fiancé visiting me during the K1 visa application being processed?

[CalochortusLuteus 0]

Hello,

How likely will it be that my fiance would be able to visit me in the United States while the K1 application is being processed, has it worked for anyone? I would also like to know about how it would work if he was able to visit me during the K1 application being processed considering he would need to get back to Canada in time for the K1 visa (medical exam and interview I believe it is, right?) when it is approved. I read that to be able to visit me he should bring a ticket to return to Canada later (we're not sure when that should be either considering the K1's processing times can vary, we just know that the longest amount of time he could be with me there as a visitor is 6 months) when he is coming to the states to visit me, is this something that should definitely be done and how would we pick a return ticket date? What other things should be done to make his visit possible? Is it likely that he will be able to visit me, for 6 months or under, during the time that the K1 visa is being processed?

Should he get his passport now regardless of when he will be visiting me during the K1 being processed even though we aren't sure when that will be yet? Thank you so much for your time!

[Carlawarla 1]

Yes, your fiance can visit you in the US while his K-1 has been submitted, or while it's being processed. You don't say where you're from, but you're looking at 6-9 months for everything to be completed, so I doubt he will be with you in the US during the whole time. Another thing you have to consider, is that when your boyfriend is visiting, he'll have to cross the border, and advise them of how long he's going to visit. If he's going to visit for a long time, or mentioning that he's visiting you, he'll have to bring lots of proof of his ties to Canada so that they don't think he's going to stay in the US and get married. Ties will include rent receipts, a letter from his employer, utilitiy statements, bank statements, appointments, letters from landlord etc. Does he work, and is his employer giving him a lot of time off? Perhaps a letter from his employer explaining his length of absence and his expected return date. A return ticket is not enough, because it only shows he bought a return ticket, not that he's going to use it.

At the end of the road, once he has an interview at the Consulate in Canada, he'll need a passport, that has at least six months of validity to it. If not, he'll have to get a new one. Find out when his passport expires, and he can renew it now, and not wait until the last minute if he has to renew it.

Allowing anyone, K-1 or not, into the US is at the discretion of the officials at the border, so if he brings enough proof of his intent to return to Canada, his ties to Canada, I'm sure he'll have no problem.

[Krikit 1,165]

Wow. You can sure tell you haven't done any reading on here before posting. This question has got to be asked at least every 5 minutes.

Here's a link for you to get started: Visitation FAQ's.

Welcome to VJ!

If he's flying he requires a passport.

[KarenCee 3]

Response to your question is also in the K1 Forum.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

The other thing to consider is that once the I-129f petition is approved - the first part that you initiate - everything moves to the Consulate in Canada and your fiance will need to get a number of things done in Canada in order to meet his obligations for the second part of the process - the actual K-1. He should plan to be in Canada for that stage, with perhaps a shorter visit to the US, or perhaps you can visit him in Canada.

[KarenCee 3]

The other thing to consider is that once the I-129f petition is approved - the first part that you initiate - everything moves to the Consulate in Canada and your fiance will need to get a number of things done in Canada in order to meet his obligations for the second part of the process - the actual K-1. He should plan to be in Canada for that stage, with perhaps a shorter visit to the US, or perhaps you can visit him in Canada.

Joel and I found this actually to be easier...for me to visit him in Canada since I had to give him certain documentation for the interview. It was a good excuse to visit...didn't have to mail anything.

