HELP !!...need a roadmap

[Guest robrexx]

Hi All...

 

I have married a wonderful woman in Nanning and I want to start the process. Please do not refer me to the Immigration web site.....that only causes more dread and confusion. Has anyone compiled a concise document that tells me...in detail:

 

what forms to file ?

what forms in what order ?

to be sent where ?

How much for each form ?

 

Does anyone know how to get copies of past divorces from Texas, Ohio ?

I am currently in VA.

 

 

Please feel free to email me direct at rob_thomas_rexx@yahoo.com

 

If I cannot get any help....then I will hire an attorney...much to my wife's chagrin....and compile this document myself.

 

I joined K-3 Filer's in Yahoo and go no help ...fragmented and disjointed answers......a real group of hesitant sheepish experts.

[keelec]

Welcome Rob,

 

Ok, for your roadmap.... AVOID ALL POTHOLES.... SOME OF THEM CAN BE VERY DEEP

 

I actually filed K1. I think many things were similar, but there were some subtle differences between K1 and K3. And, of course, that was nearly a year and a half ago.

 

You need to fill out forms I-130, and G-325a for each person in quadruplicate, (followed by I-129F and another set of G325a also for each person in quadruplicate)

 

The I-130 and G-325a gets sent to your service center (is that Vermont???). After you get your reciept (I think), you send the I-129F to Missouri.

 

Follow the instructions for the pictures and etc. I think it is 1 copy for each application. Make sure it is the 3/4 frontal image showing an ear (was that the right ear)?

 

For the fiancee visa, you need a letter describing your intent. I assume it is the same for the K3. Some people write a single, combined letter. Others write individual letters.

 

Include your divorce stuff as well as copies of your marriage documents.

 

Also include a phone bill and a few pictures to show the two of you together.

 

-----------

 

Ok, ONE BIG POTHOLE:.... Do not put N/A for previous work experience, or for previous husbands or wives. You should put in NONE.

 

Another pothole.... Be consistent with your wife's name. If you use her married name, make sure the maiden name is listed, but be consistant using her married name.

 

-----------

 

Ok, I believe that I have seen notes of those couples that have sent an I-130 to Vermont have observed their I-130 progressing at about the same pace as the I-129F. In that case, you could consider only filing one without the other and saving $160 something. However, redundancy in your applications may not be a bad idea.... If one gets stuck, perhaps the other one didn't.

 

Everywhere else, the I-130 takes about 2 years..... Oh, with a single notable exception. I think I saw somewhere that Texas was doing some kind of an experiment for expedited I-130 apps.

 

Anyway, I am sure that someone with more current and actual K3 experience will pipe up.

 

----- Clifford -----

[resp]

hi Rob

welcome to cfl

I think Clifford said it best , i would like to add , you have

to send the G325A to your wife to sign .

make sure you visit your wife more than once and save ticket stubs

save all phone bills, calling cards, chat communication between you too.

Take as much pictures as possible of you and your wife and her family too

I-130 Petition for Alien Relative New Fee:$185

I-129F Petition for Alien Fiance(e) New Fee: $165

resp

[keelec]

Rob,

 

Here is a thread that showed up a while ago about Texas:

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....6&hl=experiment

 

http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/immigdaily/news...nfopassfsht.pdf

 

If you are filing in Texas, then you definately need to read this carefully and follow up on it if possible as I think it discussed expediting the I-130 processing.

 

Hmmm, it discusses showing up at the Dallas office and having the interview the same day.... Perhaps it doesn't apply if one can't legally show up at the Dallas office (there always has to be a catch somewhere).

 

----- Clifford ------

[DaveR]

You can get certified copies of birth and divorce certificates from a company at vitalchek.com.....All you have to do is get the state and county and I have had the certificates at my house within 10 days. Very easy and simple to use. My divorce was in South Dakotoa and I live in Mississippi.

 

I also found examples of how to put together the cover letter and order of forms both here on CFL and USCIS website.

 

Hope this helps.

 

David

[Dean Hall]

Robrexx,

 

First, welcome to one of the best groups on the net.

Second, back - track to Oct or Nov on this site, and just start reading. You will discover every mistake that we have all learned and passed on.

