US Immigration from Turkey

Brevity has never been my strong suit, but I'll try to keep this short:

My fiance is from Turkiye. We are engaged, my family is coming to meet her. I am concerned with a few financial issues though:

1) I was on Medicaid during COVID-19. I don't know if this will be an issue going forward.

2) I was living and working in S. Korea for most of the past year, so my income does not meet the requirement in USD. I am unemployed and have been since October because I have been in Turkiye. I have plenty of money and assets in several accounts AND I have people who are willing to become a joint sponsor for my fiance. I sold assets last year and will report my Korean income, but I still don't think this will be enough in total to reach the poverty guidelines (assume I don't.)

3) I have medical debt which I will pay off when going to the U.S., but it did end up going to collections because I wasn't in the U.S. when the letters arrived and wasn't aware of it until recently (hidden costs.) This will be paid off when I get back to the United States.

I would like to file in January, but I was wondering if I should just hold off and try to marry my fiancee in Turkiye next May and then apply for a marriage visa instead if that would be a safer route. My understanding is that if a K-1 visa is denied, you must file another visa. Is this correct?

I am trying to file my K-1 visa before the change of administration on January 20th, because I suspect that the new administration will likely change immigration policies. However, would it be a safer, if longer route, to just marry my fiance and then apply for a IR-1 or CR-1. Thank you for any perspectives, opinions and information you can provide.

Hi All,

I am preparing to file my I-130 for my wife within the next day or two. We are currently residing in Istanbul, Turkey, and were married online with a Utah County online marriage. However, the marriage certificate says the following:

"I hereby certify that on the 22nd day of December in the year of two thousand twenty four in the city of Salt Lake City in said county of Salt Lake, I, the undersigned, a Reverend did join in matrimony according to the laws of the State of Utah [NAME] and [NAME]. The nature of the ceremony was according to Utah Law and was a present mutual agreement of marriage between parties."

I believe this is because the reverend who performed the marriage lives in Salt Lake City. So, is it correct to write the location as Provo in Utah County, Salt Lake City where the officiant was, or Istanbul where we physically were at the time?

Another question - I have made my wife the sole beneficiary on my brokerage and checking accounts at my bank in the United States. However, the only evidence I have of this is a screenshot, as unfortunately I don't have access to any formal documents stating this. Is this okay to submit? Overall, the amount of evidence of us being financially intertwined is quite low, for reasons I mentioned in my last post. All I have to prove this is the aforementioned screenshot. Does anyone know of any last-minute moves can I make to strengthen this? I have tried applying for instant life insurance but was rejected because I live outside of the US.

My sincere thanks in advance for any responses!

Hello Everyone,
I need some guidance and wanted to see what the best course of action would be.
I finished my masters in France and wanted to go to US to reward myself as a tourist which was my intention at the time and how i got in to US.
My plan was to stay for 3 months then go back to France. I am in US for 40 days now and for the past 20 days i have been in a relationship with a US Citizen. She is 39 years old single mom while i am 28 with no kids. We just discovered that she is pregnant so we started talking about marriage and i do want to marry her.

I have been reading online and apparently AOS can work, from what i understand my initial intent matters the most and it was just touristic nothing else.
Do we get married and start the paperwork ? I can afford to stay in US and wait for the process. I am a Turkish Citizen and she is from US born and raised.
Is it possible for me to get married so i can stay with her and the baby ?

Thank you for reading and i appreciate any help.

Hi All,

My fianc e and I are planning getting married on this weekend (December 2024) via a Utah online marriage, which I previously made a post about. We are planning on applying for a CR1 visa ASAP after that is complete. I have been compiling evidence of our relationship and I am concerned that it might not be sufficient. Below is a summary of what I have found so far:

Some notes:

• The evidence from Serbia/Czechia/Italy is from vacations we took to those countries together.
• I am a US citizen and she is a Turkish citizen.
• We live together at the apartment I own in Turkey, but her name is not on the deed.
• We also have no joint financial accounts and she is not on any of the utility bills except the internet bill. This is because she is currently in university (I am 23 and she is 21) and as such she is not earning an income. I am concerned that not having obvious financial ties will weaken our case.
• We are able to get affidavits from friends and family if needed but I've read that these don't really hold water.
• I also have a lesson confirmation for Turkish lessons in December 2024, not sure if that matters.

Does this evidence seem sufficient for a CR1 visa application? Are there any critical pieces of evidence we might have overlooked? I have tried to provide as much information as possible, but if there's anything else that would be helpful, please let me know. I am very new to all of this and am trying to move as quickly as possible. Thank you in advance for any replies!!!

Hi All,

My fianc e (Turkish citizen) and I (US citizen) are living together in Turkey, and would like to get married and start our CR1 application ASAP. To get married in Turkey, I need a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility to Marry from the US Consulate here in Istanbul. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to secure an appointment until mid-January, which is later than I would like. There is also the issue of getting this document translated, getting the translation notarized, and then getting it approved by local officials.

Given this, we are looking into getting married online in Utah. Because we are living together, I believe USCIS will view the marriage as consummated and legitimate. My main question is this - Will USCIS accept a "digitally certified" copy of our marriage certificate for our initial application? I have searched online and on VisaJourney but haven't been able to find a clear answer. It seems like they will, but I just want to make sure. For context, here is the Utah County Clerk's page explaining what this is: https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerk/marriage/digitalvspapercertcopy.html We will also have the physical certificate mailed to us, but this will add an additional 3-4 weeks - which defeats the whole purpose of getting married online.

I am totally new to the world of US immigration, apologies for any mistakes. Thanks in advance for any replies!