A to the Izzel

First of all - thanks in advance who can provide info that can help
our situation. Thanks again for reading the long story I'm about to
type.

I'm a UK citizen (but with an additional Irish passport) my fiancee is
a US citizen in Florida. We got engaged in Jan 2004, and planned to
bring me to the states to settle.

The one spanner in the works in that I'm currently going through a
divorce which won't be settled until estimated Jan 2005 - which stops
us from applying for any kind of k1 or k3 visa until its all finished
with and i'm free to marry.

Because of this (and the knowledge that during the application process
for k1/k3 we'd likely be apart for a long time), AND the fact that my
job laid me off in the UK we decided to use the money that I'd
received as a redundancy payment to let me travel to the states on the
Visa Waiver Program, but staying within the 90 days each time. So I
came there in April 2004, stayed to July 2004, and came back to the
UK. Then I returned to the US in late July 2004, and back again to the
UK in early October.

On my third attempt to come back and see her I was stopped by
Immigration officers in Atlanta, and prevented from entering the
states. Despite having a ticket to go home in January not only to stay
within the 90 day limit of the VWP, but more importantly to attend the
court hearing for divorce where I HAD to be in person. The officer
would not accept my explanation and refused me entry, scribbling it on
both my British and Irish passports, and putting me back on a plane to
London the same night.

That now leaves us in position of spending xmas and new year apart
instead of together before we can even file for any kind of visa to
bring me over.

With that in mind, can anyone who has prior experience with each visa,
and/or and helpful advice at all on the matter please help us with the
following queries.

Which visa - K1 or K3? We spoke to an immigration lawyer in
Tallahassee who thought that in her experience that K3 going through
London was quicker that K1. However Visajourney.com seems to advise
that K1 is quicker. Can anyone give any helpful advice on which one
may be the quicker - if we go the K3 route, my fiancee will be coming
to the UK to marry me and they returning to her home in the states to
file the paperwork.

Which center? There's so much info online, and its all very confusing!
She would be filing any paperwork from Tallahassee. I know there are
local centers in Jacksonville, Tampa, in Orlando. Anyone have any idea
which of these it might go to, and also which main center it would
then go through? Also any idea of timelines for these at all?

DCF - is this available in Belfast, London, or Dublin at all? (I'm
based in Belfast in Northern Ireland, but I think my Irish passport
also qualifies me for help and advice thru the US Dublin embassy.)

Interview process - depending on the visa filed K1/K3... WHO gets
interviewed and where? Both of us, me in the UK, her in the US - how
does it work?

Immigration attorney - she seemed helpful enough for us. Her fee is
$2500. Is this reasonable for the K1 / K3 filing and later Adjusment
of Status process?

Thanks for taking the time to read so many questions - I do understand
that a lot of people may have heard much of this before, but we're
willing to try anything and everything to be together, and are
grateful to anyone who can provide advice to us tht can help...

Don Wakefield

I am by no means an expert but thought I could share a little of my
experience to try help out a little...
I brought my fiance to the states from Estonia on a K1 visa. The entire
process took about 4.5 months from the time I filed the petition until the
time she recieved her visa. The process was basically I filed the petition
here in the states, once that was approved the US consolute near her
(Helsinki, Finland in this case) sent her the visa application package. She
then had to gather certain information (birth certificate, medical records,
police records....) and send the application to Finland, after a couple of
weeks of not hearing a response she called the embassey and they reported
that they had not recieved the documents but she could go ahead and schedule
an appointment for Friday (4 days later). She then went for her interview
in Finland and recieved her visa that day.
If you go ahead and start gathering the needed paperwork before hand you may
be able to speed this process along.
Note that I filed in Texas, so I dont know the processing times for other
states. My petition took about 2.5 months and she recieved the paperwork a
few weeks after approval so you may be able to cut the time down to 3+
months if you organize properly.
As far as the lawyer goes, personally I do not think it is worth it, there
is plenty of information free on the internet to guide you threw the process
if you are willing to search for it and newsgroups such as this to hold your
hand so to speak without spending money on a lawyer but if taking the time
to do it yourself isnt in your interest I have seen lawyer's that will take
care of K1's for around $1500 USD.
Hope that helps.


"A to the Izzel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] om...
    > First of all - thanks in advance who can provide info that can help
    > our situation. Thanks again for reading the long story I'm about to
    > type.
    > I'm a UK citizen (but with an additional Irish passport) my fiancee is
    > a US citizen in Florida. We got engaged in Jan 2004, and planned to
    > bring me to the states to settle.
    > The one spanner in the works in that I'm currently going through a
    > divorce which won't be settled until estimated Jan 2005 - which stops
    > us from applying for any kind of k1 or k3 visa until its all finished
    > with and i'm free to marry.
    > Because of this (and the knowledge that during the application process
    > for k1/k3 we'd likely be apart for a long time), AND the fact that my
    > job laid me off in the UK we decided to use the money that I'd
    > received as a redundancy payment to let me travel to the states on the
    > Visa Waiver Program, but staying within the 90 days each time. So I
    > came there in April 2004, stayed to July 2004, and came back to the
    > UK. Then I returned to the US in late July 2004, and back again to the
    > UK in early October.
    > On my third attempt to come back and see her I was stopped by
    > Immigration officers in Atlanta, and prevented from entering the
    > states. Despite having a ticket to go home in January not only to stay
    > within the 90 day limit of the VWP, but more importantly to attend the
    > court hearing for divorce where I HAD to be in person. The officer
    > would not accept my explanation and refused me entry, scribbling it on
    > both my British and Irish passports, and putting me back on a plane to
    > London the same night.
    > That now leaves us in position of spending xmas and new year apart
    > instead of together before we can even file for any kind of visa to
    > bring me over.
    > With that in mind, can anyone who has prior experience with each visa,
    > and/or and helpful advice at all on the matter please help us with the
    > following queries.
    > Which visa - K1 or K3? We spoke to an immigration lawyer in
    > Tallahassee who thought that in her experience that K3 going through
    > London was quicker that K1. However Visajourney.com seems to advise
    > that K1 is quicker. Can anyone give any helpful advice on which one
    > may be the quicker - if we go the K3 route, my fiancee will be coming
    > to the UK to marry me and they returning to her home in the states to
    > file the paperwork.
    > Which center? There's so much info online, and its all very confusing!
    > She would be filing any paperwork from Tallahassee. I know there are
    > local centers in Jacksonville, Tampa, in Orlando. Anyone have any idea
    > which of these it might go to, and also which main center it would
    > then go through? Also any idea of timelines for these at all?
    > DCF - is this available in Belfast, London, or Dublin at all? (I'm
    > based in Belfast in Northern Ireland, but I think my Irish passport
    > also qualifies me for help and advice thru the US Dublin embassy.)
    > Interview process - depending on the visa filed K1/K3... WHO gets
    > interviewed and where? Both of us, me in the UK, her in the US - how
    > does it work?
    > Immigration attorney - she seemed helpful enough for us. Her fee is
    > $2500. Is this reasonable for the K1 / K3 filing and later Adjusment
    > of Status process?
    > Thanks for taking the time to read so many questions - I do understand
    > that a lot of people may have heard much of this before, but we're
    > willing to try anything and everything to be together, and are
    > grateful to anyone who can provide advice to us tht can help...