VISA process is driving me bananas

[Cranberry_anon 6]

3 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

Ah, Boundless, now it makes sense. 

Is Boundless really that bad? Are they known for being difficult?

[appleblossom 2,441]

2 minutes ago, Cranberry_anon said:

Is Boundless really that bad? Are they known for being difficult?

 

I've seen them give a lot of incorrect advice in the past. I don't really see the point in using an 'in-between' service personally - makes more sense to me to either just do it yourself, or hire a proper immigration law firm. 

[SalishSea 17,801]

5 hours ago, Cranberry_anon said:

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm 24/F/Ireland and I'm working alongside my fiancé (25/M/Oklahoma) to get a K1 visa for marriage in the states.

 

The process is like Chinese water torture. It's just constantly dripping new obstacles and errors over and over until I go insane.

 

Today I was notified that my birth certificate (printed in English when it was issued to my parents from the Irish government the day I was born) is in fact not written in English and I must now have it translated. Why, you may ask? Because *beside* the English, in small faint text, is Irish Gaeilge put there for the Irish people who can't speak English.

 

The professional translator herself is equally baffled by this.

 

 

 

I feel so hopeless sometimes. It's bad enough we fell into the Boundless Immigration trap, it's worse that I have to juggle these <DELETED> requests on top of making peace with leaving my whole life/family/world behind to get married and have it all be ignored because the only proof that matters is paper, and even worse still that I'm essentially having to guide my fiancé through the paperwork because he's not great with paperwork and procrastinates instead of helping me. What the hell does an affidavit from his aunt prove that my words don't? I'm going insane. I feel like I'm never going to get this poxy application submitted and if I do they're going to tell me to off back to Ireland because we forgot to dot an "i".

 

Why bother  with affidavits from family?   You’re just making things more complicated for yourself.

 

Ireland is a low fraud country for US immigration, your petition packet does not need such fluff.

[MalloryCat 183]

we went through boundless for our I-129f

in hindsight we could have and should have just done it ourselves
 

but the people who actually put together the packet and that you talk to for the most part aren't immigration attorneys or anything of the sort. just call themselves "experts", of which the majority are not.

i guess i would say we had someone with more experience work on ours and we weren't given any incorrect information. 

honestly, they probably get some kind of kickback from the translation service that they advertise. wouldn't be surprised if that is why they are insisting you get the BC translated because of the one sentence.

 

i wouldn't say "difficult"

but they are very annoying

i've had to block 2 different phone numbers from them because they just don't stop calling, even though we are well past the point of needing them.

[SalishSea 17,801]

4 hours ago, Cranberry_anon said:

Our immigration agency pointed out that this is common for anyone in Ireland looking to get a K1 visa. I was skeptical of this at first however the translator some our later correspondence confirmed that a lot of people do end up submitting birth certs for translation to their company because of this very bizarre request regardless of what route people are taking to the K1 (Agency, by themselves, immigration attorney, etc.) Maybe it's more common in Ireland?

I’ve seen an RFE for a BC of a person born in UK/Ireland maybe once in all of my years reading VJ (9).   Yes it was dumb, but an isolated occurrence for sure.

 

There is literally no reason to pay money to a company like Boundless.

We did a K-1 (in 2018 it made sense- now I would 100% do a CR-1) from a similarly low-fraud consulate.   Did not experience any of the frustrations you seem to be having.   Anyone with at least a high school education level of literacy should be able to read and complete the forms adequately.   
 

And for questions that arise (which there will be), there is VJ.   This is a DIY site.

[SalishSea 17,801]

18 minutes ago, Cranberry_anon said:

Is Boundless really that bad? Are they known for being difficult?

They’re known for being an unnecessary expense.   Most people with uncomplicated cases have the aptitude to complete and submit immigration forms solo.

[smilingstone 167]

OP, you're fundamentally paying a minimum of $60 a month for someone to do something that you and your partner can do together. Once you allow them to submit your application, you will be stuck paying them monthly while your application sits in USCIS limbo. This could take anything from a few months to over a year. That's a lot of money to be throwing at Boundless when at that stage they aren't even doing anything!

 

Additionally, in the case that you do get a RFE, you'll be entirely dependent on Boundless to respond to it and they won't be responding as fast as you would yourself.