[CalochortusLuteus 0]

thanks so much for your replies, everyone, i really appreciate your help. my fiance is unemployed and is not in school, he also lives with his mother at the time so he doesn't really have any proof that he would be coming back except for his cats and his stuff that he wouldn't be taking with him to visit me. are there any other ways to prove that he would be returning to canada? i would be able to support him if he was to visit me for several months until it was time to go back to canada for the K1, if it would be possible for him to stay that long, and would provide proof for that but i'm not sure how else he could prove he's returning to canada except for a return plane ticket. would it be less likely that they would let him through to visit me as a fiance with a K1 in process and more likely to let him visit as a fiance without a K1 in process yet? Could he come to visit me before starting the K1 application process and then while he's visiting we get the K1 started from there (which may also be good because then we could use his boarding passes and itinerary from him visiting me for proof of having met in the past two years as well as my having been in canada before and proof of that)? Would that create a problem for the K1 being processed or approved at all if he was with me in the states when we sent in the application and also while it was being processed, then him going back to canada at probably about the 5th month that he'd be there? I read that processing times for the center we'd be using is about 6 months now, so if he left at the 5th month he'd most likely be there earlier than when the K1 would be approved.

[Carlawarla 1]

thanks so much for your replies, everyone, i really appreciate your help. my fiance is unemployed and is not in school, he also lives with his mother at the time so he doesn't really have any proof that he would be coming back except for his cats and his stuff that he wouldn't be taking with him to visit me. are there any other ways to prove that he would be returning to canada? i would be able to support him if he was to visit me for several months until it was time to go back to canada for the K1, if it would be possible for him to stay that long, and would provide proof for that but i'm not sure how else he could prove he's returning to canada except for a return plane ticket. would it be less likely that they would let him through to visit me as a fiance with a K1 in process and more likely to let him visit as a fiance without a K1 in process yet? Could he come to visit me before starting the K1 application process and then while he's visiting we get the K1 started from there (which may also be good because then we could use his boarding passes and itinerary from him visiting me for proof of having met in the past two years as well as my having been in canada before and proof of that)? Would that create a problem for the K1 being processed or approved at all if he was with me in the states when we sent in the application and also while it was being processed, then him going back to canada at probably about the 5th month that he'd be there? I read that processing times for the center we'd be using is about 6 months now, so if he left at the 5th month he'd most likely be there earlier than when the K1 would be approved.

The five months you're looking at may be when the I129F is approved, not the actual visa. Again, depends on where he lives in Canada. Personally I think it's going to be touch and go given his proof and the time you'd like him to come visit. He has little ties to Canada to show the border officials. He can't lie...gosh...NEVER LIE! Going for vacation for a few weeks is a little different than saying he's coming in to visit for 5 or 6 months, and saying you're going to support him, and he has no job and lives with his Mom. Sorry, I'm just being honest. This has nothing to do with a K-1 application or not. We're not 100% sure they're even going to know about it, if it was being processed anyway when he crossed the border.

I'd say your best bet would be to gather as much evidence as he can, and if he can't get through the border, he'll be out a ticket. In the meantime, get your evidence of having met together and get your application in. It is nice of course if you can wait out the process while being together, but many, many don't have this option. I know it seems like a long time until you're together again, but truly, when it's all over and done you'll wonder where the time goes. In the meantime, you can visit him you know.

Best of luck on your journey!

[KarenCee 3]

thanks so much for your replies, everyone, i really appreciate your help. my fiance is unemployed and is not in school, he also lives with his mother at the time so he doesn't really have any proof that he would be coming back except for his cats and his stuff that he wouldn't be taking with him to visit me. are there any other ways to prove that he would be returning to canada? Not sure...the list of proofs you were given are the most substantial. No job, no home, not sure how he would prove strong ties. Just MHO.

i would be able to support him if he was to visit me for several months until it was time to go back to canada for the K1, if it would be possible for him to stay that long, and would provide proof for that but i'm not sure how else he could prove he's returning to canada except for a return plane ticket. would it be less likely that they would let him through to visit me as a fiance with a K1 in process and more likely to let him visit as a fiance without a K1 in process yet? Before the process, it might be easier...if asked he could simply say he is visiting a friend...which technically isn't lying. Once the K1 is in process if he should try to visit and he is questioned at the POE, it is very likely he will be denied entry based on having no strong ties to Canada. Again, just MHO.

