DaveAndAnastasia

Yup. Have a few more lined up today and next week. Strongly considering this (current idea is around Atlanta, where I have some extended family, and the parents of the little girl below are likely moving soon; close enough for parents to drive to in a day and many flights to around where they live too, still a big city where it shouldn't be too difficult to find a job if I can't find a remote one, and as Delta's mega-hub is rather better connected to places outside of North America than San Diego -- usually drove up to LA before flying to meet PRG before she came here), but don't want to up and move without having a job; differences in interest rates means even borrowing a few hundred thousand less could end up with nearly the same payment (although as an actual house rather than a townhouse, much less in HOA fees and between a less expensive place and lower rates, much less in property taxes). Might hedge our bets and get a management company to rent out this place for a year while we rent something there (not sure how that would work), but would need to sell this one to have enough money for a reasonable down payment on another place. Given mama is a Russian brunette and papa is Puerto Rican, this could not happen naturally ... Have been looking (and interviewed for some). As per above, that would be my preference, but seems like the hit rate is better on hybrid or in-office positions. But I like my head where it is. 🤣 /in fact have talked to ... lots .. of them. Thanks, man. Magical tools to make the internet work. Better than ladders, man.

So I was laid off on March 1 (which came as a complete surprise to me, though granted I didn't watch the company's earnings calls), which is the major reason for no updates on the adventures of PRG and mini-Dave for a few months. Despite many interviews (really, enough that I lost count, not giving in to P-math), no one has decided my l33t software development skillz (anyone need a C#/SQL Server/Angular guy?) are what their company needs yet. Fortunately they did give me a generous severance package, and between PRG's income and unemployment insurance we're only losing money slowly. Still went to my parents' 50th anniversary party in Florida in April, tickets and some of hotels already paid for when we found out. Ended up ditching some of planned activities because mini-Dave had no interest in going to the beach (lives in California, man) and getting a 3-year-old who likes to randomly wave his arms around a mini-golf club seemed like a bad idea. Mini-Dave did play with his 5-year-old second cousin at the party and had some fun there, though didn't want to join the guys for a picture. Mini-Dave got three birthday cakes due to when his birthday was; one after breakfast with my parents, one in the evening on the other side of Florida with PRG's first grade teacher (who's been in the US for a while now) and her daughter's family (including a little girl about mini-Dave's age who quickly became his best friend though we only spent one evening and one morning with them). Was really good to see them. Got to airport in the middle of Florida (used alternative route to avoid traffic) with plenty of time for flight home. A bit after plane lands, mechanical issues announced say it'll be at least two hours until they can board. About 4 hours after scheduled boarding time, announce that although they still think they'll be able to fly tonight (even though already almost late enough that landing in San Diego will incur a $many -- I don't know how much, but it's a lot -- fine for landing between midnight and 6:00 am) they'll start taking rebookings. I'm not sure everyone on our flight got in line, but certainly most of them did (including us, as mini-Dave was getting tired and I wasn't keen on driving home after midnight Pacific when I'd been in Eastern time all day). Rebooked flight, got comped meals (attempt to find decent sit-down meal late at night at an airport wasn't super-successful but at least the airline paid for it) and hotel and Lyft to hotel and back, checked in. Also one of our bags didn't get back to us (fortunately mostly just had mini-Dave's toys); was assured it would be in San Diego when we got there. Joked that we were almost home because we were near Sea World. Realize next morning that all three of us are in different rows on our first flight; doesn't work with 3-year-old, no man, but couldn't fix it until at the gate. Apparently needed to wait for everyone to board and then they convinced someone next to PRG to switch. I watched The Suicide Squad on that flight, not showing that one where mini-Dave can see it, no, man (not bad, but lots of gratuitous violence). All in one row for final flight, boards on time, everything seems fine... and then we sat on the taxiway for about an hour because of funny wind conditions. Had a bumpy takeoff, scared mini-Dave. But eventually got back home, then needed to reschedule a few interviews. Mini-Dave had yet another birthday party with his daycare the Friday after we got back home (hence the third birthday cake). Now seems to think he should have a birthday party whenever he wants 🤣🤣. Carefully explained that his next birthday will not be until next year. Anyway, that was March and April ...

Or rather, EAD and AP stop being free with AOS from a K1 (the fee for just AOS actually goes down very slightly because there's no biometrics fee anymore). Strictly speaking, you don't have to apply for either (though it's probably a bad idea not to).

