C Med

5 months minus 1 week and the email arrived.

Sorry but I got to do my happy dance now

Congratulations!!

I agree with many of the others. You need to have a conversation with your fiancee about this. Maybe there's a reason he wants or needs a prenup that you can except. Maybe not. The point is that you have to talk to him about it. Everyone feels differently about prenups. Personally, if my fiancee asked me for one, I would be crushed. Not because I want his money, but because it would mean that while we're planning to be married, he's planning for the possibility of divorce. Hurtful. Talk it over with him, ask him why he wants one, and then explain how you feel about it. Compromise if you can.

Never sign a legal document unless you are in full agreement of the terms. That goes for any legal document at all.

Ha. Thanks. I'm hoping it's a good thing that it was the director who signed. If the documents never make it to my file, at least I know who I can write a strongly-worded letter to after all is said and done.

Judging from Igor's list, RFEs only take a couple of weeks, but I'm supposed to go meet my fiancée in Tashkent and come back with her. Those two weeks could really complicate my schedule. Anyway, thanks for the good thoughts.

You're welcome Yeah, some people actually view RFEs as a GOOD thing. At least your case is being worked on, and not sitting in a box on someone's desk...yellowing with age. lol

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/307547-applying-for-k1-visa-for-fiance-in-pakistan/

These are the posts that give me hope. There are great points. And as you can see I began very optimistic! Lol! Also again if you look at interview results for some of these countries, not every single one is put on ap. Im accepting that ap will just become a part of this but now I wonde how ling????

I would normally say that you may or may not have issues bringing an ME man to the US, but given recent events in Pakistan, I say you absolutely will. You can bet money on that. Sorry.

As others have stated, there is just no predicting wait times. Yes, CSC is supposedly moving a little faster right now, but that means very little. This process is difficult, and you will be thinking about your NOA2 every single day (if you're anything like me lol). I wish you the best of luck on your journey and I wish us ALL a speedy NOA2!!

Obtaining a marriage license does not equal a valid marriage. A marriage license gives you license (hence the term) to be married in whichever way you wish (civil vs. religious ceremony, etc.). The license is only valid for 30 days (or maybe 60?) and you must be legally married before the license expires. Depending on what kind of ceremony you want to have, you may be able to plan your wedding in three months. Religious ceremonies are harder to plan in just 90 days.

Personally, I was very disappointed when I met with my priest to discuss our options. He advised us to be married civilly first, as the Catholic church has several requirements that must be met prior to the wedding ceremony. Three months just isn't enough time to meet all of those requirements. As disappointed as I initially was to hear that, I then realized that it doesn't really matter. If my sweetheart and I get to be together then it doesn't matter in what way we get married, as long as we're together. That's really what this is all about. Best of luck.

Here is the latest....

I went to Vietnam and went with my fiance to the interview 2 weeks ago. We waited about an hour in the room with about 50 other people when they finally called her number. I didn't go to the window with her, but sat near the interview area so the interviewer could see me and call me up to ask any questions. I could hear most of the interview and he asked my fiance about me and our relationship, what I did for a living, etc. She showed him pictures of our engagement party along with all the other paperwork and evidence we submitted and in only 10 or so minutes, he gave her the pick paper. She was APPROVED for her visa which she picked up one week later. Unbelievable, it seemed to happen so fast and easy. He didn't even talk to me, but definitely saw me sitting there. She thinks me being there made all the difference.

She is coming here this Sunday and it will be the beginning of our life together here in the US.

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement.

Bruce

That is FANTASTIC!! Congratulations!! I am really so very happy for you both. What a terrible ordeal...but now it's over and as you said, you can begin your lives together. Congrats!!

Yeah, I'm signed up for case updates. I'm just obsessively checking uscis.gov. Thanks.

Don't feel bad, most of us are obsessively checking, lol. The letter could be added to your file without seeing the "touch". Some people have posted that they've received the hard copy of their NOA2 while their case still appeared to be in "Initial Review" online. Best of luck!

Well I don't know the process that they use do a criminal records check but I have to assume that they would use all the information provided in the petition. I too have a very common name and I don't think that we experienced any extensive delays.

We conduct criminal records checks at work and we use both the SSN and DOB.

I wouldn't sweat it.

I thought the same. It didn't seem plausible that they would only use the names to run a background check. Thanks!

Unfortunately, each case is different and no one can really offer you a response of any value in regard to a timeframe. I can however, tell you that I have seen posts from several VJ'ers in the past who have posted that they received an NOA2 shortly after being given information similar to yours (meaning, they were told to wait six months, and received an NOA2 in as little as a few days to a few weeks). So, you never can tell. I wish you lots of luck!

Hi all!

