Copperblade

I am a canadian citizen who has been dating a us citizen for over 5 years and we are looking to get married in September 2011. I was told by the us customs at the detroit border that we are to apply for K1 fiancee visa and get married within 90 days after getting the K1. Approximately how long does it take to process the K1 and get the actual visa.

I also saw posts about applying for an I 130, is this before or after the k1?

If anyone knows about other steps I might have to take before that. I have over a year to get this done right and would like to have all my ducks in a row ...

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Matthew

Research the processing times and visa timelines for people in your situation. (i.e. Canadian request, etc.) This will give you the best idea of what to expect.

I guess this is a question that will linger on forever if it is not properly addressed. Marriage differs from culture to culture and from religion to religion.

I assume the only way to do this is let everyone from different region or state what they know about marriage and being married:

In Nigeria, I know there are three forms of marriage in the south. ( By south I mean the predominately Christian area)

1. The Introduction ceremony/Traditional marriage

2. The registry

3. The church.

I have always assumed that the first one is non-legal and not recognized in the United States.

This is the process of both families coming together to approve and bless the marriage.

This is usually followed by the registry and finally the Church wedding.

The question is if K-1 is pending, can number 1 be performed and notified the embassy during the interview that there was a non-legal ceremony. This to me will remove the notion that the relationship is fake or non existence. (I might be wrong but can anyone please throw some light into this?).

Right now I am in a similar situation where the family of my fiancée wants me to perform number #1 for them to formally bless the relationship since they know too well that there is no way for them to be present in the states during the legal wedding.

Please those who are knowledgeable and kind enough should enlighten me.

Dr. K

It really depends on the embassy and whether or not the marriage is considered legal. AFAIK, in no way are you able to do this if the marriage is considered legal in Nigeria. I've heard stories that even when the marriage is only ceremonial, the embassy may reject this. However, in my case (Jakarta) they said it was fine, and their website was very specific about what you could and could not do. For example, in Indonesia if you're moslem, then your marriage is already considered legal and therefore cannot do this. Otherwise, you can do it as long as you do not register the marriage with the government, as you would need to do for a spousal visa.

If the "registry" is a government thing, then my guess would be you can't go that far.

My final advice is to get the information from the embassy about what you are allowed to do. You will get varying recommendations from people here.

Thanks. How would I go about reporting them about the non authorized signatures? I don't want to make any assumptions of malice, but I really don't want them to continue to do this and potentially mess things up for people. After all, I know my AOS is around $1k and not worth the risk for me.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I guess I've become a little more critical or "nutty" about these things as time goes on. I talked to my wife about it and apparently one of the main reasons she didn't get a credit card before was because in Indonesia she said there are fees you have to pay.

And it's true I won't be able to close all of my cards at least until after I get a house. I probably never will close all of them. And... I'll probably be adding her to one of them if she needs to have a credit score.

Thanks.

Ok, so I have my own personal opinions about the credit score system works. (What? My score goes down just because someone pulled a credit check on me?!) I'm a pretty financially conservative guy--always pay off credit cards on time, make money before I spend it, etc. I guess I'm lucky. I'm also planning on reducing or completely getting rid of all my credit cards.

But my wife has never had a credit card, and sees no reason to get one. (Neither do I really--I plan on just giving her a one of the bank debit cards when I add her to my bank account.) But recently I tried to open a ShareBuilder account for her so I could set up a Roth IRA for her and max out my retirement contributions for the both of us. It seems when they tried to pull her credit score they came up snake-eyes and have blocked her account. I thought her having an SSN would have been enough for them. (It's not like she signed up for an options account or anything requiring her to go on margin.)

So what do you guys think? Am I going to run into any problems with banks and her credit score? If I add her to my bank account(s) will she start to have a credit score?

I'm thinking about just closing her account and going with another place... I'm not sure if I like ShareBuilder anyway. (I use Scottrade.)

Not really surprised about the results. The US has to be the hardest country to get into.

I bet this has a lot to do with what area of the country you live in, and what country you are from.

Pretty much stick with my old C64 games. The newest games I've played are Diablo II and Baldur's Gate... which I still haven't finished. I guess I just have a short attention span.

I also don't know what I would have done without this site. The process is complicated the first time you go through it. I would definitely recommend this site to anyone.

I'm in the DC metro area, in Maryland. I found a place in Beltsville that has two civil surgeons. I call them up one day and everything seemed to be ok. I asked when the civil surgeons would be in, since they are different doctors working there. They told me that all the doctors there were allowed to sign because they worked "under" the civil surgeons. Well, I don't really know about this--I mean the form DOES state that the doctor is signing under penalty of perjury that they are a civil surgeon.

So I go there today, and they say they do hundreds of these per year and that's ok. Fine, ok I'm willing to go along with that. But then when I try to explain to them that I only need the vaccinations done, they tell me that they can't do that. I insist that she's only required to get the vaccinations done, but again they say they can't do that. So I say, fine, I'm not going to try to force anyone to do it the way I want to if that's your policy, but don't tell me that it's required by law because I have the requirements right here. I also say that I'm not asking anyone to sign off on anything they didn't do--only the vaccination part needs to be filled out.

Well the difference between the full test and only vaccinations is $100. At the time I was willing to just accept that and get it done. Although I didn't tell them this, all the paperwork that was done for her physical in Indonesia was taken by the embassy (and I presume included in the packet given to immigration when she got here). So we don't have any proof of her physical in Indonesia. We neglected to bring a photo ID for her, so we ended up just taking the paperwork home.