If it's just an N400 interview, your spouse wouldn't need to be there (I wasn't allowed in for Anastasia's either). But the original poster's I-751 hasn't been approved yet, and surprise combo interviews are not unheard of, so you should be ready for one. And for that you both should be there. So I think I'd advise waiting as long as you're comfortable with to see if you get your 10-year green card in the mail (probably another week or two?), and then rescheduling if you don't. Which isn't fun, because it'll probably delay things for months and sometimes rescheduling requests are missed, but they can't approve the N400 without approving the I-751 first. So the absolute best case scenario for an N400 interview without an approved I-751 is that they do it and then can't schedule your oath until your ROC is approved anyway.

Yeah. It's rarely a good idea to do a K-1 anymore (pre-Utah Zoom marriages, there used to be a lot more cases where a K-1 made sense -- like it did for us -- when the foreign fiancé(e) couldn't easily visit the US and marrying in their country was expensive, time consuming, or both), but that's especially true for people from visa-free countries (mostly Canada) or visa waiver program countries who have few legal restrictions on visiting the US.

I'm not sure where they could hold a ceremony indoors there, FWIW (I've been there; it's quite pretty, but I don't think there's an indoor space anywhere big enough for more than a handful of people). But my wife had a same-day oath ceremony at the San Diego USCIS office downtown last month and I wasn't allowed in for that, so I wouldn't know for sure.

I think these days the processing times are pretty similar (though you need to actually get married -- and be physically together after you do so in the case of an online marriage -- before you start a spousal visa). And the difficulty in actually getting legally married in Russia can be gotten around by a Utah Zoom marriage (this wasn't the case when my wife and I did a K-1 back in 2018). But basically unless you're in a legal corner case where a fiancé(e) visa is better (children who would be 18-21 by the time you got the visa and want to come with you is the most notable there) or just really, really don't want to be apart for months or years while legally married, then a spousal visa is significantly better. You don't have to adjust status which means your spouse can work immediately (doesn't need to wait for EAD or green card) your spouse can travel internationally immediately (doesn't need to wait for AP or green card) you don't have to pay the fees for adjusting status (or EAD if your spouse wants to work before green card, or AP if your spouse wants to travel internationally before green card; these are currently free with AOS, but the new fees will be in effect before a K-1 filed today will be approved); while a few thousand dollars in fees is not, in the context of an international relationship, really a large amount of money, it's a long way from nothing Also, it means your partner is your spouse. And as Covid travel restrictions showed, your spouse has a lot more rights than your fiancé(e). And it's likely the process will take long enough that your partner can delay their entry into the US until after you've been married two years (you have about six months from visa issuance to enter the US), in which case you get an IR-1 and can skip removing conditions too. Basically, when a K-1 was a lot faster than a CR-1 and there weren't Utah Zoom marriages, then doing a K-1 with a Russian fiancée made a lot of sense unless you were living together in Russia at the time. Now? Not so much.

Though I don't recommend doing this from a "getting to know someone well enough to actually know if you want to marry them" standpoint, lots of people have successfully petitioned for a fiancé(e) or spouse they've spent less than two weeks together in-person with, and it's certainly not illegal. Back when we filed for a K-1 (in mid-2018, K-1s took about half as long as CR-1s to process -- 9 months vs 18 months, and since there were no Utah Zoom marriages then and getting married in Russia takes a lot of time in-country or multiple trips in a relatively short time actually getting married would have required a third-country wedding; this is not true today), it seemed to me that with three one-week-ish visits, we'd spent more time together than most people filing K-1s that posted about it on VJ.

Or look into getting a Schengen visa from another country (and if you're not looking to annoy that country's consulate, go there first). There are direct flights from SFO to several other countries in the Schengen area.

What's your country of citizenship? From most countries, you don't need a visa to visit Spain or can get a visa on arrival. Exceptions are basically some African countries, Russia, a few former Soviet Republics, and one or two others.

No specific knowledge about Poland here, but anyone thinking about a third-country wedding for immigration purposes needs to look into what's required for two foreigners to legally marry in that country. In a lot of places, it's not a simple and straightforward process (in particular for this subforum, legally marrying a foreigner in Russia takes a while and is only really doable if the foreigner is also living in Russia or otherwise free to spend a month or more there or to make multiple trips to Russia with a span of a couple months), hence the popularity of the Utah zoom marriages here on VisaJourney.

FWIW, many Russians never do that (my wife is Anastasiia [my last name] on all American documents since we filed for AOS, but changing her Russian documents when she doesn't live there is just too much hassle; she renewed her Russian passport recently when the embassy did a day in LA and it's still [her maiden name] Anastasiia there). Granted, she didn't change her name until after coming here because that was on a K-1 back in 2019.

