MothysGirl

I am in California, he is in London.
We are hoping to have him come here in April and hopefully not have to return to London once we're married.

Here were our hopes:
Arrive in early april
Marriage on april 26
Hopefully have all forms for permanent residence finished in time to where he dosn't have to go home.

When should I start my end of the forms? (The I-129F) and when should he file for his fiance visa, in order to make this possible?

Monday I will also be discussing this with people at a non-profit organization for this.

*hopes it's all possible*

Bob

Welcome to the site, and goodluck...but that time frame is looking a bit tight and unrealistic if you haven't already started.
You have to file first, then he gets the stuff sent to him from the embassy to do, in a gist, if your going the K1 route.

Read up the FAQ at the root of this forum, and also www.visajourney.com
and www.uscis.gov for more of a feel for the process.

MothysGirl

I have been to the USCIS site. It didn't really list any time frames for me that I could find. Crap.
Now everything is seeming so impossible >_<

dexy

Do not say he is coming over to marry!

MothysGirl

Even worse...now browsing that site.....

" You will need at a minimum (for the above form) two to three of your most recent pay stubs and a signed letter from your employer listing you job title, start date, your salary, and the status (full-time) of your position. Begin collecting these asap after your NOA2 arrives. You will also probably want to include other evidence such as your banking information and other assets as required by the I-134/I-864. "

I'm not currently employed, I live with my family. Since I am waiting to be processed for employement I Won't have any of those things before I file this.

Gah why is everything seeming so against me.

betsyanddavid

It's not impossible, it just might be delayed a bit. Get started now and see what happens. That's all I can suggest.

Betsy

Bob

Lot of people feel like that, but take it bit at a time, it's not so hard once you have read everything and get an overall picture.

And look for a co-sponsor for the financial bit, like your parents that meet the line.

MothysGirl

Do they allow co-sponsors? How do I do it?

I'm reading everything and I am really confused as to how to do it. I'm at a big road block and can't really move forward. How do I go about putting a co sponsor? (I found out there in no non-profit one here, so I don't have help)

Also we don't know what the "U.S" Social Security #" bit and the A# bit are for his end. (on the I-129F application) And we don't really understand much at all.

Do I print out this form and write it by hand or? (my pdf reader dosn't give me the option to fill it out online.) Gah, I'm so dumb, I need my hand held >_<

Bob

Don't worry about the co-sponsor bit now, that's for the affidavit of support, they would basically fill in the same financial sponsor form as you.

If he doesn't have a SSN, then write N/A, and the A#, that's if he already has one, so probably not at this stage.

Not all forms can be filled in online, there are forms about that you can, but it might be just easier to save the pdf file and print them off and fill them in, that way you have a copy in hand to go over as a draft if you need to.

MothysGirl

So I printed the form and then noticed at the top "OMB No. 1615-0001: Expires 11/30/04" ?

CaliforniaBride

Where are you getting the forms from?

MothysGirl

The USCIS site.

Mothhive

Right, we're still having difficulty with the entire process. If it is at all possible, could someone walk us through it, avoiding technical terms and abbreviations as we are absolute begginers? Ideas on costs and time frames would be handy and any success stories would be greatly appreciated as we are feeling overwhelmed by it all at the moment.

Bob

Then read through the FAQ at the root of the forum, and visa journey too to get an over view.

Timelines, well there's a link to those in the root too, also on peoples sig's. And you can get a rough vague idea on the USCIS website, second link down on the right should be processing times, just plonk in where your filing etc to get an idea.

Just Jenney

As someone else said, the K Visa FAQ is the first place you want to go. There is an appendix which gives a breakdown of abbreviations and such.

A VERY brief outline of what the process is:

1) You complete the I-129F petition packet and mail it return receipt to the California Service Center (CSC). You can find everything which must be included in the packet here.

2) Once the CSC approves the petition, they send a I-797 notice to the London Consulate.

3) The Consulate will send "Packet 3" (aka, "Instruction Packet") to your fiance's UK address. Once he has everything required in hand -- such as his UK police certificate and the completed I-134 Affidavit of Support -- he signs and mails the list back to the Consulate.

4) Then the Consulate will then send him "Packet 4" (aka "Appointment Packet"), which lets him know when his visa appointment is.

5) On the day of his visa appointment, he'll first go to get his medical exam and then go to the Consulate for his visa interview. Assuming all goes well, he'll get his visa. Then he has 6 months in which to use it to move to the States. Once he enters the States, you have 90 days to marry before the visa expires.

I know you asked for processing timeframes and application fees, etc., but all of that can be found easily in the FAQ through various links.

If you are not currently working, then you will need a co-sponsor. As his visa sponsor, YOU still have to complete your own I-134 Affidavit of Support regardless of whether you are working or not. The co-sponsor will also complete one of their own I-134 forms.

Your co-sponsor must meet the minimum income requirements for their household size plus your fiance. For example, if your co-sponsor is married with one child, then the household size would be co-sponsor + spouse + child + your fiance = 4 people. The current minimum income requirement for that household size is $18,850/year.

You can find the minimum income requirements here.

Each I-134 form must be completed AND notarized. The London Consulate (I believe) also requires copies of the last 3 years of tax returns, although they also accept tax transcripts, which can be obtained from the IRS free of charge.

I agree that your April target date is ambitious if you haven't started yet. I would allow 6 months at a minimum for processing. That's not to say that it will take that long, but it's better to be safe than sorry...

~ Jenney