Second meet in Lisbon???

[Rachaelandnaren 0]

Hi,

I am keen to meet my boyfriend for the second time in Lisbon but since he is from India, I am not sure what the chances of him getting a tourist visa are.

Some backstory about us:

We met in April 2014 at work (he was part of the offshore India team and me in US). He was a student in the UK and studied and worked there for 3.5 years before meeting me. We spoke at work and then carried it offline, became great friends and eventually fell in love. I was separated from my husband who I have a lovely 2 year old with. Once we hit it off we have been talking daily. I call him on my way to work and he is leaving work so we have a call logs of my half hour drive to work (Monday to Friday) till date apart from gifts, and cards and skype and whatsapp logs. We decided to take the relationship to the next step and I visited him in India in August 2015. I was there for a week and met all his family. Luckily his niece was born on the day I landed and I got to meet her as well. I have pictures with all of them.

So we initially planned to file for K1 visa and everything was fine and dandy till we read about the horrendous stories of K1 denials in India. Not that we don't have any red flags we surely do but we have been and will be absolutely honest about this process. Having said that, we cannot risk the rejection. Financially we have to think twice before making any decision. Now we are slowly warming up to the option of CR1 and would like to meet again. But since India is very far and I have a phobia of being on a plane, we want to meet in Portugal, Lisbon (A place where we always wanted to go) Him coming to the US seems out of bounds because of the many stories we have heard and read about Indians being rejected a tourist visa to the US. This meet is also so that he can meet my child and bond as I don't want to suddenly bring a man into my child's life out of the blue, although they say hi to each other on skype and that's all.

So here are my concerns/questions

1. Is it viable for a Indian citizen to get a Schengen visa for Portugal if the paperwork is as listed on the website?

2. Are there any proven ways to meet elsewhere where Indians can get a visa easily and its mid distance between India and US?

3. Third meet would be marriage in India with his family around in a Hindu ceremony and hoping all that should be enough to prove the bonafidity (if that is a word) of our relationship and we are praying and hoping that it should take care of our red flags (divorced, children, age gap [5 yrs older] ). Please advise.

Any off topic two cents would also be welcome. Inb4 I am a female, white, christian USC and he is male, brown (lol), Hindu, Indian beneficiary and we wish to have cute little beige babies.

[Dohan 133]

It is possible for an Indian citizen to get a Schengen visa. I would say Spain and Portugal are fairly easy.

Not sure what you mean by "proven ways to meet". But it is a BIG plus for your application that you went to India to meet him.

I don't really see an issue for you guys to do a K1 visa but if you already decided to do the CR1 it is your choice. Keep in mind you will be apart for several months up to a year after the wedding (unless you plan to be in India).

We did the K1, he had the interview at the Mumbai embassy and our journey has been fairly smooth, "touch wood" apart from one RFE which was an error of USCIS anyway.

[Rachaelandnaren 0]

It is possible for an Indian citizen to get a Schengen visa. I would say Spain and Portugal are fairly easy.

Not sure what you mean by "proven ways to meet". But it is a BIG plus for your application that you went to India to meet him.

I don't really see an issue for you guys to do a K1 visa but if you already decided to do the CR1 it is your choice. Keep in mind you will be apart for several months up to a year after the wedding (unless you plan to be in India).

We did the K1, he had the interview at the Mumbai embassy and our journey has been fairly smooth, "touch wood" apart from one RFE which was an error of USCIS anyway.

Hi Dohan,

First of all thanks a ton for taking the time to reply

Second of all congrats on your Visa and GC

By "proven ways to meet", I mean couples who have met in countries in which neither party resides. I can go down to India no issues but its a very long flight and I have a phobia of being on airplanes. Another thing, being able to take my two year old with me, Portugal seems a better option as I am of Portuguese descent (although born and brought up in America)

Here are some more red flags on our end which is making us lean towards CR1 (please feel free to dissuade us)

My now ex husband and I got married in Brazil in 2010 and I petitioned for him back then. He now has a GC and we have a child. Unfortunately the marriage did not work out and we are amicably separating right now. He still lives with me but this year we will be filing for taxes separately. We are in the midst of divorce and after we are officially divorced, I plan to travel to Lisbon(Anywhere he can get a visa for) to see my current boyfriend.

Post that we will have had 2-2.5 weeks of facetime (not sure if it is still enough to petition/marry). Having said this, we are still not sure if the CO will see this us as a legitimate relationship because we (My indian bf and I) got together when I was still 'technically' married. The fact that I have petitioned before screams red flag too. But just like this relationship my earlier relationship was legitimate (we had a child together). Not sure if the CO has the authority to reject us on moral grounds here. So me going to India and getting married seems like a better thing to do although I would love to take the K1 route and be with him sooner, we really cant afford a rejection as it will set us back financially.

My heart still believes that if we front load the K1 heavily, tell them everything as it happened, the truth and nothing but the truth, we might even get approved but its the 'Indian' Embassy and the posts on VJ have really scared us and we dont want to take a chance. We are also hiring a lawyer who knows the story inside out but we think its still better to do our research on here and not only rely on the lawyer.

I have more questions for you as I see from your timeline that you guys met in the UK. Did you need a PCC from UK as well? If so, how hard is it to get that from India?

R