Hello and I am glad to be here.

[mnmike40 0]

Hello everyone. My name is Michael. My fiancee's name is Alianny. We have dated for over a year and recently I popped the question. She said yes and now we are beginning the K-1 Visa process. I have done a lot of reading and studying the past two days. Tentatively planning to have paperwork and fee ready to send in next week. I will update our process as best as I can. I am from Minnesota and she is from the Dominican Republic.

If you have any questions or advice, please don't hesitate. Let the journey begin!!!

[Honey&Bunny 12]

Hi :-)... Welcome to this wonderful site! I hope that we hear positive posts from you, and that your process go as smoothly as it can possibly go.

SORRY, I FORGOT TO SAY CONGRATULATIONS!

[mnmike40 0]

Thanks a lot H & B!! I hope it does also. I hope I can contribute positively also! I'd love to read your story....

[Pitaya 2,577]

Welcome to the forum.

[TBoneTX 45,304]

Welcome to the forum.

[mnmike40 0]

Thanks everyone!

[Honey&Bunny 12]

Thanks a lot H & B!! I hope it does also. I hope I can contribute positively also! I'd love to read your story....

Hi, well my love story is very short, and simple. My story with uscis is also short, and simple. NOW, MY STORY WITH NVC...... I will rather not go into details because is long, ugly, and discouraging. After almost one year that my petitions got to NVC, I am still waiting for them to be completed. Good luck!

[J&N071213 57]

Welcome and Congrats

[mnmike40 0]

Hello everyone, and Happy 4th to you all!!

It has been a few months since I opened this thread, and a lot has changed for us. After careful consideration, we decided not to do the Fiancee Visa. There is just too much fraud in the Dominican Republic, so we didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. So I married Alianny on June 5th in Santo Domingo, and we had a great honeymoon in Punta Cana. Now we are both gathering all of the paperwork, so we can begin this Spousal Visa process. Just to update you all. I have pretty much spent all of my extra time here the past few days reading up. Although I studied quite a bit, I still have two questions that are unanswered. If anyone feels like they can point me in the right direction with some advice, that would help me a lot.

Okay, the first issue. My wife's cousin went through this exact process, and her Dominican husband came to the US with his visa approved last month. She wasn't born in the US, she was born in the Dominican Republic but came here with her grandfather. Later, she became a US citizen. She is of course helping us with advice. One thing she said is that she was required, along with her husband, to get birth certificates for herself, himself, and their mothers and fathers. I was born in the US, and I don't see anything telling me that neither her or myself would have to get those certificates. Does anyone know about this? I thought this was only required of her cousin because she was not born here, but I am not sure.

Second issue. This isn't until down the road but the sponsor form is a concern for me. My situation is a little unique. I was married to a Colombian woman, and then divorced her and moved back here. I never started any Immigration things with her. I lived in Colombia for 3 years. I returned back to the US in May of 2013. So I didn't file a return for 2012. I worked as an English Teacher and didn't earn a lot. I think I can track down some documentation through my former employer, but there is no way I made the required amount working that year in Colombia. So if I can only produce 2 consecutive years of tax returns where I earned well over the required amount, will that be an issue? Or if I file a return for 2012, with an amount under the required amount, will that be bad?

Thanks in advance! I am only starting out but have been through a crazy 5 years. If I can help anyone, please feel free to ask

[TBoneTX 45,304]

*** Thread moved from Introducing Our Members forum to the CR-1 Process forum. ***

[Ryan H 3,812]

Hello everyone, and Happy 4th to you all!!

It has been a few months since I opened this thread, and a lot has changed for us. After careful consideration, we decided not to do the Fiancee Visa. There is just too much fraud in the Dominican Republic, so we didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. So I married Alianny on June 5th in Santo Domingo, and we had a great honeymoon in Punta Cana. Now we are both gathering all of the paperwork, so we can begin this Spousal Visa process. Just to update you all. I have pretty much spent all of my extra time here the past few days reading up. Although I studied quite a bit, I still have two questions that are unanswered. If anyone feels like they can point me in the right direction with some advice, that would help me a lot.

