I just want to start by thanking everyone, because as far as this whole thing goes my mind has been put at rest and having others in the same boat definatly puts me at ease...so thanks! <3

I'm a brit intending to marry American boyfriend before end of november and just starting the paperwork (leaving it a bit late, I know)...

Are people planning to organise the wedding once they are there, or is anyone setting all the dates and stuff before hand? I know it doesn't sound very wise, but I don't want to get married in registry office (or wherever) because dates were booked for everywhere else. It's only going to be a small(ish) ceremony but I've waited a long time for this so it's important to me.

What are your plans?

~Cassie ~

Hi Cassie,

As you know, booking ahead is not the wisest thing to do. The best advice is not to make any final plans until you have the visa in-hand. If you can make plans that can be changed, that's OK. Or if some place needs a deposit, make sure you can either get a refund if you change the date, or make sure you're OK with losing the money. Best Bet = don't finalize anything until you have the visa.

Best Wishes,
Rene

There are many factors that can come into play with any given case that
can cause delay, slight to significant. If you make wedding plans
before actually obtaining the visa, you do so at your own risk.

Just in case you didn't know, once you "obtain" the visa, you have up
to 6 months to actually use it to enter the U.S. That might give you
the time you need to plan a dream wedding.

But Vegas is also nice and I hear that even Elvis conducts wedding
ceremonies there. If I had it to do all over again, that's where I
would go.

On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 23:45:26 +0000, Noorah101 <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >> I just want to start by thanking everyone, because as far as this
    >> whole thing goes my mind has been put at rest and having others in the
    >> same boat definatly puts me at ease...so thanks! <3
    >> I'm a brit intending to marry American boyfriend before end of
    >> november and just starting the paperwork (leaving it a bit late, I
    >> know)...
    >> Are people planning to organise the wedding once they are there, or is
    >> anyone setting all the dates and stuff before hand? I know it doesn't
    >> sound very wise, but I don't want to get married in registry office
    >> (or wherever) because dates were booked for everywhere else. It's only
    >> going to be a small(ish) ceremony but I've waited a long time for this
    >> so it's important to me.
    >> What are your plans? :)
    >> ~Cassie ~
    >Hi Cassie,
    >As you know, booking ahead is not the wisest thing to do. The best
    >advice is not to make any final plans until you have the visa in-hand.
    >If you can make plans that can be changed, that's OK. Or if some place
    >needs a deposit, make sure you can either get a refund if you change the
    >date, or make sure you're OK with losing the money. Best Bet = don't
    >finalize anything until you have the visa.

And if you're filing the paperwork now, there's a decent chance that
you won't even be close to having a visa by November. We started the
process last September, and if everything goes well, we'll actually
have the visa two weeks from now (hoping and praying that nothing
screws up with the interview... which it won't, but I'll be happier
when he has his visa in hand...). That's six months, and absolutely
everything has gone smoothly, so I don't think that you can count on
it being a lot faster than that, especially if he has to send the
petition through one of the slower service centers.

If it's a small ceremony, you'll be able to find someplace without too
much trouble, and you should really wait until you're a little farther
along in the process, at least.

    >We started the process last September, and if everything goes well, we'll actually
have the visa two weeks from now (hoping and praying that nothing
screws up with the interview... which it won't, but I'll be happier
when he has his visa in hand...).

Actually, someone might not get the visa on the day of the interview
even in the situation where the visa "is" eventually issued. They might
have to do more review or wait for a background check or do some
administrative processing even after the interview. You won't know you
have the visa until you have it in your possession.

As far as screw-ups at the interview, that certainly can happen.

For example, lets say I'm a consular officer and for some reason I
really don't want to give you a visa (I know, I'm being unreasonable,
but this is just a hypothetical situation).

If I wanted, I could probably easily lead you down the garden path
leading to the denial of your visa. I could ask, "Have you ever been to
the U.S."? "Have you met his parents"? "How do you know his family or
friends will accept you"? "How do you know you will like living in
America"?

After those questions, a beneficiary might say, "I see your point, and
I guess I'll wait until after I see if they accept me or after I decide
I like it there and "then" we will get married".

Bingo! Visa denial!

The beneficiary would have volunteered information that clearly shows
that she does "not" have the intention to marry within 90 days, no
conditions attached.

This is something I always warn each of my fiancee clients about
"before" the interview.

On 20 Feb 2006 17:16:08 -0800, "MDUdall" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >The beneficiary would have volunteered information that clearly shows
    >that she does "not" have the intention to marry within 90 days, no
    >conditions attached.
    >This is something I always warn each of my fiancee clients about
    >"before" the interview.

Good advice.

