I-129F journey started

[PpZap 0]

Hi everybody

I am new to this forum, which I find very helpful for all of us who are filing fiance(e) petitions.

My fiancee and I got engaged last April '07 but I was waiting to get my naturalization certificate to be able to petition for her. I got naturalized on June and spent the last weeks preparing the application, which I sent a few days ago (July 10th).

Thanks to the information on this website, I was able to put together my application package, which I had reviewed by a lawyer prior to sending it (my company offered help on this and contacted a competent immigration lawyer). The lawyer said everything was fine and answered a couple concerns I have, for which I would like to have a second opinion.

As for the concerns, the first one is about a denied tourist visa application. My fiancee has relatives in the US, who invited her to spent this summer with them. Therefore, she applied for a tourist visa back in February '07 and was denied. At that time, I thought it would be a great idea as I would be able to go see her at her relatives' house and propose (that was my little surprise), but anyways, that did not happen... As for the application, she declared that she did not have a permanent resident/USC fiance in the US as we were not engaged by then (she wasn't even thinking about my intentions : ) )

In any case, I have read that a denied tourist visa application should not affect a K-1 visa application, but that has to be declared whatsoever. But my concern is, I don't know if the officials will get a wrong picture and would think that in reality she wanted to come with me and stay... and that she did not declared having a PermRes/USC fiance on purpose. Like I said, she had no idea I was planning to propose. Just to recall, visa application was in February '07, we got engaged on April '07. I stated this engagement date in my Q18 attachment letter when I explained how we met and all that.

Please let me know you thoughts about this. Lawyer said I shouldn't worry at all about this.

As for the second concern, this is more a cultural one. My fiancee's family is very conservative/traditional and we would like to have a church marriage prior to taking off, also because her parents can't travel to the US. Church marriages are not legal in Mexico, therefore, we would not be legally married. Lawyer said that in case my fiancee is questioned, she would be entitled to say that she is not married and that we only had a religious ceremony which did not have any legal consequence.

Please let me know your opinion, I would appreciate it.

Well, before I finalize my message I would like to explain how I put together my application package, hoping that this would be of help. I filled out all the forms in a pretty straight forward manner. I included a Q18 attachment explaining when and how we met, talked about our meetings (I have visited 3 times in one year, have seen her 4 times though), how I got to Mexico (stayed at relatives' house, my fiancee and I are from the same city, I have relatives overthere and she lives in the same city), and stated our egagement date. As for the evidence, I included 2 photographs per visit (8 in total accounting for the time when we first met), in the back I wrote the date in this format: MM/YYYY (didn't put the day, just month/year), and also included the name of the place, and our names. I included my flight itineraries which is all I have, (i don't have boarding passes anymore and I don't have passport stamps as I was still a permament resident with Mexican nationality and was not required to show a passport neither to enter Mexico nor the US, my green card sufficed). Finally, I also included records from my bank which show that I withdrew money at an ATM in Mexico during my visits. Lawyer also said that all this evidence was fine.

I will greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions, and opinions that you can give me.

Thank you very much

Pp

[pushbrk 13,115]

Hi everybody

I am new to this forum, which I find very helpful for all of us who are filing fiance(e) petitions.

My fiancee and I got engaged last April '07 but I was waiting to get my naturalization certificate to be able to petition for her. I got naturalized on June and spent the last weeks preparing the application, which I sent a few days ago (July 10th).

Thanks to the information on this website, I was able to put together my application package, which I had reviewed by a lawyer prior to sending it (my company offered help on this and contacted a competent immigration lawyer). The lawyer said everything was fine and answered a couple concerns I have, for which I would like to have a second opinion.

As for the concerns, the first one is about a denied tourist visa application. My fiancee has relatives in the US, who invited her to spent this summer with them. Therefore, she applied for a tourist visa back in February '07 and was denied. At that time, I thought it would be a great idea as I would be able to go see her at her relatives' house and propose (that was my little surprise), but anyways, that did not happen... As for the application, she declared that she did not have a permanent resident/USC fiance in the US as we were not engaged by then (she wasn't even thinking about my intentions : ) )

In any case, I have read that a denied tourist visa application should not affect a K-1 visa application, but that has to be declared whatsoever. But my concern is, I don't know if the officials will get a wrong picture and would think that in reality she wanted to come with me and stay... and that she did not declared having a PermRes/USC fiance on purpose. Like I said, she had no idea I was planning to propose. Just to recall, visa application was in February '07, we got engaged on April '07. I stated this engagement date in my Q18 attachment letter when I explained how we met and all that.

