Being interviewed for K-3 in a third country (not my native country or US)

[alongjourney 0]

My husband and I got married last September in the U.S. and he submitted I-130 in late February. We have received NOA-1. Now we are planning to also try the K-3 route as well.

I am not living in the U.S. nor in my native country (where I have my passport from), but living in a third country due to my work. We haven't submitted the I-129F form yet.

I think the policy is that if you got married in the U.S., you need to be interviewed in your country of "residence." Does this mean a country where you have your official residence (like permanent residence -- more like your native country), or simply where you "live"?

So my question is:

1. Is it possible to be interviewed in the third country where I live in now? Any delays, difficulties, additional forms expected if I decide to go this route?

Thank you!

[aicha 0]

My husband and I got married last September in the U.S. and he submitted I-130 in late February. We have received NOA-1. Now we are planning to also try the K-3 route as well.

I am not living in the U.S. nor in my native country (where I have my passport from), but living in a third country due to my work. We haven't submitted the I-129F form yet.

I think the policy is that if you got married in the U.S., you need to be interviewed in your country of "residence." Does this mean a country where you have your official residence (like permanent residence -- more like your native country), or simply where you "live"?

So my question is:

1. Is it possible to be interviewed in the third country where I live in now? Any delays, difficulties, additional forms expected if I decide to go this route?

Thank you!

I am going to get you two sets of information on this - I happen to be having problems in our consulate, so have been getting information on this very area - not that i am going to do this, but it will answer your questions I hope. So I am just copying and pasting the info out of my e-mail directly from my attorney - here they are:

1) Another option would be to divorce and remarry in another country so that we can process through a more friendly Consulate. Morocco is more of a problem than other jurisdictions. We had a recent case where there was a problem with the Ho Chi Minh Consulate in Vietnam, another PIA Consulate. The couple then married in Jamaica and we processed there. The Jamaican Consulate wanted to know what is going on and we told them about problems at Ho Chi Minh. The Kingston staff then contacted Ho Chi Minh directly and asked for comment. When Kingston received a reply from Ho Chi Minh, the officer forwarded it to me with his comment: "That's ridiculous!" The spousal visa was issued in Kingston. My suggestion would be that you set the record now with Morocco, but do not expect them to issue the visa. It is likely they will not do so. You need to consider moving the case to another Consulate and processing there with explanation. Thank you.

2) Jurisdiction for CR processing is set at the foreigner's place of residence, not the place of marriage. If we could get residency status for your husband in a country other than Morocco, perhaps we could solve the problem.

Good Luck in your endeavor - I hope I have helped in some way.

[alongjourney 0]

My husband and I got married last September in the U.S. and he submitted I-130 in late February. We have received NOA-1. Now we are planning to also try the K-3 route as well.

I am not living in the U.S. nor in my native country (where I have my passport from), but living in a third country due to my work. We haven't submitted the I-129F form yet.

I think the policy is that if you got married in the U.S., you need to be interviewed in your country of "residence." Does this mean a country where you have your official residence (like permanent residence -- more like your native country), or simply where you "live"?

So my question is:

1. Is it possible to be interviewed in the third country where I live in now? Any delays, difficulties, additional forms expected if I decide to go this route?

Thank you!

I am going to get you two sets of information on this - I happen to be having problems in our consulate, so have been getting information on this very area - not that i am going to do this, but it will answer your questions I hope. So I am just copying and pasting the info out of my e-mail directly from my attorney - here they are:

1) Another option would be to divorce and remarry in another country so that we can process through a more friendly Consulate. Morocco is more of a problem than other jurisdictions. We had a recent case where there was a problem with the Ho Chi Minh Consulate in Vietnam, another PIA Consulate. The couple then married in Jamaica and we processed there. The Jamaican Consulate wanted to know what is going on and we told them about problems at Ho Chi Minh. The Kingston staff then contacted Ho Chi Minh directly and asked for comment. When Kingston received a reply from Ho Chi Minh, the officer forwarded it to me with his comment: "That's ridiculous!" The spousal visa was issued in Kingston. My suggestion would be that you set the record now with Morocco, but do not expect them to issue the visa. It is likely they will not do so. You need to consider moving the case to another Consulate and processing there with explanation. Thank you.

2) Jurisdiction for CR processing is set at the foreigner's place of residence, not the place of marriage. If we could get residency status for your husband in a country other than Morocco, perhaps we could solve the problem.

Good Luck in your endeavor - I hope I have helped in some way.

Hi, thank you for the response. Regarding 2) from your attorney, my question is, what is the "residency status" that your husband can get. If he simply moves to another country and live there for a while, that means "residency" in a country? I'm working in this country (not the country of my passport or the U.S.) for about a year under a non-immigrant visa. Would it count as "residence"?

