K-1, K-3, or Cr-1?

[canadian_wife 1,822]

Yes, the "GUIDES" are a great place for FAQs

 

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php?title=Acronym_Summary

 

Good luck

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

you may have to prove how u met / has been asked for any times so i would suggest one of go back to the site and make a copy of original messages

these r the high fraud countries

http://mypathtocitizenship.com/which-countries-are-on-the-uscis-high-fraud-list/

[EandH0904 1,184]

16 hours ago, contrapuntal62 said:

she lives in West Africa. We met on an obscure special shared interest dating website. (We both deleted our accounts within a couple days of meeting).

I live in Texas. We want to meet in person so my original plan is to visit her in January, then file K-1 immediately upon return. Or should we marry there? Or just what is best? I am a newbie and did not even know of the Tourist Visa Cr-1 option until today. She is graduating from nursing school this year. opinions and advice much appreciated.

Peace

As a nurse myself, keep in mind her degree will be useless in the US. Unless she went to a US accredited nursing school she will not be eligible to sit for the boards here.  I have seen many foreign trained nurses (and physicians!) Have to start over here. 

I could not find any US accredited schools in Ghana. There are a few stating they are internationally accredited but US doesnt accept that certification.

 

If you cannot afford to travel for several months you need to look at all expenses involved in each petition, the fact that Ghana is a more difficult country to get a Visa from, and if you meet the income requirements. As you have a lot of time before you travel you have plenty of time to research pros and cons of CR1 vs K1

Edited June 26, 2018 by EandH0904

[Boiler 45,533]

Have you considered moving?

[O&GForever 387]

Having been through the Ghana embassy myself, I would highly recommend multiple trips and to stay as long as you can. I made 5 trips in 2 1/2 years in order to get my husband here. You're facing a very challenging embassy, so be prepared with plenty of good, quality evidence. I would highly recommend reading through the Ghana portal and the Consulate reviews to get a good understanding of the challenge you will be up against. 

 

Which visa path you choose is up to you. The process is shorter, but it will cost more and your fiance won't be able to work until after you're married and she receives an Employee Authorization. I've seen quite a few K1s approved recently through that embassy. That said history shows K1s are less likely to get approved in Ghana than a CR1. 

 

The CR1 will take a longer time, but she will get her greencard soon after arriving and can work immediately. 

 

Either way like I said earlier, plan to make multiple trips, collect a lot of good evidence to send in with your petition (frontloading) and prepare well. 

Edited June 26, 2018 by O&GForever

[O&GForever 387]

16 hours ago, contrapuntal62 said:

Starting in January we will be able to meet about very 3 months if I can continue to fly there or she gets a tourist visa just for a visit.

Its good that you can go back often in the new year. You should plan on that. It's very unlikely she will be able to get a tourist visa to come to the U.S. Ghana rarely gives tourist visas in general and if they do its to older people who are more established and likely to return home.

 

There have been several articles lately showing the issue of Ghanaian receiving tourist visas and abusing the privilege by not leaving the U.S. If I remember right, the articles says of the 16,000 tourist visas issued through the Ghana embassy a year about 7,000 don't return to the country. So unfortunately people there have made it almost impossible for others. 

[contrapuntal62 1]

1 hour ago, adil-rafa said:

you may have to prove how u met / has been asked for any times so i would suggest one of go back to the site and make a copy of original messages

these r the high fraud countries

http://mypathtocitizenship.com/which-countries-are-on-the-uscis-high-fraud-list/

That would be impossible I am rather certain. We met on a small special interest dating site, Within about 15  minutes, we communicated through google chat on Day 1. It was a free service so I do not even have financial record of that. She had been a member for a very short time when we met and I doubt she paid for her membership either (you got many perks for payment) I had been a member for about 1.5 years but never paid it much attention at all. 

 

However I have all of those chat records, photos sent etc from the very first communication past "Hi"------ I do believe I calculated at this rate I will have over 500 pages in about a month or 2 more. Of course if this will take a year it will be thousands of pages by then (in MS Word, single spaced, 12 point Times New Roman)

 

 

However, I have all

[Just Paul 4,595]

The chat logs are nice but you need the face to face time with lots of photos and proof of trips to see each other.

[contrapuntal62 1]

55 minutes ago, O&GForever said:

Its good that you can go back often in the new year. You should plan on that. It's very unlikely she will be able to get a tourist visa to come to the U.S. Ghana rarely gives tourist visas in general and if they do its to older people who are more established and likely to return home.

 

There have been several articles lately showing the issue of Ghanaian receiving tourist visas and abusing the privilege by not leaving the U.S. If I remember right, the articles says of the 16,000 tourist visas issued through the Ghana embassy a year about 7,000 don't return to the country. So unfortunately people there have made it almost impossible for others. 

thank you so much for the insight. this forum has lots of good members

46 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

The chat logs are nice but you need the face to face time with lots of photos and proof of trips to see each other.

oh yes i understand that completely

[contrapuntal62 1]

1 hour ago, O&GForever said:

Having been through the Ghana embassy myself, I would highly recommend multiple trips and to stay as long as you can. I made 5 trips in 2 1/2 years in order to get my husband here. You're facing a very challenging embassy, so be prepared with plenty of good, quality evidence. I would highly recommend reading through the Ghana portal and the Consulate reviews to get a good understanding of the challenge you will be up against. 

 

Which visa path you choose is up to you. The process is shorter, but it will cost more and your fiance won't be able to work until after you're married and she receives an Employee Authorization. I've seen quite a few K1s approved recently through that embassy. That said history shows K1s are less likely to get approved in Ghana than a CR1. 