Please let me know you thoughts about this. Lawyer said I shouldn't worry at all about this.

As for the second concern, this is more a cultural one. My fiancee's family is very conservative/traditional and we would like to have a church marriage prior to taking off, also because her parents can't travel to the US. Church marriages are not legal in Mexico, therefore, we would not be legally married. Lawyer said that in case my fiancee is questioned, she would be entitled to say that she is not married and that we only had a religious ceremony which did not have any legal consequence.

Please let me know your opinion, I would appreciate it.

Well, before I finalize my message I would like to explain how I put together my application package, hoping that this would be of help. I filled out all the forms in a pretty straight forward manner. I included a Q18 attachment explaining when and how we met, talked about our meetings (I have visited 3 times in one year, have seen her 4 times though), how I got to Mexico (stayed at relatives' house, my fiancee and I are from the same city, I have relatives overthere and she lives in the same city), and stated our egagement date. As for the evidence, I included 2 photographs per visit (8 in total accounting for the time when we first met), in the back I wrote the date in this format: MM/YYYY (didn't put the day, just month/year), and also included the name of the place, and our names. I included my flight itineraries which is all I have, (i don't have boarding passes anymore and I don't have passport stamps as I was still a permament resident with Mexican nationality and was not required to show a passport neither to enter Mexico nor the US, my green card sufficed). Finally, I also included records from my bank which show that I withdrew money at an ATM in Mexico during my visits. Lawyer also said that all this evidence was fine.

I will greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions, and opinions that you can give me.

Thank you very much

Pp

I think you've done a good job and have things covered well. I wouldn't worry about the concerns you raised. They are covered well too.

Having ceremonies for family and friends is common in many countries. There are a lot of threads here with people asking about such things and the good advice has been repeated many times. Have fun reading them. I'm sure you'll do fine.

[PpZap 0]

Hi everybody

I am new to this forum, which I find very helpful for all of us who are filing fiance(e) petitions.

My fiancee and I got engaged last April '07 but I was waiting to get my naturalization certificate to be able to petition for her. I got naturalized on June and spent the last weeks preparing the application, which I sent a few days ago (July 10th).

Thanks to the information on this website, I was able to put together my application package, which I had reviewed by a lawyer prior to sending it (my company offered help on this and contacted a competent immigration lawyer). The lawyer said everything was fine and answered a couple concerns I have, for which I would like to have a second opinion.

As for the concerns, the first one is about a denied tourist visa application. My fiancee has relatives in the US, who invited her to spent this summer with them. Therefore, she applied for a tourist visa back in February '07 and was denied. At that time, I thought it would be a great idea as I would be able to go see her at her relatives' house and propose (that was my little surprise), but anyways, that did not happen... As for the application, she declared that she did not have a permanent resident/USC fiance in the US as we were not engaged by then (she wasn't even thinking about my intentions : ) )

In any case, I have read that a denied tourist visa application should not affect a K-1 visa application, but that has to be declared whatsoever. But my concern is, I don't know if the officials will get a wrong picture and would think that in reality she wanted to come with me and stay... and that she did not declared having a PermRes/USC fiance on purpose. Like I said, she had no idea I was planning to propose. Just to recall, visa application was in February '07, we got engaged on April '07. I stated this engagement date in my Q18 attachment letter when I explained how we met and all that.

Please let me know you thoughts about this. Lawyer said I shouldn't worry at all about this.

As for the second concern, this is more a cultural one. My fiancee's family is very conservative/traditional and we would like to have a church marriage prior to taking off, also because her parents can't travel to the US. Church marriages are not legal in Mexico, therefore, we would not be legally married. Lawyer said that in case my fiancee is questioned, she would be entitled to say that she is not married and that we only had a religious ceremony which did not have any legal consequence.

Please let me know your opinion, I would appreciate it.

