We are a gay couple and both our parents are homophobes (along other things)

[Alex&Jose 1]

Hello everybody, I'm glad I've found this fine community. I've searched through the forum, perusing some information regarding gay couples and I've found some threads that have similarites to our case, but I'd still like to get help regarding some particular issues.

 

• I met my current fiancé ten years ago, and we've been on and off. I went to NYC -where he lives- to visit him but since technology wasn't that friendly in 2011, we don't have many pictures together. Should we put those in the application too? Since the USCIS only takes information from the most recent encounters, from what I understand. We also have some chatlogs from back then, even going far as back as 2008 in AOL. Should we screenshot those too? 

 

• And there's another matter that has been bugging us for a while... I was born in a strictly catholic family, and since coming out my private life has been something of a banned topic in my family. I haven't even told my parents that I'm engaged to my fiancé (who's a man). My fiancé has the same problem, his parents being Pentecostals and strongly opposing homosexuality. Could these family issues hurt our K1 Visa application?

 

• One last question... I've been living in Perú for the last 2 years but I was born in Venezuela. I have dual peruvian-venezuelan citizenship but the USCIS requires the fianceé (me) to show police records from all the countries in which I have resided. I have the police certificate from Venezuela, but, does it need an apostille stamp? Since I read in the Visa reciprocity and civil documents page regarding the American Embassy in Venezuela, that the venezuelan police certificates don't need that stamp -if presented there- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Venezuela.html do I still need the apostille stamp anyways?

 

 

Thank you so much for your help. Cheers.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Alex&Jose

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

No idea about your third question, but otherwise the whole unsupportive family stuff should not be a problem, I'm pretty sure COs see that regularly.

[debbiedoo 2,339]

third question- dont know. there should be a sub forum in here for Venezuela, they would likely know in there. 

 

first - they are most interested in the past 2 years. You can include older stuff too, but they need and want the past two years. other stuff is great for the interview stage to prove a long term ongoing relationship. 

 

family matters and issues wont have any effect on the immigration process.

[crono_clone 213]

1) I would include those as secondary or supporting evidence. Your primary evidence should still consist of passport stamps, boarding passes, etc as proof that you met at least once in the past two years, but proof of a relationship going back a decade is at least useful for proving that it's a bonafide relationship. 

 

2) Thankfully no, it shouldn't be an issue. Family approval might be used as a norm in some applications from highly-religious countries to help screen out fraud, but they don't seem to apply that to same-sex marriages because then none of us would ever get approved. 

 

3) Not sure sorry, you might need to ask in the South America forum. 

[Alex&Jose 1]

Thank you all for the input. The family matter was the most pressing issue for us, so we should now be able to move forward with the petition 😊

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

13 hours ago, Alex&Jose said:

Thank you all for the input. The family matter was the most pressing issue for us, so we should now be able to move forward with the petition 😊

Yeah this is increasingly a more common subject here on VJ but usually it deals with couples and the MENA region of the world. But overall you should be fine so do not worry at all. 

[Daniela M_______ 410]

19 hours ago, Alex&Jose said:

One last question... I've been living in Perú for the last 2 years but I was born in Venezuela. I have dual peruvian-venezuelan citizenship but the USCIS requires the fianceé (me) to show police records from all the countries in which I have resided. I have the police certificate from Venezuela, but, does it need an apostille stamp? Since I read in the Visa reciprocity and civil documents page regarding the American Embassy in Venezuela, that the venezuelan police certificates don't need that stamp -if presented there- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Venezuela.html do I still need the apostille stamp anyways?

Hello! I'm Venezuelan too, you don't need an apostille, police certificates are available online and they have some security elements like barcodes etc. Website is down most of the time so I suggest you to start trying to get it soon, it won't expire as long as you don't go back to Venezuela after having it.

 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

If your parents are not supportive move forward with your own happiness, you cannot control someone else's feelings. Don't exclude your families but include and invite them as you would prefer, it is up to them to accept or reject them, no need for you to accommodate you, hopefully they will see your love and overcome their phobia, best of luck and good wishes

[bakphx1 789]

My husband is Honduran whose family mostly doesn’t know.   That’s not an issue.

 

Nothing needs an apostille stamp.

 

 I t wouldn’t hurt to throw in a couple of tidbits to show you’ve known each other along time, but focus on the more recent time period you were officially deciding to be a committed couple.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

20 hours ago, debbiedoo said:

third question- dont know. there should be a sub forum in here for Venezuela, they would likely know in there. 

 

first - they are most interested in the past 2 years. You can include older stuff too, but they need and want the past two years. other stuff is great for the interview stage to prove a long term ongoing relationship. 

 

family matters and issues wont have any effect on the immigration process.

Every country has its own portal here where you can look to see all the posts from those from your same home country. If you list your home country in your profile your posts should automatically be able to be viewed there as well as I. The other forums. 

 

Including the older photos would show length of relationship. I would think it would be good to include some of that. 

[Alex&Jose 1]

2 hours ago, Daniela M_______ said:

Hello! I'm Venezuelan too, you don't need an apostille, police certificates are available online and they have some security elements like barcodes etc. Website is down most of the time so I suggest you to start trying to get it soon, it won't expire as long as you don't go back to Venezuela after having it.

