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What is a Fiancee Visa
If your fiancé(e) is not a citizen of the United States and you
plan to get married in the United States, then you must file a petition
with INS on behalf of your fiancé(e). After the petition is approved,
your fiancé(e) must obtain a visa issued at a U.S. Embassy or consulate
abroad. The marriage must take place within 90 days of your fiancé(e)
entering the United States. If the marriage does not take place within
90 days or your fiancé(e) marries someone other than you (the U.S.
citizen filing INS Form I-129F - Petition for Alien Fiancé), your
fiancé(e) will be required to leave the United States. Until the
marriage takes place, your fiancé(e) is considered a nonimmigrant.
A nonimmigrant is a foreign national seeking to temporarily enter the United
States for a specific purpose. A fiancé(e) may not obtain an extension
of the 90-day original nonimmigrant admission.
If your fiancé(e) intends to live and work permanently in the
United States, your fiancé(e) should apply to become a permanent
resident after your marriage. (If your fiancé(e) does not intend
to become a permanent resident after your marriage, your fiancé(e)/new
spouse must leave the country within the 90-day original nonimmigrant admission.).
Please note, your fiancé(e) will initially receive conditional permanent
residence status for two years. Conditional permanent residency is granted
when the marriage creating the relationship is less than two years old
at the time of adjustment to permanent residence status.
Please note: Your fiancé(e) may enter the United States only
one time with a fiancé(e) visa. If your fiancé(e) leaves
the country before you are married, your fiancé(e) may not be allowed
back into the United States without a new visa. (Please see How Can I Get
a Travel Document? for additional travel information if your fiancé(e)
will apply to become a legal permanent resident after you are married.)
Who is Eligible
U.S. citizens who will be getting married to a foreign national in the
United States may petition for a fiancé(e) classification (K-1)
for their fiancé(e). You and your fiancé(e) must be free
to marry. This means that both of you are unmarried, or that any previous
marriages have ended through divorce, annulment or death. You must also
have met with your fiancé(e) in person within the last two years
before filing for the fiancé(e) visa. This requirement can be waived
only if meeting your fiancé(e) in person would violate long-established
customs, or if meeting your fiancé(e) would create extreme hardship
for you. You and your fiancé(e) must marry within 90 days of your
fiancé(e) entering the United States.
You may also apply to bring your fiancé(e)'s unmarried children,
who are under age 21, to the United States.
How Do I Apply?
To find out how you can apply to bring your fiancé(e) to the
United States, please click here to see Application Procedures, which will
help you identify what you need to do. Fiancé(e) petitions are filed
at the INS Service Center serving your area of residence.
Will I Get a Work Permit?
After arriving in the United States, your fiancé(e) will be eligible
to apply for a work permit. (You should note that INS might not be able
to process the work permit within the 90-day time limit for your marriage
to take place.) If your fiancé(e) applies for adjustment
to permanent resident status, your fiancé(e) must re-apply for a
new work permit after the marriage.
By law, a fiance(e) petition can only be filed in the United States
at an office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The petitioner
must be a U.S. Citizen.
Step 1: Petition
The fiance(e) petition (Form I-129-F) and two G-325-A biographic information
forms. You must fill out completely both the petition and biographic information
forms. Your fiance(e) will be required to present the supporting financial
documents at the time of his/her visa interview.
We will also need all of the following documents:
· a photocopy of your U.S. passport identification
page (plus a copy of your naturalization document if you are a naturalized
citizen);
· photocopies of any death certificates of
a previous spouse that you or your fiance(e) may have and photocopies of
any divorce decrees terminating a previous marriage that you and your fiance(e)
may have, with translations;
· two passport-size photographs of both
yourself and your fiance(e), attached to the bottom of the G-325 biographic
forms;
· a photograph of the two of you together
to prove you have met; and
Question 14 on the I-129F asks you to list the names and dates of birth
of any children your fiance(e) may have. Children up to the age of 21 may
accompany their parent to the U.S., or may follow-to-join at any time up
to one year after the parent receives his/her visa.
According to U.S. Immigration Law, Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e),
may not be filed with, or approved by, overseas INS offices or U.S. Embassies.
The I-129F must be filed with the INS district office having INS jurisdiction
over the Petitioner's current or intended residence in the United States.
Petition approved:
INS will notify you and forward the petition to the embassy for your
fiancé(e)’s country of residence.
Notifying Your Fiance(e) :
Upon receipt of the approved I-129F petition , the local American embassy
will send a letter and information sheet to the Beneficiary outlining the
steps to be taken to apply for an Alien Fiancé(e) visa, called a
"K" visa. The embassy will generate a computer name check.
The mandatory name check procedure takes several days. After the
name check clears, the embassy can schedule the applicant for an interview.
Scheduling: Visa Interview and Medical Examinations
Before the interview, the Beneficiary must complete a medical examination
at an Embassy-approved medical facility. Forms and information about
this is included in the information packet.
All children of an alien classified K-1 must be listed on the K visa
petition. Failure to do so will cause a delay in visa issuance. The
children (under 21 years old and unmarried) also must be at the interview.
The child of a K-1 principal alien may be accorded K-2 status if following
to join the principal alien to the U.S. even after the principal alien
has married the American citizen Petitioner, and acquired lawful permanent
resident status. The cut-off date for issuance of a K-2 visa is 1 year
from the date of the issuance of the K-1 visa to the principal alien. After
1 year, and provided that the alien qualifies, the filing of an immediate
relative or second preference immigrant visa petition would be required.
