Kawika & Michelle

This is coming off a lawyer's website where it benefits them to scare people into thinking that they need professional help to get through the "tough & unforgiving" visa process. I think the reality is that the amount of denials have a lot of different & legitimate reasons that go beyond what is listed on the lawyer's website. A lot of which are simply subjective. There is no verifiable way to quantify or prove love or that someone's relationship is genuine. I think the reality is that it all comes down to a ####### shoot as to who you get to review your case file when it is your turn...how is that case officer feeling that day, what is going on in their life, etc. The same deal goes with the interviewer at the embassy. In our October 2021 Facebook group for K1 filers...and granted it is a small sample size...out of the 3619 applications in the group, only 257 were denied. I am not going to bother looking into the various reasons why they were denied...but I am sure that it wasn't solely due to "proving the validity" of the relationship type of reasons. I think the bottom line is that everyone's relationship is different & everyone has a different style of expressing their love for one another. The only thing you can do in a very subjective process like this is to meet all of the objective requirements (meeting within 2 years of applying, filling out the forms accurately, being eligible for marriage, etc.) and then do your best to provide as much evidence as you can for the subjective things (i.e., screenshots of chat, video calls, pictures of you together, etc.). It's pretty sad that people can be denied to be with someone they want to be with simply because they are from another country. We have whackos in our country marrying objects, animals, even themselves...and all of this is OK. What a world

Can you share the link to these stats?

The email from the embassy was basically a form style letter just letting us know that they received our case & that we were eligible to sign up for our interview. It also listed all of the steps required to be ready for the interview as well. They didn't request us to send any documents to them, but I assume that most embassies have a list of documents that they want on their website or you can simply use the generic list available on the US Travel Docs website. If I recall correctly, we were not allowed to schedule our interview on the website without completing the DS-160 & paying for our MRV fee. Once we completed those two steps, the website allowed us to schedule our interview date. After we did that, we were initially going to schedule our medical exam two weeks prior to our scheduled interview (as typically suggested) but we noticed that earlier appointments would occasionally pop up when people canceled or rescheduled their interviews so we thought it was best to get our medical exam done immediately. This would allow us to grab any earlier appointments before our scheduled one. Keep in mind that the medical exam is only valid for 6 months, so make sure that when you do get it that there is a good chance that you'll be able to travel to the US before that 6 months is up. Also keep in mind that we are going through the US embassy in the Philippines. I am not sure if your country is handled exactly the same or not.

These two statements basically contradict one another. Regardless, the K1 process isn't a fast one at this point in time. I'm thinking that it is still over a year to go through the entire process. Are you guys so in love that you don't even want to see each other for a year? If you've met the requirements for the K1 VISA & that's the route you want to go...then fill it out & get the process started. If the USCIS feels that your relationship isn't real...they will send you an RFE (Request For Evidence) for additional evidence of a relationship. If you have met again since you've submitted your application, then you will be able to submit any additional evidence you have. In addition, you can always include other means of verifying your relationship via chat, video calls, phone calls, gift receipts, financial support, etc. I am pretty sure that the USCIS will want to see more than just evidence that the two of you have met to prove the existence of a relationship between the two of you, so I wouldn't just be focused on the physical meeting aspect of things.

We were in the same boat a month ago. We decided to fill out the DS-160, pay our MRV fee & complete the medical right away. We even took the first available interview appointment as well (June 8th). We just got our letter from the embassy via email yesterday. That was roughly 2 weeks after our case was in Ready status on the CEAC website.

Head over to the IRS website: Get Transcript | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov) Create yourself an account. Then you can download PDFs of your tax transcripts & various other files as needed. I am not sure what they keep on the website but I was only able to find records going back to 2019 for myself.

Thanks for the heads up on the CFO. She was already approved for the CFO back in 2021 when we were forced to meet in Costa Rica. That process was a circus with all of the hoops we had to jump through to be able to get her to be able to leave the country. I think the only CFO related requirement she has left is to watch an online video presentation or something of the sort....but I'll reach out to my fiancé to make sure that we've got everything ready. I'd hate to wait all the way until June only to have to wait another 2 months for the CFO.

Not everyone has the luxury to meet their significant other if they are located in another country. Some of us are limited by time or finances, so I wouldn't put too much stock in just how many times you've met one another. Meeting someone & taking photos isn't enough to verify the existence of a relationship. If you are only able to meet once or twice, you will simply need to prove your relationship in other ways such as conversation logs, video chats, phone calls, gift receipts, financial support you may provide, etc. A sustained interaction between the two of you should hold a lot more weight than simply how often you are able to meet one another in person.

