CR1 OR K1? HOW TO OVERCOME RED FLAGS.

[Crazy Cat 42,032]

7 hours ago, TWISTIE said:

In my personal opinion, its ok for you to get married on your first visit

 I have been told, by a very well respected & expert  VJ member that there are 3 levels of fraud ratings for countries:

1.  Low level fraud

2.  High level fraud

3.  A well known consulate which I will redact.

The fact is that more visits is always a good thing...but essential in some countries.  

Edited September 8, 2021 by Crazy Cat

[carmel34 3,650]

6 hours ago, Lighkas said:

I'm Nigerian, west Africa. 

Best advice is for your US citizen girlfriend to join Visa Journey, set up her own account, do lots of research and reading, and ask her own questions here.  The main reason for this advice is because it is the US citizen who files a petition on behalf of a foreign fiancé or spouse, not you.  So she needs to know everything, all the pros and cons of K-1 vs. CR-1, processing times, documentation, and the difficult journey ahead of she chooses to go down this path with you, a Nigerian, and the tradition of fraud in cases there and the increased scrutiny and high rate of denials at the Lagos embassy.  So please ask her to do this, to join VJ and put in the time and effort needed if you really want to be together.  Are you willing to live together in Nigeria for a period of months or even years, so that you can be together?  Often we see cases like yours where the foreigner is pushing the US citizen for a US immigrant or non-immigrant visa, without the full support or cooperation of the US citizen, and sometimes that leads to problems and relationships that don't work out.  I personally would never even discuss marriage or immigration with someone I met online, until we met in person and spent lots of time together.  Good luck to both of you!

[arken 4,197]

3 hours ago, TWISTIE said:

Does it matter as to what format a chat record be or where it could be printed from? Almost everyone, if not all, doesn’t keep all the data/record ,from the beginning to end of the relationship, on a particular site because people can loose phone, or phone gets virus or anything could happen...and its too much data to let it stay on the phone, rather than saving it somewhere else...So, I just don’t know how it would be possible to print those record directly from the site...Just say- WhatsApp...One can not let it stay there all the calls and chat records for so long....And I believe- WhatsApp only allows exporting their data thru email and that would be automatically in Word...Maybe I don’t know something here...

Of course the embassy isn't interesting in seeing 1000s of pages as well. I'd assume the best is to take screenshots at several timeframes and print the screenshots.

 

I'd say focus on multiple visits and photos with your partner/spouse at several locations, timelines and with several other people likes frens/relatives/families.

[arken 4,197]

27 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

In Nigeria?????    I have been told, by a very well respected & expert  VJ member that there are 3 levels of fraud ratings for countries:

1.  Low level fraud

2.  High level fraud

3.  Lagos.

The fact is that more visits is always a good thing...but essential in some countries.  

Agreed based on posts regarding several denials or extended post interview processing.

[arken 4,197]

12 hours ago, Lighkas said:

Never even considered a relationship until last 3 or 4

years or months?

[JeanneAdil 6,606]

7 hours ago, carmel34 said:

Whatever you do, DO NOT get married on the first visit.  With the other red flags (Nigeria, 10-year age gap), that is very likely to lead to a denial.  You would be much more likely to get a visa approved if you go and meet this person in Nigeria, spend lots of time together, keep evidence like original boarding passes, passport stamps, hotel receipts, and a few photos together.  Then return one or more more times for visits before you get married and file an I-130 petition to start the CR-1 visa process with lots of front-loaded evidence to document all of those visits.  Time spent together is the key to overcoming the assumption of fraud from this country, as others have discovered.  Although it will take more time, it is the best way to hopefully get approved.  Also look into financial co-mingling you can do while living in separate countries, after marriage, and submit this evidence at the NVC stage (IRS tax returns as married filing jointly, joint credit card statements, beneficiary on life insurance, health insurance, retirement accounts, will, living will, power of attorney, etc.).  Good luck!

This is the very best advice

1. getting married on the first visit ,  the CO will question,  question, question the beneficary at the interview till they come up with a reason to deny.  Marriage on 1st visit has been reason for a denial and CO will keep up the questions till they have many issues to deny.

