Filing for I-129F after one meeting

[LilAus 4]

Hi everyone. Fantastic forum community here, It's already alleviated a huge amount of stress over whether this process was going to be a nightmare or not.

My girlfriend and I have been together for 6 months. We met online, and she will be visiting Australia for a month next June. Whilst it may seem really fast by most peoples standards, we knew very early on that we would eventually get married and share a life together. We are planning on making the engagement formal when she visits the first time around.

My question for the moment, is whether or not one meeting (June next year), will be enough evidence to start the ball rolling and file for the K1 with an I-129F.
I plan on visiting the states next Christmas once the K1 is in the process and I'm aware that I need to provide proof of my intent of return to Aus.
I just want to know if a single meeting will provide enough evidence for the K1, or whether it will look too rushed and not genuine.

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Pitaya 2,577]

Welcome to the forum.

Carefully read the page 1 of the Form I-129F instructions: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-129finstr.pdf . for guidance on visa filing requirements, and review some K1 folks timelines.

Good luck on your immigration journey.

[Lainie B 465]

It should be just fine. You only need to meet once in person in order to qualify for the I-129f. Just make sure you gather as much primary evidence (boarding passes, receipts etc) as you can. Photos are good too but these are secondary evidence. Good luck!

[Anh map 2,098]

You are required to have met face to face within the past two years. What you want to show the Consular Officer is evidence of a bona fide realtionship. Two different things. Face to face time, correspondence (chat, email, snail mail, ...), etc. are things that you ought to be able to document.

Each couple is different and will have different types of evidence to submit.

Read the forums to learn what other members have experienced.

Best of luck to you.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Anh map

[LilAus 4]

Hey guys thanks so much for the replies. Lots of good info.
It was more just me wondering if from an appearance standpoint, whether one meet up was going to look too rushed.

[MADDEN 40]

It really doesn't matter how long you have known each other just that you have met in person once in a two year period. I flew to the states twice while our K1 was pending and was never asked for proof that I would be returning to Australia, on saying that take some with you just in case. Good luck.

[ddtenor2 80]

Just a word of caution. Recently, the service centers are cracking down on applicants whose initial meeting was online. In many cases they are issuing RFEs asking for proof that the website is not an International Marriage Broker subject to IMBRA laws. Since you will have only met once prior to submitting the I-129F, you might want to front load your petition with evidence that the website where you met is not subject to IMBRA to avoid the stress and delay caused by this particular RFE.

Enter the phrase "IMBRA websites" in the search box at the top of this page to check out posts that can give you some idea of how to provide that evidence.

Good luck in your journey. It will take patience, but rest assured that you will prevail.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

One month long visit is fine. Some meet once for just a few days. You're off to a good start.

Best of Luck!

[LilAus 4]

It really doesn't matter how long you have known each other just that you have met in person once in a two year period. I flew to the states twice while our K1 was pending and was never asked for proof that I would be returning to Australia, on saying that take some with you just in case. Good luck.

That's great, definitely gives me some hope that we'll still get Christmas together once things are started. ??

Just a word of caution. Recently, the service centers are cracking down on applicants whose initial meeting was online. In many cases they are issuing RFEs asking for proof that the website is not an International Marriage Broker subject to IMBRA laws. Since you will have only met once prior to submitting the I-129F, you might want to front load your petition with evidence that the website where you met is not subject to IMBRA to avoid the stress and delay caused by this particular RFE.

Enter the phrase "IMBRA websites" in the search box at the top of this page to check out posts that can give you some idea of how to provide that evidence.

Good luck in your journey. It will take patience, but rest assured that you will prevail.

Thank you so much for the warning. I'll look into that soon and see what we need to provide proof wise.

[LilAus 4]

One month long visit is fine. Some meet once for just a few days. You're off to a good start.

Best of Luck!

It's so expensive for either of us to go either way, and hard to get time off work so we definitely want to make the most of each trip and I guess eliminate the necessity to have to keep traveling.

[leonidas_alexan 45]

In my opinion meeting once should be enough within the 2 year timeline. In my case, I went to see my then girl friend now wife in the US for only about 10 days given that I had a job back in NZ. But what we did was to heavily front load our application with lots of evidence. Receipts of boarding passes,receipts of hotels where we stayed, pictures with her and her family in the US etc.,

You should be absolutely alright given your plans.

All the best. Cheers.

[DEAbara 9]

I know many may not agree with what I am about to say, but I think it is important to get all perspectives in a case like this. My husband and I had problems with the K1 after meeting just once. We thought we had enough evidence of a relationship. They did not. It is important that you know that was back in 2010. With all of the problems now, I'm not sure one meeting, especially when meeting online is enough, no matter what country you and your SO are from.

I know how hard it is to be so far from the one you love. We finally got approved in November and we have been married 3 years. We have been a couple more than 6 years. We were able to prove our relationship beyond a doubt and got our approval. I visited him 4 times before the approval. This has in no way been easy for us. But our love and relationship have grown immensely.

As in your case, we knew from the moment we met more than 6 years ago that we would be a forever couple. We knew our love could stand the test of time and distance.

In my opinion, It is best to have more than one meeting before applying. If you are denied for whatever reason they deem, you will have to start all over again.... all the same fees will apply. You will be in regret that you didn't wait and have more meetings and more evidence.

IF you are meant to be together by God's grace, you will make it through all the time and distance it takes to make that happen. Believe me, I know how hard it is to be patient. But it's worth it in the end.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

One visit is fine for Australia.

[MADDEN 40]

One visit is fine for Australia.

Totally agree!

[naire37 53]

OP, don't sweat it.

Check out my signature - we've only met once for 3 days before applying for K-1 and we've submitted just 3 photos of us together. For the USCIS / NVC this is fine. We've also met several times while the application was processed, and we brought those additional pics to the interview.

Sometimes you just know you've met the right person. It's not a problem to move quickly. At least not for Australia - I haven't heard bad things about the K1 interviews being tough, as it's not a high fraud country.