I am almost there on bringing my fiancee to the USA! Later this month he will have his interview in Telgucigualpa, Honduras. Do i have to buy a round plane trip ticket ? Can buy a one way ticket only? Will i have a problem with immigration if a one way ticket is bought for his trip?
A one way ticket is fine.
US Immigration understands that the real purpose of the trip is to marry you and remain permanently in the USA.
First: Couple has a genuine relationship (courtship). They have recently met face-to-face. They are both ‘free to marry’. They intend to marry.
.
The US Citizen submits the Fiancee Visa Petition to USCIS (Homeland Security).
Fee: $340
USCIS reviews the petition and the FBI conducts a background check.
Currently USCIS takes 3 – 4 months (on average) to complete their review and approve the case.
The case is passed on to the US Department of State’s National Visa Center, in Vermont (NVC). NVC sends the US Citizen notice they have taken over processing, and have sent it to the US Consulate nearest the Fiancee.
It takes about 1 month from the time USCIS approves till the Consulate recieves the case.
Then the Consulate contacts the Fiancee via mail, telephone, or not at all (sometimes she is expected to contact them first). She gets additional instructions and more government forms to fill out.
Usually, the interview is scheduled 1 to 2 months later.
In Philippines the process is very efficient and fast. Interviews can be arranged as fast as 3 to 5 WEEKS after USCIS Homeland Security approves. In Vietnam it may take 2 to 4 months later before the interview is scheduled.
A week or so prior to the interview, she attends a medical at a clinic approved by the Consulate. The clinic fees vary between $150 to $200.
Also, prior to the interview, she pays to the Consulate a visa application fee of $350. This is typically paid at a local bank, post office or at the consulate.
At the interview she will be asked to present identification documents, forms required by the consulate, an Affidavit of Support and income proof from her US Fiance (showing his income is sufficient) as well as proof of her ‘bone fide’ relationship with the sponsor. The consular officer asks various questions to confirm (in his opinion) that the relationship is genuine.
The decision to grant the visa is normally made ‘on the spot’. Her passport and visa is returned by courier usually within a week of the interview.
The visa is good for 6 months. She must start her journey to the USA before the 6 months is over.
Once she arrives in the USA she has 90 days to marry her Fiance, or return home.
After marriage, the final step is to apply for Adjustment of Status to be approved for permanent residency. The couple submits yet another important petition to USCIS (Homeland Security).
Filing cost is $1,070.
Doctor’s review of her Vaccinations $100
After about 1 month she visits a USCIS office for fingerprinting and photo.
Finally, 3 to 6 months later, she gets her Green Card which proves she has permission to remain permanently in the USA.
If your Fiancee or Spouse has young children, the question always is: Do we apply for Mother and child at the same time, or is it better to bring the Mother to the USA first, then apply for the children later? It costs extra money to petition for the children, and new couples want ’private time’.
Petitioning Later, is a much SLOWER process
What most couples do NOT know, is that petitioning for the children later, is a much SLOWER process. Currently the wait is 3 to 4 years. The time needed, is based on changing annual immigration quotas. And until recently it was even slower: 4 to 8 years. What it will be next year is not yet known.
Don’t separate Mother from Child
As a matchmaker I advise any new husband who hopes for a happy marriage,
to avoid separating a mother from her children for such long times.
The most important thing to know, is that if the children are eligible, their permission to enter the USA will be approved JUST AS FAST as the Mother’s visa is approved. If however, the Mother enters the USA, and then the children are applied for, the time needed for approval for the Children is much longer. Depending on the the country they are coming from, the current delay is about 3 to 4 years, from the time the mother applies, which is AFTER she gets her Green Card.
The reason Mom and child together are processed much faster than Child alone is because of who is the official sponsor of the petition. If an American citizen sponsors his Fiancee and her child, or his new Spouse and her child, the US Government extends to the US citizen a ‘courtesy’ by expediting his request. Fiancee visas currently take 5 to 8 months, and Spousal visas take 12 to 14 months. For the husband and wife these seem like long times to wait. But as far as immigration is concerned these are quite fast processing times. The American citizen whether he appreciates it or not, is getting special treatment.
