How important is it for me to be at the interview?

[biotex 4]

Our Kiev interview is upcoming. The plan is for my fiancee to go to the interview alone, then I will fly there to escort her to the US aprox. 1 month after her visa is approved. I can certainly fly there on expensive last minute tickets if I thought it could make the difference or not of her getting approved or not. What are your thoughts?

[Khallaf 650]

3 minutes ago, biotex said:

Our Kiev interview is upcoming. The plan is for my fiancee to go to the interview alone, then I will fly there to escort her to the US aprox. 1 month after her visa is approved. I can certainly fly there on expensive last minute tickets if I thought it could make the difference or not of her getting approved or not. What are your thoughts?

it could go either way, K1 have been denied before with both there, so imo it could go either way, as long as you have strong evidence I wouldn't but others would say go. It is a personal preference. 

[Lenchick 133]

1 minute ago, biotex said:

Our Kiev interview is upcoming. The plan is for my fiancee to go to the interview alone, then I will fly there to escort her to the US aprox. 1 month after her visa is approved. I can certainly fly there on expensive last minute tickets if I thought it could make the difference or not of her getting approved or not. What are your thoughts?

It won’t make any difference if you have presented enough proofs of your ongoing relationship. She can mention that you will escort her at the intervew. Many couples get approved without their significant present at the intervew. I think they understand that it’s a long way to travel to Ukraine. Many people don’t even come to pick up their spouses or fiancés. It’s not even a requirement. But you do what you think is best for both of you. Good luck! 

[biotex 4]

Just now, Lenchick said:

It won’t make any difference if you have presented enough proofs of your ongoing relationship. She can mention that you will escort her at the intervew. Many couples get approved without their significant present at the intervew. I think they understand that it’s a long way to travel to Ukraine. Many people don’t even come to pick up their spouses or fiancés. It’s not even a requirement. But you do what you think is best for both of you. Good luck! 

That's good to hear. Thanks.

To give you an idea of what I go through; not that I'm complaining, but it's not a lot of fun:

8 hour drive to the airport, 2 hours wait at Houston airport for plane. 13 hour flight, maybe more. couple days later, turn around and do it again. It's all ok until the 8 hour drive home to West Texas. It's a brutal trip. Very hard for me to take more that 4 days off at one time or i'd do it every month. I love visiting Kiev. The history in that city is unbelievably rich.

[payxibka 10,045]

13 minutes ago, biotex said:

Our Kiev interview is upcoming. The plan is for my fiancee to go to the interview alone, then I will fly there to escort her to the US aprox. 1 month after her visa is approved. I can certainly fly there on expensive last minute tickets if I thought it could make the difference or not of her getting approved or not. What are your thoughts?

In a previous life, I  wasn't present in Kyiv and visa was approved.  It is all about the evidence you assemble and present

[Lenchick 133]

1 minute ago, biotex said:

That's good to hear. Thanks.

To give you an idea of what I go through; not that I'm complaining, but it's not a lot of fun:

8 hour drive to the airport, 2 hours wait at Houston airport for plane. 13 hour flight, maybe more. couple days later, turn around and do it again. It's all ok until the 8 hour drive home to West Texas. It's a brutal trip. Very hard for me to take more that 4 days off at one time or i'd do it every month. I love visiting Kiev. The history in that city is unbelievably rich.

Do not worry! I think they understand that  at the embassy very well and that’s why they didn’t make it a requirement. More over people can’t just take off from their work whenever they want. 

[biotex 4]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

In a previous life, I  wasn't present in Kyiv and visa was approved.  It is all about the evidence you assemble and present

Speaking of evidence... We have Skype conversations every day since we met. They are near impossible to print. About all you can do is to chose some screen shots. I have traveled to Kyiv twice and we have many pictures together. We met through a mutual friend of her sister. Any advice on what to bring as far as Skype conversation goes? 

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, biotex said:

Speaking of evidence... We have Skype conversations every day since we met. They are near impossible to print. About all you can do is to chose some screen shots. I have traveled to Kyiv twice and we have many pictures together. We met through a mutual friend of her sister. Any advice on what to bring as far as Skype conversation goes? 

I would screen shot samples of chats and call logs showing a pattern of constant communication.  The visits will be stronger evidence anyway

[Lenchick 133]

Just now, biotex said:

Speaking of evidence... We have Skype conversations every day since we met. They are near impossible to print. About all you can do is to chose some screen shots. I have traveled to Kyiv twice and we have many pictures together. We met through a mutual friend of her sister. Any advice on what to bring as far as Skype conversation goes? 

