English fiance - K1 questions...any help?

[Kimmy and PJ 0]

Hello all,

I am currently engaged to a man from England (I am from the US) and we want to file for the K1 visa but are trying to determine if we should do the process ourselves or via an attorney. We are also wondering how long this process will take and if anyone has any helpful tips.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Has anyone used an attorney? If so, would you recommend it? What do you think is the benefit of an attorney? (We do not have any special circumstances)

2. If you have completed the process on your own - was it difficult? How long from your date of mailing to receiving the visa?

3. While in the K1 process - can my fiance visit me from England and vice versa?

4. When my fiance arrives in the US after receiving his visa - can he work?

If there is anyone in the same situation as me - man/woman from UK and other from US - I would love to hear from you regarding your situation.

Thank you!

Edited April 23, 2009 by kimmynunz

[Ed+Cindy 1]

Hello all,

I am currently engaged to a man from England (I am from the US) and we want to file for the K1 visa but are trying to determine if we should do the process ourselves or via an attorney. We are also wondering how long this process will take and if anyone has any helpful tips.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Has anyone used an attorney? If so, would you recommend it? What do you think is the benefit of an attorney? (We do not have any special circumstances)

2. If you have completed the process on your own - was it difficult? How long from your date of mailing to receiving the visa?

3. While in the K1 process - can my fiance visit me from England and vice versa?

If there is anyone in the same situation as me - man/woman from UK and other from US - I would love to hear from you regarding your situation.

Thank you!

Per the attorney question: We have one. BUT if I found this website first, I would not have used one. Unlike a lot of people who complain about attorneys, ours has been very responsive.

[baron555 934]

Here are some of my questions:

1. Has anyone used an attorney? If so, would you recommend it? What do you think is the benefit of an attorney? (We do not have any special circumstances)

If you can read and follow detailed instructions and are thorough and organized, then you can do it yourself. READ THE GUIDES (at the top).

2. If you have completed the process on your own - was it difficult? How long from your date of mailing to receiving the visa?

I'm just starting myself but if you read the guides and then look at the Immigration Timelines (at the top) you can get an ideas (abt 6 months)

3. While in the K1 process - can my fiance visit me from England and vice versa?

Yes

4. When my fiance arrives in the US after receiving his visa - can he work?

After you apply and receive his EAD. He can work earlier if you marry him and then bring him in on the CR-1 Visa. Read the Guides.

Welcome and good luck, You two can do it.

[Rainschild 0]

Hi & welcome to VJ.

1. We didn't use an attorney, didn't think it necessary. The guides here on VJ are very helpful and you can easily put together the documents yourself. You just need to pay attention to the forms and submit the right kind of evidence. Read the guides, it'll all be clear for you.

2. We just started, so I cannot give you a timeline. People have gotten their approvals pretty fast lately, check out the timelines. Also, it depends on the service center you'll send your paperwork to, on whether you'll get an RFE, etc.

3. Yes, he can visit you, provided he is able to prove to the CBPOs that he has strong ties to his home country.

4. He can work after getting an Employment Authorization (EAD) or a Green Card.

[Damian&Kelly 16]

We didn't use an attorney, I've heard mixed things about them, more bad than good tho. The process wasn't hard at all without an attorney but that was our case. Our case was very straight forward. It took us 91 days to get the visa, very quick, actually one of the quickest I've seen on this site, and we did it all on our own.

As for visits, I went to England when waiting for the NOA2 and had no problems, He didn't get a chance to visit because the process went a lot quicker then we thought. But I heard plenty of times that people visited while waiting. Just so you both have ties to your home country, you shouldn't have a problem.

He won't be able to work right away but the sooner you marry and file AOS the sooner he can work. Usually the work permit (EAD) takes 90 days from filing.

[mr and mrs 187]

i vote to do it yourselves. if you have a 'normal' situation, its pretty straightforward.

no lawyers for us. took 6 months. this board is a goldmine of information. read the guides, search the forums and get a sense of the process.

i value what i have learned here because i think it gives me a better perspective on the process. i actually understand (most of) what is happening. and it doesnt end with the K-1. you will have years of immigration fun in front of you! and this board will be here to help you through it all.

good luck.

youve won the first battle already... finding your way to visa journey!

