K-1 visa story

Simple and complete explanation from applying to receiving K-1 fiancé visa by a K-1 visa holder:

K-1 visa allows a U.S. citizen to bring his/her foreign fiancé to the U.S. and gives them 90 days to get married in the U.S. and apply for permanent residence and live with them happily forever. You will needs to get married to your sponsoring fiancé before 90 days of your entrance to the U.S. However if you do not marry your fiancé within 90 days, or you marry someone else in the U.S., you will simply have to leave the country and there is zero tolerance about that.

You are eligible to apply for a K-1 if:

• You and your baby fiancé :p are in a bona fide relationship

• You have personally met each other in the past two years (unless the cultural or religious reasons do not let you to do so before getting married!!)

The process of K-1 visa application begins when the petitioner (the U.S. citizen) fills i-129F form and sends it to the corresponding SERVICE CENTER of USCIS. I-129-F is a simple form asking you questions about you and your foreign citizen fiancé. This form can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/i-129f also the "instructions for i-129f" can be found in the link mentioned.

Along with i-129F, you will need to submit supporting documents to the USCIS which are:

• Payment for i-129f which is $ 340.00. You need to attach a personal check with the amount of $340.00 with the name of U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

• Explanation of meeting in person for the first time (on an A4 paper, you will need to explain how you met the hero of your life J )

• Proof of having met in person in the past two years and ongoing relationship (photos specially the ones you both are in the photo - plane tickets showing you have traveled together or one of you has traveled to see the other one – phone bills and anything and everything which could prove that you are in a bona fide relationship!)

• Form G-325A filled by Petitioner or U.S. citizen (this form will ask you for your biographical information)(can be found here in http://www.uscis.gov/g-325a )

• Form G-325A filled by Beneficiary or foreign citizen

• A copy of Birth Certificate, U.S. Passport, or naturalization paper of the petitioner which can prove the Petitioner is a U.S. citizen

• Letter certifying that both petitioner and beneficiary are willing to intent to marry

Depending on which state in USA you live, you will have to file the petition to your corresponding service center. In my case it was Texas Crevice Center. Check http://www.immihelp.com/directory/servicecenters.html to find out which service center you must file your i-129F.

After your Service Center Receives your petition (if all papers and documents are correct) they will mail you the first notice of action (NOA1) to your address. After you receive NOA1, USCIS will start studying and doing research about you, your foreign fiancé, the documents you have submitted, and the fact that whether you guys are eligible to apply for k-1 or not.

But the problem is since the Service Centers are always flooded with applications, it takes a long time to hear news about your case. Usually their logic about the applications is "the first in, the first out" and it is pretty difficult to expedite your case unless you have a very special situation! You can check the time table of service centers in the USCIS webpage and have an idea of when you are going to get the NOA2! When you get the second notice of action (NOA2) it means you have passed a very important step in the process of you k-1 journey and you are closer to get it.

To get the NOA2 is the most irritating step of the k-1 application. If you do not break up with your fiance while this wait time and successfully get your NOA2, you have my word that you guys will never break up :p

In my case which was in Texas Service Center it took almost 7 months to receive the NOA2. Make sure to keep your NOA2 safe and sound because you will need it later…

After your Service Center is done with your case they will send your case to National Visa Center (NVC). NVC has the duty to transfer the case to the local U.S. embassy or consulate where your fiancé lives.

However you can always check the status of your case in USCIS webpage and get information about where your case is.

You will know that the local embassy has received your case from NVC when they send the U.S. citizen an email (or mail changing from embassy to embassy) notifying that the case is with them with instructions and ask the foreign citizen to schedule an appointment. From this stage there is not much the petitioner can do and the beneficiary is the person who will take care of business.

Now the petitioner needs to schedule an appointment. In order to be able to get an appointment you will first need to fill a form which is called DS-160. https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/. This form is kind of a long form to fill but most of the questions are kind of easy and straightforward to answer. After filling DS-160 you will need you will need to pay the application fee which is $ 265.00 and schedule appointment. But there is one important thing. The email from embassy will ask you to send the embassy some documents at least 10 days prior to your interview. So after you get the email from embassy you must do the following:

1. Prepare the documents they ask you to mail them before your interview

2. Go ahead and pay and schedule your appointment (when you're choosing and appointment date, make sure that you can prepare the documents then need and send it to them at least 10 days before your interview date)

3. Once you have chosen an appointment date, send the documents they have asked you to send them by mail

4. Most of the embassies will ask you to take a medical interview 2-3 days before your actual interview. You must check the webpage of your local embassy to get info how, and when to schedule an appointment for your medical interview.

5. Get your results from your medical interview. You will have to take the results of your medical interview to the actual interview. (DON'T take the CD and your chest X-ray images to the actual interview) You should also take the original documents that you have sent their copies prior the interview.

6. Attend to your interview.

You can find the example of the requirements of Ankara/Turkey in http://photos.state.gov/libraries/turkey/5/instruction_packages/K1K2%20VISA%20INSTRUCTIONS%20-%20MAY%202015.pdf. The documents are very easy to get.

You can sign up in www.visajourney.com and ask questions in the webpage throughout the entire process. You will always get fast answers to your questions.

Good Luck :)

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