vikasintl

I am located in India and my fiancee is in USA ..I want to know if its necessary to meet her in person before we can file for fiancee visa?
in case we file it without meeting in person ...the fees we pay at the time of application will be waste? and we have to reapply with new fees after showing the proof of meeting in person?

FlyergirlUK

Have either of you taken the time to read the instructions for the I-129F? If not I would suggest that you do so before making the application.

scrubbedexpat099

You have to meet, its all on the form.

Rete

Actually there are exceptions on religious or medical grounds. But it has to be proven.

Noorah101

Yes, it is a requirement for the I-129F, that you and your fiancee have met in person at least once within the past 2 years. Sometimes this requirements is waived if your religion prevents you meeting face to face until your wedding day (you must provide proof of this fact), or if you have some kind of extreme hardship which prevents you meeting in person (again, this must be extreme, and must be proven).

Two things could happen: 1) USCIS can keep your entire package, including the fee, and ask you to apply again when you qualify; or 2) USCIS might be nice enough to return your entire package and the fee to you, and ask you to apply again when you qualify.

I have an American female friend who has a fiance in Pakistan. She is extremely overweight and is waiting for gastric bypass surgery. She submitted the I-129F without the requirement of meeting in person. She included proof that her fiance was denied a tourist visa to come to the USA. She included proof that her size requires her to purchase a more expensive business-class ticket (with larger seats), and showed proof of her limited bank funds to pay for such an expensive ticket. She included a letter from her doctor stating that she is in line for surgery and his recommendation that she not travel at this time due to health risks. After 6+ months, her I-129F was denied. I will have to ask her if she got the fee back or not.

The interesting thing is that she eventually DID save the money to fly to Pakistan to meet him, even with health risks. She married him there and is now doing a spouse visa which is progressing very smoothly. But she wasted a lot of time trying to do the fiance visa without having met first. USCIS was right in denying her I-129F, as a year later she WAS able to meet him in person. It's very hard to overcome that requirement of meeting in person.

Rene

Folinskyinla

Hi:

You have received other answers stating there is are exceptions to the two-year meeting rule. However, don't even THINK you can evade the requirement for those reasons unless the religious/cultural reasons are WELL-KNOWN.

Also, beware of the big "engagement party."

On the pedantic side -- YOU file the I-129F "visa petition"; SHE applies for the K-1 "visa." Technically speaking, there is no "we" involved. However, YOUR petition will require a signed document from HER and HER application will require signed documents from you.

Good luck.

"turkey trots to water gg ... where is rpt where is task force thirty four rr the world wonders" Chester Nimitz

vikasintl

Yes thats what we read that there are exceptions but we dont have any medical problem ...only problem is she is not getting a vacation for more than 2 weeks and we think its not worth to spend approx. 2000us$ just to meet in person for 2 weeks...so I would like to have your opinion about the solution where we can file it without meeting in person.

Also I want to know in case they don't accept the application without meeting in person ...do we have to reappply with a fresh application and have to give new fees again?

Elvira

Have you even read the previous replies??!!!!

Clearly, the fact that you think that it is "not worth to spend approx. 2000us$ just to meet in person for 2 weeks" is *not* a valid reason.

Noorah101

USCIS will NOT accept these reasons (not having enough vacation time, being too expensive...) to overcome the meeting in person requirement. There is no solution in your case. You must meet in person before filing the I-129F.

Rene

scrubbedexpat099

Would appear not

Noorah101

Isn't it the other way around? The OP is male and living in India. The female fiancee is the USC. SHE has the I-129F visa petition to submit. HE applies for the K-1 visa.

Rene

Noorah101

Just a suggestion, have her keep track of air fare to India, and have her go there when the ticket is less expensive.

Rene

Poppy girl

Good God man I cannot believe you are saying that its not worth the $2000 to see the woman that you are intending to spend the rest of your life with before you move here to the US.

Sorry to be harsh but you are flippen NUTS.

Cheers Ian and Boiler I did post male to start then changed it again, and now once more

ian-mstm

It could be the *best* $2000 you've ever spent. Imagine if you never met before you married only to find out later that personal hygiene was a major issue for one of you. Perhaps she doesn't like curry! What would you do then? That aside though, I guess you just don't love each other enough to care about whether or not you're qualified to file. I'll mention here, since it may not have occurred to you... there is *no* reason you can't meet in some other country. It doesn't have to be India or the US... someplace a bit closer (and less expensive) to both of you perhaps?

Ian

scrubbedexpat099

Its he who is posting, and he is the Indian.

But otherwise agree with the sentiment.