you who want to defend USCIS and leave a smarmy response about my hammering them (there are a few ususal suspects on here who typically do), I have a message: GO POUND SAND. I don't care what you think.

Finally: Lisa, Narnia, and all of my K3 friends who gave great advice and kept me quasi-sane through this completely insane process, you all deserve the majority of the credit for getting us to this point. For those of you who are finally with your spouses, I'm very happy for you, and for those who are still waiting, I hope it ends soon for you. You deserve it.

-CJ

I don't know about the certainty of "having" to be here within 5 months, he may be referring to the fact that the NOA-2 has an expiration date. But, if there are problems along the way through the NVC and embassy phase, that expiration date can be extended, if the problems were a result of agency actions (For example - in my SO's case, NVC sent approval data to the wrong embassy, and it took 6 additional weeks for it to be forwarded to the right place. However, NVC extended the approval dates because the delay was caused by their actions).

There are a lot of factors that play into how long the gap in time could be between NOA-2 and having a visa in hand. A beneficiary who has to go through administrative processing during the NVC stage may be held up an additional couple of months. Embassy interview scheduling varies widely from one embassy to the next. And, you can never be certain that something won't get lost or mis-routed during the process, as was our case. Based on what I have seen with my case and others, I think within 5 months would be a reasonable expectation, and it could happen even much faster than that, but a wait of up to 3 months would not be highly unusual.

Hope this helps.

-CJ

Hi everyone!

I'm here asking for your help as my fiance told me that I will have to be in the States within five months from the approval date (NOA2). Does anyone know if that is correct? According to your experiences, how long does it take to get the visa after NOA2?

Thanks a lot!!!!

You are in a good spot. CSC. Until you have had to wait 10 months for something like this (as many of us at VSC have), you have no problems. Take a deep breath, and be grateful for where you are at.

C

I just keep checking Igor's List and going crazy!

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthl...=2&sortby=2