[meauxna 15]

My husband and I got married last September in the U.S. and he submitted I-130 in late February. We have received NOA-1. Now we are planning to also try the K-3 route as well.

I am not living in the U.S. nor in my native country (where I have my passport from), but living in a third country due to my work. We haven't submitted the I-129F form yet.

I think the policy is that if you got married in the U.S., you need to be interviewed in your country of "residence." Does this mean a country where you have your official residence (like permanent residence -- more like your native country), or simply where you "live"?

So my question is:

1. Is it possible to be interviewed in the third country where I live in now? Any delays, difficulties, additional forms expected if I decide to go this route?

Thank you!

The K-3 visa interview must take place in the country of marriage (unless married in the US). If married in the US, the interview takes place in the country of your residence, so yes, if you are legally resident in this mysterious 3rd country and indicate that's your residence on your I-129f petition, that is where your interview will go.

A similar thing to our case--I'm US, my husband was UK, he lived in Greece. We filed our entire case through Athens.

Normally, the Embassy in the 3rd country needs to know that you have 6+ months of legal forward stay there. IE: you have a visa that allows you to remain there for the coming 6 months.

I am going to get you two sets of information on this - I happen to be having problems in our consulate, so have been getting information on this very area - not that i am going to do this, but it will answer your questions I hope. So I am just copying and pasting the info out of my e-mail directly from my attorney - here they are:

1) Another option would be to divorce and remarry in another country so that we can process through a more friendly Consulate. Morocco is more of a problem than other jurisdictions. We had a recent case where there was a problem with the Ho Chi Minh Consulate in Vietnam, another PIA Consulate. The couple then married in Jamaica and we processed there. The Jamaican Consulate wanted to know what is going on and we told them about problems at Ho Chi Minh. The Kingston staff then contacted Ho Chi Minh directly and asked for comment. When Kingston received a reply from Ho Chi Minh, the officer forwarded it to me with his comment: "That's ridiculous!" The spousal visa was issued in Kingston. My suggestion would be that you set the record now with Morocco, but do not expect them to issue the visa. It is likely they will not do so. You need to consider moving the case to another Consulate and processing there with explanation. Thank you.

2) Jurisdiction for CR processing is set at the foreigner's place of residence, not the place of marriage. If we could get residency status for your husband in a country other than Morocco, perhaps we could solve the problem.

Good Luck in your endeavor - I hope I have helped in some way.

Very interesting that your attorney would make these suggestions. This practice is known as 'consulate shopping' and is frowned upon if the COs get wind of it. You should be aware that there can still be delays when using this approach, as the 3rd country Consulate will not be familiar with the foreign documents and may send them out---may have their antennae put up because they wonder what the applicant is trying to hide.

I know Casa is a tricky Consulate, but proceed with caution.

[aicha 0]

My husband and I got married last September in the U.S. and he submitted I-130 in late February. We have received NOA-1. Now we are planning to also try the K-3 route as well.

I am not living in the U.S. nor in my native country (where I have my passport from), but living in a third country due to my work. We haven't submitted the I-129F form yet.

I think the policy is that if you got married in the U.S., you need to be interviewed in your country of "residence." Does this mean a country where you have your official residence (like permanent residence -- more like your native country), or simply where you "live"?

So my question is:

1. Is it possible to be interviewed in the third country where I live in now? Any delays, difficulties, additional forms expected if I decide to go this route?

Thank you!

I am going to get you two sets of information on this - I happen to be having problems in our consulate, so have been getting information on this very area - not that i am going to do this, but it will answer your questions I hope. So I am just copying and pasting the info out of my e-mail directly from my attorney - here they are:

1) Another option would be to divorce and remarry in another country so that we can process through a more friendly Consulate. Morocco is more of a problem than other jurisdictions. We had a recent case where there was a problem with the Ho Chi Minh Consulate in Vietnam, another PIA Consulate. The couple then married in Jamaica and we processed there. The Jamaican Consulate wanted to know what is going on and we told them about problems at Ho Chi Minh. The Kingston staff then contacted Ho Chi Minh directly and asked for comment. When Kingston received a reply from Ho Chi Minh, the officer forwarded it to me with his comment: "That's ridiculous!" The spousal visa was issued in Kingston. My suggestion would be that you set the record now with Morocco, but do not expect them to issue the visa. It is likely they will not do so. You need to consider moving the case to another Consulate and processing there with explanation. Thank you.

2) Jurisdiction for CR processing is set at the foreigner's place of residence, not the place of marriage. If we could get residency status for your husband in a country other than Morocco, perhaps we could solve the problem.

Good Luck in your endeavor - I hope I have helped in some way.

Hi, thank you for the response. Regarding 2) from your attorney, my question is, what is the "residency status" that your husband can get. If he simply moves to another country and live there for a while, that means "residency" in a country? I'm working in this country (not the country of my passport or the U.S.) for about a year under a non-immigrant visa. Would it count as "residence"?

