h02ejmajja

If your husband (US citizen) files for your spouse visa, and you receive it, you can work from day 1 of entering the United States. This is the fastest way for you.

they will keep anything he takes to the interview. Your child together - their birth certificate isn't required, but your husband can take it. Make sure he has your I-864, your tax transcripts, and anything he submitted to the NVC. They will also need an original marriage certificate, and you won't get it back. They often do not look at anything additional. Also, you can just scan/email him the 864 and tax transcripts to print out. I presume he already has the original marriage certificate

Keep in mind that while his income/wages don't matter - the K1 does require the adjustment of status before he would be able to work here - which is also a considerable expense. You might want to consider just getting married and doing the spouse visa as it would allow him to work immediately. If you are concerned about income, it could be stressful waiting 6-12 months after getting married and filing adjustment of status paperwork for him to work whereas with a spouse visa he could work immediately.

The wait for a spouse visa interview in Casablanca is currently about 6 months. We have a FB group for Morocco/US specific issues and there are people who were DQ in April 2024 still waiting for interview.

So you can go live with her while the visa is in process - sure - but keep in mind that you will need to keep your US domicile, and unless you have a US job that will continue upon return to the US, you will need to have a co-sponsor. However, a bigger question for YOU would be - why are you doing the K1 instead of the spouse visa if you have the ability to live there / stay for a longer period? In that situation, you would still need those same things as the K1 but the visa would be much better for your future spouse

well then that's completely different from every other person's case I've heard of in the past 8 years

You don't pick it up at the consulate - you'd pick it up at Aramex. Have you filled out the Aramex required info on their website so they can contact you?

It doesnt look like a wedding photo to me either - I think it should be fine, and, like you said, your fiancé is wearing jeans and a white t-shirt - so try not to overthink (easier said than done I know!)

My husband is from Morocco so we have a lot of experience with the consulate there. In addition, myself and another VJ member have a FB group for Morocco/US visas specifically. Keep in mind that the ONLY thing they will look at is your one short visit of 8 days - anything you bring to the interview does NOT need to be reviewed, so they will assume that he did not meet your family. Meeting a 2nd or 3rd time before filing does nothing but make both your case and your relationship a stronger one. In addition, the wait time for an interview for K1 is around 6-9 months after USCIS approves your case. There are plenty of people in our FB group whose K1 journey is much longer than a spouse visa because of that - some are around 2 years from filing until interview. Also keep in mind that if your K1 isn't approved (if they dont believe your relationship is real based on one visit of 8 days and not meeting your family), there is no appeal - you start all over again with the CR1. Its hard on many people to get married in Morocco - but it doesnt take THAT long - we got married in 5 days there and you could always consider the online Utah marriage too. It seems like people do what they want to do, so you've likely already made up your mind - but a year or two waiting for a K1 that may or may not happen is a huge risk to take based on the minimal evidence you have now.

You could just go and...visit the US, your significant other on their ESTA and then get married and both of you go back to the UK if that's what you are wanting to do (stay in the UK for awhile). Keep in mind that with either option, unless you are working for a US company and your work will continue in the US, you will need a sponsor. Also - with the spouse visa, you can delay your timeline a little after USCIS approves your case, if you aren't ready to return yet. With the K1, once your future spouse arrives in the US, they can't leave the US without their travel documents, and they cant work without employment authorization - so it could take many months and thousands of dollars after they are here on a K1 before you get those items and their green card. However, since you could just VISIT the US and get married and do the spouse visa, that makes a lot more sense?

While I completely understand the wanting to respect your adult children to meet her, meet the girls, etc - they are also adults, and if this is imperative to them, they could go to Cambodia to meet them, see the culture which would help them understand them more, etc. In addition if the wedding party is "pretty much a wedding" its possible that they could eventually think that you are married then you would waste all that time for nothing and have to start over. The Adjustment of Status process would be around $2200 for your (future) wife and roughly $1600 for each of the two children that you would have to do AFTER coming here on the K1 and AFTER getting married but BEFORE they receive their green cards. That's a huge expense that could be fixed by having your kids go to meet her there if it's that important to them. I don't disparage your reasons for wanting a K1, but many people around the world do get married without their families meeting their significant others because that's really the only choice they have (my husband had an unapproved/expired K1 prior to our successful spouse visa so we didn't have a choice). Your family should be able to understand your decision - in addition, if you did a spouse visa then YOU had an urgent situation you needed to return to the US for, your chances of being able to expedite for a spouse/step-children or just directly filing through the consulate is far greater. I have adult children too so I get that you would like them to meet her - but at the end, they are adults, they don't live with you, and this is ultimately your life decisions. The spouse visa is such a superior visa for so many reasons - just meeting your family and having a US wedding (which you could still do at a later time) seems like a weaker reason for wanting to do the K1 (in my opinion)

in the end though, it's people - not technology - that will be looking at all the petitions and approving them or denying them. Technology doesn't do that. I think that the biggest way technology could be beneficial is to have all petitions scanned to a central database and have people be able to review them remotely - this would eliminate the need for "service centers" and could be done throughout the US. While most K1s are processed in California, for other visas they are distributed to 5 (or 6 maybe? I cant remember) service centers and inevitably one has different processing times than another.

Your situation isn't any of my business and I don't expect a specific response but just a general question that I can see might be asked - if your health conditions have been going on for over 2 years and are significant enough that you arent able to work, how can you get by without health insurance? The cost of medical care is crazy high in the US.

The fees increased April 1st. https://www.uscis.gov/g-1055 look up each paper, they are no longer included when filing adjustment of status

Just adding to this that Springfield and Decatur are about 40 minutes apart from each other. Decatur is a smaller city, so a lot of people who were from Decatur may just say Springfield as its the closest "big city" - I live about 80 miles away from Springfield so I'm definitely familiar with the area. Where is he living now? In Illinois you can just go to the courthouse or county health department and get a birth certificate immediately.