K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Told by who? If it wasn't someone at USCIS then I believe that that advice is incorrect with respect to completing immigrations forms, which asks for other names you have used, without exceptions.

If it was someone at USCUS then even if they put it in writing it is still pretty useless as under US law you cannot rely on advice given by a government employee and there are court cases to prove that - a government employee can tell you complete garbage, or down-right lie to you, and if you follow that advice and if the advice is contrary to the law, you don't have a leg to stand on, legally speaking.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

So wholly irrelevant for the purposes of the US government. I would recommend against omitting material information from your visa application forms.

UKCIS? …. If you meant USCIS, then see my earlier advice about not being able to rely on advice from a government employee.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

I believe you should be honest throughout the whole process, including the medical. The greatest risk of being denied is due to what would be perceived as inaccurate/misleading/dishonest information.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

I hope this information will reassure you. Many years ago on the marriage-based visa forum, perhaps 10 years ago<?>, we had a member who was born female and transgendered to male. He was from Canada and the fiancée was from one of the upper states in the US near the Can/Am border. He was successful with getting his K-1 and subsequently married his female fiancée. The transgendered Canadian male had a family from a previous marriage as a female as did his wife. His wife's daughter had twins but for whatever reason was unable to care for them. He and his new wife petitioned to become legal guardians of the twins and was granted guardianship. A year later they petitioned to adopt the twins and the adoption was granted. Being transgendered did not hamper their K-1 visa nor did it stop them from becoming legal parents to children not born to them.

As for your omission or lying on the application(s), please don't do it. The UK government is not the US government. The application asked for prior names/other names you have used or been known by. You must give them all your names for the security check. Being caught in this omission would not bode well.

As for the medical, again, be honest. You are transgendered. I don't know what mid/post op transgender means as you said your birth certificate has had the gender changed so I'm assuming you will require additional surgery in the future. You do not have to explain anything. Your medical summary will speak for you and if the doctor has questions, he/she will ask and you can then reply.

One of the first and most important rule is DO NOT LIE.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

A lawyer?

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Take the forms at face value - the form asks for "names you have used previously" - it isn't a difficult question.

The only alternative is to hire your own lawyer for the purpose, but I would be very surprise if they tell you that it is OK to omit information requested on an immigration form. As others have noted, a security background check is a required part of the visa application process, and the results of that check will be compromised if you haven't given complete information. That will throw the entire validity of your visa into question, and could come back and bite you years later. Do you want to be forever looking over your shoulder, wondering if anyone will ever find out?

Honestly, the best advice just has to re to "just complete the form and get on with your life". Once you're in the US the question won't come up again, at least not until you apply for citizenship, (or unless you apply for a job that requires security clearance, but outside the military and related contractors, that is pretty rare), and it is buried in government archives, it's not searchable public information, so the immigration paperwork will have no bearing on your life or future in the US.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

You don't need to start over.

For the medical, be honest about everything.

When filling out further immigrating forms, be completely honest and list previous names, if asked.

At the visa interview, be honest and have then add your other names by hand. If you changed your name at 14 by deed poll, bring a copy of that.

Rene

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Perhaps it is just my perception, it would appear that you are attempting to hide the fact that you are transgender. Sorry but that is fraudulent behavior. USCIS is the agency that you need to work with and worry about. I don't like the fact that you are asking about hiding your sex change operations by saying they were some purpose other than what they were actually for. Your did not have a urology surgery because of medical problems and you were sick. You had it do to your change of gender. As for the medical itself, some here have had their gender confirmed by visual examination.

As for names used, it doesn't just depend just on what is on your birth certificate. Are you known by a nickname? A different name online in social networks? Those are all names used by you.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

They certainly ask about Surgery etc now my 2 were from Accidents so the conversation did not go very far.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

They ask for aliases, do not remember any documentation required? Would not make sense to ask for it.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

No, it won't get denied prior to you attending the in-person visa interview.

The interview is where you can explain everything to the consular officer.

Rene

Re: K1 medical worries
 

They only need documentary evidence if your current name is different from the name provided in additional evidence (i.e. passport copies, etc.). It seems OP will not have this issue as their name change was done years ago and all their documents match up with the current name.

From the instructions, pg.11: "If either you or your beneficiary use a name other than the one shown on evidence submitted in support of your petition, you must submit copies of the legal documents (such as a marriage certificate, adoption decree, or court order) reflecting the legal name change."

I do agree that all previous names should be declared going forward, and just be honest with the doctor. They aren't trying to catch you out and I'm sure they'll be sensitive to each applicant's medical situation.