 

Hi! Nice to see a fellow venezuelan here. I'm not sure if that's the case if I'm in a third country (Perú) applying for the visa. Did they accept the document without a stamp in your case -assuming you did it in the US Consulate in Mexico-? 

 

Thank you all for the answers.

[Daniela M_______ 410]

16 minutes ago, Alex&Jose said:

Hi! Nice to see a fellow venezuelan here. I'm not sure if that's the case if I'm in a third country (Perú) applying for the visa. Did they accept the document without a stamp in your case -assuming you did it in the US Consulate in Mexico-? 

 

Thank you all for the answers.

I'm still on the previous stage of the interview (waiting for NOA2). But all consulates must follow a list called "reciprocity documents" so if your documents are from Venezuela they should take that list that described all Venezuelan documents and follow whats in there to compare with what you are presenting.

 

From my research, Mexican consulate won't ask for apostille for foreign documents, and on this reciprocity list, police certificates are described without apostille.

 

Sure, if you can have it would be a plus but it is not required, however to be 100% sure you can call to the consulate or email them and make an inquire about this particular thing...

 

I have this link that I'm using as reference for this information, it even states that they accept the extension of the venezuelan passport https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Venezuela.html

 

 

And there are a lot of posts here in VJ of people going to a foreign consulate and I still haven't seen anyone mentioning about apostille. If you find something different please please let me know!

[carmel34 3,664]

Hi, as others have said, you do not need to bother with apostilles for the US immigration process.  But you will need an official translation for any document not in English, accompanied with a statement from the translator, signed, that they are qualified to do the translation.  Instructions for this are on the first form you will file, I-129 or I-130, found on the USCIS website.  I needed apostilles or certifications from state secretary of state offices when I was sending my US documents to Brazil to get married there, which took five months of bureaucracy and waiting.  I would recommend that you get married outside the US and apply for CR1 spouse visa.  A K-1 takes nearly as long from filing to interview, but with a CR1 your spouse can work immediately on arrival in the US, whereas with K-1 there is a long process of applying for employment authorization after arrival--some posts here say 6 months or more.  CR1 is also cheaper when you look at the total cost.  So look at some of the threads comparing K-1 to CR1 before you decide which one to file.  As for your family situation, I agree with other comments to your post, that it should not be an issue.  Just make sure that you include lots of evidence to show that you have been in a relationship and met each other multiple times.  I think that the reason some say to include photos with family is this would be evidence that the relationship is bona fide, but in your case, you could take photos with friends instead, and include some of their affidavits if you want to.  There is lots of good advice on this website.  Look around, there are real experiences here about every question you might have.  Good luck in your journey!

[TM92 527]

2 hours ago, carmel34 said:

I-129

I-129F

2 hours ago, carmel34 said:

A K-1 takes nearly as long from filing to interview, but with a CR1 your spouse can work immediately on arrival in the US, whereas with K-1 there is a long process of applying for employment authorization after arrival--some posts here say 6 months or more.  CR1 is also cheaper when you look at the total cost.  So look at some of the threads comparing K-1 to CR1 before you decide which one to file.

^^I agree 100%. @Alex&Jose, with the CR-1 you could have a courthouse wedding anywhere (US or somewhere else). Check out thread below:

Below is an analysis by @missileman:

Quote

This is my analysis of a K-1 vs a CR-1:

K-1

• More expensive than CR-1
• Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)
• Spouse can not leave the US until he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 3-4 months)
• Spouse can not work until he receives EAD (approx 3-4 months)
• Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period.
• Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.

CR-1

• Less expensive than K-1
• No AOS required.
• Spouse can immediately travel outside the US
• Spouse can start work if desired
• Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card withing 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US
• Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.

All-in-all, the CR-1 is superior to the K-1 imo.

Edited August 31, 2018 by TM92
Oops. No same-sex marriage in Peru

[bakphx1 789]

9 hours ago, carmel34 said:

Hi, as others have said, you do not need to bother with apostilles for the US immigration process.  But you will need an official translation for any document not in English, accompanied with a statement from the translator, signed, that they are qualified to do the translation.  

Online translating services are plentiful and I used several.  They send back a letter of authenticity as well, it usually was back the same day.  Spanish is a language that’s easy to find a translator for.  I used One Hour Translation, but compare prices.  I had no issues or surprises with any of them.

 

 If you decide to get married abroad let me know, we got married in a third country so I spent time researching those.  The main obstacle can be anti bigamy measures requiring you to both go two weeks in person to file for the license together.  Then remain in the country and marry later.  Also note that just having Same Sex Marriage doesn’t mean a country is available to go get married in as many countries’ regular marriage requirements require at least one of you to be a citizen and can have burdensome paperwork for noncitizens (Spain, for example, to our dismay).  We chose Iceland...we filed initially online and then submitted live documents via DHL once they reviewed it all. They are adept at handling foreign citizens marrying there.  We arrived and were good to go upon arrival (though my husband not being a fluent English speaker requires a translator at our expense).