I believe that meauxna answered this question in their post. So did not want to make another post on the same information. good luck

[aicha 0]

My husband and I got married last September in the U.S. and he submitted I-130 in late February. We have received NOA-1. Now we are planning to also try the K-3 route as well.

I am not living in the U.S. nor in my native country (where I have my passport from), but living in a third country due to my work. We haven't submitted the I-129F form yet.

I think the policy is that if you got married in the U.S., you need to be interviewed in your country of "residence." Does this mean a country where you have your official residence (like permanent residence -- more like your native country), or simply where you "live"?

So my question is:

1. Is it possible to be interviewed in the third country where I live in now? Any delays, difficulties, additional forms expected if I decide to go this route?

Thank you!

The K-3 visa interview must take place in the country of marriage (unless married in the US). If married in the US, the interview takes place in the country of your residence, so yes, if you are legally resident in this mysterious 3rd country and indicate that's your residence on your I-129f petition, that is where your interview will go.

A similar thing to our case--I'm US, my husband was UK, he lived in Greece. We filed our entire case through Athens.

Normally, the Embassy in the 3rd country needs to know that you have 6+ months of legal forward stay there. IE: you have a visa that allows you to remain there for the coming 6 months.

I am going to get you two sets of information on this - I happen to be having problems in our consulate, so have been getting information on this very area - not that i am going to do this, but it will answer your questions I hope. So I am just copying and pasting the info out of my e-mail directly from my attorney - here they are:

1) Another option would be to divorce and remarry in another country so that we can process through a more friendly Consulate. Morocco is more of a problem than other jurisdictions. We had a recent case where there was a problem with the Ho Chi Minh Consulate in Vietnam, another PIA Consulate. The couple then married in Jamaica and we processed there. The Jamaican Consulate wanted to know what is going on and we told them about problems at Ho Chi Minh. The Kingston staff then contacted Ho Chi Minh directly and asked for comment. When Kingston received a reply from Ho Chi Minh, the officer forwarded it to me with his comment: "That's ridiculous!" The spousal visa was issued in Kingston. My suggestion would be that you set the record now with Morocco, but do not expect them to issue the visa. It is likely they will not do so. You need to consider moving the case to another Consulate and processing there with explanation. Thank you.

2) Jurisdiction for CR processing is set at the foreigner's place of residence, not the place of marriage. If we could get residency status for your husband in a country other than Morocco, perhaps we could solve the problem.

Good Luck in your endeavor - I hope I have helped in some way.

Very interesting that your attorney would make these suggestions. This practice is known as 'consulate shopping' and is frowned upon if the COs get wind of it. You should be aware that there can still be delays when using this approach, as the 3rd country Consulate will not be familiar with the foreign documents and may send them out---may have their antennae put up because they wonder what the applicant is trying to hide.

I know Casa is a tricky Consulate, but proceed with caution.

Yes, he told me that it was referred to as consulate shopping. I am not even considering this road - to me it is unethical - I did not marry my husband to turn around and divorce him - let alone we are not rich with money. I will continue to go the route we are going and work with Senator's - my lawyer is kind of being pushed out of the picture at the moment.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

This is so crazy.. YOU ARE LIVING IN MOROCCO wth him.. and they are denying your petition.

and I see some of these marriage broker bimbos getting the visas left and right. These girls cannot possibly know all the personal info of these men they meet on the russian trips and then the guys go back home , apply for the 129f and they get approved and then you are actually LIVING with him and they say NO... Whats the deal? You are living with him and you even have SHEEP together.. I want to get so mad I cannot stand it. Makes a person very afraid to do the K3 for fear you will be stuck in some horrible twilight situation. I have seen several of these in Morocco. Whats the deal with the Moroccan consulate?

[aicha 0]

This is so crazy.. YOU ARE LIVING IN MOROCCO wth him.. and they are denying your petition.

and I see some of these marriage broker bimbos getting the visas left and right. These girls cannot possibly know all the personal info of these men they meet on the russian trips and then the guys go back home , apply for the 129f and they get approved and then you are actually LIVING with him and they say NO... Whats the deal? You are living with him and you even have SHEEP together.. I want to get so mad I cannot stand it. Makes a person very afraid to do the K3 for fear you will be stuck in some horrible twilight situation. I have seen several of these in Morocco. Whats the deal with the Moroccan consulate?

I wish I could answer that - yes, it is crazy, but I am stuck in this situation for the time being. I can only pray that it gets worked out - the Senator on my case is trying to get things expedited - they were not too happy when they seen the papers were returned. From what I am finding out about the Morocco CO - it is a 50/50 shot for anyone walking in there. We have a lot of things together, but the CO did not seem to care about seeing any of it. Thanks for the comments though!

Cheryl (Aicha)