K1 Legality Questions. Please take a minute to help. Thak you!!

[emmisd 0]

Thank you wonderful people, for taking time out to extend a helping hand!

My questions are the following:

My fiance is in Colombia, I am in the USA (PA). He will be visiting me for about two weeks this upcoming April using his tourist visa. We will be applying for a K1 but have not yet sent the petition, which brings me to my first question: Can we send the I 129F form now so that we can start the process and gain some time or do we have to wait until he goes back to Colombia from his visit? In other words, up to what point of the K1 process, once started (if at any point) can he legally be on USA soil while on a tourist visa before returning to Colombia? does this depend on when he actually arrives at port of entry? My understanding is that the tourist visa cannot be used with the intention of immigrating - thus, he wouldn’t be. His intentions would be to visit for a short period of time, go back and wait until the K1 is approved.

My second question is regarding children. He has 2 children, both by different mothers; neither child would be migrating to the USA )at least anytime in the near future). Regarding question #13: Do we provide their names on the form even though we aren’t applying in conjunction with either child - and B) have to (at a later point) provide birth certificates and/or other documentation related to the children. - (potential issue with one of the mothers here....)

Last but not least, statement that serves as proof that one can legally marry and includes our intent - can his be in Spanish and if so, will it need to be translated? if so, can I translated?

Thank you all SOO MUCH!!

[HeatDeath 430]

Thank you wonderful people, for taking time out to extend a helping hand!

My questions are the following:

My fiance is in Colombia, I am in the USA (PA). He will be visiting me for about two weeks this upcoming April using his tourist visa. We will be applying for a K1 but have not yet sent the petition, which brings me to my first question: Can we send the I 129F form now so that we can start the process and gain some time or do we have to wait until he goes back to Colombia from his visit? In other words, up to what point of the K1 process, once started (if at any point) can he legally be on USA soil while on a tourist visa before returning to Colombia? does this depend on when he actually arrives at port of entry? My understanding is that the tourist visa cannot be used with the intention of immigrating - thus, he wouldn’t be. His intentions would be to visit for a short period of time, go back and wait until the K1 is approved.

My second question is regarding children. He has 2 children, both by different mothers; neither child would be migrating to the USA )at least anytime in the near future). Regarding question #13: Do we provide their names on the form even though we aren’t applying in conjunction with either child - and B) have to (at a later point) provide birth certificates and/or other documentation related to the children. - (potential issue with one of the mothers here....)

Last but not least, statement that serves as proof that one can legally marry and includes our intent - can his be in Spanish and if so, will it need to be translated? if so, can I translated?

Thank you all SOO MUCH!!

It is perfectly legal to send in the I-129F while he is in the US. It might be easiest to wait until he is in the US to send it. If you file it now, I am not sure how it will interact, if it does at all, with his (presumably currently approved) tourist visa. If you file it while he is here in April, he can stay in the US until one of two things happens:

A ) His tourist visa I-94 expires.

B ) He gets information from home that his Visa Application packet from the Columbian consulate has arrived at his home in Columbia.

B ) is of course presuming that he has someone dependable at home watching his mail. Failing that, he should probably head home right after you get the approval notice from USCIS, or at the latest the notice from the National Visa Center saying they are forwarding the approved petition to the embassy/consulate in Columbia. That way he'll be home with a comfortable margin when his Visa application packet (Here referred to as Packet 3) arrives.

He has to be back in columbia very shortly after the Packet 3 arrives, because he will need to gather documents and respond to the Packet 3 to get his interview with the embassy in Columbia.

He should certainly list ALL children on the I-129, regardless of whether or not they ever intend to immigrate. I don't know for sure if he will need birth certificates for non-immigrating children. At any rate, he should not need them, if he needs them at all, until the consulate interview.

Edited February 10, 2010 by HeatDeath

[HeatDeath 430]

I should note that it is perfectly legal for him to visit here while the fiance petition is underway. The only problem is that if the petition or visa application is visible to the border officers, he would be at increased risk to be denied entry due to them thinking he's an increased risk for illegal immigration. At the very least he would need to carry on him significant documentary evidence that he intends to return to Columbia by a certain date, and even then, entry is not guaranteed.

Better, I think, to have him come here on his currently approved tourist visa, and to file the I-129 while he's here. USCIS is a simple creature, and can really only concentrate on one visa per person at a time. It's best not to confuse them

[HeatDeath 430]

The I-129F instructions state that:

Translations. Any document containing foreign language

submitted to the Service shall be accompanied by a full

English language translation which the translator has certified

as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification

that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign

language into English.

So yes, it needs to be translated, but I don't see anything there saying you can't translate it, if you are competent to do so.

You can apparently run into issues at USCIS or consulate interviews, where they will not allow you to translate for your beneficiary, but require a third party translator. But I don't see any indication in the form instructions saying you can't. Worst case scenario is they will send an RFE asking for an official translation, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it.