 

The biggest one is your wifes name. Do her name exactly as it is on her passport on all documents from here on out.

 

I take it you live in Virginia. If so, you have just hit the motherlode of immigration luck. Your I-130 will process through Vermont at record speed.

Our I-130 was approved in 3 months.

 

The following is copied from another site:

 

K-3 Processing--Essential Steps

 

The following is the procedure for processing a K-3 petition:

 

1. US citizen spouse files an I-130 to the Service Center for foreign spouse.

 

2. US citizen spouse receives a notice of action from the Service Center for this petition.

 

3. US citizen spouse then sends a copy of the notice of action (or proof of filing the I-130) with a completed I-129F form, other required documents, and $110.00 fee to the Chicago P.O. box INS address on the I-129F petition form.

 

4. The Chicago office checks the petition, deposits the $110.00 fee, and sends the petition on to the Missouri Service Center.

 

5. Missouri Service Center approves the petition and forwards it to the NVC (National Visa Center)

They process it, and a name check is run by the FBI and different agencys.

After approval, NVC forwards it to Guangzhou US Consulate by DHL.

 

6. On the consulate side of things, the foreign spouse completes a process very similar to the K-1 process: receives a packet of forms/documents, gets a medical exam and police certificate, attends an interview, and gets the K3 visa.

 

7. The foreign spouse enters the US as a K3 to await the final processing of the I-130 petition. The foreign spouse is allowed to work but must have a work authorization card in order to do so. A separate request is filed with the INS to obtain work authorization.

 

8. The I-130 petitioner informs the INS (the regional center where the I-130 was filed) that the I-130 beneficiary is already in the U.S. and will not be applying for permanent residency at the Consulate abroad as originally indicated on the I-130.

 

9. After I-130 is approved, go through I-485 processing to obtain conditional permanent residency.

 

*************************************************

 

The following is a checklist of documents/forms required for filing the I-129F, in order to obtain the K3 visa:

 

1. Completed Form I-129F.

 

2. Biographic information G325A for petitioner (US Citizen).

 

3. Biographic information G325A for beneficiary (Spouse).

 

4. INS residency-type photo - one each for petitioner & spouse.

 

5. Copy of marriage certificate.

 

6. Proof of Petitioner's US Citizenship, such as birth certificate, copy of US passport, or naturalization certificate.

 

7. Proof of filing I-130 petition.

 

8. Filing fee of $110.00 payable to INS.

 

Of course, other documents regarding name change, previous marriage, etc., may be required based on the facts of each case.

 

Some fee's and facts have changed because this process is one that exists in constant flux.

[Martytb]

Or just hire a competent attorney......

 

Welcome Rodrexx,

We are K-3. as you can see below. Be sure to constantly assure your wife that you will get the visa. Too many friends and relatives will tell her differently, and the time span will only make her want to believe them.

[dmaddox74]

For people who are applying for a K3 a cover letter or letter about the relationship isn't needed...well, I didn't do it. If I'm wrong I didn't see it on the instructions for K3. If I'm wrong I'm sorry.

[dmaddox74]

Oh, I forgot,

 

Hey Robrexx, you are so lucky to have this website before you begin your process. I didn't know about this until after I filed everything. Hopefully, that makes you feel better.

[keelec]

I take it you live in Virginia. If so, you have just hit the motherlode of immigration luck. Your I-130 will process through Vermont at record speed.

Our I-130 was approved in 3 months.

Dean,

 

So, my question is:

 

Should a person filing the I-130 in Vermont also send the I-129F to Missouri, or could they just file the I-130 and save the additional money that would have been sent with the K3 application?

 

----- Clifford -----

[Dean Hall]

Keelec,

 

Here's how it worked.

 

As K3, you of course must first file the I-130, get a receipt in order to file the 129F in Missouri.

 

At the start of the process, I didn't expect to see an I-130 approval for several years. Got it in 3 months as you can see.

 

I then let the 2 processes run in parallel, and they stayed even right up to the end.

 

The K3 interview came in first, although the way things were going, I believe the CR-1 process was only a month behind.

 

I wanted to just wait the extra month as everything would be done, but I chickened out and took the K3 interview date.

 

As they say, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. And just when you think everythings been smoothed out in the visa process something pops up to screw it all up. So I took what we had - the K3.