So what's up? Is this place fishy, or legit? In particular, I would like to know if we need to get the full thing done anyway since we don't have any of the documentation from her previous physical. The instructions say you only need the vaccinations within one year, but will they go back and be able to reference the previous documents or would we need to submit copies of those (which we don't have)? And is it really legit that other doctors can sign because they work "under" the civil surgeons?

Sounds to me like they are increasing the fees on visas which take the least amount of time to process. Also, it sounds like this is a method to try and curb immigration....even if it is being done legally. My fiance's interview is tomorrow...I am nervous as all get out....and now I am fearing how bad that AOS fee is going to be come the early 1/2 of 2010. Ugh! If they increase the AOS fee a lot, it will kill the pocketbook! Crazy.

Is there an alternative (cheaper) way to get permanent residence than filing the AOS?

If i had known it was gonna be 167% more expensive come the interview, i would have just ###### myself and gotten married and done DCF!

How does that work? Is that different than K-1?

If you have no strong ties to your home country and are dirt poor the US embassy will treat you like you'll want to come over and stay for good illegally... Good reason!

My first ever US visa was a B1/B2 valid for 1 year... I don't think I was treated badly at all as they treat everyone the same (with suspicion - if you have nothing to hide, sure you're not gonna stay here illegally then you'll have no problem!) So I used that a few times, when it ran out I applied for another and got granted a 10 year multiple entry tourist visa... It's all about trust, and if you get denied they usually have good reason... That's why I recommend before getting married on a K1 to try and visit on a tourist visa first, you should think twice about marrying someone the US embassy would not even allow into the country as a visitor!

It's about trust, but it's also about the reputation the people of a certain country make for themselves. In my fiancee's case, she has considerable assets in Indonesia, and would not have remained here illegally. They definitely didn't have any positive reason to deny her. They just didn't have a reason to trust her. I'm sure it mostly has to do with what they've encountered in the past. The US isn't really able to track people here, but I bet they still know how many people got visas and didn't go back.

So we gave up on her coming here after the second try. I just kept visiting her instead.

Half of the illegal immigrants in the US, did not enter illegally. They used a tourist or other visa and then never went home. So there is a lot more scrutiny of temporary visas than there are for immigration based visas.

After getting rejected the first time for a tourist visa, she felt insulted by them. But after talking to some friends, and thinking about the culture over there in regards to following the law, she understood why they were like that. I mean, she even had one friend who tried to give their visa to their aunt for a visit.

Nevertheless, it still made her really nervous about the K-1 interview. Which was fine. She said afterwords she couldn't believe she got the visa.

Thanks. All of her stuff is obviously just personal things.

I agree, my fiance was also treated horribly when he applied for a tourist visa years ago and needless to say, I can tell he is nervous and anxious for his upcoming interview, based on his last experience. I think it is probably a world of difference.

Yeah, the visitor visa is like being a beggar, and they can just turn you away for any reason and without any explanation. But at least with the K-1 there's a paper trail, and the possibility that the petitioner will complain to their congressperson if they're treated poorly. I think they may have to give a reason as a matter of procedure, at least.

I posted this question in another thread, but I think that thread was misplaced. I think (hope) this is the right forum...

My question is about the standard customs form you have to fill out when entering the US. In particular what about no. 15?

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel...e_cbp_decla.pdf

Normally a visitor will not LEAVE items in the US, so normally it is $0. But they're really only visitors until they become residents, which is the only reason why things are remaining in the US at all. (And you know, laptops are more than $100.)

Despite the interview process for the K-1 being easy, my fiancee was a little freaked out going in because of her previous experiences with the tourist visa. From what I can tell, it's pretty different how they treat you. I guess I wouldn't recommend anyone trying for the tourist visa at all (in some countries) because it'll just make you more stressed out later.

What about the customs form? In particular what about no. 15?

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel...e_cbp_decla.pdf

Normally a visitor will not LEAVE items in the US, so normally it is $0. But they're really only visitors until they become residents, which is the only reason why things are remaining in the US at all. (And you know, laptops are more than $100.)

You could, sure. But the smart thing to do is go to the SS officeandgetyourfiancee her SSN which you will need for other things anyway. If you wish to cut off your nose to spite your face, it is none of my concern.

I am just kidding about that, but I am going to attempt to do things in parallel if I can. I'm really thinking about just trying to do everything at the same time, and wanted to know if one thing depends on another thing.

Why would anyone quit their job?

Yeah, in most cases there's no benefit to quitting.

In my case, she was working overseas on a contract. She would have been required to stay overseas while this was going on, and I don't see any way that would have worked.

the SSn requirement was eliminated in 2008 by the Supreme Court when it upheld a lower court ruling. SSNs cannot be required to get a marriage lisence. I am sure many counties have not updated their rules yet.

Haha, so should I go in there and insist that neither of us are required to use our SSN?

I guess it depends on your location. Sorry for asking before I found this, according to my county website:

"The Bride's and Groom's social security numbers are required and must be supplied at the time of application. Social Security numbers will not be printed on the marriage license."

Is it important to get the SSN before trying to get the marriage certificate?

Hmmm, seems a bit difficult to coordinate. I've been talking to her about it.

* The embassy suggested she do the medical report within one week of submitting it.

* After the checkup, the medical report takes about 1 week.

* After the paperwork, the time to interview is between 1 - 7 days

* It takes me 2 - 3 days to get to Indonesia (considering the time zone difference).

So if I want to make it there, I'm guessing I should plan the trip 7 days after her checkup. And she can hold the report until the day I got there... but then, what if they take a whole week to set up the interview? How will I know when to get the round trip ticket for?