Recently filed 129F - still so many questions - here's the first

[Dan and Akari 43]

4 hours ago, EES said:

I would strongly advise against trying to get your case processed and interview in Yangon. I have a close friend who has been trying to get his Burmese girlfriend here. They have been waiting for an interview for over a year. In his words “the US embassy in Myanmar is a shitshow.”
 

That said, as she is a citizen of that country, I believe she must interview at that embassy. I could be wrong, but I imagine my friend would have looked into interviewing in Thailand or elsewhere given his circumstances. Good luck. 

Thank you for the reply.  It is my understanding that she interviews in the country where she lives regardless of her country of citizenship.

3 hours ago, ahinsf said:

We had a somewhat similar situation when we submitted our petition for a K1 visa in 2021. Prior to this, we had a similar “union” ceremony in my wife’s country. Athough I’m a lawyer, I don’t practice immigration law, so I consulted with a U.S. immigration attorney prior to submitting the K1. He advised me to file the K1 and then, after waiting about 16 months, USCIS approved the petition.
 

Then, a few months later at the interview, the CO denied the visa. He said that we need to submit a petition for a spousal visa since they recognized our relationship as a marriage. We then did the Utah County Zoom ceremony, got a marriage certificate and filed the IR-1. We’ve now been waiting 9 months, so far and are both extremely frustrated and running out of patience. As you can see, it’s not worth the risk and since you recently submitted your K1, you haven’t wasted that much time. Also, as others mentioned here, there are many benefits to an IR-1 so, in my opinion, it makes much more sense for you to do the Utah marriage and submit an IR-1 petition.

WOW!!!  This is the exact scenario we want to avoid.  SO sorry to hear this, and hopefully you will get approval soon.

3 hours ago, wxman22 said:

You came to this forum seeking advice.

Virtually everyone above has given you the same advice. 

Whether you return to Myanmar or not; ditch the lawyer and the K-1, it will lead to a dead end. 

Re-file CR1. Time will be the same and it wlll save you a few thousand in filing fees.

 

Good luck.

Glad you caught it early. 

 

Yes, I am so glad I posted a totally unrelated question which led to the discovery of this monumental mistake on the part of our immigration attorney, who has been ditched (had the nerve to try to sell me on paying for his services AGAIN to file CR-1).   However, filing the wrong petition is not totally on the lawyer.  We take full  responsibility, and we will endure the consequences of the misstep.  We are thankful that the price we pay will only be a couple of months, which is a small price to pay. 

 

We are mailing the K1 cancellation notice to CA service center, and I will subsequently be filing the I-130 online ASAP.  I will post our progress and any related CR-1 processing questions in the CR-1 forum.

 

A million thanks to everyone for your help.

[Dashinka 24,476]

10 hours ago, ahinsf said:

We had a somewhat similar situation when we submitted our petition for a K1 visa in 2021. Prior to this, we had a similar “union” ceremony in my wife’s country. Athough I’m a lawyer, I don’t practice immigration law, so I consulted with a U.S. immigration attorney prior to submitting the K1. He advised me to file the K1 and then, after waiting about 16 months, USCIS approved the petition.
 

Then, a few months later at the interview, the CO denied the visa. He said that we need to submit a petition for a spousal visa since they recognized our relationship as a marriage. We then did the Utah County Zoom ceremony, got a marriage certificate and filed the IR-1. We’ve now been waiting 9 months, so far and are both extremely frustrated and running out of patience. As you can see, it’s not worth the risk and since you recently submitted your K1, you haven’t wasted that much time. Also, as others mentioned here, there are many benefits to an IR-1 so, in my opinion, it makes much more sense for you to do the Utah marriage and submit an IR-1 petition.

Sorry for your experience.  This is the reason many recommend scrapping a K1 for a spousal visa especially when participating in a cultural ceremony that may or may not look like a wedding.  The key is a K1 denial cannot be appealed if like you, you get to the interview and the CO decides you are too married for a K1.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[miller_Kay 5]

Lmao. Don't listen to these people. Your "ceremony" was really just a "celebration of your love" and you didn't sign any documents so youre good. So you should make sure you use the "celebration of your love" in your interview as well instead of the word "ceremony" bc people who don't listen properly will misunderstand. What you did mess up in doing is applying for k1 over marriage visa. Historically k1 was faster processing time, but now it is not the case and marriage visas are prioritized. You are very lucky you are with your spouse, that made all the difference in our 16+month wait for our k1 visa. 

 

It doesn't matter "where" you live with your spouse, only that you can prove your intentions to live in the USA after her visa is approved.

 

Do NOT attempt to change embassies though. It can add *months* to the process in some cases, just to transfer between embassies. Last I checked Bangkok has a very good turn over rate and the timeline is super quick. 

 

My now husband and I also lived in Thailand during our waiting process and found it incredibly easy to get visa extensions. As well as a multitude of different types of visas for say "Thai language learning, or Muai Thai" even various other languages and a cooking school visa. Anyway I'm just saying, look into the option of staying there if you can.