 Boarding passes and electronic tickets of your travel. You can make a copy of them if you saved and attach those pieces of the passes to the electronic itirnareries. Hotel or apartment reservations of your stay in Kiev. Screen shots of Skype calls are okay too. If you gave her gifts or sent her money, print those receipts. You probably wrote her emails? That will do too. You can assemble  it all into trips to

make it easier for them to navigate. If you had a couple of trips, collect all the evidences from the trip one, together with pictures and tickets and then separately from the  trip two. 

[Shiran 1,134]

6 hours ago, biotex said:

Speaking of evidence... We have Skype conversations every day since we met. They are near impossible to print. About all you can do is to chose some screen shots. I have traveled to Kyiv twice and we have many pictures together. We met through a mutual friend of her sister. Any advice on what to bring as far as Skype conversation goes? 

You are overthinking a bit. Read Kyiv embassy reviews. They are pretty chill there. I've personally seen several folks get approval and they were there by themselves. A few pictures together, a few screenshots from Skype, or WhatsApp or Telegram/Viber but more importantly when asked that question, she should be prepared to answer just like that "We talk daily on the Skype, we have some samples but it is hard to print." That is it. You do not need a huge book of evidence. 

[TBoneTX 45,303]

15 hours ago, Lenchick said:

they understand that  at the embassy very well and that’s why they didn’t make it a requirement.

This is enlightened and a true boon.  No one wants to hear what those of my era had to go through at the rogue Guayaquil consulate -- automatic 221g or outright refusal if the petitioner wasn't there at the first interview (an unstated requirement!).  Until a couple of years ago, or maybe even currently, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) mandated the petitioner's presence, but they were clear about it.

 

In general, the petitioner's presence at a K-1/CR-1 interview can be valuable if questions arise and the CO can get answers then and there, rather than requiring a return visit.  However, this is probably rather infrequent.

15 hours ago, biotex said:

the 8 hour drive home to West Texas. It's a brutal trip.

Alpine is, I think, the largest U.S. city to be so far from an international airport.  Beautiful area, however, and enviable to visit.

Edited April 19, 2019 by TBoneTX

[HP+IC 292]

Look at your I-129F file. How large is your initial evidence? Is it well-organized? Is it persuasive enough? How clear is your relationship? Do you have red flags? Did you address them as early as initial filing? Then ask yourself and your fiancee, what would she prefer: being there with you or having you there for travel? In my personal experience, they didn't care to look through the evidence of on-going relationship but 50% of questions were addressed to my fiance. Also the CO appeared to rather look through the binded file instead of the pile of screenshots or transcripts people used to bring (there was a person before us so I could relate). When we approached the kiosk, all that stuff was already pushed back through the slot, while during the interview he went back and forth to the file. The interview is a life changing event, travel is not. Focus on what is really important for you and your partner, evaluate the risky points, if any, and do what you think is best for the two of you.

 

 

 

 

[A.V 13]

We also thinking about my fiance attending my interview in Kyiv, though it will be very complicated for him because of the busy season at work. I know Kyiv is rather easy embassy, but we have a red flag. He previously applied to K1 in 2015 (she was Ukrainian too if it matters). They never got married and she returned home within 90 days. Do you have any ideas how big and significant this red flag is? 

We had 5 personal meetings during last 2.5 years, so obviously have a lot of evidence. 

Thanks for any advice. 

[HP+IC 292]

I am mostly sure you will be asked about this relationship and his ex if you go alone. There is hardly anything more personal and committing than being open with each other about relationships/marriages that failed. You know better if and how you can speak on this matter. In our case my USC fiance was married a few times and filed an I-130 for someone he met and married in the US. I was prepared to discuss all his marriages but we were there together and they never asked. By the way, this was the main reason I wanted him there, since we did have some more red flags. None of them seemed to matter as long as the two of us appeared with my son. In a nutshell, his ex alone will hardly be an issue as long as you will be composed, calm and open about what you should reasonably know. 

[biotex 4]

1 hour ago, A.V said:

We also thinking about my fiance attending my interview in Kyiv, though it will be very complicated for him because of the busy season at work. I know Kyiv is rather easy embassy, but we have a red flag. He previously applied to K1 in 2015 (she was Ukrainian too if it matters). They never got married and she returned home within 90 days. Do you have any ideas how big and significant this red flag is? 

We had 5 personal meetings during last 2.5 years, so obviously have a lot of evidence. 

Thanks for any advice. 

In my opinion there is no red flag. The woman returned to Kiev within 90 days. To me this shows that both parties had nothing but honorable intentions. Same as now! I wouldn't worry about it.