Could he come to visit me before starting the K1 application process and then while he's visiting we get the K1 started from there (which may also be good because then we could use his boarding passes and itinerary from him visiting me for proof of having met in the past two years as well as my having been in canada before and proof of that)? That would be a good way to have proof of having met in the past two years. Good idea! Make sure if he does this that he makes a copy of his passport with the stamp to corroborate the date on the tickets...and save the stubs, flight itinerary, any receipts of purchases made while here, that sort of thing.

Would that create a problem for the K1 being processed or approved at all if he was with me in the states when we sent in the application and also while it was being processed, then him going back to canada at probably about the 5th month that he'd be there? I read that processing times for the center we'd be using is about 6 months now, so if he left at the 5th month he'd most likely be there earlier than when the K1 would be approved. I'm sure some have done this...and hopefully if we have any here they will pop on and tell you of their experience.

Good luck hon.

[CalochortusLuteus 0]

thanks so much for your replies, everyone, i really appreciate your help. my fiance is unemployed and is not in school, he also lives with his mother at the time so he doesn't really have any proof that he would be coming back except for his cats and his stuff that he wouldn't be taking with him to visit me. are there any other ways to prove that he would be returning to canada? i would be able to support him if he was to visit me for several months until it was time to go back to canada for the K1, if it would be possible for him to stay that long, and would provide proof for that but i'm not sure how else he could prove he's returning to canada except for a return plane ticket. would it be less likely that they would let him through to visit me as a fiance with a K1 in process and more likely to let him visit as a fiance without a K1 in process yet? Could he come to visit me before starting the K1 application process and then while he's visiting we get the K1 started from there (which may also be good because then we could use his boarding passes and itinerary from him visiting me for proof of having met in the past two years as well as my having been in canada before and proof of that)? Would that create a problem for the K1 being processed or approved at all if he was with me in the states when we sent in the application and also while it was being processed, then him going back to canada at probably about the 5th month that he'd be there? I read that processing times for the center we'd be using is about 6 months now, so if he left at the 5th month he'd most likely be there earlier than when the K1 would be approved.

The five months you're looking at may be when the I129F is approved, not the actual visa. Again, depends on where he lives in Canada. Personally I think it's going to be touch and go given his proof and the time you'd like him to come visit. He has little ties to Canada to show the border officials. He can't lie...gosh...NEVER LIE! Going for vacation for a few weeks is a little different than saying he's coming in to visit for 5 or 6 months, and saying you're going to support him, and he has no job and lives with his Mom. Sorry, I'm just being honest. This has nothing to do with a K-1 application or not. We're not 100% sure they're even going to know about it, if it was being processed anyway when he crossed the border.

I'd say your best bet would be to gather as much evidence as he can, and if he can't get through the border, he'll be out a ticket. In the meantime, get your evidence of having met together and get your application in. It is nice of course if you can wait out the process while being together, but many, many don't have this option. I know it seems like a long time until you're together again, but truly, when it's all over and done you'll wonder where the time goes. In the meantime, you can visit him you know.

Best of luck on your journey!

