Need some kind of Timeline for Wedding Plans

[Ryan & Amanda 1]

My Canadian fiance and I are about to send our first batch of paperwork in (just waiting for a money transfer to have enough for the fee.) This is the actual I-129F petition and all supporting documents. I read that the current processing times for the first part is about 5 months, assuming no RFA is needed. But after that, the timeline gets a little fuzzy. We are trying to do a cruise wedding, and with half the guests being out of the country and the other half across the U.S., plane tickets along with the actual cruise tickets will need to be purchased way in advance.

How can I get a solid enough immigration timeline to plan out dates for the wedding? I can't exactly pick a cruise and send the Save the Dates with "kinda sorta maybe possibly February of next year or so..."

Help

[JenniferS 4]

yeah, good luck! I'm dealing with the same issue, but we've decided to elope and throw a party later on down the road.

But if this helps:

We sent everythign in Feb 1st, got the NOA 2 June 6th (4 month wait) and are thinking he should have the visa in hand sept, (working on packet 3 now) and hopefully move to the US in November (although they have up to 6 months to move to the US from the day you get the visa). Whcih means, we are getting married somewehre between november and Feb. So, thats 9 months to 1 year from the initial filing of the I129F.

What I would do is overshoot the year by a few months to give yourself time incase of complications, and worst case scenario, your fiance has to wait a few extra months to move here so that the cruise wedding falls within the 90 days. But.. then you're screwed in the freak case that the NOA2 gets approved super early (I have read of a few people on here actualy getting approved within 1 month) because everythign has expiration dates on it.. once you have your NOA2, you've got 4 months to get the rest of hte paperwork/interview done, and then 6 months from there for the fiance to move here.

THe other option, which a friend of mine did, her fiance (from the UK) came to the states in May on a visit, they got married.. and then he went back home after the honeymoon. They will bring him here on a k-3 visa instead of the k1. If you are heart set on having a big cruise wedding right away on a specific date adn dont want the stress of hoping allthe paperwork gets filed accordingly, that might be a better option for you.

Jenn

[Ryan & Amanda 1]

We thought about that. But based on the timeline information when we first looked (back in May), K3's took longer to process, and we really want to get Ryan starting to work as soon as possible. Plus, longer processing times means longer time apart.

But I do like your thought process of overshooting a couple months. We're hoping to put the package in the mail tomorrow, so we can spend the next month or two planning before making any decisions (in case of early approval.)

I took a look at the average time frames here on VJ, and based on my service center and my fiance's country of origin, I got a rough timeline:

NOA2 - 4 months

NVC - 1 month

Interview - 3 months

Add in another month for cushion brings it to 9 months from filing. Does that sound about right or am I way off? Would 10 months be safe to plan without too much extra time?

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Never make any solid plans that call for purchasing tickets or making non-refundable deposits until you have the visa in hand. You can tentatively plan and think about a date 9-12 months from now. It will all depend on how long it takes to get your approval for the 129F petition, plus how long it takes to get an interview in Canada.

[Ryan & Amanda 1]

Never make any solid plans that call for purchasing tickets or making non-refundable deposits until you have the visa in hand. You can tentatively plan and think about a date 9-12 months from now. It will all depend on how long it takes to get your approval for the 129F petition, plus how long it takes to get an interview in Canada.

I was afraid of that. Oh well, thank you all for the information

[Jadeleaf 2]

Hard to plan weddings when living in visa limbo unfortunatly.

You can make rough timeline guesses but honestly, putting money and effort into set in stone plans might not be the best idea.

Why not do the cruise some other time? As a one year anniversary or something instead.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Jadeleaf

[Ryan & Amanda 1]

Hard to plan weddings when living in visa limbo unfortunatly.

You can make rough timeline guesses but honestly, putting money and effort into set in stone plans might not be the best idea.

Why not do the cruise some other time? As a one year anniversary or something instead.

Well, we're still brainstorming ideas. We're really broke. So we need something financially feasible. Plus, my family is from the West Coast (I live in Georgia now) and his from Canada (obviously ) so either way, it will require a lot of travelling from the few family members that we want to be there with us.

Ultimitely, we just want our parents to be there for our wedding and to have a small ceremony.

[Jadeleaf 2]

Well, we're still brainstorming ideas. We're really broke. So we need something financially feasible. Plus, my family is from the West Coast (I live in Georgia now) and his from Canada (obviously ) so either way, it will require a lot of travelling from the few family members that we want to be there with us.

Ultimitely, we just want our parents to be there for our wedding and to have a small ceremony.

My family is from New Zealand, and money means it's not feasible for them to visit soon.

My fiance are planning a small BBQ for our 'paperwork wedding', inviting his extended family and freinds so I can meet everyone, and filling out our paperwork (they have a family freind who is a celebrant).

Planning a 2nd wedding with an actual ceremony for early next year, this is the one my family will fly out for

We're doing it this way as a BBQ won't require much notice, we'll still be officially married within the 90 days, and can take our time planning our wedding and get invites out to those important to us within a timely fashion

[Anh map 2,098]

A cruise may not be a good idea as with a K1 as it is a single entry visa. Gotta reset your Canadian outlook on US entry/exit. Until you obtained Advance Parole or the GC you would not be authorized to enter the US.

What a lot of K1 couples do is have a small legal marriage shortly after entry to be able to move on to the Adjustment of Status phase and then plan a large® wedding party/celebration when they no longer have to try and guess about visa issuance.

Best of luck.

