new here

[jrodriguez 1]

hi guys, i just want to say this forum is great. me and my fiance were considering paying a lawyer to to do our paperwork until i found this site. but after reading through this forum, and finding the step by step guide as well as the processing times, i think we're going to do it ourselves and save a few thousand bucks.

so heres my questions:

i plan on using our skype records, her phone bills, western union transactions, and my tickets to and from trinidad to provide proof of our relationship. we did meet in august and i went to visit her in december. is this enough to qualify for the fiance visa?

als does anyone know how to print skype calls without the chat long. becuase ours is something like 85 pages long?

also i made 20k last year. do i need a sponsor? i was going to college full time and working part time. but now i am back to full time work. and i've been at my job for 1.5 years and my job is pretty much guaranteed for the next year due to our ongoing projects.

thanks in advance

[jrodriguez 1]

also i have another concern , she recently was denied a visitor visa, i believe it was most likely becuase she made a trip to london in 2008, and was denied entry , and so she returned to her country. she was not deported or blacklisted the official reason why she was denied a visa,was bcause she didnt have enough ties, or enough savings, will this have an effect on our fiance visa.

[SunDrop 59]

Hi and welcome to VJ

As long as you are a US Citizen, both of you are free to marry (in other words if either of you were married your divorce/s are final and complete) and you have met in person during the last 2 years, then this is technically all you need to petition for your fiancee. How much you 'front load' your petition - this means providing as much evidence as possible as to the bona fide nature of your relationship right from the start - depends on the embassy where she'll be interviewing.

I'm not familiar with Trinidad and Tobago when it comes to how 'high risk' the embassy is. Be sure to find your regional board and see if there are any fellow couples who can give you more embassy specific guidance when it comes to the K1 process for you. Search through members' profile for Trinidad and see have a browse of their threads and posts, to give you an idea of what their experiences were.

It is unlikely that her denial into England had anything to do with her tourist visa denial into the US, however I would suspect that her reasons were possibly the same for both countries. It should't affect your K1 petition for her, no.

New income levels will be announced sometime over the next couple of months. Check the guide section to find the poverty level for your current household (to include you + anyone you claim as a dependent on your tax return + any children under 18) + your fiancee and any dependents she may have. Again, read up on Trinidad for what the embassy is like when it comes to the affidavit of support, some are stricter than others. Most will work on the basis of your current and projected earnings. This means even if your tax return for 2009 shows a figure that is below the poverty line for the number of people in the earlier calculation, but your current monthly salary x 12 takes you above it, you can 'forecast' your annual income, which evidence to back it up (recent paystubs). Other embassies want some reassurance that you have a co-sponsor if you are close to the line. Others don't accept co-sponsors at all.

Take time to read thoroughly through the guides and the embassy information. Clicking on Portal takes you to your regional specific information. And jump right in with any questions!

Edited February 8, 2010 by SunDrop

[Nik+Heather 121]

+1 to Sundrop's advice about seeking out consulate specific advice.

I would NOT include Western Union receipts for any consulate. They can so easily be misconstrued. Evidence of relationship should be in the form of time spent together, demonstration of common interests, values and language, frequent and in depth communication, etc.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Nik+Heather

[jrodriguez 1]

+1 to Sundrop's advice about seeking out consulate specific advice.

I would NOT include Western Union receipts for any consulate. They can so easily be misconstrued. Evidence of relationship should be in the form of time spent together, demonstration of common interests, values and language, frequent and in depth communication, etc.

i understand, but most the western union reciepts are small amounts 100 or even 200 bucks, at a time. i was thinking it would show that i helped her make ends meet. also how much is too much proof? we have over 1000 emails back and forth just us chatting daily. also we have about 75 pages of skype call/chat logs? i also have my tickets. and she has her phone bills showing calls between us atleast 3 or 4 times daily. should i include a little from each. or build a binder with everything and send it in?

also i looked at the consulate portal thing, and i guess theres not much info on trinidad. it looks as though we have a 5 month wait but thats all i could discern.

[jrodriguez 1]

also, my fiancee lost her vaccination card, and she went to her doctor to try and obtain a new one and it seems they lost her records. so she is going to get vaccinated again. which vaccinations does she need.

[Nik+Heather 121]

i understand, but most the western union reciepts are small amounts 100 or even 200 bucks, at a time. i was thinking it would show that i helped her make ends meet.

Another person could think that you are in earnest and she has other reasons to stay with you than for love.

Another person could think that you are "buying" something.

I am not saying that either of these are true, but that money changing hands is not proof of anything, and can be (mis)interpreted in many ways.

The other things you suggest are good. I would think that a summarization (screen shot of your email folder with your correspondence with dates, for example, or your Skype call logs with dates and duration) plus a few clean but affectionate examples of emails from various time frames should be sufficient, along with a handful of pictures, and proof of visit(s). A binder is, in my opinion, over kill - not to mention expensive (in terms of printer ink and paper) for the amount of time a CO would look at it.

I was surprised that there were apparently *NO* interview reviews for your embassy (?!). I think it must be a bug with VJ, because I found an interview review in one of the members' time lines.

[jrodriguez 1]

can you link me?