Edited April 23, 2009 by mr and mrs

[MonkeyJuice 3]

DON'T USE ONE!!!

We hired our attorney in March 2008. It took them 2 MONTHS to send our petition! Our case was then held up in security checks at USCIS and the attorney could do nothing to help us.

They promised that they would help us in every stage of the process..even that they would help me prepare & give a mock embassy interview . Our interview is on 5th May & so far I've heard nothing from them. All they have done is fill out our forms which we could've done ourselves!

The company is John F Roth. I would not recommend them at all! Boooooo!

[Brit Abroad 166]

If there are no special circumstances for either of you, do the application for yourself. The money you save can be better spent on trips to visit each other and saved for the next step of the immigration process, rather than a lawyer who can't do more for you than you can do for yourself.

The secret is organisation. Know what documents you need and make plenty of copies. Keep at least two (preferably three) copies of all your "packets" and make sure you copy YOUR initial packet to your UK fiance so he has everything he needs for his interview.

Read the guidelines at the top of the K1 forum for forms/documents/evidence and cast a quick glance over requirements for AoS which comes later. If you get all your originals in advance of requirement, then you're good to go and should avoid the dreaded RFE's and their associated delays.

Read the guidance notes on the application forms very closely. Keep a copy and check off documents on the list, so you'll know you haven't inadvertantly missed something important.

I didn't send any originals with any of my applications. A good photocopy normally suffices and they'll ask to view all originals in the interview anyway.

Plan in advance and you'll be fine.

[Rob&Dawn 1]

We didn't use a lawyer either, found all the information we needed right here on VJ. NO RFE's just a long wait...the wait is no quicker using a lawyer if anything it seems to slow the process slightly.

From initial posting of I-129F it took about 6months, during that time i travelled several times to the US to visit. Travelling is fine just so long as you have adequate ties to your home country in cae immigration ask.

As others have said he will only be able to work after AOS has been filed and EAD is approved which is currently taking about 3-4months.

[MARM 7]

Hello all,

I am currently engaged to a man from England (I am from the US) and we want to file for the K1 visa but are trying to determine if we should do the process ourselves or via an attorney. We are also wondering how long this process will take and if anyone has any helpful tips.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Has anyone used an attorney? If so, would you recommend it? What do you think is the benefit of an attorney? (We do not have any special circumstances)

2. If you have completed the process on your own - was it difficult? How long from your date of mailing to receiving the visa?

3. While in the K1 process - can my fiance visit me from England and vice versa?

4. When my fiance arrives in the US after receiving his visa - can he work?

If there is anyone in the same situation as me - man/woman from UK and other from US - I would love to hear from you regarding your situation.

Thank you!

Congrats on your engagement!

I am the USC and my fiance is a Pakistani citizen in the UK on a student visa, so we essentially have all concerns with the US Embassy in London.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes we used an attorney but I fired her after I sent in the I-129F, because we realized she gave us a tough time. No, I would not recommend it, actually if I had found VisaJourney earlier, I would have NEVER even though of hiring anyone. This website has everything you need to make sure your application will be successful and with the least delays, and most of all, a strong support system no attorney can ever give you. Unless you have special circumstances or a unique complicated case, there is no benefit of an attorney, they make mistakes, but you are bound to make less to none mistakes because this is YOUR LIFE on the line, and to the attorneys (at least most of them) you are a means of $$$ for them and just another case in their files.

2. Of course the process can be quite draining, but like I said VJ is the best support system you can ever have, to say the least As far as how long from filing until the visa, this depends as every case is looked at individually, we have been waiting since 8+ months, and the major reason is that we experiences some setbacks because of the incompetent attorney and also because we purposely had to delay the interview date as my fiance had some special circumstances. But it is the shortest route compared to K-3 or CR-1/IR-1 in is the most simplified means of being united with your loved one to marry in a legal way. And it does not take as long, take a long at the VJ statistics.

