How did everyone get on trying to plan a wedding when they have no idea when they'll be approved?

[Anh map 2,098]

Typically it is current, ongoing income for the sponsor. The newer the job, the more they MAY want to see past income. I-134 is not the big one. It sounds like you will be in good shape. I-864 when you adjust status is the long term commitment. And you should be fine there as well.

Regarding the wedding plans, who knows? Many folks here have hit it right and made the date, others have had to reschedule. What we did was have a civil ceremony shortly after arrival and then planned the large wedding ceremony and celebration afterwards.

Best of luck to you.

[MonkeyJuice 3]

Typically it is current, ongoing income for the sponsor. The newer the job, the more they MAY want to see past income. I-134 is not the big one. It sounds like you will be in good shape. I-864 when you adjust status is the long term commitment. And you should be fine there as well.

Regarding the wedding plans, who knows? Many folks here have hit it right and made the date, others have had to reschedule. What we did was have a civil ceremony shortly after arrival and then planned the large wedding ceremony and celebration afterwards.

Best of luck to you.

It may not be important at other embassies but the London Embassy is strict on the I-134 & financial support so it is important at the interview stage.

[Anh map 2,098]

Typically it is current, ongoing income for the sponsor. The newer the job, the more they MAY want to see past income. I-134 is not the big one. It sounds like you will be in good shape. I-864 when you adjust status is the long term commitment. And you should be fine there as well.

Regarding the wedding plans, who knows? Many folks here have hit it right and made the date, others have had to reschedule. What we did was have a civil ceremony shortly after arrival and then planned the large wedding ceremony and celebration afterwards.

Best of luck to you.

It may not be important at other embassies but the London Embassy is strict on the I-134 & financial support so it is important at the interview stage.

Not making light of the I-134. But it is a transitional step as it "dies" at AOS and you need to be rock solid for the I-864. Most embassies look at the I-134 as if it was the I-864. If you're prepped for one, you will be good for the next.

If the OP has 6 months of employment (that exceeds the 125% annualized) at the interview stage they ought to be in good shape. If that would fly in higher fraud spots such as Vietnam/Thailand/Manila, I feel confident it will be received well at London.

[NatPatBen 3]

Some ppl who want the bigger wedding church and reception will plan that after they get to the US for the following year or so and just get married at the court house real fast to do AOS.

This is what I plan to do. Justice of the Peace immediately. Ceremony with family/friends to follow later.

[movingsoon1 0]

We estimated. Once we got the noa2 on Dec 23, we estimated that I will get my visa in Feb/March and so we planned the wedding for May 30. We were blessed that it worked out that way.

What I would do is to wait till the visa is in you hand, you will save yourself tons of stress.

[TBoneTX 46,171]

Take nothing for granted, and assume nothing, when dealing with the application/approval process. If you're issued the visa, plan a quick legal marriage (perhaps at the local courthouse) within the 90-day validity of your I-94, apply for AOS/EAD/AP, and have all the time in the world to plan a big celebration with a party, or whatever your hearts desire.

[Ginger cat 3]

Thank you so much for that. Very informative, if a little overwhelming.

Ok so if he had his 2009 tax return available plus his pay stubs, which would they take into account as to whether he meets the poverty line requirements? His past earnings or his current situation?

Also another proof of income would be his employers letter? Yes?

I didnt know that you had to present tax returns as well as pay stubs...

and that's not finished...everything that can back up his financial situation bank account statement, or if apllies: life insurance, mortgage, stocks bounds...

but apparently if you are worriyng about the tax return 08, it might not apply to your case.

so put it clearly does he meets the poverty requirement for 2008?

if not, and then he is ok, since he has been working and receives now and then enough money to meet that poverty line, I would bet that they are going to ask for a co-sponor, in that case, think forwards and tell him to find a co-sponsor, now. I am just saying if you don't want to lose time.

Good luck.

Edited April 26, 2009 by Ginger cat

[Ginger cat 3]

and about the wedding, unless your case is very clear and very regular and you are at the CSC, you can likely plan for next august, if you begin the process in july.

or plan it then for 2011.

see, my sig.

[baron555 934]

No appointment necessary at our county clerk's office. Then wait one day and no appointment necessary at the county courthouse.

Ceremony will follow much later.

[sara..... 371]

we have planned our wedding so many times, lost deposits, never ever count on when u will get ur visa approval, we now have decided on a small wedding in my home or one in his country, something we can throw together in a matter of days.

as others have said get the court marraige then plan on the big ceremony if u want that........when i was a little girl i had my wedding all planned out and what it would be like. never ever thought i would be waiting for my government to approve a piece of paper to marry.

u should plan on six months with out complications of csc or what ever service center u use, but dont be surprised if they take longer and be very thankful if u get thru it faster than the six months.

i wish u the best of luck, swift process with out any mess from our government side.

sara

[Philosykos 0]

For an applicant with a clear case from a low-fraud country it is certainly not correct to say that the whole process will "likely" take 13 months. Sure, it can happen, but the majority of people, even at VSC's current operating speed, seem to be done in 6-7 months. It is more likely to have the visa within eight months than not.

