Cuban I-134 success story!

[wazzujoel 63]

I met my fiancée in 2017 when I randomly visited Cuba after changes President Obama made for US persons traveling to Cuba. I knew she was someone special right away from this chance meeting, however when I told her I was interested romantically she said, "Joel, I live in Cuba, you live in NY. It's ridiculous to think we could maintain a romance when we have spent so little time together. Please don't speak of this nonsense again, and accept that we will only ever be friends". So I accepted this even though I thought she was wrong, and over the next 4-5 years we had an online friendship only. We usually chatted once a month and liked each others social media, but nothing much more and I never believed it would be anything more than a friendship. In March 2021 during Covid, a spark happened and she realized that she had developed feelings for me. We started talking daily, and discussing how we could make this romance real. It took until September 2021 for me to finally get back to Cuba, and when I did I had to fly through Madrid Spain because travel to Cuba had been highly restricted by the Cuban Regime because of Covid. I spent September 2021 in Havana, and over the next 2 years I've traveled to Cuba 11 additional times; Additionally we both traveled to Trinidad & Tobago for a two week vacation. This was her first time leaving Cuba.

 

I filed for i-129f and received NOA1 on October 18th 2021. On January 6th 2023 I applied i-134a Humanitarian Parole. On February 10th 2023 we had our i-129f application approved by USCIS (NOA2) without receiving an RFE. On 3/24/2023 our i-134a application was confirmed, and she received Travel Authorization later that same day. I tried literally everything to get USCIS to take action on my application, however getting movement out of USCIS is impossible. Feel free to ask me questions about the i-134a humanitarian parole processes, and I'd be happy to share more about my details. 

 

I've shared this before, however this is a short video I made last October that is a glimpse of our life. Finally after two years we are about to start our everyday life together 🙂

 

 

 

[Timona 4,207]

Is she the Cuban dentist? I think I recall your story.

 

Nice video 👐

Edited March 27, 2023 by Timona

[wazzujoel 63]

14 minutes ago, Timona said:

Is she the Cuban dentist? I think I recall your story.

 

Nice video 👐

 

Yup. You remember correctly. We are in the process of getting her Cuban Dental degree sent to the USA and once she passes the dental boards here then she will hopefully enroll in a 2 year International Dental Program here to be a fully licensed dentist in NY. 🙂 

[Ngillet 267]

Wow! You got confirmed???? Congrats! I am hoping ours will come too. 

[wazzujoel 63]

4 minutes ago, Ngillet said:

Wow! You got confirmed???? Congrats! I am hoping ours will come too. 

 

77 days waiting for me... I emailed/called congressmen regularly, senators regularly, filed application with ombudsman, emailed the President of USCIS, made duplicates that I regret I made, called USCIS often, was put in a queue to talk to a Tier 2 agent on 1/31 and never received a callback.  Analyzed this from every possible angle, trying to find some logical sense to why some are processed within days, while others wait 6+ months.... In my experience, everything I did was wasted efforts. And this is what I would suggest for anyone waiting on this process : 

 

Limit social media time. Accept this is a unfair random process, and there is nothing you could have done differently for your application to be accepted. I do believe that the longer you go in the system, the system does put some weight on those that are bumping up close to 90 days. This is pretty much all the advice I can offer. Be patient and try your best to not allow yourself going crazy over how unfair the process is. 

 

Tips for those about to apply - Submit your application at 11am EST on a Monday. idk why but I am superstitious a little and this was the submission time on the application I submitted that got approved. Note - it wasn't my fiancée who was initially approved but one of her family members that I applied for on 3/20 at 11am. They were confirmed at 11:46 pm on 3/24, and then everyone I applied to sponsor was then approved. 

[Ngillet 267]

53 minutes ago, wazzujoel said:

 

77 days waiting for me... I emailed/called congressmen regularly, senators regularly, filed application with ombudsman, emailed the President of USCIS, made duplicates that I regret I made, called USCIS often, was put in a queue to talk to a Tier 2 agent on 1/31 and never received a callback.  Analyzed this from every possible angle, trying to find some logical sense to why some are processed within days, while others wait 6+ months.... In my experience, everything I did was wasted efforts. And this is what I would suggest for anyone waiting on this process : 

 

Limit social media time. Accept this is a unfair random process, and there is nothing you could have done differently for your application to be accepted. I do believe that the longer you go in the system, the system does put some weight on those that are bumping up close to 90 days. This is pretty much all the advice I can offer. Be patient and try your best to not allow yourself going crazy over how unfair the process is. 

