Peter

Which US Embassy handles K1 (fiance) applications for Slovak citizens:
Prague or Bratislava?

And sorry for being a newbee, do both of us have to be present at the
interview, or is the presence of just the sponsored party sufficient?

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I'm an immigration lawyer who has been practicing for a long long time in Los Angeles.

Nationality has nothing to do with place of application -- it is place of residence. But if your beloved is in the Slovak Republic, he has to go to Prague; Bratislava does not do K visas. See http//:travel.state.gov and drill down through "visa reciprocity tables" which is a great source of current information.

On your second question, I will bow to my professorial instincts and give a reason for the law: the K-1 visa was added to the law in 1970 so to avoid the necessity of having the US citizen travel abroad just for the purpose of getting married.

If you do chose to accompany your beloved to the interview, you should be aware that not all consular posts will ALLOW you to be present at the interview. Some posts will not even allow you in the building for secuity reasons! [This true of attorneys also!]. I don't know about Prague -- it pays to check in advance.

Each post is different -- they are allowed to set their own policies -- i.e. Seoul and Prague could very well be different. So a story of someone from Chennai will not be helpful.

In regards to finding about policy of whether you can accompany your beloved, beware that this can change without prior notice. [Seoul used to have a policy which allowed attorneys in the waiting room, could not attend the actual interview, but could talk immediately after a refusal. On one trip to Seoul, I was told that there was a new Consul General who liked to meet with lawyers visiting from the US and a meeting was arranged. Over coffee, he asked if I could recommend any changes and I suggested that attorneys be allowed to observe actual interviews. The new CG immediately told me the policy would be changed that day and I could notify AILA of that. I became an instant hero to lawyers with Korean cases.]

Good luck.

jcsutton

Peter, I just wanted to make you aware of another way you might want to approach this, and that is the Direct Consular Filing. Some consulates around the world allow a non-resident US citizen travel to the fiancee's home country, get married, and then file the immigration paperwork directly with the consulate (Prague seems to allow this). This essentially bypasses the INS BS and will allow you to be together much quicker under uncomplicated circumstances. My wife and I took this approach earlier this year in South Africa and the time from filing to visa issuance was 33 days, compared to the 6 months it could have been. Check out this web site for more info:

http://k1.exit.com/dcf.html

The key to this though is:
#1) call the consulate and verify that they will do this
#2) have ALL of your paperwork ready when you travel there to marry.