Your medical summary is free to access, simply request a 'Patient Care Summary' from your GP. I'm not sure if you'll need more specific information for the surgeries, it should just be in your summary, but double check and ask the GP if they have any data to give on specific treatments.

Good luck!

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Hey OP, I was in a very similar situation to you, except I moved to Canada.

You must declare your previous names on the application. They won't care. Bear in mind they also ask for previous names on ESTA applications. I too was concerned about potential harassment/discrimination from CBP when I declared this, so I applied for Global Entry to help mitigate that risk. (This also gives you TSA Pre-Check which reduces your exposure to body scanners at US airports.) I don't live in the US but travel frequently and I've never had issues with CBP. (I'm aware your main concern is USCIS but I hope this datapoint is reassuring.)

As for the medical, when I had mine in the UK for Canada, I told the doctor I was transgender. She also didn't care one bit. She actually said that she gets a disproportionately high number of transgender people through her door relative to our number due to the fact that trans people emigrate/immigrate at a much higher rate than the general population. So in essence, everybody in the process has seen us all before, quite frequently.

Two general observations for you as well: be aware that HRT can cause elevated blood pressure. If you are on a high dosage and don't have an active lifestyle, your blood pressure may be high. If this is the case, you probably want to do something about this anyway, but you may have issues at the medical if your blood pressure is high. Also, the Gender Recognition Act can interfere with the US's ability to process your application. If they ask the UK for security related data on you, the UK might turn around and deny you exist because of the GRA (you may have experienced this when registering to vote/checking your driver history/dealing with HMRC outside of Public Department 1 etc.) This slowed down my Canadian PR application quite a bit, and in the end the Canadian High Commission in London asked me to deliver the required documents myself.

Also, make sure you have your full name history on your police certificate. I know they offer to hide your previous name on it, but USCIS might reject the certificate if it doesn't show it.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

:goodpost: This is also important advice.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

Re: K1 medical worries
 

I think a lawyer is a good idea, even if it just serves to put your mind at rest. J Craig Fong is frequently recommended on here, and he has experience with LGBT immigration. You may wish to consult with him.

Bear in mind I was an economic immigrant to Canada whereas you're using a family category, so things will be different. My application was also marginal, which triggered a visa interview at the consulate (Canada does not do this routinely, unlike the US). I forget which documents I provided and what they managed to get themselves, and I doubt they'd disclose their security procedures to an applicant anyway. I know I was asked for my birth certificate, and I offered the consular officer both (I still had the original copy). He mentioned something about the old one being a struggle for Ottawa to obtain themselves, although I'm not sure why as I believed the old one remained on record. He did ask me some questions off of my UK tax returns so I figure they managed to get those directly. When I submitted the original paperwork bundle to IRCC, I included my passport, my deed poll, and my ACRO certificate, along with other documents which won't be relevant to your K1 (degree certificates, employment history, IELTS test etc.)

Your name history sounds like a nightmare and I can see why you might not be able to document that. Mostly what they want to do is to run security checks against all your names, so the key is to declare them, even if you can't document them. But you must have a deed poll from your most recent deadname, so I would suggest that and your GRC are the two key documents, along with a sworn statement of names used in childhood (maybe have some unofficial proof as well such as school reports or medical records). But a lawyer can advise better than I can.

The percentage of millennials in the workforce is increasing, and the vast majority of us have a decent awareness of trans issues, so as long as you don't hide it, I don't foresee an issue with the case officers. I have a friend who used to be US diplomat and worked in USCIS before that, and she told me that her default position when looking at a petition was "how can I approve this?" rather than "how can I deny this?". And I would guess that a USCIS agent would understand your rationale for not declaring, even if you should have.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

RGH80's advice is good and valuable but do bear in mind, he went to Canada and you are going to the US. He did not use a marriage-based visa; you are.

Two different countries, two different immigration laws, two different types of visa.

Re: K1 medical worries
 

You're free to use a lawyer if you want, but I sincerely doubt it it necessary or that they will add any value, other than perhaps make you feel more "comfortable". Be aware that a lawyer may also complicate matters more than necessary, and/or otherwise louse up your application - that is certainly not unheard of here on BE.

In my opinion your application is quite straightforward, with the only "complication" being that you need to disclose multiple names used. Be aware that marriage visas are very rarely denied, and typically only because of someone's criminal record or drug usage. The only likely reason for "failing" a medical is having a communicable disease. So unless there are more aspects to your situation that you haven't disclosed (and I am not suggesting that you need to disclose more than you already have) your case doesn't really have any particularly complex issues.