 

Tips for those about to apply - Submit your application at 11am EST on a Monday. idk why but I am superstitious a little and this was the submission time on the application I submitted that got approved. Note - it wasn't my fiancée who was initially approved but one of her family members that I applied for on 3/20 at 11am. They were confirmed at 11:46 pm on 3/24, and then everyone I applied to sponsor was then approved. 

Good advise. Also, I am happy to know that your pending K1 didn't affect it. I was worried, that if USCIS saw we have an approved K1 then they wouldn't bother with the i134a petition. 

[Boiler 45,449]

I have looked to see if there is any pattern with processing, none is obvious.

 

If there is a way of finding what is going on I have not come across it.

 

I would think they must be getting into a backlog by now but yet again no information. 

[wazzujoel 63]

1 hour ago, Ngillet said:

Good advise. Also, I am happy to know that your pending K1 didn't affect it. I was worried, that if USCIS saw we have an approved K1 then they wouldn't bother with the i134a petition. 

 

My best advice would be to remember what path you are arriving from, and make sure your honest answers are appropriate for the path you are traveling on. 

 

For example - If the CBP officer asks my fiancée - "Where will you be staying?", a decent answer to that question is "With my boyfriend who is my sponsor". A poor answer would be "With my fiancé, whom I plan to marry within 90 days, and so I could file an AOS". This might cause the CBP agent to say you are traveling on the wrong immigration path and send the beneficiary back to Cuba. In my current situation, we have no immediate plans to get married. Had we got to the embassy interview stage of K1 then we would have scrambled to make some sort of marriage plans, and had she traveled on K1 we would have married within the 90 days even though 90 days isn't nearly enough time to get married. i-134a is much more applicable path for us, as she really is traveling for humanitarian reasons. 

[Boiler 45,449]

Plenty of people have used HP to come here and adjust, you just need to qualify for it, no reason is required.

[msdiamond2171 2]

WOW IM SO HAPPY FOR YOUR ...i have been following you and im so overjoyed for you yeahhh!!! finally 

[Crazy Cat 41,814]

17 hours ago, wazzujoel said:

we would have married within the 90 days even though 90 days isn't nearly enough time to get married.

What does that mean???

[wazzujoel 63]

51 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

What does that mean???

 

I was being careless with my words. The 90 days isn't enough time for us to plan the wedding that we both desire. I (we) want to have a "dream wedding". At the time of the year we desire, at the perfect venue we want, with the perfect dress, with all our close friends and family, and lots of planning of events/speeches/flower arrangements/photographers/etc. Had she traveled to the US under K1, 90 days is a little tight to really organize everything we really wanted. Lots of corners would have been cut with Venues and things like that. We would have settled for a "good enough" instead of "perfect". Certainly if this had happened the Wedding we would have planned would have been cute and great for us... But having more time for preparations would be nice. 

[Boiler 45,449]

K1 has many many disadvantages.

[Crazy Cat 41,814]

2 minutes ago, wazzujoel said:

Had she traveled to the US under K1, 90 days is a little tight to really organize everything we really wanted. Lots of corners would have been cut with Venues and things like that.

Some couples choose a fast courthouse wedding and a big ceremony later.  That could pay big dividends later when Conditional Green Card vs 10 Green Card will be determined. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[wazzujoel 63]

Just now, Crazy Cat said:

Some couples choose a fast courthouse wedding and a big ceremony later.  

 

Yeah, I know that's an option for some, however I personally would prefer a 'good enough' wedding on a rushed 90 day timeline, verses a courthouse wedding with big ceremony later. My first marriage (to an American) was basically a rushed courthouse marriage and it's something I personally don't want to ever do again. I am not saying there is anything wrong with the idea, it makes a lot of sense for sure... but it's just not for me. 🙂 Regardless since my partner is coming on Humanitarian Parole there is a lot of things on our plate and now we will have the time to marry when it's an appropriate time for us. I sponsored her entire family so getting everyone integrated into American society will be a massive chore.