Advice needed on providing evidence for 7 year long-distance relationship

[Chessssss 0]

Hi, my fiancée [27F from the US] and I [28F from the UK] have been together in a long distance relationship since the beginning of 2018. Due to her being in university until 2020, and then the pandemic where she was living at home, it wasn't appropriate to begin a K1 visa until more recently. 

 

I proposed to her in the summer of 2024 and we are currently working on our initial I-129F petition/K1 visa packet. I have seen many people include evidence of every time they have met each other in person, photos and plane tickets etc. However, we have met in-person a total of 14 times over 7 years, and 5 times in the last 2 years.

 

I'm very confused over how much evidence of meeting we need to include. I considered only including evidence of the last 2 years, but is this enough to tell the story of/prove our bona fide relationship? A lot of big events happened before the last two years like expensive trips together, meeting each other's families etc. 

I'd really appreciate advice on how to narrow this down or help with what we should absolutely keep -- whether we should give a list of every meeting perhaps even if we don't include evidence for all of them, or is that pointless? Right now we've got photos from every meeting, receipts from a few big events, and our plane tickets from the two last times we visited each other, but it's feeling like absolute overkill with far too many pages. I'm just worried about taking out something we need.
 

We are also both women and in a lesbian relationship so we feel a bit more anxious about 'proving' our relationship is real and not just gals being pals.

 

If anyone has been in a similar situation with a long-term relationship finally applying for a K1 visa, I'd really appreciate the insight. Thank you!

[Daphne . 1,951]

Just pick a few that span the entire relationship. No need to submit 50 pictures, pick about 15 that are powerful. Same sex marriages are treated just like any other marriage, so no worries there.

[Crazy Cat 42,547]

33 minutes ago, Chessssss said:

If anyone has been in a similar situation with a long-term relationship finally applying for a K1 visa,

I assume you have compared all options...such as marriage and a spousal visa?

[Edward and Jaycel 755]

Write a brief summary of your relationship to include with the petition. The evidence of meetings should be focused on your time seeing each other within the last two years as that is the legal requirement. Same sex relationship will not be a concern.

[hplusj 174]

1 hour ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

Write a brief summary of your relationship to include with the petition.

I think this can be achieved in the Declarations of Intent.  Providing a summary of the relationship will carry weight to match any evidence provided.

1 hour ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

The evidence of meetings should be focused on your time seeing each other within the last two years as that is the legal requirement.

99% this.  As most of us who've done K1 know, a common question during the interview is "How did you meet your fiance/e?" so supplemental evidence as to where/how you met is key, in addition to the meeting within two years.

1 hour ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

Same sex relationship will not be a concern.

Heard this one a lot lately.  Same sex marriages are very much recognized by the US, and this will not be changing.  Be thorough, honest, and accurate in your petition.  Your partner's sex has no bearing on the strength of it.

Edited Sunday at 07:38 PM by hplusj

[EatBulaga 407]

7 hours ago, Chessssss said:

Hi, my fiancée [27F from the US] and I [28F from the UK] have been together in a long distance relationship since the beginning of 2018. Due to her being in university until 2020, and then the pandemic where she was living at home, it wasn't appropriate to begin a K1 visa until more recently. 

 

I proposed to her in the summer of 2024 and we are currently working on our initial I-129F petition/K1 visa packet. I have seen many people include evidence of every time they have met each other in person, photos and plane tickets etc. However, we have met in-person a total of 14 times over 7 years, and 5 times in the last 2 years.

 

I'm very confused over how much evidence of meeting we need to include. I considered only including evidence of the last 2 years, but is this enough to tell the story of/prove our bona fide relationship? A lot of big events happened before the last two years like expensive trips together, meeting each other's families etc. 

I'd really appreciate advice on how to narrow this down or help with what we should absolutely keep -- whether we should give a list of every meeting perhaps even if we don't include evidence for all of them, or is that pointless? Right now we've got photos from every meeting, receipts from a few big events, and our plane tickets from the two last times we visited each other, but it's feeling like absolute overkill with far too many pages. I'm just worried about taking out something we need.
 

We are also both women and in a lesbian relationship so we feel a bit more anxious about 'proving' our relationship is real and not just gals being pals.

 

If anyone has been in a similar situation with a long-term relationship finally applying for a K1 visa, I'd really appreciate the insight. Thank you!

 

You can use Part 8. Additional Information (and include extra copies of Part 8, if needed) to explain briefly some milestones of your bona fide relationship, and mention that you are including photo evidence, tickets, etc. in the I-129F.

But focus more evidence on the last 2 years of meeting in person like pictures with family members, etc.

 

We had evidence of 5-year relationship before petitioning for the K1, and made very clear when in the last 2 years we were together in person.

[yuna628 9,744]

On 2/16/2025 at 10:39 AM, Chessssss said:

Hi, my fiancée [27F from the US] and I [28F from the UK] have been together in a long distance relationship since the beginning of 2018. Due to her being in university until 2020, and then the pandemic where she was living at home, it wasn't appropriate to begin a K1 visa until more recently. 

 

I proposed to her in the summer of 2024 and we are currently working on our initial I-129F petition/K1 visa packet. I have seen many people include evidence of every time they have met each other in person, photos and plane tickets etc. However, we have met in-person a total of 14 times over 7 years, and 5 times in the last 2 years.

 

I'm very confused over how much evidence of meeting we need to include. I considered only including evidence of the last 2 years, but is this enough to tell the story of/prove our bona fide relationship? A lot of big events happened before the last two years like expensive trips together, meeting each other's families etc. 

I'd really appreciate advice on how to narrow this down or help with what we should absolutely keep -- whether we should give a list of every meeting perhaps even if we don't include evidence for all of them, or is that pointless? Right now we've got photos from every meeting, receipts from a few big events, and our plane tickets from the two last times we visited each other, but it's feeling like absolute overkill with far too many pages. I'm just worried about taking out something we need.
 

We are also both women and in a lesbian relationship so we feel a bit more anxious about 'proving' our relationship is real and not just gals being pals.

 

If anyone has been in a similar situation with a long-term relationship finally applying for a K1 visa, I'd really appreciate the insight. Thank you!

 

My husband and I had a very very long relationship before filing (since 2003/2004) so we also wondered how to approach the amount of evidence we should provide. In the end we likely did a lot of overkill but tried to go for quality over quantity. We did provide things like passport stamps and plane tickets from almost every meeting we had and made sure to get about ten photos (with dates, names, and locations on the back) showing the course of the relationship from then to now - you could see we were a lot younger when we started lol. We also had receipts from some of our meetings, but those were more focused on the most recent meetings. We also wrote a letter detailing the relationship, when it started, listed all meetings, and how the course of the relationship progressed (that includes detailing your most recent meetings).

 

USCIS loves killing trees and you're going to have a ton of it in later applications. Make sure you have plenty of copies of any and all evidence you send.

Edited Monday at 06:17 PM by yuna628