I've read posts on this site that would suggest that USCIS uses only the petitioner's and beneficiary's names when performing a background check (not SSN number, DOB, etc.) . I've also read that if a hit is returned on someone with the same name as a petitioner/beneficiary, USCIS will perform an extensive background check to confirm that the "hit" doesn't belong to either the petitioner/beneficiary. Is this at all true?

The reason I ask is that both myself and my fiance have very popular names (both first and last) yet neither of us has a criminal record of any kind. I can't imagine that USCIS would run only a name search but I've seen posts on this site often enough to cause me some concern. I'd hate to experience a massive delay because of this.

Surely, USCIS uses your SSN, DOB, etc. and not just a person's first and last name, right?

Thanks for the help!

You each need a letter of intent, signed individually. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just, "I, (name here), hereby certify that I am legally free to marry and intend to marry (name here), within 90 days of (his, her, or my) admission into the United States using the K-1 visa." Then sign it. I don't know if it's necessary to have the letters notarized, but we were advised to do so. We were also advised to send in the originals, rather than copies. Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hey ppl...

i hope u all had a fun easter and found a lot of eggs lol

i have a question bout the forms like DS230 and the other ones. cuz they wanna know where im currently working. so im wonder do the american embassy contoll it??? cuz my boss layed me off and im not really working just a lil volunteer work in a friends company and do some office assistant work. but its more under the table.so i wonder what i should fill out in the form where im currently working???

i could put in im a assistant or a volunteer but do they check it. control it or call the work???

It would be great if you guys could give me some infos on it.. Thank you soooooooo much

I don't know if they call your job to validate if you are working there, but I believe what they really want to know is how much money you are earning. You have to earn a certain amount of money, or have a certain amount of money in the bank, to show that you can legally support your fiance financially. As for the form, you can list yourself as a volunteer, since that is the truth.

I made an honest-to-goodness scrapbook with all the bells and whistles. A lot of work and probably a bit excessive but was certainly fun to do (is fun to do. It will still be a work in progress till my interview day). I even plan to bring it to the States with me for us to enjoy later.

I put "chapters" corresponding to each of his visits and major events like our birthdays, Christmas and Valentine's Day exchanges. Each chapter has a heading and contains photos, related correspondences and of course all the receipts,tickets, boarding passes etc. I wrote in photo captions and other annotations needed to explain what's going on.

I even included pull quotes to highlight the most romantic phrases we ever said to each other and statements that clearly indicate our serious intention to marry.

Grace

That is so completely awesome.

It really depends. Some people have received an RFE for this, some people haven't. Our signatures were black ink, copied - no RFE.

At the same time, the G-325A technically doesn't even HAVE to be signed. The letter of intent does. We signed ours anyway.

Very true. I consulted an attorney at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, and had him look over all of my paperwork before submitting to USCIS in the hope to avoid an RFE. He told me that the signature had to be original, so I had my fiance mail me the form with his original signature. My advice would be to send in the original signature if it's at all possible.

guys we got approved today, thank you all for your responses

That's awesome that you got approved! Congratulations! The "Nov 2nd" is an approximation, as is clearly evident by Igor's List. The approvals for the last few days have ranged from October to December filers (there was even a January in there!). I think Nov 2nd. is a median date.

Congrats again!

Awwww, congrats to you both!

I'm thinking that his interview has already happened (with or without his phone lol). I hope everything went well and that you are two very happy people right now. BEST OF LUCK!!

There are a lot of reasons why you may not have received an NOA1 yet but I wouldn't be too concerned. I certainly wouldn't advise you to resubmit the packet. Wait until the end of the week, and if you haven't heard anything by Friday, contact USCIS to inquire about it. Good luck!

NO... answer the question truthfully and only answer the question, nothing more, nothing less

Absolutely. If you weren't convicted of a crime, then the answer is no. "Arrested" is not the same as "Convicted". Good luck!

I don't see an issue here. As stated above, a fiance is not a relative. She answered the question honestly. You shouldn't have anything to worry about!

CONGRATULATIONS!! I know you must be over the moon with happiness. This process is so hard. The waiting, the wondering, but it feels great to see others get approved and begin their lives. I wish you both all the best!

Yes, I thought that was weird too, but I have seen many people who live in Texas whose files have gone to Vermont.

Maybe this is why the VSC is so backed up, because they don't distribute the petitions properly. If yours had been sent to Texas, you would have had your NOA2 a long time ago.

The USCIS received our application on October 27, 2010. Still NOTHING! I have called several times & all they say is "It is in review." What should I do? We really can't afford an attorney right now. Any ideas? I am worried that there is a problem as it has been so long now...

I think it's weird that you live in Texas but your petition was sent to Vermont?

Hmmm, that's weird. Maybe they sent out the RFE prematurely. You can call USCIS to confirm that the petition was approved just for your own peace of mind, but as long as you got the NOA2, I wouldn't be concerned.