Well, before I finalize my message I would like to explain how I put together my application package, hoping that this would be of help. I filled out all the forms in a pretty straight forward manner. I included a Q18 attachment explaining when and how we met, talked about our meetings (I have visited 3 times in one year, have seen her 4 times though), how I got to Mexico (stayed at relatives' house, my fiancee and I are from the same city, I have relatives overthere and she lives in the same city), and stated our egagement date. As for the evidence, I included 2 photographs per visit (8 in total accounting for the time when we first met), in the back I wrote the date in this format: MM/YYYY (didn't put the day, just month/year), and also included the name of the place, and our names. I included my flight itineraries which is all I have, (i don't have boarding passes anymore and I don't have passport stamps as I was still a permament resident with Mexican nationality and was not required to show a passport neither to enter Mexico nor the US, my green card sufficed). Finally, I also included records from my bank which show that I withdrew money at an ATM in Mexico during my visits. Lawyer also said that all this evidence was fine.

I will greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions, and opinions that you can give me.

Thank you very much

Pp

I think you've done a good job and have things covered well. I wouldn't worry about the concerns you raised. They are covered well too.

Having ceremonies for family and friends is common in many countries. There are a lot of threads here with people asking about such things and the good advice has been repeated many times. Have fun reading them. I'm sure you'll do fine.

Thank you very much for your comments. I truly appreciate it.

[kitkat1 5]

Ppzap, definitely read the Juarez thread in the Foreign Embassy forum. You'll find a ton of information there on the whole process in Ciudad Juarez.

Re your questions, a tourist visa denial is not an issue, and is very common for Mexico fiances. If you can swing a church ceremony without having to have a civil ceremony, no problem. But make sure neither of you ever refers to the other as husband or wife, especially at the interview or point of entry.

Good luck.

[Clarky and Tarah 0]

Everything sounds good to me. Like the other posters have said, if you do have the church ceremony and it is brought up, make sure you let them know it wasn't legal, just a religous ceremony. The K-1 is for fiance(e)s only, so a huge red flag would go up if you guys started talking about your husband/wife. But it sounds like you have everything covered. I hope you enjoy your time at VJ, I have found it VERY helpful.

Good luck with your process.

[pushbrk 13,115]

Just because I think it sets a good example, I wish to call attention to the fact that you used the information her to prepare to and file a petition without ever posting a question until after the fact. I certainly couldn't have done that. I read and studied and pondered and read and studied some more and then asked at least a dozen questions that seem silly to me now and I still made a couple really silly mistakes that ended up meaning nothing.

Congratulations.

[PpZap 0]

I would like to say thank you everybody for your comments. I truly appreciate your help.

Thanks to the information on this website, I was able to gather all the information and assemble my application package with all the forms and evidence. I think this website is excellent.

As I mentioned before, I was offered help at work but again, thanks to all the VJers who have talked about their experiences and the valuable information included in this website, I was able to say: well, I have been working on this and everything is ready, but I appreciate your offer and in my case, I believe I just need someone to review all my information. They were happy about this, I created a PDF with all my information, sent it to my company's lawyer and he did the rest (got in touch with people in his field). Couple weeks later I was told "go for it, everything looks fine".

As for the silly things, I did some as well, I included a bank statement to prove that the account from which the withdrawals in Mexico ere made was mine. However, for some reason I decided to get a marker and delete the first numbers in my account, I just left the last 4, which match the withdrawal records. I don't know why I did that really. Hope everything goes OK.

Again, thank you very much everybody. I will keep updating my timeline.

[Steph1973 0]

Hi there! I am also new here as I have filed for I-129F in June.

I am all for having a wedding ceremony celebrating your relationship. The only thing that would make this legal, church ceremony or not, is a marriage certificate. AS long as you do not have a legal marriage certificate you are not married.

Hi everybody

I am new to this forum, which I find very helpful for all of us who are filing fiance(e) petitions.

My fiancee and I got engaged last April '07 but I was waiting to get my naturalization certificate to be able to petition for her. I got naturalized on June and spent the last weeks preparing the application, which I sent a few days ago (July 10th).

Thanks to the information on this website, I was able to put together my application package, which I had reviewed by a lawyer prior to sending it (my company offered help on this and contacted a competent immigration lawyer). The lawyer said everything was fine and answered a couple concerns I have, for which I would like to have a second opinion.

