Pregnancy and K-1 (not about expedited visa!)

[uapilot 68]

My fiance and I are sitting around in Kyiv, Ukraine waiting for K visa interviews to resume. We've been putting off getting pregnant (and moving on with our lives) earlier in the immigration process because I've read around the internet that a pregnancy on the medical exam could be grounds for delaying a visa approval pending a paternity test, and in addition to not wanting us to be here any longer than we have to, I didn't want to risk my fiance giving birth in a country with a less than stellar medical system (putting it mildly).

 

Now though, we have no good indicator of when the Kyiv embassy will resume interviews. Some sources are suggesting because of the backlog of applications, an interview date could be months away even after interviews resume. So we're rethinking our strategy. Still though, if not getting pregnant means we leave in (let's say) 4 months instead of 13 months, we'd choose the former and not the latter.

 

And so we'd like a conclusive answer to the question: can a pregnancy delay a visa approval because of the question of paternity? And is it absolute, or only in cases where it's suspected that the child isn't mine? And if it's the latter, what proof do I need to provide? Is there an Affidavit of Support I can fill out for an unborn child?

 

If I need to provide proof of entry, will ticket stubs be enough? I am in a peculiar situation in that I have passports for both the US and Ukraine, and so I leave the US on my US passport and enter Ukraine on my Ukrainian one. And since neither country stamps their own passport, I don't have any entry stamps into Ukraine (or exits from the US) to indicate that I am in Ukraine right now. I do have an entry/exit stamp in my US passport from when I entered Turkey in March and hopped on a boat to Ukraine.

 

I appreciate any advice!

[payxibka 10,045]

12 minutes ago, uapilot said:

My fiance and I are sitting around in Kyiv, Ukraine waiting for K visa interviews to resume. We've been putting off getting pregnant (and moving on with our lives) earlier in the immigration process because I've read around the internet that a pregnancy on the medical exam could be grounds for delaying a visa approval pending a paternity test, and in addition to not wanting us to be here any longer than we have to, I didn't want to risk my fiance giving birth in a country with a less than stellar medical system (putting it mildly).

 

Now though, we have no good indicator of when the Kyiv embassy will resume interviews. Some sources are suggesting because of the backlog of applications, an interview date could be months away even after interviews resume. So we're rethinking our strategy. Still though, if not getting pregnant means we leave in (let's say) 4 months instead of 13 months, we'd choose the former and not the latter.

 

And so we'd like a conclusive answer to the question: can a pregnancy delay a visa approval because of the question of paternity? And is it absolute, or only in cases where it's suspected that the child isn't mine? And if it's the latter, what proof do I need to provide? Is there an Affidavit of Support I can fill out for an unborn child?

 

If I need to provide proof of entry, will ticket stubs be enough? I am in a peculiar situation in that I have passports for both the US and Ukraine, and so I leave the US on my US passport and enter Ukraine on my Ukrainian one. And since neither country stamps their own passport, I don't have any entry stamps into Ukraine (or exits from the US) to indicate that I am in Ukraine right now. I do have an entry/exit stamp in my US passport from when I entered Turkey in March and hopped on a boat to Ukraine.

 

I appreciate any advice!

I am not aware that pregnancy causes a delay. 

 

Interviews are likely not months away but a year and some months away paricilarly for anyone who hasn't yet even started the petition process. 

[Crazy Cat 41,842]

15 minutes ago, uapilot said:

And so we'd like a conclusive answer to the question: can a pregnancy delay a visa approval because of the question of paternity?

In the 5 years I have been here on VJ, this is very first time I have seen anyone ask or mention this.  

[uapilot 68]

1 minute ago, Lucky Cat said:

In the 5 years I have been here on VJ, this is very first time I have seen anyone ask or mention this.  

I think maybe it's a more recent concern because of the public charge rule? I really don't have a lot of insight into why. But the whole visa process has been stressful, and I think just hearing this on some forum on the internet made me very risk averse to the prospect of a delay happening.

[Crazy Cat 41,842]

1 minute ago, uapilot said:

I think maybe it's a more recent concern because of the public charge rule? I really don't have a lot of insight into why. But the whole visa process has been stressful, and I think just hearing this on some forum on the internet made me very risk averse to the prospect of a delay happening.

