A life is changing

[bruce&Svet 0]

I would never have dreamed of this situation if I was not living it. I am new to the site so i have been reading the various experiences of the other memebers. One common thread i have felt through all these comments is as a group of K1 VIsa hopefuls it seems your wait only makes our ties to our significant other that much stronger. It is a disheartening feeling to realize that our future lies with one person in a politically charged agency and that person can destroy months of our hard work, planning and effort. I am personally engaged to a Ukrainian women and at first I thought it would never last or at least be very frustrating given the language barrier. But my feelings for her are so strong that our bond transcends language and our understanding of each other comes with patience and consideration. I guess you could say my visa journey started as soon as I met her. The chemistry was there on the first day and i never had a reason to look in any other direction. My K1 was submitted in September of 2011 and received my NOA1 in October. From reading the posts it appears the process is almost impossible to predict so I think I may be in for a long wait. For me the wait is not so bad because I am only seperated by a 6 hour flight. We currently meet every three months to travel and vacation together. When she does get her K1 VISA granted we will fly back to the US to get married. This is where my story is a little different than most of the other memebers because I do not live in the US currently but live in Kuwait. Since I have 2 or 3 more years left to work here (so I can secure my financial future) I am planning to bring her to kuwait with me. My question is how is this going to affect her future immigration status.

a week ago I was reading a post from a member and he mentioned why anyone would hire a laywer to apply for the K1 VISA, well I did not hire a lawyer but a consultant. Looking back at that decision I could have done the documentation on my own. But several factors weighed in on my decision. My fiancee wanted a professional to assemble the packet to avoid any missteps, my translator had used her in the past and had excellent results. Apparently all of her packets were approved and she never had any rejections, and thirdly I work a lot and my free time was in short supply. If I had found this web site earlier in the process I probably would have done it myself and saved a lot of money (a flight to the Ukraine). In any case I now must wait. My fiancee and I are planning a trip to Thailand in March and of course we will discuss our next step in the journey.

I guess in the weeks to come I will write more and update my profile. As with the rest of you I want my experience to be shared so others can learn.

[catknit 144]

Read more here to get some more research done as I think you'll see you are going to have to change plans....

The K1 allows a fiance to come to the US, get married, and file to adjust status to a conditional permanent resident. The part that will most likely bite you in the backside about your current situation is the permanent resident part. The implication is that she will be residing in the US. Not visiting the US, not participating in a wedding ceremony in the US, but actually taking up residence in the US.

You will see stories here of people who once getting their green card spend months in, months out. This is legal - but border patrol/immigration may get a little suspicious about it over time.

To adjust, she will need a legal permanent residence in the US somewhere. Meaning, an apartment, house, something.

I'm not sure how difficult getting a tourist visa is for a single woman from Ukraine [i'm guessing it isn't easy] - but if I were in your shoes, I would do one of the following:

1: Have the wedding as planned in the US [if she can get the visa] - work out all the visa "stuff" for her to reside in Kuwait. About 1 year before you decided to move back to the US permanently, file for a CR1.

2: Have the wedding in the Ukraine, follow the remaining steps above.

3: Have the wedding in the US but re-establish your life in the US. This would be the only scenario where a K1 would make sense.

Good luck!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Bruce - you shouldn't be chasing any path to live in the USA yet. You live in Kuwait. Look into marrying and getting your wife a derivative visa to Kuwait. If you chase some US immigration path, she will lose her residency by living abroad for so long and you'll have to start over. Why waste money for something she'll lose? Google "maintaining permanent residency."

A K-1 is a visa to get married in the US and apply to stay. The K-1 by itself does not give her any legal status in the US, nor does her marriage to you, by itself.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Your consultant would have lost their fee if they told you the K-1 does you no good. K-1s are used to enter the US (once) then get married and adjust status and live in the US permanently. If you do not live in the US you have no use for a K-1. Get married overseas and get her a visa to live with you where you live. If you later want to come to the US go to the consulate in the country where you are living and apply for a DCF when you are ready to live in the USA.

[Sandra G. 5,057]

Bruce you did wrong.The K-1 visa visa permits the foreign-citizen fiancé(e) to travel to the United States and marry his or her U.S. citizen sponsor within 90 days of arrival. The foreign-citizen will then apply for adjustment of status to a permanent resident (LPR). Once her K1 visa is issued she needs to come to the USA, get married with you and apply for adjustment of Status, it will take at least 6 months for USCIS approve her AOS. Once she gets the green card she can apply for a reentry permit. Applications for Reentry Permits must be filed while the Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) is physically present in the United States. Reentry Permits cannot be issued or extended overseas.Reentry permit is for individuals who will remain outside the United States for more than one year. As soon she gets the reentry permit she can leave the USA to be with you in Dubai for 2 years, I think it's too much work man.

I suggest you to get married in her home Country, she needs to apply for a "Family residence visa UAE" to live with you in Dubai, and 7,8 months before you return to live in the USA file the I-130 form in order for her to get CR1 visa. The CR-1 visa holder gets to enter the US as a conditional permanent resident and does not need to change status once in the US.

Edited February 23, 2012 by sandranj

[bruce&Svet 0]

Thank you guys for all the comments. I just knew there would be a pothole in my road to a new life. The question is what should i do now. We have our NOA 2 which means if she gets through the interview (within the next 3 months)we will be able to travel to the US to get married. So we are that close. If i decide to stop it now in order to get married in the ukraine that will take another 6-8 months and delay even further the time in which she can be with me in kuwait. She can only stay in kuwait as my spouse because all immigrants must have a sponsor to be legally in the country. The DCF would have been the perfect choice but now what matters is that piece of paper to show the ministry we are married. I have a residence in the states and she could stay in the states with my brother but I want her with me for obvious reasons.

SO I have another question? What are the ramifications of us just getting married in the US and then move to kuwait without applying for the permament residence. Can we a year down the road apply for the I-130. I guess i can consider this as a trial run.

[Leatherneck 693]

The ramifications -- nothing, other than no re-entry.

Filing an I-130 would be the only way for your wife to entry the US after having been issued a K-1, marrying then exiting the US prior to AOS. If you're going to take that route, then just marry her in her country, then move her to Kuwait with you. About a year before you're ready to come back to the US, file the I-130 at that time. That would save you some money and a lot less paper shuffling.

[bruce&Svet 0]

Thanks, That is good news. I thought immigration would banish us from living in the states forever given how they view things once in awhile. But it brings up an interesting dilemma for me. I work on a contract for the US military so paperwork is a daily hassle for me and so this would be just another day, anyway the situation is that we are closer to getting married in the states than in the Ukraine. As my consultant has told me it can take up to 8 months to push the documentation through the Ukraine channels. That is not really much of a problem because I love travelling to the Ukraine and it reminds me of my home state of Wisconsin. Spring is beautiful in the Ukraine. I am needing to return to the US in the coming months to take care of many personal and employment related issues and I wanted to take Svetlana with me to meet the relatives and give her a taste of the states and show her where I live. This route is much costlier for me but this is for a good cause and I have thrown money away on worse plans (like the consultant idea) . At least when I apply for the I-130 I will better understand the process.