I have a couple questions... =]

[Hi Im GOIY 0]

OK... So my situation with my fiance is a little complicated because 1. I'm only 19 and I'm a freshman in college... meaning 2. I have absolutely NO money and 3. I definitely have no idea what I'm doing here

So here are my questions...

One of my main concerns is how long all of this stuff takes to go through. My fiance's name is Maxwell and he lives in the Philippines and a while ago here I was told that you were not allowed an alternate sponser when petitioning for a K1 visa for a fiance from the Philippines... Thus I sort of gave up on that idea and decided that the only way we were going to be able to be together, would be a K3... Which I was unhappy about hah... Then I asked more people and let my family in on what I was trying to do and was reassured that I actually CAN do the alternate sponser and so that's the plan now But I've read a lot of what everyone's saying on here and apparently unless I filed by June of LAST YEAR I'm going to be waiting forever...? That STINKS! My dad is currently married to someone he K1ed over from the Philippines and it only took him like 50 days to get everything squared away and now I'm beginning to think that by the time Max gets here I'm going to be on my way to medical school...... Does anyone have any truly accurate time frames they might be willing to share with me???? Please?

Another thing... About this Affidavit of Support... Do I need it WITH the petition or only at the interview? Because I've heard both and to me it doesn't make sense to not include it with your petition because that HAS to be the reason like 85% of the visa's that are denied, are denied haha. So why would they schedule you an interview only for you to be denied at this interview because of your financial situation..? I've also been told that as far as an alternate sponser is concerned, assets ARE ok so long as they are of large amounts, and I've heard that assets are NOT ok... So which is it? Because my father is more than willing to be my alternate sponser, but he only has the large assets, and no job. Hmm..?

I haven't technically filed yet and I suppose I don't want to go into all of this with high hopes..? My fiance is still getting all of his G-325 forms filled out and his visa photos taken but I expect that I'll have my petition on someone's desk by March 5th. Does that mean that I won't be getting any kind of attention until December..? Because I...

OK some personal info here hah... I already have a ticket to go to the Philippines in May to visit Max and hang out with his family and whatnot. But as previously mentioned, I have a stepmom from there as well. That's actually how I met Max... We were in the Philippines last summer visiting her family and he just so happened to live in the same little village in Bohol hah... Anywho, I REALLY still want to go visit him in May no matter what, not only because it's a pain in the butt to reschedule your plane tickets, but because we didn't know anything about each other until the last two days I was in the country so it's not like we have substantial amounts of proof that we're legitimate because I didn't go there planning on falling in love with him... We only have ONE picture of us together hah...... And all of the technical stuff aside I REALLY miss him... Anywho here's the problem though... Filipino's (no offense to anyone on here...) are notoriously jealous people just by nature I guess and now that everyone knows about me and Max, they're acting really selfishly and being rather irrational about everything and they're DEFINITELY making things a bit harder. Basically, my stepmom's family said that if I show up there this summer, by myself, and there's no REAL reason for my being there other than to just spend a little bit of time with Max... They will practically disown me and they will hate Max's family forever and I will disgrace their family and I will be labelled a #######???? Sooooooo I sort of want his interview to be scheduled ASAP because I apparently can't see the man I'm madly in love with and plan on marrying again until then UNLESS I want to start some sort of ridiculous family feud?

That's the only reason the time frame is such a big deal to me... I really don't want to piss everyone off..... And I also really don't mind waiting for him to get HERE. But if his interview ends up being scheduled for April of 2009, I'm going to visit him this summer whether they like it or not....

So uhm. Yeah sorry that I'm 19 and sort of naive to the ways of the world... If anyone has any sort of advice or feels like telling me how their situation ended up working out.... I really would love to hear it.

Thank you so much

[웃 910]

7 months from the day you file the I-129F petition and you should have your visa in possession. If you are extremely lucky you can get it in 5 and a half months and if you are really unlucky, maybe 9 months, but I would say 7 months is average

[sara..... 371]

OK... So my situation with my fiance is a little complicated because 1. I'm only 19 and I'm a freshman in college... meaning 2. I have absolutely NO money and 3. I definitely have no idea what I'm doing here

So here are my questions...

One of my main concerns is how long all of this stuff takes to go through. My fiance's name is Maxwell and he lives in the Philippines and a while ago here I was told that you were not allowed an alternate sponser when petitioning for a K1 visa for a fiance from the Philippines... Thus I sort of gave up on that idea and decided that the only way we were going to be able to be together, would be a K3... Which I was unhappy about hah... Then I asked more people and let my family in on what I was trying to do and was reassured that I actually CAN do the alternate sponser and so that's the plan now But I've read a lot of what everyone's saying on here and apparently unless I filed by June of LAST YEAR I'm going to be waiting forever...? That STINKS! My dad is currently married to someone he K1ed over from the Philippines and it only took him like 50 days to get everything squared away and now I'm beginning to think that by the time Max gets here I'm going to be on my way to medical school...... Does anyone have any truly accurate time frames they might be willing to share with me???? Please?

Another thing... About this Affidavit of Support... Do I need it WITH the petition or only at the interview? Because I've heard both and to me it doesn't make sense to not include it with your petition because that HAS to be the reason like 85% of the visa's that are denied, are denied haha. So why would they schedule you an interview only for you to be denied at this interview because of your financial situation..? I've also been told that as far as an alternate sponser is concerned, assets ARE ok so long as they are of large amounts, and I've heard that assets are NOT ok... So which is it? Because my father is more than willing to be my alternate sponser, but he only has the large assets, and no job. Hmm..?

I haven't technically filed yet and I suppose I don't want to go into all of this with high hopes..? My fiance is still getting all of his G-325 forms filled out and his visa photos taken but I expect that I'll have my petition on someone's desk by March 5th. Does that mean that I won't be getting any kind of attention until December..? Because I...