At this point we have everything done for the interview...we're just waiting for our scheduled date (June 8th) or hopefully something earlier will open up before then. Much like a lot of others...we've been waiting to be together since 2021...so I'm ready to bring her to the US as soon as possible.

You only need to have met your fiancé once within the last two years of applying for your K1 VISA. Since you met in 2022 & plan to meet again in 2023...you've already met this requirement. The fact that you've been in a relationship with her even longer should only add to the validity of your relationship. We're not all retired old farts who can just pick up & run off to another country at a moment's notice. A lot of us have responsibilities & limited finances that don't allow us to travel to see our loved ones as much as we would like. I wouldn't over think it. I'd focus on producing photos of your meeting(s) and your communication & support for one another in the recent years.

We finally got our email from the Manila embassy yesterday (Monday, April 3rd, 2023 in Manila). Now we're just waiting for either our current scheduled interview (June 8th) or hopefully an earlier one that opens up before then.

If I recall correctly, I think the new form actually is shorter. I also watched a lot of different YouTube videos on past petitioners giving tips on how to fill out the form. The main thing that I took away from it is that if you have a job that meets the income requirements for the K1 VISA, then that is the only thing that you should document on the form. In my case, I provided the offer letter I received for my job showing my salary, a copy of my last 2-3 months of paycheck stubs as well as my IRS tax details from the past 3 years (you can download those off the IRS website) as proof of my ability to financially support my fiancé. Prior to watching those videos I was assuming that I would have to disclose everything (i.e., home, car, bank accounts, retirement accounts, etc.). In my case, since my job was more than adequate to fulfil the requirements, adding anything else would just be overkill...and more importantly...require a lot more documentation to prove the value of those assets (i.e., appraisals, bank statements, etc. ). And also now that I am looking at both of the forms once again...you are using the correct form. When I initially saw your date...I remember that the new one was from January. If you look at the bottom of the page of the form it will state: Form I-134 Edition 01/04/23 The older version will state: Form I-134 Edition 10/18/22 I'd suggest checking out the Back With Bryan Channel on YouTube. He is currently going through the process for his K1 VISA. His fiancé is from Thailand but he is only a month or so ahead of us on the timeline. He actually takes the time to walk you through the form & helps you fill it out. He's definitely one of the guys I watch the most to help us get through this journey. Most of the other ones has good information but are a little outdated.

I was about to say that my fiancé paid it in person. As you are about to do, we simply printed off a deposit slip off the site and she took it to the nearest RBC branch location. All of the instructions on how to do it is printed on the form, so as long as you follow the steps on there you should be good to go. After she paid the fee, I logged in to her account on the to attempt to set our appointment. Note that part of the process to sign up for the appointment includes updating your beneficiary's profile which includes a part about them paying their MRV fee. This is validated by you entering the receipt number printed on the deposit slip & the system checking to see if the fee was paid. This took a day or two before the website validated her payment. After that, you should be able to grab the next available appointment (currently mid-June of 2023).

First & foremost, I believe the form you are using has now been superseded. As noted here: Declaration of Financial Support | USCIS I filled out the version you did & have to re-fill it out once I found out that the form was updated. As far as the issue with the linked fields, the way I worked around it was to simply fill out the form completely. As noted, the beneficiary's name will populate into the linked fields on the petitioner's page (page 4). After I filled out the form, I simply printed out the entire form except for the page with the linked field (page 4). Then I went back into the form & entered my name (petitioner) into the field for the beneficiary on page 1 & printed off only page 4. I then placed page 4 into the rest of the form & signed it. In my case I also scanned it as I needed to send it to my fiancé in the Philippines so that she could print it & add it to our case folder for our future interview. One other thing of note...if you read through the instructions on how to fill out the I-134 form, at the bottom of page 2 it clearly states: I'm sure the lawyer you met with meant well...and while it makes sense to use an ink that will stand out against the black text used on the form...I don't think I would risk using blue ink when the instructions clearly tell you not to.