Question, though.... given that everything else is in order, affidavit
of support, medical, police, documents, etc.... is there any likely
reason to have the visa denied other than something like the above?

I keep trying to reassure my very nervous fiancé. :-)

From everything I have read, which is a lot it seems unlikely, especially if there are no direct complications. Although it makes sense to have backup plan just in case, right?

Thanks everyone for your advice

It seems to be between 6 and 8 months atm so that should be a resonable assumption, though I'll take into account a problem could be much longer (I am so used to problems occuring in my life I'm almost expecting it lol). Thankfully there are no huge complications, mostly because even if my fiance hasn't been working long enough for the support (he is soon finishing college) then his dad is willing to help which is fantastic. Because I'm working for an American company, I might even be able to start with a job over there...not counting on it but it will make life easier if that happens

I think what I'll do at the moment, is discuss options of being able to set back the date if I have not heard about the interview (most places seem quite happy to arrange something as long as they've got time). I mean by 7 months I should at least know if there is some sort of problem, right? Also not expecting visa on day of interview, many seem to get them a couple of weeks later...

If anyone has any more advice that would be really great

yeah we did a Vegas wedding when I came in on my K1 :-) We tried to get Elvis but the King of Rock and Roll charges rock and roll prices and was sadly out of our financial reach! We had a nice ceremony all the same ;-)

Hi I went through the k1 process last year (and am still going through the 'after processes' mine went through without any problems, as long as you don't have any serious or drug charges (don't quote me on that, it is only my understanding and not the legal or consular official position)against you and all your paperwork is in order (which it sounds like it is) then you should be fine. as for pre-planning the wedding then i would wait till you have been told you have the visa before even thinking about dates or anything, the time to process your individual case could vary and therefor you can't necessarily say i will get married on x date and it actually happen. at the end of the day you have 6 months from getting the visa to enter the states and then an additional 90 to get married. we managed it, it wasn't too bad, just a bit more of a rush than 'normal' weddings (which can take years of planning!) as for working when you arrive it may not be possible. you don't always (in fact from what i understand it is getting rarer and rarer) get an EAD,(employment authorisation document) which you need to work, at your POE (point of entry, ie the airport you fly into the us at) and if you don't then you have to apply for one, which can take anywhere between 30 and 90 days to get, and in turn this will expire the same time your k1 does (at the end of the 90 days after entering the us), then you have to apply again for another one (usually along with your I-485 (adjustment of status to conditional permanent resident) as soon as your married) and in the time frame between the two EAD's you cannot legally work either (as one is expired and the other not yet granted) so it is not always worth it at $175 a go, so like me you may have to wait a while before you can get working! (so don't rely on this to help with the wedding cost either). as for the interview and physical, they are not scary at all. so don't work yourself up into a frenzy as i did (i hadn't found this site by then and was flying blind!) there is nothing to really worry about, it is boring more than anything and involves a lot of sitting around and waiting! hope i haven't sent you to sleep or confused you with all this! any other questions please feel free to ask! hope this helped
Rik

P.S. as for actually receiving the visa, you should get told on the day of the interview if you have it, if not they should tell you why, (waiting for documents etc.) you then leave your passport with them they put the visa in it and courier it back to you a couple of days later. but if you haven't done it you will need to get a copy of your vaccination history, and a police report (ask at your local police station, it usually costs about a tenner) (the police report can take a while to come through) and also court records (if you have had to go to court for any charge, a record from each court and relevant charges answered at that court. this will also help speed up your process a little.

IMHO, any wedding that takes longer than 6 months to plan and execute is either way too expensive (read: for show) or just totally gauche!

Ian

I couldnt agree more

Part of that might be giving enough advance notice to anyone coming in from out of town or overseas.

That said, I have to say, we planned our wedding in about 6 minutes! hehehe

Rene

Well then... thank god for email! And what's up with engraved invitations? Does anyone think that someone important enough to be invited won't come because the invitation wasn't embossed? I mean... really - would you want such petty people at your wedding? No sirree!

Ian

A smallish ceremony can be accommodated in a lot of places... and November is not a big wedding month (most American weddings are in the May-August time frame) so maybe you will find something. If there are some special places you have in mind, start talking to them now, maybe explain the situation and ask them to contact you if November starts getting booked up.

Or, think about places that won't get booked up, like:
- your in-laws backyard if they have a nice big one
- a yacht/boat you can hire for the evening for a more casual wedding
- country/golf club dining room
- a beautiful vacation rental with a nice outdoor space
- a public space (such as a beach)

Some of these may not work if you are going to be in a snowy state -- now I'm showing my California bias. :-)

Well actually... if its engraved... that would make it DEbossed

COME ON IAN, get with it!