Fiance deployed during process

[Lands55 0]

We are sending our package in within the next 2 weeks. We already put off our application with 4 months because we were waiting for the sale of my fiance's new house to go through so we have a definite address. (He was at a temporary base for only 3 months, so we didn't want to use a temporary address and risk mail getting sent there and get lost)

However, my fiance (stateside) is an officer in the military and might get deployed in June and go for predeployment training away from home in February.

What happens if our application is not approved by then (June)? Can we get a lawyer with power of attorney to sign things and handle the process on behalf of my Fiance in the time he is away?

How about adjusting my status? Since we will only have 90 days to get married. So if I get approved while he is away it will be a bit impossible to marry and change status.

I heard that the Texas lockbox is slow and the other one is fast. Would it help to get sent to the faster lockbox if my Fiance wrote in his cover letter that we are hoping to do get married before his deployment in June?

This news was sudden and unexpected and completely throws off our plans. Any advice will be so much appreciated.

[Abby&Colin 40]

We are sending our package in within the next 2 weeks. We already put off our application with 4 months because we were waiting for the sale of my fiance's new house to go through so we have a definite address. (He was at a temporary base for only 3 months, so we didn't want to use a temporary address and risk mail getting sent there and get lost)

However, my fiance (stateside) is an officer in the military and might get deployed in June and go for predeployment training away from home in February.

What happens if our application is not approved by then (June)? Can we get a lawyer with power of attorney to sign things and handle the process on behalf of my Fiance in the time he is away?

How about adjusting my status? Since we will only have 90 days to get married. So if I get approved while he is away it will be a bit impossible to marry and change status.

I heard that the Texas lockbox is slow and the other one is fast. Would it help to get sent to the faster lockbox if my Fiance wrote in his cover letter that we are hoping to do get married before his deployment in June?

This news was sudden and unexpected and completely throws off our plans. Any advice will be so much appreciated.

Hey my fiancé is in the military too we got all of his info sent to his aunt as he did not have a PO box in the U.S. She photocopied things and sent them to us as you don't need to physical have anything until your interview.

Also your 90 days starts when you enter the U.S. You can postpone entering until he is home I think you have a six month window to use your visa before it becomes invalid.

Every petition is sent to the Texas lockbox and from there is transferred to the other two service centers I sent mine to the Texas lockbox and they sent it to California.

Lastly my petition has taken 114 days beginning to end and I had an RFE so that was pretty fast as long as you keep on top of things and depending on how was your countries DSO is you should be able to make June.

I started in September and have an interview January sixth so four months !!

Good luck with your process

Abby

Edited December 14, 2015 by 12ag61

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from K1 Process to Military Immigration-Related Discussion~

~Similar topics are discussed at this forum~

[Boiler 45,158]

6 months to use the Visa.

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

You have 6 months to use the Visa when approved, and 3 months upon entry of the US to get married and start the rest of the process. Knowing that he might get deployed in June, do you know how long his deployment might take, because if you file in 2 weeks, your timeline for approval is between june and september. That gives you a last possible entry date range of December through March. With December being the earliest possible date that things could occur. I am unsure which Branch your Fiance is a member of, and I do not know the deployment information relating to Officers, but the average Enlisted deployment duration is 12 months.

This means you would be very hard pressed on your timeline. I also don't know which state your fiance lives in, but there are currently 5 States in the US (Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Montana, and Alabama) that have what we call a "Proxy Marriage" which is primarily used by Deployed military personnel who cannot physically be at their own wedding. Someone will stand in for him, and proceed through the ceremony.

If the timeline is too close for comfort, and a proxy marriage is available, he would need to bring the necessary forms for the other half of the process with him on deployment, and fill them out, then mail them back to his family, where you would review them, and submit them.

Closing statement ---- I could just be talking out of my ####### on this one, and there is something I am unaware of that prohibits the use of a Proxy Marriage for deployed military personnel who are marrying a K1 Visa holder.

[Lands55 0]

You have 6 months to use the Visa when approved, and 3 months upon entry of the US to get married and start the rest of the process. Knowing that he might get deployed in June, do you know how long his deployment might take, because if you file in 2 weeks, your timeline for approval is between june and september. That gives you a last possible entry date range of December through March. With December being the earliest possible date that things could occur. I am unsure which Branch your Fiance is a member of, and I do not know the deployment information relating to Officers, but the average Enlisted deployment duration is 12 months.

This means you would be very hard pressed on your timeline. I also don't know which state your fiance lives in, but there are currently 5 States in the US (Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Montana, and Alabama) that have what we call a "Proxy Marriage" which is primarily used by Deployed military personnel who cannot physically be at their own wedding. Someone will stand in for him, and proceed through the ceremony.