No Expedited Service for Legal Permanent Residents
After the mother has entered the USA, marries and receives her Green Card, she is now a ‘Legal Permanent Resident’. She is allowed to live in the USA
but she is not a US citizen. If the children are applied for later, it is NOT the
US citizen step-father sponsoring the petition, but it is the Mother who is THE official sponsor. Since she is only a ‘Legal Permanent Resident’, she is not entitled to ‘expedited treatment’. Her request is lumped in with all the other brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, etc from her country who want to immigrate to the USA. Each year quotas are set for how many immigrants from each country are allowed in. Each year the quota changes, and each year the processing delay time varies up or down.
Fiancee Visa Petition easily includes Children.
The Fiancee Visa petition is specifically designed to easily include dependent children (under the age of 21). There is no extra charge when filing the I-129F petition to USCIS ($340 with or without children). The children get approved as quickly as it takes for the mother to be approved, only 5 to 8 months. The child does not have to travel immediately with the mother and can join her in the USA up to a year later.
Spousal Visa is NOT Child Friendly.
The Spousal visa CR-1 is a request for immigration, for one person only, the spouse of the US citizen. If there are also dependent children to immigrate (under the age of 18), the US sponsor must submit additional I-130 petitions,
one for each person (Mother plus each child). The cost is $350 to USCIS per individual. The petitions if submitted together, should be processed and approved together, in only 12 to 14 months. The child has 6 months after issuance of the visa to enter the USA.
I recommend:
Include the children at the time you apply for the mother. Don’t start your marriage off on the ‘wrong foot’ by separating mother from Child.
Due to its faster processing time, and its ease to include the children, I recommend getting engaged, applying for a Fiancee Visa, followed by marriage in the USA. If ‘alone time’ is needed, the children can begin their trip to reunite with the mother up to a year after her Fiancee visa is granted.
Below is my Youtube video that explains what happens when your Fiancee attends her Interview at a US consulate or embassy for a final decision on your Fiancee Visa petition for immigration to the USA.
Each applicant must schedule an appointment at the consulate, and convince the consular officer that theirs is a “bone fide” genuine relationship, and that the purpose of the Fiancee Visa application is solely for sincere marriage.
This video is for couples who are applying for a fiancee visa for immigration to the United States and who wish to prepare for the interview at the U S Consulate in the fiance’s country.
This information is general, not specific to any particular embassy and will provide an accurate idea of what to expect.
Should you be interviewing in Manila, I have recorded another video that describes the Manila interview process in exact detail.
My name is Fred Wahl I am the matchmaker from HeartofAsiaOnline.com
Over the past thirty five years I have helped thousands of couples find each other.
I’m not an attorney. I cannot give legal advice. I do hope however that you will find this video entertaining and informative.
Let’s talk about the chain of events so far. Aabout four to six months ago you submitted your I-129f petition to USCIS homeland security.
Eventually, USCIS approved the petition and sent you a notice telling you the good news. Also at the same time, they passed your petition on to the US Department of State, to their offices in Vermont called the NVC or National Visa Center.
About a week or two later, NVC sent you a letter, telling you that they had received your file and are forwarding it to the US Embassy that is situated closest to your fiance.
The letter tells you that you should standby and wait for the embassy to contact her directly with further instructions.
The consulate attempts to contact your Fiance directly and provide her with instructions and government forms.
They usually send these via postal mail. Sometimes now, Embassies are also using email and refering the Fiancee to go to the Embassie’s website to download the documents from the internet.
Sometimes they try to reach her by telephone. In some countries the postal mail is terrible. Items regularly get lost or stolen. In some of these countries the only dependable solution is for your Fiance to physically go to the embassy and pick up the package of instructions in person.
If your fiance has not received an email from the consulate after a few weeks, you should contact the consulate directly to chase the status.
The packet (or packets there may be more than one) that she receives, picks up, or downloads should contain general instructions and checklist from the Embassy, government forms, details on where and how she should pay the visa application fee, details on where to get the medical at the clinic that’s been selected, approved, by the consulate and finally details on how to contact the Embassy and schedule her interview.
The required forms that she should fill and then bring with her to her appointment at the Embassy,
or sometimes mail to the embassy (if that is what they request): are the DS-157, DS-156, DS-156K.
There is some variety among the different Embassies and some Embassies also require the DS-230.
