start a K1 visa abroad

[dianeb 0]

Hi everybody !

I am French and my boyfriend is American, we plan on doing the K1 visa one day but would like to live together for a few months without being married before deciding this.

The best place would be Ireland because he could get a Working holiday visa and I could live easily there because I am European.

The K1 visa taking at least 6 months, we were thinking about starting it while in Ireland after a few months to be able to live together in USA directly after.

Does anyone know if we are allowed to do the whole procedure while in a foreign country or if it requires a lot of paperwork ? If just a little paperwork, we could follow our mails to Ireland.

Thanks for your help !

[canadian_wife 1,829]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide

Sure, I don't see why the USC cannot start the K-1 process while abroad. All the documents will still have to be sent to the US and you'll likely have to interview in France - someone correct me if I am wrong.

Study the guides and the I-129F instructions for what is needed

Good luck

[LB & PC 0]

Yes, you can definitely start the paperwork while being in another country.

My fiance and I haven't been in the States since January, and have done all of our I-129F paperwork while backpacking around. In fact, we sent the papers off while in France

If you have a mailing address that can stay the same during the entire process, that would help out a lot. I used my mother's address in the States, and when she received our NOA1 in the mail, she scanned it and emailed it to me. I'm not sure if it slows down the process if you have to update your mailing address, so we found this way to be the most reliable.

The only suggestion I would make is to anticipate the wait time to be longer than you expected. We continued travelling, naively assuming everything would take about 5 months, and went through our savings faster than if we had known better. Being on this site early on is a really great way to be able to plan better. However, it sounds like you two will have no problem continuing a "normal" life while in another country.

Have fun! and enjoy Ireland!

[Tyeger87 10]

It is totally possible to file abroad

i already filed and i live in Cairo, Egypt

as long as you have a stable address everything will be ok

you can also do the interview in ireland as well

my fiance is from comoros but is doing his interview in egypt

good luck

[thelastpetitioner 218]

back when we filed,you had to file directly either to CSC or VSC,it was based on the last state the petitioner lived in for longer than two years.now you just send it to texas lockbox so if anything,its just like it would be if your fiance filed in states.more fair shall we say.

it doesnt make a difference,but keep in mind you will need a police certificate from Ireland,AND things dont usually go as fast we would like them to,so,k-1 could most likely take 6+,like LB and PC said,be careful with finances