If the timeline is too close for comfort, and a proxy marriage is available, he would need to bring the necessary forms for the other half of the process with him on deployment, and fill them out, then mail them back to his family, where you would review them, and submit them.

Closing statement ---- I could just be talking out of my ####### on this one, and there is something I am unaware of that prohibits the use of a Proxy Marriage for deployed military personnel who are marrying a K1 Visa holder.

So basically you're telling me we are screwed and there is no point in submitting our documents now.

Deployment will be for 9 months.

Current state is Savannah

Branch - Army (aviation)

[Boiler 45,158]

CR1 seems a more logical option.

[Lands55 0]

CR1 seems a more logical option.

That would require us to be already married. We are on opposite sides of the world right now

[Boiler 45,158]

You have it seems until February.

[Lands55 0]

You have it seems until February.

? ?

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

That would require us to be already married. We are on opposite sides of the world right now

Can't he come to SA to get married to you before he leaves for training in February?

Texas has "absentee marriage" which if your fiance is a Texas resident, he can apply for when you get your visa.

However, as a lay man, i think if you are coming to be with your love one who might be deployed by the time you get here then what difference does it make you waiting in SA until he gets back home? That's just my opinion.

I would suggest you go the Cr-1 route , at least that process takes a little longer so you could be here close to or after he returns.

Someone has already shared her experience on dealing with the address issue.Listen to her.

And good luck..

Edited December 14, 2015 by Ayisi&Phyllis

[sandra3711 52]

You can try to get your petition expedited since your fiancé is military

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

Can't he come to SA to get married to you before he leaves for training in February?

Texas has "absentee marriage" which if your fiance is a Texas resident, he can apply for when you get your visa.

However, as a lay man, i think if you are coming to be with your love one who might be deployed by the time you get here then what difference does it make you waiting in SA until he gets back home? That's just my opinion.

I would suggest you go the Cr-1 route , at least that process takes a little longer so you could be here close to or after he returns.

Someone has already shared her experience on dealing with the address issue.Listen to her.

And good luck..

Unfortunately she said their state is Savannah, by which I think she meant the City, which most likely puts them in Georgia which doesn't allow Proxy Marriages. I am thinking that they may need to Pursue the CR-1

[PickleChips 56]

My then-fiance, now husband, was given year long deployment orders the day we were going to send in our package. What we ended up doing was delaying the process so that my visa was approved and in hand by the time he returned. I didn't want to be uprooted and spend the first year of our marriage in a foreign country by myself and trust me, if you have the choice to spend his deployment surrounded by family and friends in your home, I would suggest doing it.

Just my two cents worth.

[Pennycat 880]

So basically you're telling me we are screwed and there is no point in submitting our documents now.

Deployment will be for 9 months.

Current state is Savannah

Branch - Army (aviation)

Absolutely not!

All new i-129f petitions have been being sent to the "faster" service center since April. They are averaging about a month to process them (see Step 2: http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1historical) Even if they do ever start sending them to the black hole of Texas ever again....Texas won't be all that slow. The slowness was the backlog. They've been working off the backlog since April. If they send new petitions there, there won't be any line ahead of you. You're good.

Military petitions also get expedited (after applying for the expedite) if there is a deployment on the horizon.

If you apply by the end of this month, you will be out of CSC by the end of February or sooner. Then about 2-3 months of time processing through State and the embassy. You should have your visa by the end of May.

Now, keep in mind however that this is with how things have been going up until the San Bernardino attack. No one how if or how that may affect future petitions.

But still, apply now. Your most likely scenario is that you're able to immigrate and marry a month before he deploys. Your worst case scenario is that he deploys before you have your visa. However, you can make it work. You don't need him for anything after the petition (as long as he fills out the affidavit of support that you'll need for the interview. If it looks like he'll deploy before your interview (which I sincerely doubt, personally but you never know)-- just have him send it to you right before he leaves so it is as current as possible for your interview. Then, you do all the things you need to do for the embassy alone (you'd probably do that all alone anyway), and get the visa. You then have about 6 months to use the visa (6 months from the date of your medical appointment, to be exact). He will (probably-- check this with him) get R&R during deployment. He can go back to the US during that period of time. You can meet him there, marry, and stay. You don't even have to apply for AOS until he's back from deployment (but you can). As long as you don't need to work, you're fine. And remember, this is the worst case scenario here. I believe that with your timeline, it'll be tight but you'll probably be alright. And if not, then you have some logistics to wrangle but it is all doable.

Edited to add: my timeline was all based on NO expedites, too. If he does get scheduled for a deployment, you can apply to expedite through USCIS and State/the embassy and probably make it in plenty of time.

The poster above makes a good point about being alone in a foreign country during deployment during your first year of marriage. Everyone is different, obviously, but that is something to think about.

Edited December 14, 2015 by CatherineA