Advice for K-1 interview

[Beth Moskov 25]

Thank you so much! This is really helpful! I appreciate this! 

[SalishSea 17,751]

9 hours ago, Genzo10 said:

I read many people met only one time and they get approved without any issue

Not typically from high-fraud, high-risk countries like Algeria.

[Cathi 5,742]

14 hours ago, Beth Moskov said:

So we have met up a total of 3 times. Once in Algeria for 2 weeks, once in Tunisia for 2 weeks and then most recently in Dubai for a week. We could not meet up more than that as for a year and a half due to COVID the boarders of Algeria were shut down.. no one in and no one out. This is why we provided the additional evidence as this was not our fault we could not meet up but we wanted to demonstrate that we maintained a strong relationship. In his culture this age difference is not so common. But things like communication with family is very important so we included this evidence as well. 

Same.  I am 21 years older than my husband and we had no issues getting a CR1 visa, I know it's different than a k-1 but when people say that  big of an age difference is a problem, honestly I have rarely seen it be an issue unless you're going through Morocco or Nigeria. We were asked one question about our age difference and what his family thought about it and we answered honesty, his family didn't care. They will look at the totality of the circumstances and even at that, we had some pretty huge so called "red flags" our age difference, different religions, I was divorced with two kids, we married on the first visit and he is from a so called "MENA country". Seriously I can count on one hand the denials I've seen over 10 years on this site for age difference in most countries. I always nod my head in disbelief when I read the naysayers saying you'll never get approved. It's just not true, again, for the majority of countries. I will say that 400 pages of evidence is OVERKILL. We sent the bare minimum and we never even received an RFE once at any point during my husband's visa journey, up to and including ROC and naturalization. Send QUALITY evidence, not quantity. I also attended his interview at the consulate, I think that helped because they were able to ask me a few questions, as well. We have been happily married for 11 and a half years and honestly, our visa journey was smooth sailing from start to finish. I didn't find VJ until my husband's petition was approved and we were mostly done with the NC, we did most of it on our own. No lawyer, either.

[carmel34 3,611]

3 visits for a K-1 is pretty good during the pandemic, even for a high-fraud country and big age gap, assuming that you sent documentation of those visits (original boarding passes, passport stamps, hotel receipts).  It will likely come down to the interview itself, the specific questions asked, answers from the beneficiary, who the officer is, etc., and the preparation you are doing for the interview should help it to go smoothly.  I hope it works out for your fiancé at the interview, good luck!

[SteveInBostonI130 3,408]

19 hours ago, Beth Moskov said:

So our original document to USCIS was more reasonable in length, I dont know how we could provide what we needed to provide in 30 pages. As for our additional evidence for the embassy interview, we have about 30 pages. 

 

Hi, 

 

In addition to what others have posted, perhaps you can prepare a short packet of evidence that summarizes your relationship.  Your trips to visit him (boarding passes, passport stamps) and a few photos together.  And perhaps a few pages of your fiance's interaction with your family.  This may help the CO review the important items quickly, instead of having to navigating the 400 pages.  

 

However,  I think some COs don't even look at the evidence and just go off the cuff.  My wife's CO at her K1 interview was very prepared, reviewed everything beforehand, and just had three questions.  My wife's CO at her CR1 interview (long story - we did both) was not prepared and spent the time reviewing the I-130 and evidence for the first time while conducting the interview.  For some questions my wife had to point out the sections of the form and attachments where the information was already submitted. 

 

Regardless, having the additional evidence on hand would not hurt.

Edited May 17, 2022 by SteveInBostonI130

[janet3 1,170]

On 5/16/2022 at 1:12 PM, Beth Moskov said:

Greetings all! We are looking for some advice for my fiancé's k-1 interview which is coming up on June 5th. We have been together for almost 3 years and know each other so well. We just met up last week in Dubai to go through all the possible questions and everything we submitted. We also have our lawyer walking him through a practice interview. I guess our concern is what could be perceived as red flags in our case and they kinds of evidence / questions they may ask to over come our red flags. ( I am sure every case has some red flags). As the USC I am 20 years older than my fiancé (he is from Algeria, another red flag country) and I am divorced. We sent about 400 pages total of evidence to USCIS. We have gathered a lot of additional evidence for the embassy (photos of video chats, messages, our recent trip.. my fiancé has also become friends with my brothers and has independent conversations with them ... we have included that evidence as well as video chats with friends and his family. We also started a business together in the US and included all that paperwork) . Does anyone have any experience with the types of questions they may ask given our age difference? Also any recommendations on what additional evidence we should provide to the embassy to demonstrate a true relationship?   

Thank you so much for your help! 

Cheers

Hi Beth..

My fiance and I also went through the K1 visa process through Algeria.  When we went through the process (in 2017) we had met a total of 3 times (we met in Germany and then traveled to Prague together....where he met my sister, and I traveled to Algeria twice....where I spent time with R and his family....the second trip I happened to be there during his interview). I was 45 at the time and he was 38. What we provided during the interview was the affidavit of support, photos from our most recent trip (the one I was there on at the time). The questions that they asked were (and they are listed in my timeline/review) were "how did you meet?, where did you meet? Do you have the same religion"" have you met each other's family" "what do have in common" "what do you love about her") My husband's first language is not English....he wanted the interview done in French but the interview actually took place in classical Arabic. I also watched another interview take place with a young man and they grilled him about his fiance and her children and then dismissed him after he didn't know the answers (about ages and names and schooling of the children). 

So, I would start here....if you can attend the interview,  do so....make sure your fiance knows everything about your daily existence, have your fiance take the photos from your last trip with him to the interview.....

[Beth Moskov 25]

Hi there, Thank you so much for your message! We have been going over every aspect of our relationship. We have photos of all the times he has spoken to my daughter, my family and friends as well as the evidence our most recent trip to Dubai and photos chatting with his family. We have done a number of practice interviews... maybe overkill! Anyway I really appreciate your feedback! Thanks so much! 

[Beth Moskov 25]

So an update .... My fiance had his interview this morning and he was approved! He was only asked 4 questions which focused on this work and mine. Then the consular officer thanked him for all the strong evidence and that it "made his job easy". I guess maybe all that evidence wasn't such a bad idea after all! We could not be happier!!!!! ❤️❤️

[Crazy Cat 41,631]

3 minutes ago, Beth Moskov said:

So an update .... My fiance had his interview this morning and he was approved! He was only asked 4 questions which focused on this work and mine. Then the consular officer thanked him for all the strong evidence and that it "made his job easy". I guess maybe all that evidence wasn't such a bad idea after all! We could not be happier!!!!! ❤️❤️

Congratulations.  Has the status changed to "Issued" yet?