The visa application fee is $165 per person; there is no issuance fee.
If the Beneficiary's interview is successful, the "K" visa will be issued
on the afternoon of the day of the interview. The "K" visa is valid
for a single entry during a 6-month period.
Documentary requirements for the interview:
The Beneficiary must provide:
1. A valid International Passport with a photocopy
of the first page.
2. An original birth certificate with photocopy and
translation into English.
3. Applicants are required to submit police certificate
in all names as well as all dates of birth that they have used. Police
certificate must contain references to each place in which the applicant
lives or has lived for more than six months since reaching the age of 16,
regardless of where he/she is officially registered. This includes localities
where applicants have lived during university studies. If the applicant
was on his military service, he should bring the certificate from the local
draft board. If an applicant has lived abroad for more than one year a
police certificate must also be submitted from the country in which he/she
lived. Military records will be accepted only from local authorities and
not from military commissions.
4. If applicable, evidence of termination of any
prior marriage: original, photocopy and translation into English.
5. An accompanying child requires a valid passport
(or may be included in the parent's passport), a birth certificate and
a medical examination. If a child is 16 years of age or over, police certificates
are required.
6. Two photos of passport size black and white full
face for visa.
7. Two photos of passport size for medical exam.
8. There is an application fee of $65 (or the ruble
equivalent) per person, payable at the Embassy on the day of interview.
Only U.S. dollars cash or local currency will be accepted. The bills
must be clean and in good condition. The Embassy cashier reserves
the right to reject dirty or damaged bills. Under no circumstances
will credit cards or personal checks be accepted for payment.
9. Documents confirming relationship: photos of Petitioner
and Beneficiary together, letters to each other, phone bills, emails....
10. Results of Medical Examination in sealed envelope.
The Petitioner must provide:
1. Employment letter with salary information and/or
a copy of tax returns (Form 1040) for the last year.
U.S. Port of Entry
Once found qualified for visa issuance, your fiance(e) will receive
a nonimmigrant visa in his/her passport, valid for one entry into the U.S.
at any time within the next six months. He/she will also receive a separate
immigrant visa packet to present to the immigration officials at the U.S.
border. After entry to the U.S., the Beneficiary has ninety days
to either marry the petitioner or return to his/her country. If the
Petitioner and Beneficiary marry, the Beneficiary may then contact INS
to adjust status to that of legal permanent resident.
The staff at Heart
of Asia International Dating Personals is proud to
provide expert assistance to help you
inexpensively manage the daunting task of filing the forms and
preparing
the documentation required by US immigration (USCIS) to bring
your fiancee to the United States.
What we do:
1. We start by sending you our proprietary
packet of instructions, and questionaires.
2. You review our instruction sheets, then fill in and return
our in-house questionaire to us.
A lot of "consultants" and
attorneys just send you the original forms from USCIS. They are hoping
that you will learn the forms, fill them in completely, and send them
in to the expert already finished. That always amazed me. If you are
forced to read all the complicated forms, and instruction sheets
yourself, what are you getting for your money?
At Fiancee Visa Services, we
have carefully gone over each form that the goverment requires, and we
have painstakingly, combined all the questions you will be asked, into
one simple document. Y ou don't have to
fill in the same info at five places.
You just complete our questionaire, then we do the rest,
accurately transcribing your answers into all the complicated and
redundant forms used by USCIS. We prepare the documents for
you,
then send them to you for your signature.
3. We
closely review your answers as if we were a USCIS reviewer,
and get back to you on any areas that need clarification or correction.
We help you get it done, properly, the first time.
4. Based upon your answers, we prepare
for you, your own personal check list, of exactly what
paperwork, certificates, and supporting documents you need to
collect for the application.
5. If you have not yet met your
fiancee face to face, at this stage you should be on your way
to meet her for the first time. We prepare for you to take
along
on your trip, the forms needing her signature, and brief you on what you need to
accomplish during your trip.
6. To accompany your application, we help you prepare a cover letter
that describes your relationship with your fiancee, in a
way to
demonstrate the genuiness
and sincerity of your relationship.
7. You return to us, all
required supporting documents, as well as the original forms signed by
your fiancee. We ensure that all that is needed is assembled
together, all in one place, all in one package, to make a solid,
persuasive application for your Fiancee visa application.
This is sent to you for your final signature, and for you to send
directly to USCIS.
8. Should USCIS have any questions, issues, requests. We work
with you
to satisfy and resolve them in your favor.
9. Once USCIS approves, the
application is fowarded to the Department of State and assigned to the
consulate nearest your Fiancee. The consulate will send to your fiancee
a further document package for her to complete. We assist in
the
perparation and completion of these forms.
10. Soon after the Fiancee is asked to visit the consulate for
an interview to discuss the application. We help
prepare the fiancee for this important meeting.
11. Generally within days of the interview. The Fiancee has her visa,
and can come to the USA.
Doing
it Yourself ? Try this expert tip.
Expert Tip # 3
Attach to the I-129F abundant documentation offering proof of your relationship and intention to marry. Copies of letters, emails, faxes, telephone logs, receipts from travel, shipping, couriers, photos of you both together, engagement announcements are all useful. More rather then less is the rule here. The USCIS officer will not be offended if more materials are present then he needs. He will disregard whatever he does not feel is relevant. Just be sure that the documents are neatly presented, bound or stapled and organized in a logical fashion.
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