Thanks so much for your reply and good wishes. I am a bit confused now with when he'll need to be in Canada to do what he needs to do for the K1 visa. So he needs to be there for the I129F approval and that is when he will then go for the medical exam and interview? What they show on the center processing website with the 6 months for the California center just means when he will receive the K1 at that point after he passes the exam and interview? Not when he will receive the I129F approval? So you're saying they will send the I129F at probably around a month before those 6 months months as a total and the 6 months represents when the K1 visa will be approved based on him having gone for a medical exam and interview? Is the time when they approve the I129F usually around a month before the time they list as the whole K1 visa being approved on the site or does it vary? Yeah, we won't ever lie to them, which also brings up something someone else said in this post, "Before the process, it might be easier...if asked he could simply say he is visiting a friend...which technically isn't lying. Once the K1 is in process if he should try to visit and he is questioned at the POE, it is very likely he will be denied entry based on having no strong ties to Canada. Again, just MHO." It isn't technically lying but sort of leaving stuff out none the less, isn't that a bad idea? I wish there was a way to prove that he would go back for sure. Maybe we could tell them he'll check in with them when he's going back to Canada when he says he will, I guess it doesn't work like that though, lol. Why doesn't it, I guess they don't have enough time to do that for everyone, right? I wish there was another good way to prove it, a return ticket, him not taking much stuff and telling them that he has his cats and his stuff back at home wouldn't make a difference? I guess they don't take pets and belongings too seriously though, right? He would maybe also be seeing his mother and the rest of his family for the last time for a while, I'm not sure if they'd be coming to our wedding or not (or my family), we might have a simple and private one at the town hall, we'd probably be doing it right away when he came to the US with his K1 visa and also we're both really shy people with lots of anxiety issues. Would that be a bad idea to have a private wedding considering the fact that not only are we getting married but he's also immigrating and we'll need proof of relationship for this whole process? I'm guessing a private wedding could look bad to immigration? We have yet to make decisions about those aspects of things but it is certain that he and I would probably be overwhelmed by all of the attention and just end up not being able to focus on each other. I would visit him too when the process has started but he lives in Montreal, Quebec and I'll be all the way on the other side of the continent in Portland, Oregon working every day full time so I'm not sure if that would work out too well, money or time wise, sadly.

[CalochortusLuteus 0]

thanks so much for your replies, everyone, i really appreciate your help. my fiance is unemployed and is not in school, he also lives with his mother at the time so he doesn't really have any proof that he would be coming back except for his cats and his stuff that he wouldn't be taking with him to visit me. are there any other ways to prove that he would be returning to canada? Not sure...the list of proofs you were given are the most substantial. No job, no home, not sure how he would prove strong ties. Just MHO. Yeah, I wish there was another way. A return ticket, him not taking much stuff and telling them that he has his cats and his stuff back at home wouldn't make a difference? I guess they don't take pets and belongings too seriously though, right? He would maybe also be seeing his mother and the rest of his family for the last time for a while, I'm not sure if they'd be coming to our wedding or not (or my family), we might have a simple and private one at the town hall, we'd probably be doing it right away when he came to the US with his K1 visa and also we're both really shy people with lots of anxiety issues. Would that be a bad idea to have a private wedding considering the fact that not only are we getting married but he's also immigrating and we'll need proof of relationship for this whole process? I'm guessing a private wedding could look bad to immigration? We have yet to make decisions about those aspects of things but it is certain that he and I would probably be overwhelmed by all of the attention and just end up not being able to focus on each other.

i would be able to support him if he was to visit me for several months until it was time to go back to canada for the K1, if it would be possible for him to stay that long, and would provide proof for that but i'm not sure how else he could prove he's returning to canada except for a return plane ticket. would it be less likely that they would let him through to visit me as a fiance with a K1 in process and more likely to let him visit as a fiance without a K1 in process yet? Before the process, it might be easier...if asked he could simply say he is visiting a friend...which technically isn't lying. Once the K1 is in process if he should try to visit and he is questioned at the POE, it is very likely he will be denied entry based on having no strong ties to Canada. Again, just MHO. He would be leaving stuff out by saying that though, even though it isn't a lie, are you sure that's a good idea?

Could he come to visit me before starting the K1 application process and then while he's visiting we get the K1 started from there (which may also be good because then we could use his boarding passes and itinerary from him visiting me for proof of having met in the past two years as well as my having been in canada before and proof of that)? That would be a good way to have proof of having met in the past two years. Good idea! Make sure if he does this that he makes a copy of his passport with the stamp to corroborate the date on the tickets...and save the stubs, flight itinerary, any receipts of purchases made while here, that sort of thing. If he is able to visit me we will definitely do that.

Would that create a problem for the K1 being processed or approved at all if he was with me in the states when we sent in the application and also while it was being processed, then him going back to canada at probably about the 5th month that he'd be there? I read that processing times for the center we'd be using is about 6 months now, so if he left at the 5th month he'd most likely be there earlier than when the K1 would be approved. I'm sure some have done this...and hopefully if we have any here they will pop on and tell you of their experience. That would be great. I hope they do. I would appreciate it so much.