 

The K3 came in at 7.5 months.

CR-1 would have been around 9 months at my estimation.

 

Still pretty good timelines on both of them.

 

To answer your question - just go CR-1 ? I don't know. Was my I-130 three month approval time normal, or an anomaly? Just looked at K1K3 Timeline site, and only saw one other I-130 approval listed. That was also through VSC, but took 7 months for approval.

The hard data is to limited to make that choice. I'm really thinking that maybe ours was an anomaly.

Personally, I think I would still run them both. Your not out that much extra money until the NVC asks for the immigrant fee bill to be paid. $360 for each petitioner. At that time you need to decide to fish or cut bait.

 

Since we got the interview letter at the same time I got the immigrant fee bill, I went with the interview, and got her the h--- out of Dodge.

 

Anyway, thats all I know about that.

 

Dean

[Patrick & Li]

Hey Rob!

I am a K-3 petitioner also.

Go to this link below. It is the best guide available in my opinion.

 

K3 step by step guide

 

Patrick

[Guest robrexx]

Hey All...

 

This is Rob saying thanks to all.

 

For those of you asking, I do not consider VA as home. I am staying an extended stay hotel/ motel. I am a programming contractor (Mainframe REXX) and must go where the work is. I hope to be offered a perm position, but I never really know.

 

I do consider Dallas as home, but of course, I am not there. I do have a mailing address there in Bedford, TX (in the middle of the DFW metroplex)

 

I will likely interview a few attorneys just because I need someone to receive the mail and react quickly enough. Yes...I agree...many attorneys are not really experts but will likely say they are.....and you never pay them in advance, or they forget you exist.

 

As was mentioned, yes...her "expert" friends are mis-advising her. There is a network of wives in every city. When I was there, I met many of her freinds.

 

I have only been there once. We had made the promise over yahoo. Daily talks and cam everyday. I flew there with the intention of marriage. She compiled all of our talks into books...four volumes. (edited...of course)

 

I hope to have her here for a visit soon...(but don't respond to that yet...I am sure that is at least 50 replies to get to that.)

 

I will study all of your responses....cut/paste into an editor to study offline.

 

Thanks again.

Rob

[keelec]

I hope to have her here for a visit soon...(but don't respond to that yet...I am sure that is at least 50 replies to get to that.)

Rob,

 

Buried somewhere near the bottom of the Rumpus Room, you will find a post simply named "300".... The message was "ignore this". It only generated over 1000 replies for a total of 70 pages.... THAT IS THE WORST THING TO EVER SAY ON THIS BOARD

 

As far as your plan for a tourist visa..... It is very difficult to obtain once the woman is married to an American Citizen.

 

One of the basic requirements to obtain a tourist visa is to demonstrate "Strong Ties" to China, and absolutely no intention to immigrate to the USA. In theory, business and student visas should be similar. If she is already planning to imigrate to the USA, that would be a problem.

 

It certainly would be even a bigger problem if the CR1/K3 applications are already in process. An entry into the USA while the CR1/K3 are in progress might even cause other issues to occur.

 

On the various forms, there will be questions like "are you married?" Names of spouses, previous trips to the USA, & etc. Those fields will have to be filled out accurately and completely.

 

If you lie about anything, you will be spending many sleepless nights trying to cover your own tracks.

 

A few months ago, a man wrote on the board that his fiancee had lied about being married to someone else on a tourist visa application, then was wondering how to clean that mess up for the K1 visa application. I wonder how the case turned out, but he certainly found himself in a place shoveling dung out of a pit, and the more he shoveled out, the more that was falling back in on top of him.

 

It is possible that you have some other ideas. Perhaps the easiest thing would be to try to have your wife join a tourist or business group for travel on a guided tour, or perhaps to a business meeting or academic conference. I have to warn you to be extremely cautious and don't get either of your hopes up too high.

 

Otherwise, plan on a 6 month to 1 year (or more) wait for her visa.

 

----- Clifford -----

[Patrick & Li]

I dont think they are advising to send the copies but in fact to make copies for yourself. I haven't read that in a while, so i could be wrong.

It was a quick link for someone that was new and just starting out in this process. It has lots of good info.

 

Patrick