Visiting fiance for last time before applying for visa

[Engineer06 0]

First of all, I want to say how glad I am to have found this site. Stumbled upon it last week looking for info to explain the process, and it has done a lot to take uncertainty out of the process. Now to my question.

I will be visiting my fiance next week in her home country (Japan). This will be the last time I see her in person before we begin the K-1 application. Is there advice you can give on what I should do while with her to ensure the application process goes smoothly? Any evidence of the relationship we should collect besides pictures?

We are planning on getting married in May/June of 2010 so it is still a bit too early to apply, but I want to get as much done ahead of time so I'm not going crazy at the last minute trying to get everything done.

[YuAndDan 153]

Bring a G-325A and I-129F to fill out there and make sure they are correct, or download them while there, fill out and print while there.

Get several pictures together there, as well as a few with fiancee's family.

Have fiancee write a fiancee letter of intent. (Template of one is in "Example Forms" Above)

Get a few 2"x2" passport pics from fiancee while there.

[baron555 934]

Photos are secondary evidence. What is primary is your stamped passport and then other receipts that establish that you were there during the time you say you met. Photos with landmarks will help. Your hotel receipt will be good. I sent a copy of a restaurant receipt along with a photo of us taken in the restaurant.

We are planning on getting married in May/June of 2010 so it is still a bit too early to apply, but I want to get as much done ahead of time so I'm not going crazy at the last minute trying to get everything done.

Know that the "must marry within 90 days of entry into the US" is just the legal marriage, which can be done at the county courthouse. You can have a fancy or church wedding anytime.

And then of course maintain the documentation of your continued relationship...emails, Skype call logs, text messages, receipts of letters or gifts sent, etc.

Good luck.

[Marina-Del 10]

ATM reciepts are good too! The ATM reciets that I got didn't have my name on them, but they did have the last 4 digets of my debit card. So I included a copy of my debit card (and blacked out everything except my name and the last four digets of the card), high lighted the copy of my card with the last 4 digets and highlighted the last four digets and date on the ATM reciept. In my case, my fiancee was with me in a third country and we make copies of his card and ATM reciepts as well. The ATM receipts also had times on them and they could see that we got money out of the same ATM, at the same place, within 5 minutes of each other. So obviously we were together!

You can even include things like copies of your luggage tags as those usually have your name and date (as well as matching the boarding passes) that you will include!

[Engineer06 0]

Bring a G-325A and I-129F to fill out there and make sure they are correct, or download them while there, fill out and print while there.

Get several pictures together there, as well as a few with fiancee's family.

Have fiancee write a fiancee letter of intent. (Template of one is in "Example Forms" Above)

Get a few 2"x2" passport pics from fiancee while there.

I've looked at those forms and pictures in the application packet and it says that they must be completed within 30 days of the application. Obviously on the forms there would be no way for them to know that, but would they get uptight about the pictures if they knew they were older than 30 days?

[Engineer06 0]

Photos are secondary evidence. What is primary is your stamped passport and then other receipts that establish that you were there during the time you say you met. Photos with landmarks will help. Your hotel receipt will be good. I sent a copy of a restaurant receipt along with a photo of us taken in the restaurant.

We are planning on getting married in May/June of 2010 so it is still a bit too early to apply, but I want to get as much done ahead of time so I'm not going crazy at the last minute trying to get everything done.

Know that the "must marry within 90 days of entry into the US" is just the legal marriage, which can be done at the county courthouse. You can have a fancy or church wedding anytime.

And then of course maintain the documentation of your continued relationship...emails, Skype call logs, text messages, receipts of letters or gifts sent, etc.

Good luck.

I'm actually staying at her family's house for the trip so I don't have to worry about hotel receipts!

I actually do most (practically all) of my communication with her on Skype, so I'll make sure to save those call logs. I like the restaurant receipt along with a picture idea as well, I'm going to do that. Thanks

[Marina-Del 10]

Photos are secondary evidence. What is primary is your stamped passport and then other receipts that establish that you were there during the time you say you met. Photos with landmarks will help. Your hotel receipt will be good. I sent a copy of a restaurant receipt along with a photo of us taken in the restaurant.