Okay, the first issue. My wife's cousin went through this exact process, and her Dominican husband came to the US with his visa approved last month. She wasn't born in the US, she was born in the Dominican Republic but came here with her grandfather. Later, she became a US citizen. She is of course helping us with advice. One thing she said is that she was required, along with her husband, to get birth certificates for herself, himself, and their mothers and fathers. I was born in the US, and I don't see anything telling me that neither her or myself would have to get those certificates. Does anyone know about this? I thought this was only required of her cousin because she was not born here, but I am not sure.

Second issue. This isn't until down the road but the sponsor form is a concern for me. My situation is a little unique. I was married to a Colombian woman, and then divorced her and moved back here. I never started any Immigration things with her. I lived in Colombia for 3 years. I returned back to the US in May of 2013. So I didn't file a return for 2012. I worked as an English Teacher and didn't earn a lot. I think I can track down some documentation through my former employer, but there is no way I made the required amount working that year in Colombia. So if I can only produce 2 consecutive years of tax returns where I earned well over the required amount, will that be an issue? Or if I file a return for 2012, with an amount under the required amount, will that be bad?

Thanks in advance! I am only starting out but have been through a crazy 5 years. If I can help anyone, please feel free to ask

Answers:

• The only reason you would need a photocopy of your birth certificate is to establish US Citizenship (an alternative would be a copy of every page of your passport). Your wife will need her birth certificate at a later stage in the process. Birth certificates from your parents or her parents will not be needed.
• As far as sponsorship goes, current income is what counts not income or lack thereof from prior years. If you weren't required to file a tax return for a year that is being requested, you simply write a letter stating why.

[mnmike40 0]

Answers:

• The only reason you would need a photocopy of your birth certificate is to establish US Citizenship (an alternative would be a copy of every page of your passport). Your wife will need her birth certificate at a later stage in the process. Birth certificates from your parents or her parents will not be needed.
• As far as sponsorship goes, current income is what counts not income or lack thereof from prior years. If you weren't required to file a tax return for a year that is being requested, you simply write a letter stating why.

Thanks a lot Ryan!! The first answer I could find anywhere, so that solidifies it for me. I think I have a solution for the 2nd part, We will probably get the I-130 sent out by the end of this month. So if it takes between 4-6 months to get to the next step, then I will be able to file my 2015 taxes in January and include it in with the other 2 years I have. But thanks for the input on that too.

[mnmike40 0]

*** couldn't find anywhere.

[mnmike40 0]

So I thought that I would throw you all another update. About a month ago, while waiting on the CR1 process, my wife applied for a Visitor Visa. I hadn't seen her since the beginning of June, and I thought it was important for her to spend some time here to get used to some of the differences. I live in Minnesota, so I thought that it would be a good thing for her to experience her first winter! It wasn't that long of a process for her down in Santo Domingo, I think it took about 5 weeks. She had her interview and everything was in order, including a letter I wrote. She was denied!! Apparently the woman did read my letter, but it was obvious that the decision was made before she had arrived. She said there was about 30 people there at 7:30 am, and she saw the woman for 5 minutes. The woman told her that she was denied because she lived in the DR and I lived in the US. I guess they figured she wouldn't return. Personally, I think that was a terrible excuse. She had a job, school and her family to go back to, not to mention, there was no way we were going to take a chance and screw up the CR1 Visa!

We accepted that decision. We continued to talk about how important we thought it was for her to be here as soon as possible. Then I read all about the K3 Visa. That looks like she could come here until the CR1 process was ready for her to go for the interview. Currently, for the CR1 Visa, they are about 7 months behind at the Nebraska Service Center. This is one of the reasons we didn't want to wait, if there were other options. So, I mailed in the application this past Friday and we are going to wait on that decision.

Meanwhile, I get to go spend the end of December/January with her. That will be great, as we have had to be apart for over 6 months at that point. I know, many of you all have gone much longer that being apart. If the K3 does not work, we will just do our best to sit back and be patient. I will continue to update you all as we go along this path.

Have a great Sunday!! Go Vikings!!

[NikLR 13,227]

K3 is virtually obsolete. Please read the k3 forum to see why.