I don't think even NASA's toilet seats are $many,000,000, so you'll need more than a sub-$.01 discount to close the sale, man ...

It should be okay, but note that transcripts 1) Include everything you need in one document (if you use tax return documents, you need the 1040, all W-2s and 1099s, and all schedules) 2) are the final record of what was submitted to the IRS 3) are considerably shorter than full tax return forms so it's almost always better to use transcripts

Though at this point for the OP switching would also mean the application fees for the I-129F and the time since they flied (granted, only a month so far, but they can't file an I-130 until they meet in person again) are a sunk cost. Not a major issue (the biggest reason why a K-1 is more expensive isn't the actual fees -- even at the forthcoming much higher ones if you apply for EAD and AP -- and unless AOS processing gets a lot faster than you certainly should apply for both; it's that the beneficiary can't work until EAD or green card), but worth mentioning.

Spending her money; PRG is highly skilled QA professional who has $many leftover after paying for mini-Dave's daycare, would not go out twice in a week (and rarely went out even once a week) for anything more than fast food (which she does not care for) if we were still living on just my money. 🤣 Toilet seats it came with still work fine, man. May even convince mini-Dave to use them (and the rest of the toilet) someday. 🤣

Had early lunch yesterday because I needed to take PRG downtown for her citizenship interview. Arrive 15 minutes early, as per directions. Is line outside (kind of cold for San Diego, but that just means it's in the 50s and it was sunny). Guy checking paperwork says I can't come in, so as soon as PRG gets to the door, I go over to lobby of building next door and read (I'd brought my Kindle). Get texts every so often from PRG indicating she's still waiting. Discover that restrooms in the lobby are locked, and have "not a public restroom" sign, so end up wandering around to find a bathroom about when PRG says the person just ahead of her was called so she'll be next. Get text that she passed and is waiting for oath, send congratulations. By this time the two hours of downtown parking I'd paid for are almost up. End up in a bar and pizza place. Shouldn't have alcohol or regular pizza, diet, man. Also, not much time. Decide she'll be out soon enough I don't need to get more parking time and walk back. Hug PRG a few minutes later when she walks out. Have dinner at nice Burmese place (not that busy at 5:30 on a Monday). Had not made reservations, didn't want to jinx things. Also did not cancel today's reservation; PRG said we both work now, we can have some fun. 🙂 No more immigration forms forever! 🙂🎉🎉

Anastasia had her interview yesterday, passed, and had her oath ceremony at the San Diego office. She said it was by far the easiest immigration-related interview she's had. 🎉

Quite low, I think; IIRC the previous proposed fee changes were blocked due to not following proper procedures, not due to anything inherently wrong with the fee structure.

Unless something has changed in the last few years (quite possible; I haven't been following things closely since we got past that stage and that was in 2019 for us), EADs and APs are all processed at the National Benefits Center in Missouri. Your local field office matters for your actual AOS case if you need an interview (used to be all AOS from K1s did, but I think that may have changed recently), ROC if you need an interview (usually if you have an AOS interview you don't have an ROC interview), and for naturalization (you always have an interview there).

Surely there's at least a bottle of Tylenol or Advil or generic painkillers too, at least if said guy is over 25 ...

International shipping only starts becoming reasonable when you're moving shipping containers full of stuff, which would defeat said plan even if Vlad didn't...

It's allowed (because emergencies happen and plans can change), but issuing countries tend to frown on it. If you get a Schengen visa from country X and use it enter country Y but not country X, it's not uncommon for country X to deny future visa applications or at least ask extra questions. Back before Covid when traveling directly from Russia to the Schengen zone was a lot less complicated, for our last meeting prior to Anastasia coming to the US, she got a Schengen visa from Latvia because it was easy to get (having previously had one from Italy that expired a few months earlier), we spent a couple nights in Riga, and then the rest of the trip in Vienna. As it turned out, she'll (barring some unforeseen complications) be a US citizen before we're in the Schengen zone again, but we had no way of knowing that at the time (and if not for Covid and Vlad's adventure in Ukraine, that probably would not have been the case).

Yup. It's probably more of a thing in fields or areas with a lot of government or defense industry jobs, but even looking for entry level software QA jobs, Anastasia ran into some she couldn't apply to without US citizenship because security clearances would be required.

Especially with Vlad's adventure in Ukraine making things difficult for Russians outside of Russia, my wife filed shortly after she was eligible (her interview is next month). But I think I'm pretty much in the camp that if your home country allows dual citizenship and you intend to stay in the US indefinitely and/or want the right to come back to the US whenever you want, there really aren't many logical reasons not to.