Battle Geek

Yeah, I'm -married- to the person that wrote that

There was only so much space and certain details had to be presented in comedic context for the site - so some details of the visa process were skipped, etc.

Hi VJ, it's been a long time since we've posted here, things have gone well -- happily married with conditional permanent resident card in hand. I'll do my best to update our timeline later, but for now I wanted to share C's impression of the immigration process, as told through a cracked.com article:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18552_so-you-want-to-be-american-5-circles-immigration-hell.html

We just got email notification of our NoA2 last night, they sent a written one on 22JUL but I was past my mail cutoff date in deployment hahahah, that's good news though, should mean the NVC phase would nearly be finished by now. My fiancee is resting comfortably on the bed while I type this, she flew in from Sydney last week and got through LAX no problems, we were so afraid customs would give her a hard time, she prepared all this paperwork to prove she intended to return to Australia -- she didn't even get pulled aside into secondary, they rushed her off to catch her connecting flight About one more month of this and flying all over the planet and we should be done..

attached something to my passport that I had to have stamped when I returned home. Of course I did as I was told...returned within 30 days, and had the attachment stamped. (The attachment was kept, by the way. I have no idea where it went after that.)

What the officer attached to your passport is called an I-94, it is proof of entry and exit from the United States within the prescribed dates, or else they presume you are staying in the US illegally, which needless to say will massively complicate any future plans to re-enter the US. This happened to us because my girl's return flight was at a Canadian airport and we forgot to stop at the US border station to turn it in. Lucky for us she kept everything and we realized what happened a month or two after she got home, she still had copies of her boarding pass and tickets proving she'd left the US in time, and mailed everything back explaining what happened. After making photocopies of everything, of course

http://www.***removed***/visas/returning-un...orm-to-cbp.html

If they stamped your I-94 as you left the US you should be good, but I'd try to find out what happened to it to be on the safe side

Wow, Charlotte could be in for a tough time! Between deployment and leave schedules I haven't even made it to Australia yet, our parents managed to meet each other but we haven't been introduced yet. I think I should definitely make the effort to go visit and be there for the interview

Seeing as it is taking about 5-6 months for processing of K! visa. Can one keep flying in and out of the US in the meantime? (Money being no object). Or should one stay put in Australia until paperwork is approved.

Thanks Canadian Wife - it least it would make the waiting less excruciating. I actually didn't stumble on similar topics until after I posted. Sorry to be a pain but what is CBP?

"CBP" stands for Customs and Border Protection, they are an agency of the State Department that also falls under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/home.xml

They are the ones that decide weather or not you can enter the US, all the Visa does is allow you to ask their permission, everyone should take some time to

familiarize themselves with CBP, they have entirely too much power in this process to remain an unknown.

Historically 6-8 weeks from when Sydney has received the the forms from the NVC, as long as you have a quick turn around on your end. Interview scheduling there seems to really only take 3 or 4 weeks.

Interesting, thanks for the help and good luck getting your case resolved, I know it can't be easy but you will get through it!

Hi everyone.

I'm new here, getting ready to file for K1. This site is an awesome resource!

I couldn't find the answer to this using search or the FAQs. I have a concern regarding question 13 on the I-129F. I would assume typically the petitioner puts their current address in this field. My situation is at least slightly unusual.

Complication 1: I know I will not be living at my current address when my fiancee gets here, but I do not know what the new address will be. I probably will not be moving from my current address until after we get receive NOA2.

I am in a similar situation, presently deployed overseas and not maintaining a stateside US address, I put *SEE ATTACHED LETTER in that question field and explained my problem,

and that I would update my address once I returned home, this was enough to get our packet "in line" and get an NoA1. The beauty of the I-129F's wait time is that you have time to amend it before it gets a close look. I don't know what your time table looks like, it would probably be safer to use your present address and notify USCIS when you move.

Complication 2: Our church frowns upon couples living together before marriage. I imagine this is not an entirely unique circumstance. In a normal (non-immigration) situation we would only live together after getting married. Problems with that for us are: (a) she will be very unfamiliar and uncomfortable in the US and should absolutely not be living alone between arrival and the wedding. (B) maybe it's required by law for her to live at my address? If (B) is false, then (a) is still an issue unless a really nice family at church offers to house her during that time. If (a) is solved in that way, then how do I handle all of this within the paperwork?

