K1 received! timeline, story, and advice
Feb 12th 2002, 9:36 am
#1
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My fiancee Judy recently received her K1 visa from the consulate in Budapest,
Hungary! The process didn't take very long at all compared to some of the stories in
this group. It may have helped that I am here with her. When my fiancee asked about
having to provide additional proof of relationship, as the visa application states,
the consular employee said that my being here in Budapest with her was proof enough.
Here is our timeline:
Nov. 12: I129F mailed Nov. 14: I129F received by INS Nov. 21: first notice of action
Nov. 27: my house partially burns down, leaving me with nowhere to live and
prompting my employer to let me go to Hungary while the house is rebuilt and Judy
gets her visa Jan. 03: second notice of action (approval) Jan. 09: consulate
notified by the INS (I wrote "please cable"; I could have sworn the consular
employee handling the case said something about a fax) Jan. 10: I received
application forms when I went into the office to inquire about them Jan. 29: we
notified consulate that all forms were ready and received interview date: Feb. 01!
Feb. 01: interview in the morning, visa in the afternoon
The interview was incredibly simple. I sat in the waiting room while Judy went up to
the window behind which the vice consul sat. The vice consul didn't even say hello,
she just told Judy to raise her right hand and swear that everything in the
application was true. Then she told her to wait a minute and went away. Then the
consular employee handling the case returned and told her the visa would be ready in
the afternoon.
The consular employee had told us the vice consul would ask about "the time Judy
spent more than six months in America", since my fiancee had been in America from
January 27 to July 3 and then from July 23 to December 21 and had written
"01/01-07/01, 07/01-12/01" on her application form.
We explained to the consular employee that Judy had been to America for two separate
five month trips and corrected the dates by adding in the specific days, but the
consular employee still said the vice consul would ask about it. In the end, though,
the vice consul didn't ask anything. For anyone else in this situation, it would be
good to write down specific dates even though the form only asks for month and year.
We are planning to return to the States in March and get married in May. The only
downside is that I talked to the builders today and discovered that they don't think
they'll be done rebuilding the house until the end of April, leaving us with no time
to furnish before Judy's parents arrive to help us prepare for the wedding (not to
mention finding a place to live between March and May).
So, that's our story. Thanks to everyone in the group and the maintainers of the K1
FAQ for giving us all the information we needed to fill out all the forms correctly.
Couldn't have done it without you!
-Myk
Hungary! The process didn't take very long at all compared to some of the stories in
this group. It may have helped that I am here with her. When my fiancee asked about
having to provide additional proof of relationship, as the visa application states,
the consular employee said that my being here in Budapest with her was proof enough.
Here is our timeline:
Nov. 12: I129F mailed Nov. 14: I129F received by INS Nov. 21: first notice of action
Nov. 27: my house partially burns down, leaving me with nowhere to live and
prompting my employer to let me go to Hungary while the house is rebuilt and Judy
gets her visa Jan. 03: second notice of action (approval) Jan. 09: consulate
notified by the INS (I wrote "please cable"; I could have sworn the consular
employee handling the case said something about a fax) Jan. 10: I received
application forms when I went into the office to inquire about them Jan. 29: we
notified consulate that all forms were ready and received interview date: Feb. 01!
Feb. 01: interview in the morning, visa in the afternoon
The interview was incredibly simple. I sat in the waiting room while Judy went up to
the window behind which the vice consul sat. The vice consul didn't even say hello,
she just told Judy to raise her right hand and swear that everything in the
application was true. Then she told her to wait a minute and went away. Then the
consular employee handling the case returned and told her the visa would be ready in
the afternoon.
The consular employee had told us the vice consul would ask about "the time Judy
spent more than six months in America", since my fiancee had been in America from
January 27 to July 3 and then from July 23 to December 21 and had written
"01/01-07/01, 07/01-12/01" on her application form.
We explained to the consular employee that Judy had been to America for two separate
five month trips and corrected the dates by adding in the specific days, but the
consular employee still said the vice consul would ask about it. In the end, though,
the vice consul didn't ask anything. For anyone else in this situation, it would be
good to write down specific dates even though the form only asks for month and year.
We are planning to return to the States in March and get married in May. The only
downside is that I talked to the builders today and discovered that they don't think
they'll be done rebuilding the house until the end of April, leaving us with no time
to furnish before Judy's parents arrive to help us prepare for the wedding (not to
mention finding a place to live between March and May).
So, that's our story. Thanks to everyone in the group and the maintainers of the K1
FAQ for giving us all the information we needed to fill out all the forms correctly.
Couldn't have done it without you!
-Myk
