teamhoeskizalez

Thank you for responding-- I think you are correct; any delay would be due to the consular processing, not the delivery service. Fingers crossed they will make the exception and give him his passport tomorrow in person!

I wonder how many people this fingerprinting error has affected...

The delay in receiving the passport back is more waiting on the embassy to finalize and print the visa, rather than DX Secure dallying around. They don't normally let you wait and get the visa same day. However it sounds like they are trying to accommodate him since they are requiring him to return to London because of a problem on their end. They are willing to make an exception because they messed up.

IMPORTANT TO KNOW IF YOU'VE RECENTLY HAD YOUR VISA APPROVED IN LONDON!

I received a call from my very flustered fiancee this morning, stating that he had received a call from the US Consulate saying their fingerprint scanner had not been properly saving the fingerprints lately and therefore he needs to come back in tomorrow first thing in the AM to have his fingerprints redone. This isn't a super big deal overall, as the K-1 visa is still approved, HOWEVER, since he passed his interview last Wednesday and paid the courier fee for his passport, we had expected he would have his passport back by this Friday (which would be 8 business days... they only say to expect 3-5 days for delivery but we were playing it safe) and we had already booked his flight (nonrefundable) for Saturday!

I read on the US Embassy in London website that "next workday delivery is available for most areas of the United Kingdom" through DX Secure but I have to wonder if this is true, and if so, has anyone had any experience with this? I would rather not lose the money we spent on his flight, so any tips/information on how to expedite getting his passport to him within the next 5 days would be VERY HELPFUL. Obviously this whole snafu is the Consulate's fault, though I doubt they would do anything for us if we lose our flight because of their mistake. :/

One more tidbit... the Consulate Officer who called my fiancee did mention that there is a slight chance that they may be able to give him his visa that same day if he is willing to wait for a couple of hours at the embassy. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? Maybe I'm jaded but from our experience throughout this process I have learned not to trust them.

Any help/advice is much appreciated.

Thanks everyone! I can support him and I will -- we did choose this path and we'll get through this! We will probably marry as soon as he arrives on the K-1 so that we can move the process along and really start our lives together. I'm concerned that he is going to be bored out of his mind for months while he waits for authorization, but I suppose he can take up a hobby or something (an inexpensive one, necessarily... I can't help but roll my eyes at this whole thing). Plus, even the most secure guy can feel emasculated by having to be completely dependent on his girlfriend, so I expect it will be frustrating for him. :/

Gotta say though, I'm suspicious that these K1 work rules were set up by the government years ago with the assumption that it would be a man (US citizen) bringing a foreign woman over to marry her and therefore the expectation would already be that he would support her and she would stay home (or whatever). Just doesn't seem practical anymore. Or fair, for that matter.

Gotta power through it. Sigh.

Ugh, thanks, but not what I was hoping to hear. It baffles me how they expect someone to a) sit around for three months twiddling their thumbs while waiting, and b) SURVIVE for that period with no legal way of obtaining income. Since the foreign fiancee is not allowed to leave the country after the marriage until the AOS and everything goes through, this means that even if my fiancee flew over to marry me without quitting his current job in the UK, he wouldn't be able to fly back and continue working in the UK while we wait for the EAD and AOS to go through. This sounds impossibly stupid! This is FORCED UNEMPLOYMENT and is sure to cause stress among couples both financially and mentally while one person is made to go 3 months without work. How does this help anyone??? Is there really no way for him to do this without being out of the job for 25% of the year?

Hi Guys,

My fiancee is currently awaiting his interview date and we are hoping he will be entering the US on a K1 Visa very soon, but I am concerned about the work permit situation. I understand he will be able to pick up a temporary (90 day) work permit at the airport upon his arrival, and that he will need to reapply for another work permit once we are married and filing AOS. My question is this: what happens in between the two work permits? Will he be forced to stop working while the government is processing the AOS, or is he allowed to keep whatever job he has until the AOS issues him a new permit? It doesn't seem fair that he would have to cease working for up to 5+ weeks while we wait for the AOS... can someone please clarify how this works?

Thanks,

B

We received our NOA2 this morning (April 18), which is 5 months and one week from when we received our NOA1 (Nov 17). It was completely radio silent the whole 5 months-- no touches, nothing-- but sit tight and know that things seem to be happening within the 5 month/6 month range right now. You'll get there!

All very helpful advice! Thanks to everyone who posted. We are hoping for a visit in Feb/March if we haven't received NOA2 by then. I'll just tell him to act like a tourist when he gets to the airport

My fiancee is from the UK and visited the USA this summer on a visa waiver, for about 2 months. During this period, we got engaged, and then he left to go back home while we waited for the New Year to hit and for his visitor visa to subsequently renew. Meanwhile, we had filed for the K-1 Visa using form I129F and received our NOA1 on Nov 17, 2010. It has now been two months since he left and we haven't heard anything, so we are looking to plan a trip for him to come out and visit me while we wait.

Our question is: Can he still travel on the visa waiver program as a visitor while we are waiting for K-1 approval?

I have heard conflicting opinions on this and I don't want to fly him out if he is only going to be turned away at the immigration desk. For all intents and purposes, he would be coming as a visitor, with a job and home still in the UK, and with a return flight already purchased so they shouldn't have any reason to think he is trying to stay. I'm just concerned that when they scan his passport at the arrivals desk at the airport, they would be notified of his pending K-1 application and deny him entry. Does anyone know what the best way around this is? I find it extremely unfair and frustrating that we have to wait upwards of 5-8 months to get the K-1 processed in the FIRST place, let alone be told we can't even visit each other while the application is pending.

Help please...

Ms. Hoeskizalez