I can only offer my opinion, and that is the challenges posed by this process will demand compromises and sacrifice from both of you. Do what you think is right, I do not think God would

frown on you living as man and wife after dealing with the US immigration system. It's not like you could live in sin very long, the K-1 visa only gives you 90 days to work with.

Melbourne doesn't issue Visa's nor play any part in processing them.

If your fiance is Australia his/her visa application will be received by Sydney and packet 3 will be issued from there, the interview will also be scheduled and held in Sydney. As far as I know you can pretty much count about 6-8 weeks at this end for Visa processing (to the point of having the visa in her/his passport), Australia seems pretty fast.

Their medical however can be done by a doctor in Melbourne (you will have to see the approved list for the specific doctor she can go to).

Is that 6-8 weeks total or 6-8 weeks after getting a completed packet 3 returned?

Anyone know how bad Melbourne is backed up for the consular phase and interview? Their page says "within 4 weeks"

of getting packet 3 back.

According to the statistics page the average Consular phase (embassy receives info from NVC until actual interview)

would take 60 days! My fiancee's gotten all the medical exams, police reports, etc.. that she needs ready and waiting,

is that what the wait time is based on or does the embassy itself add 2 months of red tape?

keep in mind, some people take their time to send in their packages, and it takes a little while to get the packages (first to you, and then back to the consulate) so this is included in the time, plus all the other visa's that they process that must also have interviews. 2 months is just an average, some might be significantly faster if they return everything right away by priority mail instead of regular mail, and also depending on the season and how many petitions are going through at that time. Same as VJ, when there is a boom on here, theres a boom in apps, which means there will be an increase in interviews for them to deal with too.

Be glad you arent going through mine, the average is 93 days, though I know about 2 weeks of that is them getting my documents sent out to me (by snail mail )

I'm confused... are you saying there's an average 2 month backlog of interview appointments? This could significantly alter our plans

According to the statistics page the average Consular phase (embassy receives info from NVC until actual interview)

would take 60 days! My fiancee's gotten all the medical exams, police reports, etc.. that she needs ready and waiting,

is that what the wait time is based on or does the embassy itself add 2 months of red tape?

In my scramble for information, I emailed anyone that claimed to be an immigration lawyer in my area, sent something like

15 emails to different firms, of those, 10 wanted an initial consultation, (charging between $100 and $300), these I ignored.

1 said he doesn't accept unsolicited emails, and 3 offered some legal advice, all of whom turned out to be wrong. I also sent

emails to the State Department help email address and the concerned Consulate, yet to hear back from either. VJ has so far

been the most useful resource, able to give clear answers for free. IMO, VJ wins.

Ahhhh, that makes more sense, awesome thank you

assuming that non-visa waiver means she has a tourist visa?

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I thought you could only apply for one kind of visa at a time? Wouldn't a B-1 application and a K-1 conflict?

Australia is a NVWP country, it's how she visited last time we met - THAT time we had a lot of trouble, border

agent must have asked us if we were getting married about 1,000 times. We'd been talking for maybe 6 months

online but we had actually only just met each other in real life, kind of put us on the spot, he finally took pity on

us though and issued her an I-94 (which we forgot about a month later when I drove her to the Vancouver

airport -- we had to mail that back in a hurry).

First time poster, long time reader, I'll keep it brief. I'm forward deployed to Iraq, filed an I-129F on my Australian fiancee's behalf that

was received by USCIS on April 24th. By the time I come home there should still be 70-90 days of waiting until K-1 approval, I am on a

tight deployment schedule, we can't afford to wait that out, we need to see each other - this deployment has been tough and we are very

eager to be reunited. The plan is to fly her to the US and seek admission with a non-visa waiver, then fly her back to Australia once we get

our 2nd NOA.

According to CBP weather or not she can be admitted while a K-1 is pending is entirely up to the discretion of the customs officer at the

airport, doesn't leave a lot to work with so I'd like some advice as to how we can convince them she intends to return to Australia. She'll

be able to provide statements from school and work that she's expected back, but will that be enough? She's basically a poor student

sharing a flat with her brother (sadly, no lease in her name), and having a K-1 on file signals intent to immigrate, I haven't heard of many

Australians having trouble entering the US, but we'd like some peace of mind here, she'd have to fly 18 hours and we're both a little

nervous about this. Thanks in advance, any advice welcome