2. and DO NOT do any type of party for engagement,   NIgeria CO will say "too married for a K1 visa "   (Go above to the word portal and read prior posts of members and any embassy reviews for Nigeria )   you will see the "too marry for K1"

3.  Spend as much quality time together as possible as quality time is what the embassy looks for

4.  10 year difference is border line /  will depend on whether or not the woman is still able to have children as that is important in NIgeria

5.  NIgerian family (especially the mother) has to approve of this relationship so some of the photos you take and send to immigration should have USC and the Nigerian mother

6.  USC needs to submit tax returns as Married (year the marriage takes place -very important for our African nations)

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-alien-spouse

7. USC needs enough income to support the affadivit of Support so check out the needed income levels for K1 and CR1

8.  and in the opinion of most VJ members the CR1 has so many advantages over the K1

[Sparkle Sparkle 914]

7 hours ago, Lighkas said:

Ah. Lol. That's rough. But I appreciate your candidness, and kindness to reply of course. 

 

May I ask few more questions please? 

 

1. Would you say the chances are even slimmer if we were to get engaged on the first visit and ply the K-1 route? 

 

2. What if we got married on first visit, but do not apply for CR-1 until after the passage of some time and possibly, a second meeting wherever that might be? 

 

3. We started talking about making me an official parent to 'our' daughter after marriage, does that improve our chances?

Alaye !Bros!!! make I tell you sumtin, Shine your eyes...una no fit marry first time.......She needs to visit you multiple times

Secondly, making you an official parent just exacerbates the whole situation...it might seem you trying too hard. My suggestion is give your relationship time, grow it be sincere to each other as they will ask personal questions at the US consulate whichever route you take K1 or Cr1.

For K1 its better you see eachother at least twice given the status of Nigeria. Meanwhile gather evidence, pictures of visits, messages, exchange of gifts anything that shows courtship between you two the file K1.

For CR1 same...you need to see each other more than once....then she can marry at Ikeja high court or another court of choice then she files CR1 for you (If she is not paying tax, ask her to fix her tax) if you marry she must file tax as married...either options require time and lots of prove...remember the burden of prove is on you the beneficiary. 

Finally her age matters, because of the peculiarity surrounding Nigerians her child bearing age comes into question if you dont have a child ( embassy understands cultural value of children in Nigeria).....Goodluck

Edited September 8, 2021 by Sparkle Sparkle

[Sparkle Sparkle 914]

11 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

This is the very best advice

1. getting married on the first visit ,  the CO will question,  question, question the beneficary at the interview till they come up with a reason to deny.  Marriage on 1st visit has been reason for a denial and CO will keep up the questions till they have many issues to deny.

2. and DO NOT do any type of party for engagement,   NIgeria CO will say "too married for a K1 visa "   (Go above to the word portal and read prior posts of members and any embassy reviews for Nigeria )   you will see the "too marry for K1"

3.  Spend as much quality time together as possible as quality time is what the embassy looks for

4.  10 year difference is border line /  will depend on whether or not the woman is still able to have children as that is important in NIgeria

5.  NIgerian family (especially the mother) has to approve of this relationship so some of the photos you take and send to immigration should have USC and the Nigerian mother

6.  USC needs to submit tax returns as Married (year the marriage takes place -very important for our African nations)

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-alien-spouse

7. USC needs enough income to support the affadivit of Support so check out the needed income levels for K1 and CR1

8.  and in the opinion of most VJ members the CR1 has so many advantages over the K1

You beat me to it

[JeanneAdil 6,606]

27 minutes ago, Sparkle Sparkle said:

You beat me to it

Been thru it 

and hope OP listens to us

to OP Been on this site now since 2009 and Nigeria is hard but they do approve visas when there is good solid proof of the relationship

you need time together 

NIgerian embassy CO's are experienced at the job and know what to look for /  u 2 gotta meet in person / u can't file anything till u do

at the petition stage it is up to the USC to start the process with the required documents 

it is up to the Nigerian to show that he (or a she) knows every little and big thing about the USC and her family 

Whatever u ever say "don't say age is just a number" as it isn't 

hard enough to combine different cultures in a marriage

but when u live together and have to accept the age difference when it comes to likes and dislikes like the following and the  issues that we have all read on here:

taste in music is different

ages of friends is different 

taste in movies is different 

one gets to retire and other has to keep working

differences in education

the expense of the immigrant wanting to talk all the time to friends back home

the immigrant gets homesick

the immigrant wants to send money home to support family and not the USC

immigrant does not like American food

[Sparkle Sparkle 914]

13 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

immigrant does not like American food

You meant USC does not like the taste and aroma of african food

[JeanneAdil 6,606]

4 minutes ago, Sparkle Sparkle said:

You meant USC does not like the taste and aroma of african food

no i do and when i go to Morocco and eat 5 times a day i loose weight as fruit and vegtables are so fresh

my immigrant husband does not like american food /  this is the one thing  I struggle with as i can't cook like his momma

the other issues i have seen posted by people on here over the 12 years i have been reading

with homesickness being a big one

[ilikepotatoes 57]

14 hours ago, Lighkas said:

Hello everyone. I just discovered this page a few hours ago. Read a few pages and I have some questions. Will be immensely grateful for any helpful answers I get.