[cmoore25 4]

1) Where is your cruise headed? I know in Maine we have many cruises that just go off of the coast for a few hours. IF your cruise leaves USA territory you will be in trouble b/c your fiance (then husband) would not be allowed in. You get 1 chance to enter on the K1.

2) You mentioned 4 months in your timeline for the NOA2. The USCIS states that it takes up to 5 months. Don't shorten it yourself. I know it can happen much quicker (especially if you live on the west coast), however, I know many people who have waited 4+ months (a good friend who waited 5.5!!!)

The wedding planning part of the K1 visa was perhaps the most difficult for me. I wanted to be excited and going out planning everything with friends and family like a typical bride. But that just drove more insane with time. Eventually, I had to just let it go. It was very hard on family and friends, because like yours, they are spread out across the US (and his side in Scotland!). But, they've all come to accept what we have to do. So, what are we doing? We are having a small ceremony (my dad actually got ordained for to do it!) of about 20-30 people on the island I work on. Afterwards we are moving to a small British pub in town to have a dinner where the point is for the families to have time to get to know each other. This will HOPEFULLY happen in Nov (we have our NOA2 - but things are still so up in the air as far as planning b/c of time!)...Then, in May, we would like to have a LARGE reception, on the same island where we are getting married, with all friends and family - as soon as we get married we will send out "save the dates" for our reception so that there is plenty of planning time!

Goooooood luck!

[bigdog 376]

My Canadian fiance and I are about to send our first batch of paperwork in (just waiting for a money transfer to have enough for the fee.) This is the actual I-129F petition and all supporting documents. I read that the current processing times for the first part is about 5 months, assuming no RFA is needed. But after that, the timeline gets a little fuzzy. We are trying to do a cruise wedding, and with half the guests being out of the country and the other half across the U.S., plane tickets along with the actual cruise tickets will need to be purchased way in advance.

How can I get a solid enough immigration timeline to plan out dates for the wedding? I can't exactly pick a cruise and send the Save the Dates with "kinda sorta maybe possibly February of next year or so..."

Help

No cruise for you. look at the other time lines and it will give you an idea. Hang in there.

[BM Canada 3]

Which consulate are you at in Canada, Montreal? If so... I'd say it's not even safe to set a tentative date. My fiance and I did, had to cancel some stuff, and now we're going to the court house once he gets here and will be doing a vow ceremony/reception a few weeks later (trying to give enough time to send out invitations).

Montreal is always back-logged, and always slow. You can look at my timeline for reference. I wouldn't bet on 4 months for NOA2 -- that's being optimistic (which I was, and it took five months). After you get your NOA2, you have to wait for it to go to NVC, and then to Montreal. This is where it gets rough estimating the timelines because Montreal is so SLOW. They'll send out your Packet 3 (rely on your email and not your postal service, because we never got a physical copy of Packet 3 or Packet 4), and you'll need to mail it back. Overnight it, and it might get logged within a week or two of receiving it. But it could take longer. They then send you Packet 4, telling you to schedule your interview, which is where you'll wait again, if you even get an appointment. When I got the Packet 4 for my fiance, it was a 3.5 month wait for the next available interview. A few days after booking this, I got one 5 weeks earlier. However, a few days after I booked that interview, there was a time-lapse of a couple weeks where no interview appointments were available. A few popped up, and it's back to the no appointment availability. Now, people are saying it's logged until November. I believe the typical wait for an interview is 3-4 months. Then, after you have your interview, they tell you a week to two weeks to receive your passport/visa in the mail, and it's taking up to five weeks for some (see the Canada-regional specific forums).

Trying to plan your wedding around Montreal is nuts -- especially if you want to do something like a cruise. My advice would be to not, and save yourself your sanity. Trying to plan a wedding and work around the consulate was way too stressful for me, and I think it has been for a lot of people.

It'll be 10-11 months (hopefully) once my fiance arrives here safely, and that was with expediting every piece of mail we had to send in.

Hope this helps.

Maybe you're one of the lucky ones at the Vancouver consulate

Edited August 8, 2011 by BM Canada

[Sirdaniel42 86]

Making plans is realy a problem, we are going to have a very small wedding with a few people there.

Then next year when we find the money we will have our receptions, one in the US and one in the Netherlands.

[Dan & Jenni 457]

my fiance who lives in Georgia is about to submit our I-129F petition now and we have discussed dates for getting married and we decided the only way we could certain of not paying deposits on venues ect was to have a small legal marriage within the 90 days and then do it all again properly later on. although our planning has been dictated to a point by her father being in Afghanistan for 6 months at a time and only being home for a couple of months a year. i do think that a small legal marriage for a start is the best way though

[account closed 4]

A cruise may not be a good idea as with a K1 as it is a single entry visa. Gotta reset your Canadian outlook on US entry/exit. Until you obtained Advance Parole or the GC you would not be authorized to enter the US.

What a lot of K1 couples do is have a small legal marriage shortly after entry to be able to move on to the Adjustment of Status phase and then plan a large® wedding party/celebration when they no longer have to try and guess about visa issuance.

Best of luck.

I agree with Anh map. RETHINK your cruise wedding! If you do a cruise wedding and he steps foot out of the US, he will NOT be allowed back in. Most cruise lines are owned by foreign countries. I would hate to see you go through the stress and the wait for him to be stuck outside of the US and not let back in. With a K1 visa you MUST get married inside the US, MUST! Otherwise if you want to get married outside the US marry him now, and you'll have to apply for a K3/ Cr1 visa.

Also, the process takes anywhere from 5 months to 1 year if your lucky.

Best of luck,

-Bonnie

Edited August 8, 2011 by Bonnie_n_Clyde