3. Yes you can visit your fiance and he can visit you while you are in the K-1 process.

4. Once your fiance arrives to the USA, he will have to apply for an EAD (Employment Authorization Document) and once he receives that, he will be able to work. The wait time after entering the USA for EAD is around 60-90 days on average.

[B&J 0]

Congratulations!!!

I didn't use an attorney either. I think it is a waste of money if you don't have any special circumstances. They just take your money.

And as everybody else said, the instructions and especially this websites give you enough information to do it on your own. It is all about, filling forms, giving all the information and provied proofs and copies.

The timeline can be really different regarding how bussy your USCIS office is and how fast the embassy schedules an interview appointment.

My tip: As soon as your fiancé has to send in the paperwork to the embassy, just pick a date he would like to enter the US. I gave the German embassy 5 weeks till my departure, because my job already ended in Germany and I wanted to save some time. And it worked out. I had an interview appointment pretty fast. (2 weeks after sending the paperwork).

There are some POEs where your fiancé could ask for a stamp in his passport which would allow him to work. But that just lasts till you got married. I was told at the German embassy to ask for a temporary work permit as soon as I filed my AOS and EAD. I will try that, but don't know if it really works. Usually it takes about 3 months after filing the EAD to get the work permit.

[msu17 0]

Congrats on getting this far. Only you can decide if a lawyer is worth it. Some people feel more comfortable with it, some people are lazy and don't want to do any of it and some have a fiance who is poor with english and needs help with some of the steps. Read the guides and the forms and see if it makes sense. Most people can do it themselves. We did all of it and were just fine.

You can check current processing times by looking at the top of the page.

Regarding travel, there are no restrictions on where you can go. Just make sure if you are gone for a long time someone is there to get your mail in case you get anything. Your fiance can visit you, just make sure he brings evidence that he is going home in case they ask.

On the page of topics, scroll down and you will see the UK specific forum. You can find other US/UK couples there. There are a lot of us

[luckyfiance 0]

An attorney can help to assist that you prepare the documents right the first time so that the delays are less. However, it is possible to do it on your own. We started ours on our own then went with this attorney who was fantastic! The office was so attentive to our needs and kept us updated. The paralegal was outstanding! I think it's great either way but maybe you can do it yourself and just have an attorney review it for you if needed. If you want, I can refer the attorney office we used. This office works worldwide.

[John and Camie 39]

Hello!

John and I followed the K-1 Guide on this site to the letter, no attorney. We kept it as simple as possible, with the objective of proving that A- he was here, B- we were in the same places at the same times, and C- we were in a bonafide love relationship.

We were arranging for John to come here in May when, lo and behold, the magical NOA-2 arrived in the post. My guess is we just got lucky. There's no special secret, we just had a golden horseshoe up our collective bum. We filed in February and are now on Packet 3, BUT we could just as easily still be waiting for our NOA-1. Some of my UK sistas on here filed at the same time as me and are still waiting, so I'm hoping they see some touches soon. You just cannot predict these things.

As I mentioned, we had been planning for John to come to SoCal while our K-1 was in adjudication, but the NOA-2 put the skids on that, LOL. Our only concern was possible denial at entry, but we ultimately figured that with a return ticket, a letter from his employer and proof that he was paying on a mortgage back home, he'd have little trouble getting through.

Hope this helps, and good luck!!

Edited April 27, 2009 by John and Camie

[iLoveAPolishGirl 0]

He won't be able to work right away but the sooner you marry and file AOS the sooner he can work. Usually the work permit (EAD) takes 90 days from filing.

According to the SSA (see link in my sig below) this oft-repeated information is wrong ... The K-1 fiancee is NOT required to have an EAD, although the employer may optionally require one anyway. Also, the EAD stamp (mentioned in another post) is not required either, but might be a good idea to try to get (the only POE I've heard of that gives it is JFK... wonder if there are any others?)

dvc