featherB

My fiance in the US & I have been blissfully unaware of the possible
huge waits for visa processing up 'til now, instead thinking that we
could apply when *we* were ready and have everything sorted out fairly
quickly. Basically, I'm in the UK and hoping to get made redundant from
my job, as the redundancy payment would come in useful - we thought
that was the main thing we were waiting for, and then I delved a bit
deeper into the whole visa-application process/wait times yesterday,
and realised it's a lot less straightforward than we'd imagined. Oh
dear.

So, we are (well, he is, obviously) going to get the I-129F form off,
to get things rolling (or crawling, more like, by the sound of it), but
we want to make sure that it's all done properly so that it doesn't end
up coming back due to insufficient evidence/information/whatever. So, a
couple of questions....

"Provide copies of evidence that you and your fiance�(e) have
personally met within the last two years"

What 'evidence' is acceptable? I mean, we've spent plenty of time
together in the last two years, but I'm not sure what would constitute
'proof' of that. We can prove that I was in the US and he was in the UK
(well, I'm sure we could find some boarding cards, and print out flight
booking confirmation things and suchlike) but that surely 'proves'
nothing at all! If we get prints of photos of us together and include
them, is that the kind of thing they're looking for? Not that there's
any proof that the photos were taken within the last two years, as it
never occurred to us to hold up newspapers as proof of the date! But
seriously... is this the sort of thing they're after, because I can't
think of much more evidence of us that we can provide!

"Provide original statements from you and your fiance�(e) whom you
plan to marry within 90 days of his or her admission, and copies of any
evidence you wish to submit to establish your mutual intent"

What does that mean, then? Do we both just write (or type) a statement
saying "I, X, plan to marry Y, within 90 days of my arrival in the US"
and so on? And again, "evidence"? I don't know what evidence we're
supposed to provide - yes, of course we intend to marry as soon as we
can, but how on earth do we prove that? I can't find any information as
to the sort of information they want.

In the FAQs on the Embassy (in London)'s website, it says you can't
apply for the I-129F while your fiance(e) is in the US. Do we have to
take that totally at its word? I only ask because I'm going over for a
visit in a couple of weeks, and will be there staying with my fiance
for about 3 weeks - it would be much easier to get passport photos etc
there, than to mail them to him and wait weeks for them to arrive. But
having realised that we're facing a potentially very lengthy wait, we'd
rather get the form off ASAP once I get there - they're not going to
reject it based on the fact that I was over for a visit for a few weeks
at the time the form was sent off, are they?! Surely....

Another question.... the USCIS website says that the I-129F should be
sent to the service center in Nebraska - but I found the page where
they list processing times etc, and the Nebraska service center had no
mention of I-129F forms on it at all. After a lot of Googling I spotted
a recent post on a messageboard saying that they're now being dealt
with by California.... if this is true, is it just inevitable that
we're going to face god knows how many weeks' extra wait because of
this, or would we be better off just sending it to California?!

Sorry, so many questions! Last one.... could anyone give me even the
roughest of estimates (if anyone has any recent experience, that would
be great) as to how long the whole thing might take, from my fiance
sending the I-129F to the place in Nebraska, to the Embassy in London
issuing my visa? We've just let months & months go by thinking I'd be
over there by next spring, and I'm now realising that might be
incredibly optimistic - the thought that we could have got this whole
process started months ago makes me feel sick!

So... any advice appreciated, and sorry for the huge, long post.

Noorah101

Hi, I answered you over in the marriage-based forum. Let's keep the answers over on that forum, since this is really a marriage-based visa question.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=399114

Thanks,
Rene

Avenger

"featherB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ups.com...
My fiance in the US & I have been blissfully unaware of the possible
huge waits for visa processing up 'til now, instead thinking that we
could apply when *we* were ready and have everything sorted out fairly
quickly. Basically, I'm in the UK and hoping to get made redundant from
my job, as the redundancy payment would come in useful - we thought
that was the main thing we were waiting for, and then I delved a bit
deeper into the whole visa-application process/wait times yesterday,
and realised it's a lot less straightforward than we'd imagined. Oh
dear.

So, we are (well, he is, obviously) going to get the I-129F form off,
to get things rolling (or crawling, more like, by the sound of it), but
we want to make sure that it's all done properly so that it doesn't end
up coming back due to insufficient evidence/information/whatever. So, a
couple of questions....

"Provide copies of evidence that you and your fiance�(e) have
personally met within the last two years"

What 'evidence' is acceptable? I mean, we've spent plenty of time
together in the last two years, but I'm not sure what would constitute
'proof' of that. We can prove that I was in the US and he was in the UK
(well, I'm sure we could find some boarding cards, and print out flight
booking confirmation things and suchlike) but that surely 'proves'
nothing at all! If we get prints of photos of us together and include
them, is that the kind of thing they're looking for? Not that there's
any proof that the photos were taken within the last two years, as it
never occurred to us to hold up newspapers as proof of the date! But
seriously... is this the sort of thing they're after, because I can't
think of much more evidence of us that we can provide!

