K-1 Visa - Cuba Document Questions

[TatiyPablo 32]

Hello! This is my first post on VisaJourney and as such, would like to briefly give thanks to all of the wonderful people who make up this community, graciously sharing their experiences, advice, and support on this website. The immigration process is daunting, particularly in matters where your loved ones are concerned, and it's incredible to have an online community like this to help wade through the waters!

I live in New York and am gearing up to apply for a K-1 Visa for my fiancé who lives in Havana, Cuba. We've gathered most of the pertinent documents but a few questions have sprung up along the way.

1. Statement of Intent to Marry: Both my fiancé and I have written short letters of intent to marry based off of templates we found online. My first question is, can these be relatively short statements? In my supplement for I-129F, sec. 34a. I've attached a lengthy, detailed description of how we met and how our relationship has evolved. Additionally, I was thinking about writing another summary text with a timeline of our relationship, to include with our evidence. So does a short letter stating intent to marry upon entry to the US suffice, or should this be longer and more descriptive? Finally, I will notarize my letter in New York but how and where can my fiancé notarize or legalize his statement in Havana? Is it necessary, and if so, can I have a lawyer in New York notarize his letter along with mine?

2. Affidavit of Bona Fide Relationship: To further support our case, we have asked friends in family in New York and Havana to write letters attesting to their knowledge of our relationship. My question is do these affidavits, or letters, need to be notarized? It is no problem for my friends and family in New York, we can get them notarized by a lawyer, but how can we get my fiancé's mother's, cousin's, and friend's letters notarized in Cuba? Is it possible to notarize these documents in Cuba? When I was in Havana last month, I met with a lawyer at Bufete Internacional, and he told me it was impossible to get these kinds of documents or personal statements notarized (or legalized?) in Cuba - but I would like to confirm. For those of you have applied for a K-1 or I-130, how did you notarize/legalize your partner's documents and letters from friends and family in Cuba? Additionally, I just used a template of third party affidavits found online and personalized them to give to friends and family - is this correct?

3. Cuban Birth Certificate and Single Certificate: I have a few official copies of my fiancé's birth certificate and single certificate that I plan to submit with my petition. Do I have to do anything aside from translating these with a certified translator?

4. Evidence: I have an excess of evidence for our case, thousands of pictures of us together and with his family and friends, thousands of emails, Whatsapp messages, IMO call logs, CubaMessenger and SMSHabana messages (we've tried it all). I have phone records from my carrier Verizon and from his carrier Etecsa showing that we've talked everyday since meeting, Rebtel and Boss Revolution receipts and call logs (some of you must know the $truggle of calling Cuba!!!) Letters from friends and family. And finally boarding passes/passport stamps from five trips I've taken over the past eight months. What's the best strategy for submitting evidence? Is it best to select a varied sampling stretching over the course of the relationship, or is a "more is more" approach aka an information dump, more preferable?

Thank you to anyone who has made it this far and taken the time to read through my questions - I would hug you if I could! Any help on this, on some or all of my questions, is so greatly appreciated. Thank you again. Love to all! x

[forena99 74]

Hi TatiyPablo,

Thanks for writing such a lovely intro about your story to be together. I wish you two the best in your journey. I just submitted my application for K-1 visa for my Cuban fiance on Nov 1st and am now a bit nervous because it seems we both had different approaches to our application. I did look on this website to see what others were doing, and I also followed along one of the NOLO books for filing a fiance visa. I thought I did my research, but now am finding some contradictions and also changes in recent months due to technology, which makes the book I read perhaps out of date.

1. My fiance and I both submitted Statements of Intent to Marry. We did not notarize them because I had read that it was not necessary. Plus a friend of mine who went through the same process (K-1 visa from Cuba) several years ago (6 yrs ago) said she did not need to. Ours were short and sweet. We just used the templates we found on this site or on the internet similar site. I do plan on taking a fresh copy to the interview in case they need more current ones, because I heard they expire after 30 days, but then I also heard 6 months. Does anyone know when they expire?

Also, I heard that the the "How we met" explanation didn't need to go over one page. That simpler was better.

2. As for getting supporting documentation notarized, I was not aware that was needed. Based on my research I have not read it to be required. I like the idea of having friends and family write a letter. And though it is not required for the first phase of your petition, I understand these type of documents may be more important during the interview process, though I'm not sure.

3. I am also not sure where it says it is required for you to send the birth certificate of your fiance. I do not believe that is required for the petition. I guess it just depends on what your situation is. I'm planning on waiting for the interview date to bring these documents. I don't know about having official documents translated...

4. For evidence, I would definitely take a sampling from each month. This is what I did. The idea is to prove that your relationship is ongoing. The idea is not to inundate the consulate officer with every detail of how your relationship has progressed (as thoroughly interesting and romantic that story may be). =) Also, because this is not official documentation, I understood it was not required to be translated, or at least not by a certified translator. I used Google translate to translate our fb chats (roughly 70 pages single spaced).

Question to you: How do you get IMO call logs? I've been trying to access those!!!

Thanks for asking questions, because I had and have similar ones. I'm wondering if because we applying for Cuba, that maybe some documents such as the Intent to Marry and passport photos can be more than 30 days old, since it took so long for his to get here.

Cheers,

Forena

[TatiyPablo 32]

Hi Forena! Thanks for your reply and congrats on submitting your I-129F! So for IMO, all I could get was records of our missed calls (which there are a lot of because you know..Cuban internet!!) I was planning on doing some research to find a way to get a comprehensive call log...I'll update you when I get to this!

Do you use Rebtel or Boss Revolution, any of those international calling services, to call Cuba? I started using them regularly after both my fiancé and I racked up a few terrifyingly expensive phone bills. If so, did you submit your receipts/call logs? I was planning on submitting both. But now worried I have too much information! Today I printed out 60 photos, and we have our engagement photoshoot scheduled for my next trip in a few weeks...Wondering if I'm going overboard :-X uh oh