I agree, however, that you might save yourself a lot of stress and money if you hold off on the wedding planning at least until NOA2. It is your personal decision what risk to take. Nobody here will want to advise you to plan the wedding nine months from filing... not even I, even though I'm doing it myself.

and about the wedding, unless your case is very clear and very regular and you are at the CSC, you can likely plan for next august, if you begin the process in july.

or plan it then for 2011.

see, my sig.

Edited April 26, 2009 by Philosykos

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

For an applicant with a clear case from a low-fraud country it is certainly not correct to say that the whole process will "likely" take 13 months. Sure, it can happen, but the majority of people, even at VSC's current operating speed, seem to be done in 6-7 months. It is more likely to have the visa within eight months than not.

I agree, however, that you might save yourself a lot of stress and money if you hold off on the wedding planning at least until NOA2. It is your personal decision what risk to take. Nobody here will want to advise you to plan the wedding nine months from filing... not even I, even though I'm doing it myself.

and about the wedding, unless your case is very clear and very regular and you are at the CSC, you can likely plan for next august, if you begin the process in july.

or plan it then for 2011.

see, my sig.

Thank you for everyones help and advice! I dont really anticipate any problems with our case (although I know and have heard - prepare for the unexpected so we're keeping an open mind). We have both never been married before, have no children, no criminal convictions etc... We simply just want to be together We will be mailing off the I-129F petition in July beacuse thats when I plan to go out there for 90 days. After that, we both know that I might have trouble getting back into the US because our application will be in process and we dont want to chance it. So that'll be my final trip out there.

Thank you aswell for everyones help about wedding planning. I hear what everyone saying about a small ceremony and then a celebration afterwards, and its great that other people want to do that, but we just dont want to. Our marriage is only going to happen once and we want to do it as normally as possible, just the way we have always wanted and dreamed of.

As we'll be dealing with the Vermont Service Centre and hear their average time of processing is 6-7 months, (and obtaining the visa about 8) we feel our chances of obtaining the visa in 11 months is pretty good. Fingers crossed! We have just found a venue for our reception that we love that will be happy to take only a $300 deposit as opposed to everywhere else that want $2000! So I think we'll chance it. Hopefully, we'll be married by June 2010 and if not, it'll have to be put back. Its just the way it has to be. The worst is we lose $300.

Thanks again to everyone for their advice! I've been stressing about this all night. But its great to hear everyones opinions

[EZ3145 0]

Myself and my fiancee are trying to plan our wedding. He is american and I am from the UK. We havent yet sent off the I-129F Petition yet (we were hoping to do it this July whilst Im out there with him) because he has been self employed for years and in order to meet the poverty line requirements, he has obtained a new job. So we're waiting for him to rack up a few check stubs before we go further. However, we're looking at wedding venues and are told that so many get booked up so far in advance. Can anyone give any help/advice about how they went about booking wedding venues and vendors? Alot of places dont refund deposits and we dont know what to do. We are willing to take this risk if we have no other choice and we dont anticipate any problems with the K1 application.

So if we mail off the I-129F in July - does anyone out there think it'd be ok to book somewhere for a spring wedding 2010, say June?

You need to put your wedding plans on hold for now. there's no definite date as to when your k1 process will be completed. Anything can happen that will set you back or propel you forward during this aplication process. I'll suggest NO WEDDING PLANS YET until you have your visa in hand.

[jundp 191]

We received our visa in 9 months, but waited another 3 for my husband to tie up loose ends in Germany and move here. We planned our wedding around that and his family's vacation time. We had a small but unique wedding and we booked our venue in March, about a month before he got his visa.

Many people do a small ceremony (JP, courthouse, etc) and then plan a larger affair for later. You may get lucky, or you may not. Unfortunately there's no uniformity.

I didn't have a problem booking our venue because our wedding was incredibly low key and non-fussy, so even if we'd have to make a change, we'd only be out about $500. However, the owner of the venue knew our situation and was prepared to make a change for us if necessary as long as we gave him at least 2 weeks' notice.

Good luck.

[Philosykos 0]

As we'll be dealing with the Vermont Service Centre and hear their average time of processing is 6-7 months, (and obtaining the visa about 8) we feel our chances of obtaining the visa in 11 months is pretty good. Fingers crossed! We have just found a venue for our reception that we love that will be happy to take only a $300 deposit as opposed to everywhere else that want $2000! So I think we'll chance it. Hopefully, we'll be married by June 2010 and if not, it'll have to be put back. Its just the way it has to be. The worst is we lose $300.

Thanks again to everyone for their advice! I've been stressing about this all night. But its great to hear everyones opinions

I meant that the average time for the whole process, that is filing to visa in hand (for people from low-fraud countries where the embassies don't give trouble) is 6-7 months. VSC is currently processing petitions from December and January, so from 3-4 months ago. VJ currently estimates a late May approval date for January filers. Note that this doesn't mean that any one case can't take longer, and that things might change again until you file. But right now it looks like they are speeding up rather than slowing down. I personally think 11 months sounds pretty safe. But as I said before, it's your own personal risk (disclaimer!). Best of luck!

P.S. And now this all sounds like I'm the optimistic type... I'm actually not! I fret a lot about this and prepare for the worst... But rationally thinking I would say the odds are pretty good that things go smoothly, and this is why we decided to plan the wedding. Although we're not doing much besides booking a venue, and arranging for family travel.

Edited April 26, 2009 by Philosykos