When the children were split up (2021), the eldest was 9 years old & the youngest was 2 years old. At the time, the mother & father were already separated. Both children were living solely with their mom & her sister. The father did not provide any assistance but did visit his eldest son on a regular basis (primarily taking the eldest or both sons over the weekends). Basically the father & his family spoiled the eldest son while the parents were separated. At some point, the mother was physically & emotionally abused and basically thrown out of her apartment/room (she was renting it from either a relative or friend of her ex's family). Her sister had also recently moved back to Cebu a month or two prior to the incident...so at that point she decided to move back to Cebu (where the rest of her family was from) from the Manila area. I don't know the specifics of how it happened but I was basically told that the eldest son told her that he wanted to stay with his dad & his family. She knew that he would be well taken care of, so she reluctantly let him have his wish & left with her younger son. During the course of our relationship she has already spoken with her ex about her plans to relocate to the US with me as well as taking her youngest son with her. They were both in agreement with it & she also agreed to allow her eldest son to remain with his dad. None of this is in writing of course. I'm no lawyer but based on any information I can find on the subject...it appears that she is well within her rights to take her eldest son if she wanted to. She still provides financial support to her son (through me) occasionally, but otherwise her eldest son appears to be taken care of & happy there. We don't have any plans to try to remove him forcibly from the situation as he has not requested us to & as stated before, he appears to be doing well. He has, however, indicated to his mom that he hopes to rejoin her at some point in the future...I assume he means that he would like to eventually join us in the US as well. I'm not sure how his father or their family would react to that request, but I always figured that we would cross that bridge when we got to it. So there's nothing imminent here, I was simply just thinking out loud theoretically as to what would happen if her eldest son asked him mom to bring him to the US in the next few years & what hurdles we would need to overcome if her ex & his family tried to prevent it. I'm not sure if she would lose any rights to her eldest son if she moved to the US without him & any amount of time passed (i.e., would a Philippine court view that as abandonment).

How does the situation change if neither parent was married but one of the children chose to stay with the father's family & the mother did not fight it. Would she be able to take custody of her son if she wanted to or would the father now hold some rights as her son has now been under their care for roughly 2 years?

Hi there, My fiancé & I received our ready status from the NVC back on March 15th, 2023. Things seem to be a bit unclear, but it seems as if we need to wait to hear back from the embassy before we can schedule our interview. I reached out to the embassy a few days ago & was told that the case was still in transit from the NVC to the embassy in Manila. Has anyone been through the process recently & can give some insight as to how long it typically takes for the physical files to get to the embassy in Manila? I think the general FAQs indicate a 4-6 week window but I've seen some folks having their cases to Manila in less than a week. In hopes of getting a jump on the process, we've already completed her DS-160, paid the MRV fee & she is currently in Manila for her medical exam today & tomorrow. We currently also have scheduled our appointment for the next available slot of June 8th, 2023 with hopes that once we complete our medical exam that we can potentially grab any interview openings that pop up before June 8th. When I contacted that embassy, they did indicate that they could not conduct the interview until the physical files were delivered to the embassy, so right now we're really just waiting on that to happen. Any insight or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Kawika

To add a spin to this...as we are now reconsidering sticking with our original plan to give her a year to get accustomed to her new normal first...would it be possible to fill out the K2 for her son & go through the process and get them both approved but instead of having them both travel to the US...just have her come alone as we originally planned? With the key being that after we are married & change our status...would we then be able to simply adjust her son's status at the same time even though he never officially entered the US? I figured this would allow us to bring him over to the US once she feels comfortable enough & we have everything in order in our home to allow him to join us. Our plan is to bring him over with us during the summer of 2024 when we return to the Philippines to have a wedding ceremony for her friends & family. If we went through the process of petitioning for him as an immediate family member, I am assuming that it would still be a very lengthy process with all of the backlog still clogging up the system.

From what I can gather thus far...the costs will be: DS-160 Fee (x2) - $265.00 x 2 Medical Exam for my fiancé: 14,975 pesos Medical Exam for her son: 9,853 pesos

Yes...3 turning 4 next month. She'll be overjoyed to hear this. She was ready to break up with me in order to stay back with her son.

Yes I did.

Hi Everyone, My fiancé & I got approved for our NOA2 on February 3rd, 2023. When we first started our relationship back in 2020 and up until now, we had made the decision that she would come over on the K1 Fiancé VISA on her own for the first year to get acclimated to the US, get used to being a wife & a step mom without also having to care for her children. At the time we felt it was a good decision & she had the support of her family to care for her son. We planned to petition for him as soon as we could with the hope of bringing him over to join us within 1-2 years (depending on the length of the process). She has since had second thoughts about leaving him behind for a year & she has since started to feel that her family would not properly care for him once she leaves. First question...is it too late to have him added to our current K1 VISA application. I am assuming that this answer is yes & if we wanted to go this route, we would likely have to start all the way over back on step 1. Second question...what is the best way to handle this situation to try to get him to join us within a year (or however long the current process takes)? I am assuming that we would petition for him as an immediate family member as we would be married & I am more than happy to adopt him as part of the process. Thanks! Kawika