There is a LOT of misinformation out there on FB and Reddit.  There are normally questions here about pregnancy, but I have never seen it delay a case.  Public charge has been in effect for years.

[uapilot 68]

9 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

There is a LOT of misinformation out there on FB and Reddit.  There are normally questions here about pregnancy, but I have never seen it delay a case.  Public charge has been in effect for years.

Okay, that makes me feel much more at ease. Thank you!

[yellowtowo9 3]

Where specifically did you find this information? was it by any chance reddit?

[uapilot 68]

 

2 minutes ago, yellowtowo9 said:

Where specifically did you find this information? was it by any chance reddit?

It may have been; I honestly don't remember at this point.

[Crazy Cat 41,842]

1 hour ago, uapilot said:

 

It may have been; I honestly don't remember at this point.

One nice thing about the information here on VJ is that inaccurate info gets corrected pretty fast.  

[payxibka 10,045]

15 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

One nice thing about the information here on VJ is that inaccurate info gets corrected pretty fast.  

Full time job for some of us

[uapilot 68]

22 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Full time job for some of us

And your efforts do not go unnoticed!

[SteveInBostonI130 3,434]

Pregnancy should not cause any issues, other than risk when travelling at advanced stages.

 

Kyiv has been processing K1 visas before the lockdown in Nov.  It seems you guys got unlucky and the embassy closed just as your petition got there.   I would assume your case would be at or near the top of the queue.  Just keep checking the embassy website to see when they start resuming or partially resuming visa services. 

 

[uapilot 68]

13 hours ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

Pregnancy should not cause any issues, other than risk when travelling at advanced stages.

 

Kyiv has been processing K1 visas before the lockdown in Nov.  It seems you guys got unlucky and the embassy closed just as your petition got there.   I would assume your case would be at or near the top of the queue.  Just keep checking the embassy website to see when they start resuming or partially resuming visa services. 

 

It actually looks like they're scheduling interviews unofficially now: 

However, this couple got their NOA2 in May, which is a troubling sign, but other folks with NOA2 dates as late as August got scheduled for an interview by November. So maybe MyLoveAZ just dragged their feet on scheduling the interview when it was possible. Or maybe they got lost in the shuffle of bureaucracy, and the embassy was doing them a solid.

 

In any case, I emailed them yesterday, and they were still toeing the line, saying they're not doing K's right now.

 

 

[DeleteAccount 32]

We didn't drag our feet, our lawyer would tell us that we needed to wait for a letter. I went to a townhall in August and they informed us that they would be doing limited K interviews. So we waited for letter. Then someone on VJ said not to wait just register and try to schedule it was too late we didn't see any dates in the calendar. So we missed that window and were very disappointed. I missed my fiancés Bday my daughter Bday and Christmas. So no feet dragging just a very broken system due to a pandemic. At the second townhall they hinted around that they were doing very limited appointments and the calendar is not working. They would inform applicants via email. So I sent many emails and got similar answer no K1's due to the pandemic. I didn't give up on the emails and it  paid off. Nothing is easy or free I found out, I just had to keep faith and keep trying no matter the response. And POW!!!!! We got in interview!!!  

[uapilot 68]

1 hour ago, MyLoveAZ said:

We didn't drag our feet, our lawyer would tell us that we needed to wait for a letter. I went to a townhall in August and they informed us that they would be doing limited K interviews. So we waited for letter. Then someone on VJ said not to wait just register and try to schedule it was too late we didn't see any dates in the calendar. So we missed that window and were very disappointed. I missed my fiancés Bday my daughter Bday and Christmas. So no feet dragging just a very broken system due to a pandemic. At the second townhall they hinted around that they were doing very limited appointments and the calendar is not working. They would inform applicants via email. So I sent many emails and got similar answer no K1's due to the pandemic. I didn't give up on the emails and it  paid off. Nothing is easy or free I found out, I just had to keep faith and keep trying no matter the response. And POW!!!!! We got in interview!!!  

Ah, I didn't mean to imply that you were necessarily dragging your feet. 😅 My point is just that with this visa process, they're so opaque and secretive with everything that it's hard to tell what the reason was.

 

Just out of curiosity, which email did they send the scheduling email to? Was it from the one you entered in the ustraveldocs site? Or from the one you sent your many emails from (if they're different)?