[Dan and Akari 43]

1 hour ago, miller_Kay said:

Lmao. Don't listen to these people. Your "ceremony" was really just a "celebration of your love" and you didn't sign any documents so youre good. So you should make sure you use the "celebration of your love" in your interview as well instead of the word "ceremony" bc people who don't listen properly will misunderstand. What you did mess up in doing is applying for k1 over marriage visa. Historically k1 was faster processing time, but now it is not the case and marriage visas are prioritized. You are very lucky you are with your spouse, that made all the difference in our 16+month wait for our k1 visa. 

 

It doesn't matter "where" you live with your spouse, only that you can prove your intentions to live in the USA after her visa is approved.

 

Do NOT attempt to change embassies though. It can add *months* to the process in some cases, just to transfer between embassies. Last I checked Bangkok has a very good turn over rate and the timeline is super quick. 

 

My now husband and I also lived in Thailand during our waiting process and found it incredibly easy to get visa extensions. As well as a multitude of different types of visas for say "Thai language learning, or Muai Thai" even various other languages and a cooking school visa. Anyway I'm just saying, look into the option of staying there if you can.

Thank you for the thoughtful reply.

 

I hear you.  When deciding what to do we ultimately felt it was best to re-file for CR-1 because of the uncertainty of the interpretation of our wording engagement "ceremony".  If there is even a small percentage chance that our I-129 lands on the wrong desk and gets rejected or someone familiar with Myanmar law recognizes this as a legitimate marriage, we want to just withdraw the K1 now and re-file the CR1.  We are not thrilled about losing 3 months, but in the end I will sacrifice 3 months for what we will gain.

 

No plans on changing embassies unless we are forced to leave Thailand for some reason.  A new progressive party has taken the majority in the assembly and formation of the government under the new party is still uncertain as is their stance on immigration.  Add to that the growing unrest in Myanmar and we are committed to staying put in Thailand.

 

We have seen some processing timelines in Thailand as quick as 11 months, but most seem to average 14-15 months.  She has been here on an education visa at a Thai language school  and we plan on enrolling her in a different language school this time to study English for 12 months.  Timing-wise, assuming she gets her second ED visa approved, we should have 15-16 months of time we can spend in Thailand while we wait.  The biggest challenge is financial, not in the sense that we won't have enough money to live here for a very long time, but I am trying to think of the next step which is me getting a job again (retiring early was awesome, and the 3 years I have had have been awesome but I am ready to get back to work) because we need to start looking for a house and getting financing without a job or retirement income is difficult.

 

Lots of irons in the fire, but I know that I am preaching to the choir here.

[PBoland 7]

On 6/29/2023 at 3:24 AM, Mike E said:

Mingalarbar. i hope her family is safe

 

You are married and not eligible for K-1.

 

Do the  a Utah County Marriage Ceremonies By Remote Appearance (  https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerk/marriage/ceremony.html ) and file I-130

She will only be able to interview where she has authorized presence.

 

Given the civil war in Burma, I cannot advise either of you to go there.

 

My wife got a K-1 from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, in 2019. Had Utah Remote Appearance been available, we would have done CR-1.

The Utah marriage can only take place if both partners are in the same room/camera shot.  If this isn’t possible then it’s not an option.  If it is an option, that room may need to be in the United States but I may be wrong about that.  I doubt I am or it would be a free-for-all.

[PBoland 7]

14 minutes ago, PBoland said:

The Utah marriage can only take place if both partners are in the same room/camera shot.  If this isn’t possible then it’s not an option.  If it is an option, that room may need to be in the United States but I may be wrong about that.  I doubt I am or it would be a free-for-all.

Ok since ‘Redro’ is confused about something, not sure what, I’ll expand.  Unlike Redro and 90% of the others my U.K. wife (K1) actually got married via Utah due to just emerging from COVID (Sept/Oct 2021).  So unlike them we know the rules.  The participants MUST be on the same webcam feed, meaning side by side.  We had to do that as well for the preliminary Utah meeting.  So I hope the confusion about that is cleared up.

Also, it makes no sense that people not in the US can get married in the US. There is zero jurisdiction.  Of course that eliminates K1 if you do a Utah marriage.  More confusion cleared up.  
Lastly, if your ‘ceremony’ was basically some people getting together and no one has a record of it, then the K1 was perfectly fine and if your attorney filed that but [foolishly] mentioned the purely ceremonial event, shame on him/her. Without paperwork it was just a party.  Why would I be telling USCIS about a party?  If it was more than a party, then you know that, and KNOW it was more than ‘ceremonial’ and know that you are married already.  That was for you and the attorney to discuss prior to filing as I’m sure you did.

I see you are going to go the CR1 route and I wish you the best.  With that decision you’ve put the onus on yourself to retroactively prove your ceremony was a wedding, instead of letting the USCIS prove a ceremony existed at all and that it was a ‘wedding’ with no paper trail.  

