yehaww

No - you need to send in more than just the I-129F and check!

You really should not use the K-1 to "test" out to see if you want to get married. You are suppose to use it to get married.

If she can visit on the VWP - use that - they give you 90 days, just like the K-1. And it will not cost you much if she decides not to marry you....

I did read the General K1 guide, but hadn't seen that specific link. Thanks.

I've gone through this in another thread. We've known each other for 2 years and have visited each other regularly and love each other. We've been together for, maybe, 8 3 week "vacations", We think we want to get married, but honestly, we want to live together first. You can only learn so much about a person through short 3 week visits, e-mails and phone conversations. I would never marry someone here in the US without living with them first, and this situation is no different. So what we want to do is do a trial live-together scenario and if it works out, get married.

So the 2 options, as I see it, are have her come on the VWP and if we decide after a few months to marry, just propose to her and file for an AOS(this was advice from an immigration attorney). People on this board have told me that this is illegal and I should go the K1 route. Now I'm here at the K1 forum and people are telling me that it's a dumb idea.

The predicament we're in is that for her to come here for 3 months, she has to quit her job. She was laid off last year and finally got another job a few months ago, but she hasn't been there long enough to qualify for any sort of extended leave, where they'll hold her job for her. So for her to just come for a visit, and then have to go back and try to find another job while we wait another 6 months for a K1, then have to quit THAT job, if she can even find another one, to come back here just sounds like a huge hassle. And maybe not even a financially viable one for her.

So we want to be able to marry and stay together at the point of the 3 month visit. We're just so tired of these sporadic visits. That is why I'm considering doing the K1 first. Having her visit, marrying, then sending her back for 6 months could potentially mean that she's out of work for 9 months or more. Jobs are as scarce in Sweden as they are here. So when she makes the decision to leave her job, we can't take it lightly, we need to act on it if we're going to get married. So that's why I'm using the K1 to "test" things out. I'm using the K1 just like a VWP, except that with a K1 I can marry her and keep her here. We're nervous that marrying on the VWP visit would bring up red flags if they found out she left her job behind. Even though nothing is set in stone as far as getting married when she comes here on the VWP.

It seems silly. If she just came over for another visit, like she has in the past, and I popped the question, it would all be perfectly legal, no? We could marry and adjust her status. But the fact that we've discussed the idea of getting married all of a sudden makes it illegal? Who hasn't discussed marriage after a 2 year relationship? And just because she's coming for 3 months doesn't mean that we will definitely get married, even though it's a definite possibility.

Sorry, I'm just frustrated with all of this. With all the illegals walking around this country, I hate that it's this hard to get my girl over here.

I've read that the processing time on a K1 is about 6 months. The form 129-F itself looks pretty basic. As far as I can tell, that's all I need to send in. I know nothing is guaranteed, but could I realistically expect to be able to have my girlfriend here in 6 or 7 months from the time I send the form and check? Or is that being a bit naive? Also, if, after coming here and living together for a few months we decide not to get married and she goes back, I assume the Visa expires just like any other?

Would she be able to come here for a visit while the form is being processed on the VWP?

She's Swedish if that makes a difference in speeding up or slowing things down as far as the visa process goes.

If she visited and we decide to marry after 2 months and I filed for a k3 or cr1, how long would she have to go back for?

It seems to me that if your girlfriend is giving up her job, that's quite a large risk for someone who 'has not made up their mind'.

Most Europeans have the option of taking an unpaid sabbatical from their jobs while still retaining them. This is what my husband did when he felt he wanted a longer visit to make up his mind for certain about life in the US.

I'm not a proponent of criticizing persons for adjusting from the VWP. But I do think persons should weigh carefully whether or not they are abusing it simply to avoid long separations.

It is possible to file a K1 whilst your girlfriend is here. The only extra thing one has to do is enter her current I94W number on the I129F. She can stay here with you for up to 90 days whilst the petition is processing before she returns to her home country.

Well, sure it's a big decision, and a risk on her part. But we've hit a point in our relationship where we have to make the decision, and it's not one easily made on 2 week visits and phone calls. You can learn a lot about someone and compatibility by living with them for 2 or 3 months that you can't learn from sporadic visits and phone calls and e-mails. She was laid off last year and just got this current job a few months ago. She already took vacation time in advance for my last visit to see her, so she doesn't really have any more time off coming up, hence the decision to leave it to come here to for a trial cohabitation, so to speak. How would anyone know she quit her job if she doesn't tell them?

The problem with filing for a K1 while she's here, is that she's already going to be out of work for 3 months for her visit. Pushing that to another 6 months out of work would be financially tough. What would be the benefit of filing K1 if she's already here and we decide to marry?

Fundamentally, if your intended comes over with "intention" to somehow convert to a more permanent status (excepting certain visas that allow this), you have commited visa fraud which can bar your intended with ever being readmitted (in any capacity) for life.

However, if you did not "intend" such a deception, then all is good and right with the world and you will be accepted with open arms... Ok, maybe not quite that easy, but... not to worry

If I sound slightly cynical, than it just maybe has to something to do with the shear idiocy of this american system??

dvc

I know, this system sucks. For us to live together, live REAL lives where we are both working and living together for any length of time, you pretty much have to get married. We'd have to get married so she can work and we can have a normal life. So that's where we're at. I want her to come here and live with me for a few months, even though she won't be able to work, so it still won't be real life, necessarily, unless I can find some under the table work or something for her. Then after say, 2 months, we decide to make it official, then we'd get married.

There's no chance of an H1 visa, I've already looked into that.

She's coming over so we can decide if we want to marry. And if we decide yes, and time allows on her VWP, and we just do it, I'm just wondering if it's legal? It sounds like it is.

I guess I just want to add a few things. I don't want to give the impression we're looking to scam the system. The purpose of her visit will be for us to really decide if we want to marry. To spend more than just 2 or 3 weeks together. To live together for a few months. But she will not have a job to return to if we decide to not marry. Or if we just got engaged and sent her back to Sweden and filed for a fiance visa. That is why, I guess, if I can do it legally by avoiding a k1, it would make more financial sense to do that, considering her job situation.

So just to reiterate, If she came over here for a visit, like she's done 3 or 4 times before, and I proposed and married her during the time of her visitor visa, then that would be legal? Like I said before we don't know if we will marry or not, but it IS an option that's on the table.

Hello everyone. Here's my story. I'm an American citizen and was working in Sweden a few years ago when I met the woman I'm currently seeing, Sanna. Over the past 2 years, she's been here 3 or 4 times, I've been there twice and we've met in between a few times as well. This is all documented with lots of photos. We've met each others families and spent lots of time together. The thing is, we've never lived together for more than, maybe 4 weeks. We would like to give this a shot and we love each other. She has decided to quit her job and come over for an extended stay. If, after a month or 2, we decide we want to remain together, we will get married. At which point we'd file for an AOS and she could stay here, as I understand it. Would this be legal? It seems that it's not legal if your full intention is to get married on a visitors visa. I don't know if we will or not, but it's something we will decide after a month or two.

The K1 thing kind of sucks because she'd have to go back home and wait and since she'll be quitting her job, there's not much to go back to. And if we don't know whether or not we will get married when she comes over, wouldn't it technically be legal for us, if we decide to do it, to do a quick spur of the moment Vegas wedding and just file for AOS?

It seems strange that someone could come here from a foreign country, get drunk and marry some guy she met in a casino in Vegas and get married and that would be perfectly legal. Right?

Also, how intense is the interview and review process? Would they be contacting her previous job or family and inquiring about her and why she left? Or do they not quite go to that extent?