 

I would really urge you to explore cancelling your Boundless membership while you can.

[TexasRafael 134]

Those of us who have been through this process feel your pain!  For reasons that I won't bore all with it my process for a K-1 Visa for my now spouse started on May 2017 and the visa was finally approved in June 2021, 4 years, (covid happened during that time,)  just be patient and move along and all will be fine.  Good luck. 

[JKLSemicolon 411]

1 hour ago, Cranberry_anon said:

Is Boundless really that bad? Are they known for being difficult?

The fact that they asked you to translate your Irish birth certificate, without giving the direct source of what documents are acceptable as @crazycat did and without providing more details on what translations are accepted as @Marieke H did, which then led you to start this thread venting your frustrations, is a big clue.

[Marieke H 2,496]

I missed the part where you said you had not even submitted the petition yet. From what I have seen Boundless is pretty useless. You still have to do all the work yourself anyway, so instead of following Boundless' instructions, why don't you follow the official USCIS instructions and ask questions here when you get stuck? Every form has pretty clear instructions on how to complete them.

[apnzz 228]

I can guarantee that the hurdles you're experiencing are just caused by Boundless themselves lol. 

 

We didn't even include the birth certificate of the beneficiary in the initial application, it isn't required. Only the US citizen needs to prove they are a US citizen (via bc or passport etc).

 

BC of beneficiary only needed after approval and at interview stage, and there have been many accounts on this forum of Ireland base beneficiaries that I'm sure would help advise you - if it's English like you say I doubt there'd be any issues. It's still a decent amount of time away too if you haven't filed yet.

 

We stuck specifically to the i-129f instruction page evidence, and then added some boarding passes, photographs, summary of how we met and an airbnb receipt.

 

We got approved with no RFE. (UK beneficiary)

 

Filing the petition is quite overwhelming to begin with but once you read through the instructions and familiarise yourself with the process, you don't need a service. (Those people aren't even immigration lawyers most of the time, they just call themselves experts lol.)

 

I think considering you've had so many difficulties thus far, you might be better off doing it all yourself after some research.

Edited September 24 by apnzz

[KMG 125]

7 hours ago, Cranberry_anon said:

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm 24/F/Ireland and I'm working alongside my fiancé (25/M/Oklahoma) to get a K1 visa for marriage in the states.

 

The process is like Chinese water torture. It's just constantly dripping new obstacles and errors over and over until I go insane.

 

Today I was notified that my birth certificate (printed in English when it was issued to my parents from the Irish government the day I was born) is in fact not written in English and I must now have it translated. Why, you may ask? Because *beside* the English, in small faint text, is Irish Gaeilge put there for the Irish people who can't speak English.

 

The professional translator herself is equally baffled by this.

 

 

 

I feel so hopeless sometimes. It's bad enough we fell into the Boundless Immigration trap, it's worse that I have to juggle these <DELETED> requests on top of making peace with leaving my whole life/family/world behind to get married and have it all be ignored because the only proof that matters is paper, and even worse still that I'm essentially having to guide my fiancé through the paperwork because he's not great with paperwork and procrastinates instead of helping me. What the hell does an affidavit from his aunt prove that my words don't? I'm going insane. I feel like I'm never going to get this poxy application submitted and if I do they're going to tell me to off back to Ireland because we forgot to dot an "i".

 

Drop the agency and do it yourself. It seems like they are the ones causing the stress, and you haven't even submitted your paperwork yet.

[TBoneTX 45,258]

If you're rattled by the bad experience and still desire competent help, drop Boundless and go with Platinum:

https://www.visajourney.com/partners/platinum-immigration-services/

 

Never have I heard a complaint.  It should be the difference between night and day for you.

(Note:  I have no conflict of interest in making this recommendation.)

[TBoneTX 45,258]

Cranberry, if the process is driving you bananas, this thread has brought solace to some:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/410945-k-1-journey-completed/

 

You're also invited to contribute to these important VJ polls:

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/249659-wedgies-si-man/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/356713-cat-barf-si-man/

 

[MeghanK 629]

If it helps, we submitted my husband's Irish birth certificate as is, no translations. There was no issue.