As for the concerns, the first one is about a denied tourist visa application. My fiancee has relatives in the US, who invited her to spent this summer with them. Therefore, she applied for a tourist visa back in February '07 and was denied. At that time, I thought it would be a great idea as I would be able to go see her at her relatives' house and propose (that was my little surprise), but anyways, that did not happen... As for the application, she declared that she did not have a permanent resident/USC fiance in the US as we were not engaged by then (she wasn't even thinking about my intentions : ) )

In any case, I have read that a denied tourist visa application should not affect a K-1 visa application, but that has to be declared whatsoever. But my concern is, I don't know if the officials will get a wrong picture and would think that in reality she wanted to come with me and stay... and that she did not declared having a PermRes/USC fiance on purpose. Like I said, she had no idea I was planning to propose. Just to recall, visa application was in February '07, we got engaged on April '07. I stated this engagement date in my Q18 attachment letter when I explained how we met and all that.

Please let me know you thoughts about this. Lawyer said I shouldn't worry at all about this.

As for the second concern, this is more a cultural one. My fiancee's family is very conservative/traditional and we would like to have a church marriage prior to taking off, also because her parents can't travel to the US. Church marriages are not legal in Mexico, therefore, we would not be legally married. Lawyer said that in case my fiancee is questioned, she would be entitled to say that she is not married and that we only had a religious ceremony which did not have any legal consequence.

Please let me know your opinion, I would appreciate it.

Well, before I finalize my message I would like to explain how I put together my application package, hoping that this would be of help. I filled out all the forms in a pretty straight forward manner. I included a Q18 attachment explaining when and how we met, talked about our meetings (I have visited 3 times in one year, have seen her 4 times though), how I got to Mexico (stayed at relatives' house, my fiancee and I are from the same city, I have relatives overthere and she lives in the same city), and stated our egagement date. As for the evidence, I included 2 photographs per visit (8 in total accounting for the time when we first met), in the back I wrote the date in this format: MM/YYYY (didn't put the day, just month/year), and also included the name of the place, and our names. I included my flight itineraries which is all I have, (i don't have boarding passes anymore and I don't have passport stamps as I was still a permament resident with Mexican nationality and was not required to show a passport neither to enter Mexico nor the US, my green card sufficed). Finally, I also included records from my bank which show that I withdrew money at an ATM in Mexico during my visits. Lawyer also said that all this evidence was fine.

I will greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions, and opinions that you can give me.

Thank you very much

Pp

[jlh 0]

As for the concerns, the first one is about a denied tourist visa application.

My fiancee is going in September to Mexico City to get a tourist visa to come and meet my family. I was wondering why yours was denied? In case I run into the same issue.

Thanks

[trueimage 0]

It is unlikely that she would be given a tourist visa unless she can prove strong ties in Mexico and prove that she is not obtaining the tourist visa with intentions of immigrating to the US. This will be difficult for her to proves since you already have a K-1 petition in progress. My opinion would be to forget about the tourist visa and save your time and money. When they see that a K-1 visa petition exists, they will deny her the tourist visa.

[jlh 0]

It is unlikely that she would be given a tourist visa unless she can prove strong ties in Mexico and prove that she is not obtaining the tourist visa with intentions of immigrating to the US. This will be difficult for her to proves since you already have a K-1 petition in progress. My opinion would be to forget about the tourist visa and save your time and money. When they see that a K-1 visa petition exists, they will deny her the tourist visa.

That is what I thought, but I called USCIS and they said since we are going through the correct process to not try and sneak here in, it should not be a problem? Were they wrong? Also I am hoping her working for GM would be a strong indication of her going to return to mexico. Would her trying to get the tourist visa hurt the K-1 process at all?

Edited July 25, 2007 by jlh

[TimsDaisy 0]

My best friend's brother and his Mexican bride had a huge, traditional Mexican church wedding in her hometown. No legal papers were signed, of course. After a week's honeymoon in Cancun, they drove to the border and entered with zero problems and zero extra questions.

Does that mean no one ever faces a problem? No, of course not. But so long as you take care to know exactly what separates legal marriage from a wedding celebration, then you should be fine. And the lawyer was correct, if you are not married and someone asks if you are married, the fact that you had a wedding party would not change your truthful "no" answer.