K1 Visa and Employment

[Unidentified 2,930]

11 minutes ago, Yvonne90 said:

I'll look more into it. His aunt had to wait 6+ years, so he's very hesitant to go with it. 

Doesn't sound like she came here on a spousal visa or she had a very complicated and unusual case. 

[VisaCode 72]

32 minutes ago, Yvonne90 said:

I also wanted to clarify that my question wasn't really about money issues. I just wanted to know how long I had to be employed to be a sponsor. I do appreciate the feedback, though, and I'll look more into the CR1 process.

What was your taxable income last year? Length of time on the job is only a very small part of the picture. If you've just started a new job making similar money to what you were last year, no problem. If you just started a job making several multiples of what you made last year, that's gonna raise some eyebrows.

[WandY 430]

2 hours ago, Perfect two 💑 said:

I did feel like that before. However, when I think about it again, I don't think I will be able to do CR1. Spouse visa allowed you to work right away, but the waiting time is way longer. I don't like waiting without him by my side. We choose K-1 Visa because we were thinking the process is much more shorter than spouse visa and if the K-1 Visa was denied, we can either file another K-1 Visa again or get married and file for spouse visa. We can't do that if we apply spouse visa from the beginning. Aside from that, being with him as soon as my goals. But yeah, in terms of cost and not able to work, K-1 is more expensive and bored. 

Well said! If someone's goal is to have another income upon POE, then I'm not sure the heart is in the right place. Or maybe you can't really afford the whole international marriage process. I'm still happy we did the K-1 because it allowed us to be together in USA much quicker. Also, as noted in Perfect two's response, a K-1 denial gives us options (Vietnam has a lot of denials). My wife received her green card in three months after marriage ceremony. During those three months, she focused on learning our culture/language, exploring work/school options, planning our marriage, and basically adjusting to life in the U.S. I think the waiting time was very beneficial to the both of us. K-1 all the way!

[rrobin0609 387]

I wish I would have filed earlier, but I wanted to be moved out before I filed. Then I bought myself a car, and flights to go to the UK... then I returned and filed a week later only to get rejected because I was using an outdated version of the form which I had started about 20 months prior when we got engaged 

 

December 2016 - Graduate from college

December 2016 (three days later) - Fly to the UK

January 2017 - Return to US

January 2017 (three days later) - Start adult job

July 2017 - Buy plane tickets to UK

August 2017 - Move out of parents

September 2017 - Buy car

October 2017 - Fly to UK

October 2017 (two weeks later) - Return to the US

November 2017 - File I-129F with wrong petition version

November 2017 (two weeks later) - File I-129F with correct petition version

[Highmystic 234]

4 hours ago, Lsthorpe1 said:

 

Its a horrible process, right?! When was your NOA1/NOA2?

 

Our k1 was received early January 2017 and our NoA2 was late September 2017. POE was December 21st 2017

 

And now here I am - Still unable to work, visit my family back home. It’s definitely tough! I feel like the CR1 would have been a lot better for me personally.

 

 

After your POE, when was the wedding and filing for AOS?

 

[Lsthorpe1 129]

1 hour ago, Highmystic said:

After your POE, when was the wedding and filing for AOS?

 

We got married Feb 28th and sent off AOS, AP, EAD late March and our NOA1 was April 4th... the wait continues.

[Lsthorpe1 129]

1 hour ago, LizM said:

Some people wait long for EAD/AP, it can take up to 6 months at the moment. The person you're referring to however has a NOA1 date in early April, so that's likely why they're still waiting.

Yes, exactly. My NOA1 is April 4th (so I’ve been waiting over 4 months not 7. Oh goodness I hope it doesn’t get to 7)

 

 

 

 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

7 hours ago, WandY said:

Well said! If someone's goal is to have another income upon POE, then I'm not sure the heart is in the right place. Or maybe you can't really afford the whole international marriage process. I'm still happy we did the K-1 because it allowed us to be together in USA much quicker. Also, as noted in Perfect two's response, a K-1 denial gives us options (Vietnam has a lot of denials). My wife received her green card in three months after marriage ceremony. During those three months, she focused on learning our culture/language, exploring work/school options, planning our marriage, and basically adjusting to life in the U.S. I think the waiting time was very beneficial to the both of us. K-1 all the way!