We are planning on getting married in May/June of 2010 so it is still a bit too early to apply, but I want to get as much done ahead of time so I'm not going crazy at the last minute trying to get everything done.

Know that the "must marry within 90 days of entry into the US" is just the legal marriage, which can be done at the county courthouse. You can have a fancy or church wedding anytime.

And then of course maintain the documentation of your continued relationship...emails, Skype call logs, text messages, receipts of letters or gifts sent, etc.

Good luck.

I'm actually staying at her family's house for the trip so I don't have to worry about hotel receipts!

I actually do most (practically all) of my communication with her on Skype, so I'll make sure to save those call logs. I like the restaurant receipt along with a picture idea as well, I'm going to do that. Thanks

Maybe I'll get kindly told that this advice is not okay, but I would say that as long as you know that the forms will not expire before you need to use them, to have her sign them all and then just date them later! Make sure you use the same colored ink though! Although, if you do do this, make sure that none of the information will change! Especially things like her address!

[YuAndDan 153]

I've looked at those forms and pictures in the application packet and it says that they must be completed within 30 days of the application. Obviously on the forms there would be no way for them to know that, but would they get uptight about the pictures if they knew they were older than 30 days?

NOT a problem at all. Just pre-date the forms to a date close to the date you plan on filing the I-129F packet.

[jona 0]

hi everyone,

my fiances US passport is loss, hes still applying for a new one. DOes this mean that we cant file because we do not have any certificate evidencing that he is a US ciizen? its still in the process though. well, he is also a filipino but migrated to the US when he was still 9 years old.

thank you also for thetips that you posted. he will be back here this coming December hopefully.. God Bless !!

jona

[Nik+Heather 121]

Are you really sure that you don't want to start the process soon? Even though we wouldn't use the visa (at the earliest) until August, I wish that we had it in hand now (~5 months before desired PoE, ~7 months before desired wedding) so that I could tell my family to make their airline reservations as early in advance as possible (cheapest) and also make deposits on all my wedding vendors without fear far enough in advance.

Remember, you have 6 months to use the visa once they issue it, and then another 90 days to get married, so you could probably quite comfortably obtain the visa nearly 8 months before you want to get married and have THAT uncertainty completely out of the way! Also, I'm not sure how the Japanese embassy works, but I have seen that some embassies can be flexible with the interview (visa issuance) date especially when you want to move later.

[John24689 0]

Download the forms from

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

Assembly instructions are

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

Read on here and see what others have submitted. Make notes. Read, read, read. Ask questions.

Good luck on your journey.

[Chris and Steph 0]

Hello... I agree with Nik+Heather here. You never know what kinda loops USCIS is gonna put you through. When I first started this process, I thought we'd have a lovely winter wedding. Then I discovered how slow the Montreal consulate is, and assumed we'd have a March/April wedding. In January (after six months of waiting), I received a letter from CSC stating that our case could be another six months. Somehow we finally received an approval and now I'm hoping for September.

Whatever you decided to do, good luck!

[Engineer06 0]

Are you really sure that you don't want to start the process soon? Even though we wouldn't use the visa (at the earliest) until August, I wish that we had it in hand now (~5 months before desired PoE, ~7 months before desired wedding) so that I could tell my family to make their airline reservations as early in advance as possible (cheapest) and also make deposits on all my wedding vendors without fear far enough in advance.

Remember, you have 6 months to use the visa once they issue it, and then another 90 days to get married, so you could probably quite comfortably obtain the visa nearly 8 months before you want to get married and have THAT uncertainty completely out of the way! Also, I'm not sure how the Japanese embassy works, but I have seen that some embassies can be flexible with the interview (visa issuance) date especially when you want to move later.

The reason I don't want to apply sooner is that there is a possibility she will be going to Boston for a conference in November (she is a graduate student in linguistics). So I am afraid if I apply sooner, the whole process would be over before November so that if she does come for the conference the visa would become void when she returns to Japan. Ideally, she would have her visa issued sometime in the Dec '09-April '10 time frame.