Sarah&Facundo

My now-husband and I experienced this same thing. We were young and we really wanted to have him come to the US, see how he liked it, live with me for a bit like a normal couple, etc. before taking that next step. But, as you already noticed, that doesn't exist. I knew him in person already and spent time in his country. He applied and received his B2 visa, came a few times and spent a few holidays with my family, and then we had to make the decision---marry or break up because we couldn't do this forever. We ultimately decided to take the chance, do the K1, and get married. We have been married 6 years now and we are very happy with that decision, but I totally understand the hesitancy! Good luck!

That's not an extreme hardship, unfortunately. People travel with kids all the time. To travel to my husband's family is 30+ hours. There are always a ton of parents with kids on those trips. There is no reason you can't take them with you if there is no one local to watch them.

No one here will be able to give you that answer. It's up to the officer to make that decision. But since you've had one in the past and did not abuse it, I would say your chances are more favorable. I have a bunch of friends in Argentina/Brazil and if they've had a B2 before, they generally haven't had an issue getting another one.

If your wife, the USC, is going through financial difficulty, how is she going to sponsor you? The USC can not be going through financial difficulty since they need to meet the guidelines and prove they have adequate funds to support the incoming immigrant. If you go the joint sponsor route, the person who is sponsoring should be able to help.

We were in the exact same position as you. We ended up having both an I-751 and N400 interview. You will undoubtedly have a N400 interview. Our I-751 interview was unexpected since we have no red flags, and a lot of people get those waived. Unfortunately, we did not. We were there for about 5 minutes where they asked maybe 2 questions and had our approval on the USCIS site within 5 minutes of leaving the building.

We were in a similar situation where we got approved unusually quickly and wanted to push it off. Once the petition made it past the NVC and went to the consulate in my husband's (then-fiance's) country, we communicated with them about pushing it off. We held it off for 8 months before we had an interview.

For reference, I am a US citizen (by birth) and I have never served jury duty.

You were told back when you interviewed and also at the border upon arrival that she needs to file to Adjust her status within 90 days of entry. You only have a couple weeks left to make that happens. Study the guides available on this site regarding Adjustment of Status and filing for for her employment and travel documents, should she choose to.

Correct--and no I don't take it as being belligerent. It is great you asked before embarking on a process that would cost you thousands of dollars and lost years just to get a denial. There is such a thing as "being too married for the K1 and not married enough for the CR1." It looks like you fall in that category. Please look it up on Visa Journey or online--you'll see lots of posts and stories about the same situation you are in right now. The only way to solve that is to actually get married. You can get "paperwork married" online through Utah and have a typical traditional wedding down the road. Plenty of people do this. Then regarding the financial situation, you will have to provide 3 years of past taxes. You will need to show proof of over the correct amount of income, depending on your family size or find a qualified joint sponsor. There is no way around that.

It's not really about "choosing" which one is best for your situation, as you mentioned before. You either qualify for the K1 or the CR1. From what you've written, you do not qualify for the K1.

This is exactly why you should NOT do the K1. You are very likely to be denied. So you'll find yourself waiting 1-2 years, only to have to wait an ADDITIONAL 1-2 years ago in the case of a denial where you'd have to file a marriage visa anyway. I wouldn't risk that. Just do it the right way the first time. The K1 and CR1 processing time are about the same, so one is not much faster. The CR1 is significantly cheaper. Keep in mind, you can get married in "paperwork only" and then have your traditional wedding in the US to celebrate after and include your kids. You wouldn't even need to tell them about it. Realistically, if you are bringing her to the US, you are planning to be together. Your kids aren't going to have a say in the matter anyway.

Oh yes, I totally realize it is an election ploy. I just was under the impression they could already adjust. So is it only those who entered legally who overstay who can adjust?

First off, please note I do NOT want this to get political. I am genuinely curious about this topic and it does not affect me at all. With the new announcement of the new policy to shield undocumented immigrants who are married to US citizens, I am not understanding how this changes things. If someone is married to a US citizen, aren't they already able to file a I-130 and I-485 to adjust status as long as they are in the US? I even knew people in college who were undocumented and were marrying their friends before graduating so they could get a job (not saying this is right--that's another conversation). So what am I missing?

On top of what everyone else is saying, you NEED to discuss this with your husband. We also lived (and still do live) with my mother. I am the USC and during that time, I paid for everything for both of us. We knew what this was going to be when we entered into this agreement to do the K1. I had already prepared for that. I would never EVER look at it as he was taking money/food from me. From the day we said "I do," that money was OUR money. I would feel horrible if I ever found out my husband wasn't eating out of guilt and I would hope he would communicate those thoughts with me if he was thinking like this.

They should have more in-person time together. 10 days is not enough time to know if you should marry someone in general, plus there are a bunch of other red flags. I don't mean to sound offensive at all whatsoever, but even *I* questions this--and I am not an officer, so try to think of how an officer would look at this realistically. More in-person time, especially from that region, is highly recommended.

Another option to see each other--If you want to meet in another country that is closer and easier for the US beneficiary to travel to over a holiday weekend (like Thanksgiving), you could always meet elsewhere. Ezeiza has direct flights to Mexico & Colombia and Argentinians don't need visas for those countries.

You'll likely have at least a year until you receive an interview anyway, so hopefully your partner can visit again soon. Even if it is a short visit-I've done quick trips to Argentina before over long weekends. But technically you only need to meet once to satisfy the requirement.

None of those things you mentioned are required. If you have them, then that's great! You can add them to your application. Also, you are looking at a one year minimum wait (but probably more) until you have an interview, so you can add visits (which you should, just in terms of the marriage itself--not immigration) or any other items during that time if you wanted to. If either of you have plane tickets, passport stamps, hotel receipts, etc. to prove you were physically together, that supersedes any photos. But even if you have just one photo together, that would be helpful. Remember-if you apply, there is a chance you will be approved. If you don't apply, your answer will be 100% no.

We went through the Argentinian consulate. Argentina is not a high fraud country. For the K1, you need to prove you met once in the last two years to meet the qualifications, which it seems you have. Our interview was pretty quick and we had no issues getting approved.

He received a card in the mail.

Yes, my now-husband even came to visit me in the US after having his interview but before using his K1. No one even asked him about the K1.

My now-husband visited me twice between when he applied and when he received his K1 visa. No one asked him anything about the k1 either time.

We traveled for leisure several times with AP. Never had an issue.

I am self employed and I was self employed at the time of the interview. Instead of W2s, he needs to bring 1099s. That is what self employed people have. As a self employed person, you also have the ability to issue yourself a W2 (I do this now), so if he has those, he can bring them. if not, he absolutely needs the 1099s.

I can understand why they are being overly cautious, but the reality is that as long as you have a normal case, the risk of anything happening is extremely low. We used AP several times as well, including trips over a month outside the country.