Good luck hon. Thanks!

[SapphireDreams 71]

I think that he can definitely try to come and visit but there is a very good chance he might be denied entry.

I haven't tried visiting yet since we just applied (but will be visiting July 30th for 5 days) and I plan to bring a letter from my employer. Everytime I go through they ask me what I do - I've always been a full time student and now I have a full time job, so they are always satisfied with my answer. A few times they've even wanted me to elaborate on my job and asked me if I am sure I'm not going to the States to work. If I said I was unemployed I'm sure that would signal a red flag for sure. They also always ask me when I'm returning. Most of the time they don't really care to see the return ticket, but I think it's because I usually only go for a long weekend so they must believe me.

In the past I've also just sais I was "visiting a friend" but then they started asking if it was a "boyfriend" and I said yes and so I just started saying boyfriend and they still didn't really care too much. The last guy asked me "Where are you guys planning to live" and I just said, "we havent decided yet" because we hadn't filed yet. But now that we've filed I would show my NOA1 and say New York.

A long time ago when I used to take the bus across I used to get asked soooo many questions. I was much younger and probably looked more suspicious. They would always ask me how much money I had for some reason.

If you think you can risk it, then buy a return ticket - I would probably do 3-4 months and not 5.5 months and then try my luck.

I have a friend who has filed for a K3 visa and is currently living with her spouse in Washington until she gets her interview, just coming back to visit every couple of months. Her husband is in the military though, so when she crosses she just shows her military ID and they don't give her any trouble at all.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Oh and to answer your questions about the process.

First you apply to the California Service Center to get your petition approved. That could take anywhere from 4-6 months. From there they will forward your petition to the Montreal Consulate where they will set up an interview date for him to attend. Before he goes to the interview is when he gets his medical done and get his police check and a few other items (you'll get these in Packet 3 in the mail) It could take another 2-4 months to get the interview scheduled from there.

So basically you're looking at about a 8-12 month process.

At the top of this page there is a tab titled "Guides" and it explains everything in more detail. I would suggest reading those and getting yourself familiar with the whole process. It makes things a lot easier.

[muffin 0]

Unfortunately each entry into the U.S. is with a different border officer and it's up to their discretion, so you never know if you'll get someone who's really tough or not so much. If your fiance visits he should take as much evidence of coming back and ties to Canada (as mentioned above in the other posts).

For our situation we've found that if we cross the border together we always get hassled (especially driving) and once I was denied entry (we went again the next day and it was fine though we haven't crossed the border together since). Also, the longer the visit is, the more suspicious they will be (which is also part of the reason I was denied entry that day, along with being a jobless full time student at the time, not having a return ticket of any sort, and the absolute rudest and unhappy officer I've ever met... and I've met quite a few grumps! I'm sure along with everyone else here... lol).

I have never driven across by myself and have found that taking the train or flying is much easier (especially when I did not have much available to bring in terms of proof of ties to Canada) because I make sure I have a return ticket for them to see (which is impossible when driving). I find the train to be the most hassle free. They ask where I'm going, who I'm going to see and for how long. I tell them I'm going to see my fiance for xx days and they ask to see my return ticket and then they're off to the next person. For me, flying has been similar but with a few more questions.

Hope that helps a bit and good luck with everything!

[CalochortusLuteus 0]

thanks so much for your help and the information, both of you. my fiance does get paid monthly even though he doesn't work, because of his anxiety issues, and he pays some of the rent with his mother and also pays for utilities from his account, he isn't on the lease presently, only his mother signed it, but maybe it would be possible for him to sign it as well and he could use that and the utility payments as proof that he would be returning to canada after visiting me. do landlords let you join on a lease after it's already been signed by someone else? would that be better in combination with a return ticket and maybe he could also get a letter from the landlord saying when he's returning and that his belongings and pets are still there, even though his mother will still be there too?