smilingstone

Hi all, Happy to announce that we received the email from NVC detailing they will now forward our petition on to my embassy (London). Although, I'm a little unsure on whether the letter should be addressed to me (beneficiary) or my fiancé (petitioner): It is addressed to me, but mentions my "fiancé(e)'s approved I-129F petition", which would imply it should be addressed to the USC as it is technically their petition filed on my behalf. But because it's addressed to me (the non-USC), it makes me think "fiancé" refers to the USC. Then the last sentence says the embassy will contact my fiancé (so the petitioner?), but from what I understood, I am to now expect contact from London. Any VJers able to share whether their NVC letter was addressed to petitioner or beneficiary, or is this something I should look at having corrected? Thanks!

OP, you're fundamentally paying a minimum of $60 a month for someone to do something that you and your partner can do together. Once you allow them to submit your application, you will be stuck paying them monthly while your application sits in USCIS limbo. This could take anything from a few months to over a year. That's a lot of money to be throwing at Boundless when at that stage they aren't even doing anything! Additionally, in the case that you do get a RFE, you'll be entirely dependent on Boundless to respond to it and they won't be responding as fast as you would yourself. I would really urge you to explore cancelling your Boundless membership while you can.

It seems to me that you're being given the run-around by the agency, and not USCIS, as you're yet to even submit your petition. Which is to be expected, really, as the longer they can drag out this process for you, the more money they make. I'm sure this won't make you feel any better, but if your case is straight-forward (no glaring red flags, criminal history, other legal issues) then there's really no need to involve any of these agencies. They claim to take the headache out of the process, but all I read is them being the cause of the headaches. Unsure what the payment situation is with them, but if you're in a position to and aren't too financially invested in them, I'd be cancelling the service (before anything is filed). Anyway, you just need to persevere and give them what they ask for. I've felt this way too, at multiple times. Sometimes it feels like you'll never get there, but you will. Every day, despite feeling like a set-back, is a day closer to being with your partner.

You can check the tracking on USCIS, as they will update when they've sent your petition to NVC, but it is currently taking a while. For reference, our NOA2 approval is dated 2nd August, but they didn't dispatch to NVC until 28th August. It's frustrating, because the NOA2 specifically reads "We have sent the original visa petition to the Department of State National Visa Center (NVC)", but in reality they haven't. The wording suggests that by the time you're reading the NOA2, it's already on it's way. They should really re-word the NOA2 to say "We will send the original ..." so you immediately understand to give it some time.

It's generally advisable to do some research on the requirements of very time consuming and expensive processes before you start them. But, as @apnzz also said, I hope that including this unnecessary doc doesn't harm your case.

Unsure why you'd follow guidance of a church in the Philippines when USCIS themselves state on their website what docs are required for filing the I-129F. Hope you didn't pay for it!

Again, not needed as you are (assumingly) marrying in the US, which does not require a "certificate of engagement". Good luck.

Is this the "Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage"? If so, from what I understand, that is needed for marriage in the Philippines, not the US.

What is a "certificate of engagement"? Being engaged isn't an official, legally binding relationship status. You don't even need a ring to be engaged, it's just two people agreeing to get married. Is this a cultural thing in the Philippines? My Google searches only turn up things relating to employment. If it is some sort of certificate provided at the end of a ceremony, I'd actually have more concerns about that looking like a marriage certificate and USCIS deeming you as being "too married" for a K1. For the ring receipt, as previous posts noted, you didn't even need to include this but it could result in an RFE. But realistically, all the RFE could do is ask you to provide further clarification that you are not married. You can't evidence non-marriage as there's no sort of documents to do-so, so you can't be asked to prove a negative, only clarify.

Are you 100% sure he even had an interview booked in the first place? Did you receive any official notice from the embassy that the interview was missed? Anything other than him just telling you? You mention giving money for flights, have you also given money for other things like fees, or even for this "new eatery business"? I'm asking because it's not unheard of that the non-USC will ask for help with paying for costs associated with the visa process, but they just pocket it and things were never actually booked and/or paid for... To me, it doesn't make much sense why someone would chicken out at literally the final hurdle, unless in reality there actually never was an interview to attend.

You can't realistically consider spousal before meeting atleast once. It will be a huge hurdle to overcome in your petition and quite a red flag to USCIS/Consulate. For reference, we petitioned (for K1) during my second trip. Between filing and my interview, I will have visited 3 times. The more, the better. Not just for evidencing a real relationship, but also for you to see if it will work. Online is very different to IRL.

1. Yes, it's possible. I think they would all be on K2s (but I could be wrong). 2. From what I understand, the absent parent still needs to give consent. 3. Do you live with your son? If so, your household size would be including you and 4 dependants. To be safe, you need to hit 125% of the poverty guidelines. You can read exact numbers here: https://citizenpath.com/faq/federal-poverty-guideline 4. Most (if not all) here reccomend Utah zoom marriage and then meeting. Or marrying physically together, then filing. 5. Have you only met once, or at all? More demanding embassies require a decent amount of physical time together. 6. I can't advise on that one. I'm sure another VJer can. 😊

But even if you get evidence that previous applications were made, you can't necessarily prove fraudulent intent. My advise would be to just cut ties and to not get further involved with potentially illegal activity. Think about protecting yourself and hopefully future victims will spot the red flags as you have.