OK some personal info here hah... I already have a ticket to go to the Philippines in May to visit Max and hang out with his family and whatnot. But as previously mentioned, I have a stepmom from there as well. That's actually how I met Max... We were in the Philippines last summer visiting her family and he just so happened to live in the same little village in Bohol hah... Anywho, I REALLY still want to go visit him in May no matter what, not only because it's a pain in the butt to reschedule your plane tickets, but because we didn't know anything about each other until the last two days I was in the country so it's not like we have substantial amounts of proof that we're legitimate because I didn't go there planning on falling in love with him... We only have ONE picture of us together hah...... And all of the technical stuff aside I REALLY miss him... Anywho here's the problem though... Filipino's (no offense to anyone on here...) are notoriously jealous people just by nature I guess and now that everyone knows about me and Max, they're acting really selfishly and being rather irrational about everything and they're DEFINITELY making things a bit harder. Basically, my stepmom's family said that if I show up there this summer, by myself, and there's no REAL reason for my being there other than to just spend a little bit of time with Max... They will practically disown me and they will hate Max's family forever and I will disgrace their family and I will be labelled a #######???? Sooooooo I sort of want his interview to be scheduled ASAP because I apparently can't see the man I'm madly in love with and plan on marrying again until then UNLESS I want to start some sort of ridiculous family feud?

That's the only reason the time frame is such a big deal to me... I really don't want to piss everyone off..... And I also really don't mind waiting for him to get HERE. But if his interview ends up being scheduled for April of 2009, I'm going to visit him this summer whether they like it or not....

So uhm. Yeah sorry that I'm 19 and sort of naive to the ways of the world... If anyone has any sort of advice or feels like telling me how their situation ended up working out.... I really would love to hear it.

Thank you so much

:) first let me say ALRIGHT someone younger than me lol I have learned a lot on this board.........good luck to you and i am sure everyone will help u i dont know the answer or i would tell u

[Hi Im GOIY 0]

Hah that was fast... Yeah it was actually my dad who recommended this site to me... 7 months? Really..? So it's not different from country to country..? No matter where your fiance is from, it takes the same amount of time? I mean, that sounds wonderful to me... Definitely better than what I've been hearing... I was seriously considering tranferring to a school in Canada, becoming a citizen there and then filing under their laws. Apparently they're much more relaxed over there haha. I was beginning to think that might be quicker Also nice to hear I'm not the only petitioner on her under the age of 30 (no offense ). Thanks for your input!

[Joanna&Bobby 3]

Hah that was fast... Yeah it was actually my dad who recommended this site to me... 7 months? Really..? So it's not different from country to country..? No matter where your fiance is from, it takes the same amount of time? I mean, that sounds wonderful to me... Definitely better than what I've been hearing... I was seriously considering tranferring to a school in Canada, becoming a citizen there and then filing under their laws. Apparently they're much more relaxed over there haha. I was beginning to think that might be quicker Also nice to hear I'm not the only petitioner on her under the age of 30 (no offense ). Thanks for your input!

That's pretty much accurate. If you look up immigration timelines- for K1 you should get an idea of how it goes for different people from different countries.

Good luck

[SnowyTater 0]

Yeesh. Don't know how to help you on the personal matters, I guess that's all between you and Max and his family.

Most people have their visa in hand in about seven month's running time. There's no guaranteed timeline at all though; different things can happen, you can get RFE's (Requests for more evidence), can forget to fill out forms, they can lose checks, etc - all postponing the process. If any red flags are raised then the process is slowed down, but no, the processing time isn't on a country-by-country basis. It seems like there's a lot of people on the Boards here that are coming/have coming from the Philippines. I don't think they have any particular problems. For you and Max though, especially later on, there's a specific board for the Philippines and their embassies where you can ask questions about Max's specific situation.

If you were to file your Petition today and did most things correctly, most likely Max would have a visa to come over by the start of next year at the latest. Bank on it taking 6-9 months, most likely. That means you can't go ahead and plan a wedding or honeymoon or anything like that in advance.

Affidavit of support stuff: Assets are okay but your dad needs to show through bank statements, properties, stocks, whatever else, that he has enough to support you and any other dependents he has, as well as Max. I don't remember how much wealth he has to show for this, then, but there's a formula in the instructions to the Affidavit and kicking around in the Guides here on VJ.

You really need to read the guides before doing anything, here. I know the government instructions don't make a lot of sense, but the guides on this site are broken down about as simple as you're gonna get them and they're very reliable. Your dad's having been through the process before should help, too. But you should read all this so you know what you're getting into longterm before you file anything.

I'm wondering how old Max is and if he's completed all of his education, what his career prospects are, etc? This is all personal and your decision but you should also know that Affidavit of Support aside there are a good few expenses involved in the whole process. It's a few hundred bucks every time you file a form or send in a petition on both sides, there are going to be a lot of fees Max has to pay at the interview, in obtaining medicals and vaccinations and police records. The Adjustment of Status which you do after Max arrives is currently $1010 I think, then after a bit under two years you have to pay over another $1000, which will have gone up probably by the time those two years have rolled around. Then there's all the normal living adjustment expenses of course: getting Max over here, buying Max a car, finding a place for Max to stay (unless you go to a local college and live with your dad), groceries, gas, etc etc. Is your dad ready to help you with all this or do you and Max have savings? You guys need to be careful. Know that a lot of people have trouble finding work when they immigrate into the US even if they're white collar engineers with 20 years of experience. Max won't even legally be allowed to work for awhile until he's gone through proper legal channels and paid yet more fees.

Think about all your options and be sure this is the best one, I guess is what I'm saying. Hopefully reading through the guides will help you understand things better and be less stressed out.

Good luck!