 

I met my gf online (Facebook) around 2011. We have never physically met. We were only good friends for a while. Never even considered a relationship until last 3 or 4 but I've been involved in every aspect of their lives for years. She has a daughter whom I talked almost daily with since she was about 2. 

 

Now we want to get married. My question is about the seemingly red flags which I wasn't even aware existed until I came to this site.

 

-She's older by 10 years. 
-We have never met physically. (We plan to meet and get married this October)

 

What would you advice? Are these 'red flags' surmountable? What might be the better option between meeting and filing for K1 and getting married and applying for CR1?

Thank you for your responses

My husband and I got married on the first visit with one of the main reasons being the unpredictability of covid, and the fear of future lockdowns preventing us from meeting again for a very long time. We also had met online and had been in a relationship for about 3 years. 
 

This website has some very knowledgeable members, but you’re also going to find a lot of negativity and misleading information too. My husband and I decided to hire an immigration attorney; during our first Zoom meeting with him, we found out that all of the concerns that we had been warned about by VisaJourney’s voices of doom, weren’t actually issues at all.  He has told us that red flags are not the end of the world, and that he’s seen success with very complicated cases.
 

Yes, time spent together is important. My one month stay with my husband turned into four months and counting. So the longer you are able to stay, and gather evidence of time spent together, the better. 
 

I just wanted to comment and say that this isn’t the end of the world, and you just need to take some time and do some research before making a decision. Also, don’t let other people’s attitudes get you down; people only write based on their own experiences and by no means is that predictive of how your own case will turn out. Best of luck to you. 

 

[Lighkas 6]

5 minutes ago, ilikepotatoes said:

My husband and I got married on the first visit with one of the main reasons being the unpredictability of covid, and the fear of future lockdowns preventing us from meeting again for a very long time. We also had met online and had been in a relationship for about 3 years. 
 

This website has some very knowledgeable members, but you’re also going to find a lot of negativity and misleading information too. My husband and I decided to hire an immigration attorney; during our first Zoom meeting with him, we found out that all of the concerns that we had been warned about by VisaJourney’s voices of doom, weren’t actually issues at all.  He has told us that red flags are not the end of the world, and that he’s seen success with very complicated cases.
 

Yes, time spent together is important. My one month stay with my husband turned into four months and counting. So the longer you are able to stay, and gather evidence of time spent together, the better. 
 

I just wanted to comment and say that this isn’t the end of the world, and you just need to take some time and do some research before making a decision. Also, don’t let other people’s attitudes get you down; people only write based on their own experiences and by no means is that predictive of how your own case will turn out. Best of luck to you. 

 

Thanks all for all the responses so far. I do appreciate everyone of them and will make sure to follow every suggestion that's within my ability. I really learnt so much in just the few hours my post has been up. Kinda wish I've been here much longer. 

 

 

Hi @ilikepotatoesthank you for that encouraging response. VJ is full of cold, hard facts and little sugarcoaters lol. But it helps us be very prepared as opposed to being under prepared. But I'm mighty glad to read from someone whose experience is a little different. Please can I know a tad more about that? 

 

-Did you get approved? 

 

-How long did it take from petition to visa? 

 

-What exactly did you mean by this "My one month stay with my husband turned into four months and counting."?

 

-Are you from a high risk country too? (Not Nigeria's level lol, apparently we are a level rating of our own, ask @Crazy Cat.

 

I asked all these to know how (if) you overcame the single visit obstacle and what I can learn from your experience. 

[carmel34 3,650]

21 minutes ago, ilikepotatoes said:

Yes, time spent together is important. My one month stay with my husband turned into four months and counting.

This is the single biggest reason why you were able to overcome any potential "red flags" in your journey so far.  Four months is a lot of time together!  All the best to you both.

[davidvs 354]

34 minutes ago, ilikepotatoes said:

 My husband and I decided to hire an immigration attorney; during our first Zoom meeting with him, we found out that all of the concerns that we had been warned about by VisaJourney’s voices of doom, weren’t actually issues at all.  He has told us that red flags are not the end of the world, and that he’s seen success with very complicated cases.

 

Most lawyers will say anything to get your deposit. Then the issues start... and their additional billings...