Met with an attorney in Dominican Republic

[Eugene y Crismel 1]

I wanted to share our experience with meeting an immigration attorney in Dominican Republic. We discussed the K-1 visa process and the option of marrying in the Dominican Republic.

First, the attorney charged a reasonable fee of $50 for the consulation and we met at her home because it was on a Sunday and her house was closer than her office. It was a very relaxed and comfortable setting. It was a typical business meeting we got to know each other and talked about our familes before talking about business.

I prepared a K-1 package for her to review and the first thing she pointed out was that she didn't like our photos because it didn't include a photo of us "kissing". She also mentioned that it's a requirement that my fiancee and I must maintain two-year relationship prior to the K-1 application and went over a few ways to prove this if it wasn't true. This was my forst red flag. She explained that many times the application is denied because there's not enough time in the relationship. I told her that I interpreted the question as have I seen my fiancee with-in two years from the time the application was submitted. So we started talking about the process if we got married in the Dominican Republic and filed the I-130.

Below are the documents required to get married in the Dominican Republic:

DR CItizens:

• certified birth certificate of the couple
• copy of identification card of the couple
• copy of identification card of the godfathers in case family members are put witnesses

Alien Citizens:

• original birth certificate apostilled by the consulate of his/her country
• copy of passport
• a sworn declaration made ​​by a lawyer solteria notary and legalized in procuraduria
• all records submitted by the alien must be translated by a legal translator

Additional Documents:

• if the couple have children from both must bring certified birth certificate of the child for purposes of legitimation
• if one of you is divorced dating divorce decree bring
• if one of the groom is a widower bringing death certificate of the deceased

I told the attorney that my birth certificate was already translated. She said that it wasn't valid because the service that I used wasn't recognized by the Civil registry and she was able to translate it. she also said that she can provide to sworn affidavit that my fiancee and me were never married.

Finally, she can submit all the paperwork for the I-130 application for 3 payments of $500 = $1500 US.

Any thoughts?

[RD007 4]

2 year relationship? No. I believe the requirement states to have met in person within the last 2 years....honestly you can do all this on your own....this website is very resourceful and these forms are all meant to be completed by individuals other than attorney's. Think about it!

[Kristi95 0]

I can recommend you - www.rapidvisa.com

It is much cheaper and we were satisfied with service. We got our K1 visa recently but they do CR and such too. Since you are their client and paid the fee, they provide free consultation if you have any questions during the process.

[Kristi95 0]

and we never included our photos "kissing". It sounds funny for me to be considered a requirement

[Kristi95 0]

but it is definitely good to include photos with relatives and friends around. We did and I heard from other people that it helps.

[Eugene y Crismel 1]

2 year relationship? No. I believe the requirement states to have met in person within the last 2 years....honestly you can do all this on your own....this website is very resourceful and these forms are all meant to be completed by individuals other than attorney's. Think about it!

Yeah. I had the same response when she said maintain two-year relationship up to the time of the application. The question on the application was pretty clear to me but it had me question is route we planned to take; which was applying for the fianee visa. It would suck to wait for 8-12 months just to get denied.

My fiancee decided the best was to get married there and then file the petition for her and the children.

Thanks for your reply.

[Eugene y Crismel 1]

I can recommend you - www.rapidvisa.com

It is much cheaper and we were satisfied with service. We got our K1 visa recently but they do CR and such too. Since you are their client and paid the fee, they provide free consultation if you have any questions during the process.

Thanks. will look into this.

and we never included our photos "kissing". It sounds funny for me to be considered a requirement

I thought it was funny that was the first thing she pointed out. In a way, she was already calling us fake. But I went on with the meeting since I was paying for her consulation.

but it is definitely good to include photos with relatives and friends around. We did and I heard from other people that it helps.

For each visit, I added 1 photo of my fiancee and me another photo with her family and friends and another photo with her children. Only thing that was missing was the kissing photo. LOL.

[Kristi95 0]

you are right but be aware that the spouse visa may take even longer than that. Though of course she will get a permanent greed card faster without waiting for 2 years under conditional green card.

[C-ma'am 684]

**Post moved from K1 to Caribbean