Visa journey for 5 years

[Lucie&Eric 1]

Hello all,

I would like to share my story, maybe it will help someone.

At the beginning of 2012 my boyfriend files I-129F form for me. It took more than 8 month when it was approved, during this time I went to United States 3 times on tourist visa with no problems (just do not volunteer much information to Immigration officer, answer only the questions asked). I don't think I-129F can really be an obstacle while travelling to US in case you have nothing to hide. We struggled a lot during months of waiting, also because my boyfriend did not have job in US and we had difficulties finding a sponsor. So around the time it was approved he was intensively looking for jobs, including abroad. Right after the petition was approved he found a job in my home country, which was the best news ever and we were so happy we can finally be in one place. He moved the same month. At this stage we have abandoned K1 visa, I have received package, but we did nothing, didn't inform USCIS either, which was probably not right. So after 2 years we got married and lived abroad were happy and forgot about US immigration for a while. Beginning of this year, the job wasn't going to well, national currency dropped a lot in value and we could afford much less. So of course we start thinking about moving back to US as the market was slowly recovering there. We thought to apply for I-130 in summer as we planned that the job search will take a year or so. However in May my husband received a job offer, which he couldn't refuse. So I was overwhelmed and shocked.. I was not ready for another year apart with sporadic travel to US. After research I came to the page of DCF, which was however not available in our country of residence, because there is no USCIS local office. There was a small note however that US Consulate can proceed with I-130 application in case of exceptional curcumstances. We contacted them, explaining our situation and a job offer with the short notice. They treated us very well, replying promptly and politely. They have agreed to proceed with our file directly at the Consulate. Our I-130 form was approved at the spot (we were both present at the interview, this is the requirement for US spouse to be there). They gave us the checklist with the documents to collect. It took about 2 month for me to collect all of them, mostly because I had to apply for new passport with my new last name and 2 Criminal records as I am not a citizen of the country I reside it (Criminal record has to be obtained from all countries where the beneficially has recided after she/he turned 16). All documents have to be translated, if they are not in English it's ok as long as they are in the language of the country where the Consulate is. After collecting all the documents I contacted the Conculate to schedule the appointment (no NVC or USCIS are involved at any of the stages). Few days ago I went to the interview with all the documents in the checklist and additional documents for relationship proof. Concul was very nice, no trickly questions asked. Interview lasted maybe around 20 minutes. All payments for I-130 and visa fee are to be done at the spot at the Consulate. At the end she said, congratulations, your file looks good So to summarize some points here:

- looks like even abandoned I-129F is not a problem when applying for spousal visa, when it's for the same person ;

- the wait is tough, but the things work out always the best way. If the person doesn't have a stable financial situation maybe it's better to hold on with the visa, unless you want to take the risk for your relationship;

- you can visit your partner during the immigration process;

- always research, ask American Consulate for the options even if the site says DCF is not available in your country, they are also people and exceptions are possible, in our case it was sudden job offer;

- following the law (no overstay on previous visas, no convictions) helps a lot;

- for affidavite of support the foreigh income is fine, but American citizen has to file the taxes in US, the job offer letter helps a lot (even before the job was started), of course it has to be meet the guidelines;

- be very meticulous when preparing all the documents, and this site is a great help for this.

In total the immigration rules made us to stay 2 years apart, but if you love each other and have a common goal, you will pass through these difficult times.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to help.

[Lucie&Eric 1]

Just to add here, we did a DCF in Hungary, not in Ukraine.

[TBoneTX 45,324]

A nice story!

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