Most important question here! OP isn't even a USC. My guess is that the "partner" is trying to procure the equivalent visa for OP's home country.

You can get free VPNs as browser add ons. I use Open VPN with Brave browser (may also be available on Chrome). It is not the fastest, but manages fine for articles and YouTube.

Why are you even considering this? He is clearly using you.

Well I genuinely hope the timing of everything works out for you both!

I don't foresee anything you've mentioned hurting your case. The more you have, the better. But for reference, as secondary evidence we included a selection of texts and 1 image together. We were approved in early August. My only concern would be that you have made a solid commitment to a wedding venue and with timeframes going up and down, you may find yourself in a situation where you're due to marry but before the visa is received. This is just me, but I would advise being as flexible as possible on things like that.

We simply wrote: "Beneficiary visited [DATE OF ENTRY] to [DATE OF EXIT]. Beneficiary also visited [DATE OF ENTRY] to [DATE OF EXIT]. Please refer to statement and evidence for more detail." Then we included a 'Statement of Circumstances of Meeting'. This went into more detail as to how we met (online), how we planned to meet in person, when we met in person, where we stayed, etc. If you live in the same city, then is the K1 the best option for you? Are you the USC? Under what circumstances is the non-USC in the US?

Oh yeah, if you have them sure, but for me I didn't include any passport stamp because (for some reason) I didn't even think my passport was being stamped! After filing, I checked and I had one for my most recent trip, but not the one before, so it seems a little hit and miss. My I-94 had way more detail than my passport.

BTW, you shouldn't include any original versions of documents. You should be scanning any originals and inserting the images into a Word doc.

1. Texts and photos are fine as secondary evidence. Include the letters as it won't do any harm. 2. POE passport stamps can be inconsistent. Just include flight itineraries, boarding passes, I-94 and any receipts of accommodation. 3. You don't need to evidence getting married within 90 days. You need statements of intent signed by both petitioner and beneficiary which state you intend to marry within 90 days of beneficiary's arrival. But if you have plans and things booked, include them.

Never click links in unsolicited texts. Delivery scams are rife.

Why is H2B necessary? You aren't marrying your partner's family and friends. If you don't like them, are you willing to end your relationship? Most of us pursue K1 or IR-1/CR-1 and factor meeting family and friends into trips as tourists, not temporary workers, with full intention of returning before approval.

Unfortunate timing, but still a very positive outcome to get the approval! Congrats! What is the expiry date on your NOA2? Generally speaking, you should have your medical and interview done before that expiry, but of course, there's a good chance this not happening but London can (and should) extend your expiry if, for example, there are no available slots before then. My expiry is 30th November, so I am genuinely anticipating being able to schedule things for in advance of then. Whether this is actually the case is yet to be seen... We received approval on 3rd August, but USCIS only sent our petition to DOS on 28th August. For you and your approval on 4th Sept, you could be looking at them sending it on to DOS towards the back end of Sept. Then you have to factor in the further weeks of waiting for NVC to process and London to get in touch with you. In my opinion, a visa in hand before Christmas is possible, but it really is hard to say. From what I understand of London, they don't release interview slots that far in advance (maybe only within the current month?). Your timeline suggests you're approx. 1 month behind me in terms of approval and for me personally, I am anticipating receiving NVC updates and embassy welcome letter sometime in October. So for you, potentially November? This is purely my own speculation so please do not make any arrangements based on my response, but that might mean that you can schedule things November/December. Me and my fiancé planned a visit that would have me there for Christmas, but once we received NOA2 with an expiry of before then, we had to come to terms with the fact that I simply cannot risk arranging travel for after that date as ideally any travel after that point would be me travelling under a K1 and therefore unable to return before AOS. I really couldn't bare to wait yet another 6+ months so we brought it forward to October, feeling safe that I wouldn't be in a position to schedule anything before then. I'll be returning early November which seems, to me, to be good timing with being able to schedule things with London (although I am secretly hoping for an opportunity to extend to December, just to give me more breathing room due to work commitments). Are you in a position to bring your trip forward? It is a shame to miss your birthday and holidays, but something is better than nothing, and travel will be infinitely easier for you if it's done well before the time you're anticipating being required to go to London. Again, this is purely my own speculation so please do not make any arrangements based on my response, but it does sound like you could do a trip in October (finances permitting) and then return to move forward with everything else. No need to apologise. This is an incredibly stressful time where our lives and future are taken out of our hands. We're just left to speculate and if you're someone who tends to do a lot of forward planning, it can feel like you have zero control. My only advice to you would be to plan any trips for times when you feel comfortable. In the sense that, I would not feel comfortable booking flights for any time after October because I feel that it would be such a scramble and too high of a risk/close to expiry. Are your flights refundable, or can you change the dates? I hope the above helps you in some way. As I say, it's a really difficult position to be in, but you don't want to make your life any harder due to poor timing of travel. It may be a case of focussing on the bigger picture, and, as much as it hurts to not be with your partner, to remember that every day brings you one step closer to being together.