Right now it takes many more months just for an EAD, and a green card takes a year. And it's not just the extra income that people are concerned about - for me staying home with nothing to do was horrible and much harder than I expected. It's just better for the immigrant to he able to build their own social network and working is a good way to do that. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

4 hours ago, Lsthorpe1 said:

We got married Feb 28th and sent off AOS, AP, EAD late March and our NOA1 was April 4th... the wait continues.

That’s why you’re 7 months then. You’re not 7 months from filling though. That’s a little misleading. 

[evapaula 230]

just to bring a little balance, we did K1 and we would do it all over again. At the time (2014) K1 was being processed extremely fast at CSC (ours took 4 months total),  but even with a few months difference now, we'd still choose to be together a little sooner. I did not want to be married and separated for the first year of our marriage. Sure, it was significantly more expensive and I had to wait for the actual green card to be considered by the employer I wanted (when I was selecting EAD as my work authorization, I never heard back on my applications). But on the other hand, I had plenty of time to get familiar with the neighborhood (I had a car waiting for me), the stores, the completely different products on the shelves etc. - and that was good for me. 

[jtrh 27]

6 hours ago, evapaula said:

just to bring a little balance, we did K1 and we would do it all over again. At the time (2014) K1 was being processed extremely fast at CSC (ours took 4 months total),  but even with a few months difference now, we'd still choose to be together a little sooner. I did not want to be married and separated for the first year of our marriage. Sure, it was significantly more expensive and I had to wait for the actual green card to be considered by the employer I wanted (when I was selecting EAD as my work authorization, I never heard back on my applications). But on the other hand, I had plenty of time to get familiar with the neighborhood (I had a car waiting for me), the stores, the completely different products on the shelves etc. - and that was good for me. 

Could you provide more feedback on job searching while waiting for the green card? We went with the K1, because when we applied back in Jan, it was still a long wait for the K1 but the green card stuff was only a 3 month wait. It's now shot up to 5-6 months, which is disheartening beyond belief. 

 

It's not that we NEED the money, but my fiancé is not going to be happy sitting around for 6 months waiting for work. I'm hoping that he can at least do a lot of job searching during that period and say that he will have a green card by X date on his applications. I know that will deter some employers looking for someone immediately, but I'm thinking that if maybe there are employers who aren't in a rush, they might consider him and we could even use an offer from an employer to expedite his green card request. 

 

Any advice?

[Barry Krebs 13]

I don't believe there is a minimum months or years you have to be employed.  But I agree that CR1 is better.  I am not a big fan of K1 visas overall. I almost came on one.  There are too many restrictions attached to it.  If you have a high net worth and can get by on one income and can afford AOS fees , that's one thing.   But I do not see that here based on this post.

[clarkyzp33 3]

how much you earn? more than 50k should  be good enough.

[Jaquelly 1,647]

32 minutes ago, clarkyzp33 said:

how much you earn? more than 50k should  be good enough.

You don't have to earn that much. The minimum is in the 20k area. Don't mislead people.

[iwir 337]

10 hours ago, Orangesapples said:

Right now it takes many more months just for an EAD, and a green card takes a year. And it's not just the extra income that people are concerned about - for me staying home with nothing to do was horrible and much harder than I expected. It's just better for the immigrant to he able to build their own social network and working is a good way to do that. 

There are many ways to build your own social network beside having a job and you don't have to stay at home doing nothing if that's what you want. You can go volunteer at food bank helping those in need or pursuing new hobbies and meet new people with the same interests. To be honest work place is not always the best place to find friends based on my experience.

Your co-workers are there when you're at work and they mind their own business. To me my self worth is not determined by my job. There are so many things to explore in a new place. I'm not worried I'll be bored