 

The CR1 will take a longer time, but she will get her greencard soon after arriving and can work immediately. 

 

Either way like I said earlier, plan to make multiple trips, collect a lot of good evidence to send in with your petition (frontloading) and prepare well. 

Wow--thank you so much for those details. spending the most time there and its importance will be an enormous consideration for mt new career opportunities. When I get an offer I will discuss this as #1 issue, and use it as a bargaining chip

 

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Have you considered moving?

I am considering anything because I do not plan on anything preventing me from seeing her. I am in for the mountain climb of my life for sure.

[contrapuntal62 1]

2 hours ago, EandH0904 said:

As a nurse myself, keep in mind her degree will be useless in the US. Unless she went to a US accredited nursing school she will not be eligible to sit for the boards here.  I have seen many foreign trained nurses (and physicians!) Have to start over here. 

I could not find any US accredited schools in Ghana. There are a few stating they are internationally accredited but US doesnt accept that certification.

 

If you cannot afford to travel for several months you need to look at all expenses involved in each petition, the fact that Ghana is a more difficult country to get a Visa from, and if you meet the income requirements. As you have a lot of time before you travel you have plenty of time to research pros and cons of CR1 vs K1

I just spoke to a person at the Texas Board of Nursing. From what I read every state is different in it's laws.

Texas Board of Nursing (BON)
333 Guadalupe, Suite 3-460
Austin, TX 78701-3944
512-305- 7400; fax: 512-305- 7401
http://www.bon.state.tx.us/

 

I asked this question "If a new graduate with a Bachelors in Nursing moves from Ghana to Texas, what are the conditions under which she would be able to work as a nurse, or can she work at all? Will she have to get a brand new degree here?"

 

She read from a canned response. It was very specific:

"She has to have gotten her degree, or worked as a nurse there in her home country within the last 4 years.

She has to take the accreditation (I do not have the long acronym right now) test and pass."

 

That is it--precisely (but for the acronym). But thanks for the heads up. I thought I had already resolved/researched that issue a month ago--and do believe I did, but today was the first time I called the Texas Nursing Board instead of my local nursing school to find out.

 

[EandH0904 1,184]

1 minute ago, contrapuntal62 said:

I just spoke to a person at the Texas Board of Nursing. From what I read every state is different in it's laws.

Texas Board of Nursing (BON)
333 Guadalupe, Suite 3-460
Austin, TX 78701-3944
512-305- 7400; fax: 512-305- 7401
http://www.bon.state.tx.us/

 

I asked this question "If a new graduate with a Bachelors in Nursing moves from Ghana to Texas, what are the conditions under which she would be able to work as a nurse, or can she work at all? Will she have to get a brand new degree here?"

 

She read from a canned response. It was very specific:

"She has to have gotten her degree, or worked as a nurse there in her home country within the last 4 years.

She has to take the accreditation (I do not have the long acronym right now) test and pass."

 

That is it--precisely (but for the acronym). But thanks for the heads up. I thought I had already resolved/researched that issue a month ago--and do believe I did, but today was the first time I called the Texas Nursing Board instead of my local nursing school to find out.

 

Its the NCLEX exam - there are different medications, procedures, a ton of different things. 

There are NCLEX books you can take one for her to study. 

[contrapuntal62 1]

1 hour ago, O&GForever said:

Having been through the Ghana embassy myself, I would highly recommend multiple trips and to stay as long as you can. I made 5 trips in 2 1/2 years in order to get my husband here. You're facing a very challenging embassy, so be prepared with plenty of good, quality evidence. I would highly recommend reading through the Ghana portal and the Consulate reviews to get a good understanding of the challenge you will be up against. 

 

Which visa path you choose is up to you. The process is shorter, but it will cost more and your fiance won't be able to work until after you're married and she receives an Employee Authorization. I've seen quite a few K1s approved recently through that embassy. That said history shows K1s are less likely to get approved in Ghana than a CR1. 

 

The CR1 will take a longer time, but she will get her greencard soon after arriving and can work immediately. 

 

Either way like I said earlier, plan to make multiple trips, collect a lot of good evidence to send in with your petition (frontloading) and prepare well. 

Again thanks. So when I read a statement like this "Most immigrants from high fraud countries have a better chance of being approved for a spouse visa." I can discount it  http://mypathtocitizenship.com/which-countries-are-on-the-uscis-high-fraud-list/

[geowrian 22,337]

7 minutes ago, contrapuntal62 said:

She read from a canned response. It was very specific:

"She has to have gotten her degree, or worked as a nurse there in her home country within the last 4 years.

She has to take the accreditation (I do not have the long acronym right now) test and pass."

Yup, it's the NCLEX. That said, note that this isn't just something where she can schedule the exam, pass, and be done with it. One must first qualify for the NCLEX, which almost always involves Credential Verification (CV). This process took a few months for my now-wife (she's an RN) even with paying an extra $300 for an expedite.

Edit: It also required an application to the state's BON, which had to then grant it.

 

They may also require passing an standardized English Proficiency exam, if the classes were not in English.

Edited June 26, 2018 by geowrian

[contrapuntal62 1]

2 minutes ago, EandH0904 said:

Its the NCLEX exam - there are different medications, procedures, a ton of different things. 

There are NCLEX books you can take one for her to study. 

Thank you so much--yes--the NCLEX. Oh Ghana is so much is different in almost every way--but I understand--my ex is medical technologist (MT)--her entire world will change when she gets here.