"Provide original statements from you and your fiance�(e) whom you
plan to marry within 90 days of his or her admission, and copies of any
evidence you wish to submit to establish your mutual intent"

What does that mean, then? Do we both just write (or type) a statement
saying "I, X, plan to marry Y, within 90 days of my arrival in the US"
and so on? And again, "evidence"? I don't know what evidence we're
supposed to provide - yes, of course we intend to marry as soon as we
can, but how on earth do we prove that? I can't find any information as
to the sort of information they want.

In the FAQs on the Embassy (in London)'s website, it says you can't
apply for the I-129F while your fiance(e) is in the US. Do we have to
take that totally at its word? I only ask because I'm going over for a
visit in a couple of weeks, and will be there staying with my fiance
for about 3 weeks - it would be much easier to get passport photos etc
there, than to mail them to him and wait weeks for them to arrive. But
having realised that we're facing a potentially very lengthy wait, we'd
rather get the form off ASAP once I get there - they're not going to
reject it based on the fact that I was over for a visit for a few weeks
at the time the form was sent off, are they?! Surely....

Hey featherB(rain): get on a plane come to the US and just marry him lol US
Customs will stamp your passport (that's your visa). When that expires just
renew it. In the meantime you'll be married and you can take care of all the
paperwork here like if you want a greencard or want to become a citizen.



Another question.... the USCIS website says that the I-129F should be
sent to the service center in Nebraska - but I found the page where
they list processing times etc, and the Nebraska service center had no
mention of I-129F forms on it at all. After a lot of Googling I spotted
a recent post on a messageboard saying that they're now being dealt
with by California.... if this is true, is it just inevitable that
we're going to face god knows how many weeks' extra wait because of
this, or would we be better off just sending it to California?!

Sure go right ahead send it to California where 1/2 the population are
illegal aliens who can't even speak English where it will be processed by
some highschool dropout government flunky who couldn't get a real job lol




Sorry, so many questions! Last one.... could anyone give me even the
roughest of estimates (if anyone has any recent experience, that would
be great) as to how long the whole thing might take, from my fiance
sending the I-129F

Why do you need this? As I said you're from England which is a visa waiver
country so you can just travel to the US as a tourist for example and then
get married. If you want to be an immigrant your husband and you file an
I-130. If you just want to stay without becoming an immigrant file K-3. The
government page actually says that the K-3 must be issued in the country
where the marriage took place and that would be the US. Remember that you're
in the US legally and are from a visa waiver country.

However, if you want to make things complicated go to an immigration shyster
and pay him some $$$$$$$$$$ lol




Spouse and Fiance(e) of an American Citizen
*IN MY OPINION THIS DOESN'T APPLY TO PEOPLE FROM VISA WAIVER COUNTRIES WHO
CAN JUST COME TO THE US AND MARRY IF THEY CHOOSE. IT WAS MEANT FOR PEOPLE
FROM THE NON WAIVER COUNTRIES WHERE THEY WOULD HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD REASON TO
GET A US VISA AND HAD TO APPLY FOR ONE AT THE US EMBASSY IN THEIR HOME
COUNTRY AND PROVE THAT THEY WERE EITHER RETURNING HOME OR GETTING MARRIED TO
A US CITIZEN. YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND DOESN'T HAVE TO GET A VISA TO BRING YOU TO
THE US BECAUSE YOU HAVE A WAIVER. BUT READ IT ANYWAY.


Spouse - If you are an American citizen you have two ways to bring your
foreign spouse (husband or wife) to the United States to live. They are:

a.. Immigrant visa for a Spouse of a U.S. Citizen (IR1 or CR1) - An
immigrant Petition for Alien Relative, Form I-130 is required.
a.. Nonimmigrant visa for spouse (K-3) - It is important to note that
application for the nonimmigrant visa for spouse (K-3) who married a U.S.
citizen must be filed and the visa must be issued in the country where the
marriage took place. After the visa process has been completed, and the
visa is issued, the spouse can travel to the United States to wait for the
processing of the immigrant visa case.
a.. Two petitions are required:
a.. Petition for Alien Relative, Form 1-130; and
b.. Petition for Alien Fianc�(e), Form I-129F
Fianc�(e) - If you are an American citizen, you may bring your fianc�(e) to
the United States to marry and live here.

a.. Nonimmigrant visa for fianc�(e) (K-1) - To travel to the United States
for marriage. An
I-129F fianc�(e) petition is required.






to the place in Nebraska, to the Embassy in London
issuing my visa? We've just let months & months go by thinking I'd be
over there by next spring, and I'm now realising that might be
incredibly optimistic - the thought that we could have got this whole
process started months ago makes me feel sick!

So... any advice appreciated, and sorry for the huge, long post.