 

[Redro 4,611]

12 minutes ago, PBoland said:

Ok since ‘Redro’ is confused about something, not sure what, I’ll expand.  Unlike Redro and 90% of the others my U.K. wife (K1) actually got married via Utah due to just emerging from COVID (Sept/Oct 2021).  So unlike them we know the rules.  The participants MUST be on the same webcam feed, meaning side by side.  We had to do that as well for the preliminary Utah meeting.  So I hope the confusion about that is cleared up.

Also, it makes no sense that people not in the US can get married in the US. There is zero jurisdiction.  Of course that eliminates K1 if you do a Utah marriage.  More confusion cleared up.  
Lastly, if your ‘ceremony’ was basically some people getting together and no one has a record of it, then the K1 was perfectly fine and if your attorney filed that but [foolishly] mentioned the purely ceremonial event, shame on him/her. Without paperwork it was just a party.  Why would I be telling USCIS about a party?  If it was more than a party, then you know that, and KNOW it was more than ‘ceremonial’ and know that you are married already.  That was for you and the attorney to discuss prior to filing as I’m sure you did.

I see you are going to go the CR1 route and I wish you the best.  With that decision you’ve put the onus on yourself to retroactively prove your ceremony was a wedding, instead of letting the USCIS prove a ceremony existed at all and that it was a ‘wedding’ with no paper trail.  

 

 

Dan and Akari are together in Thailand right now. So, they won't have a problem being in the same place at the same time. But, several couples have married via Utah with neither being a US citizen or together. 

https://onlineweddingsutah.com/about-online-marriage/

Do we have to be together, or in the US?

No, you can be located anywhere. Both members of the couple can be located in different countries. You do not need to be a US citizen to use this service. The witnesses can also attend from other locations

 

https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerk/marriage/onlinemarriage.html

and from the .gov website

• The couple and witnesses do not have to be in the same physical location to participate in the ceremony.

 

ETA: I am not sure what who married you. If it was someone from the county or an officiant who had their own rules. But, rules have changed since the online marriage became possible and they're continually improving the experience for overseas applicants. 

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Redro

[Redro 4,611]

Here is an article about international couples marrying via Utah: https://kslnewsradio.com/1976938/couples-across-the-world-using-utah-county-clerks-office-to-get-married/

I have also been in numerous I-130 groups and Utah county marriage groups and have seen what is possible both for US immigration purposes and the purposes of immigration in their respective countries. 

[Mike E 11,739]

57 minutes ago, PBoland said:

this isn’t possible then it’s not an option.

Wrong

[Mike E 11,739]

32 minutes ago, PBoland said:

So unlike them we know the rules.  

You do not know the rules

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Mike E

[Mike E 11,739]

13 hours ago, miller_Kay said:

 Your "ceremony" was really just a "celebration of your love"

A celebration of love while she was wearing a white wedding dress. Which USCIS, the embassy, and CBP can easily find online.

 

ROTFL

[Dan and Akari 43]

We appreciate everyone's comments.  

 

We traveled to Myanmar last week and signed the marriage certificate, documented the event with photos, and took several photos post signing for evidence.  I am in the process of compiling all the evidence to submit with the I-130 and I have a question.  I am sure that I am overthinking this, but again my experience working with the government is to ensure I have all my bases covered to eliminate any confusion and more importantly to thwart any delays. 

 

Is there any issue with resizing documents to fit more on one page?  Please see attached example.  I am trying to make it easy for whomever is reviewing this evidence to follow i.e. traveled on this date, here is the visa for that date, here are flight receipts for that date, etc.  Then move to the next visit, rinse and repeat.

Travel Log to visit beneficiary v2.pdf

[Mike E 11,739]

3 hours ago, Dan and Akari said:

 

Is there any issue with resizing documents to fit more on one page?

No issue. I did the same

[ThailandR 54]

Deleted. Failed to look st the latest posts 

Edited July 30, 2023 by ThailandR

[gruntled 0]

My fiance and her daughter have now been here for almost 3 days. It was an eternity in waiting.

She is from Central America and so I have no insight about those particular embassies.. but there was one thing that you said that I felt qualified to respond to.

You mentioned moving so that she could be near her family while you wait. One thing about that, is that you will have ample time to wait and hence she will have ample time to visit the family. Likewise, I don't believe that the embassies will impact your wait nearly as much as which processing center in the US receives your package.  We watched as the estimated wait time in other processing centers remained constant, while the wait time eventually doubled for us because the people in California were putting in it an honest 40 minute work day at their houses, as they weren't required to go to the office for 2 1/2 years after covid began.

Otherwise, the common wisdom had been that a fiance could get over to the United States faster than a wife. But as others have commented, while we were waiting an eternity, we saw that the spousal visas were being handled much more quickly.

 

Best of luck...

No longer so Gruntled