The instruction packet will tell her exactly what to do and will have copies of the blank forms within it.
Each Embassy requires that your fiance bring with her, her passport, and birth certificate. Also she must contact per local police authority and obtain a police clearance certificate. This basically should show that she has no criminal record. And if after she was sixteen years old she ever lived in any other countries she will also have to obtain a police certificate from each country that she resided in.
To be eligible for a Fiancee visa, the Fiancee and the american Fiance must both be free to marry.
If the Fiancee has been previously married she must bring with her an original or certified copy of evidence to prove that her previous marriage was terminated: such as a divorce or annulment decree or death certificate.
In some countries it is the practice of the local government to issue a Certificate of No Marriage. This document shows that the fiance has always been single. If your fiancee’s country issues such a document the consulate will want to see it.
And finally, in some cases the American Fiance is also asked to provide original proof that he is free to marry too.
The american sponsor must prove that his annual income meets the minimum income requirements to be eligible for a Fiancee Visa.
To do so he must give his Fiancee his signed affidavit attesting to his income along with proof of the income such as his recent tax returns, a letter from his employer confirming what his job is and what the salary is, and three to six recent pay stubs. She will bring all these along with her to the consulate.
There are still more items for her to bring to the interview. She received an appointment letter and that confirms the date and time for interview she needs this to get into the embassy on her interview day, plus a few visa photos and the receipt showing that she paid the visa fee.
It is also a good idea to prepare a letter signed by the Fiance as well as one signed by the American sponsor confirming that the couple is still engaged and still plan to marry once she arrives into the USA.
Finally, she should bring with her the various proofs she has gathered that show that the couple is a genuine, bone fide couple.
There are various proofes of a bona fide relationship. The Fiancee should bring in whatever she has: such as photographs, samples of correspondences, travel itinerary showing that her American sponsor came to visit her or the two of them traveled together, telephone bills, histories of emails or chat sessions.
If there was an engagement: proof of the engagement such as the receipt from buying an engagement ring, photos of the party, or invitations that may have been sent to relatives and friends.
If the proof is a bit thin, then perhaps affidavits from people that the couple know, ideally those in a position of trust such as ministers, politicians, employers that know both of the couple and can attest that they are sincere couple but really don’t have any reason for misrepresentation.
And finally, if the American sponsor has been sending monies to his fiance on a regular basis, proof of those transfers is a good item to bring to the interview .
Once the fiance has everything ready or can reasonably estimate when the final documents will arrive, she should contact the embassy, in the way that the embassy requested (that could be by mail or fax or telephone or in person) to tell them she is ready to have her interview.
Then they will schedule an interview and send her a document, a letter confirming exactly when and where.
For some embassys they have a system where the American sponsor can pay eighteen dollars using his credit card, that gives him the privilege of telephoning the embassy directly to talk to someone at their American Fiance hotline.
He can talk to the embassy three times if he wants, to answer and ask all his questions. The most important feature is he can sit down and talk with the scheduling clerk to put his Fiancee onto the the embassies appointment calendar.
This may be the best eighteen dollars any american Fiance has spent.
Once her interview is scheduled she should attend a medical at the clinic designated by the consulate.
This should be accomplished at least a week prior to the interview. When she goes to the clinic she should bring with her proof that she is a Fiancee Visa candidate. That’s usually the letter that the embassy sent her. Plus her passport, any vaccination records she may have, some visa photos, and she’ll probably need cash to pay the clinics fees.
When the big day arrives she should arrive at the embassy early, bringing with her all the documents and evidences that she needs.
There will be security checkpoints long lines and she should mentally prepare herself to stay calm and poised, for the potentially long and frustrating day.
Some consulates recommend that the American sponsor attends the interview if that is the case you should do so, but today many of the consulates, most even, perhaps due to terrorists, will not even allow the American in the door.
He’ll have to wait outside the embassy for his Fiance to return with the final results.
Eventually your fiance’s number will be called and she’ll be asked to speak directly with the consular officer.
Perhaps they will be together in a cubby or perhaps facing each other through thick glass panels.
The consular officer will ask about the time-line of your relationship and ask detailed questions about the courtship, proposal and about each other.
It is very important that you and your Fiancee discuss and practice at the questions and answers in advance, so that your Fiancee will be relaxed and knowledgeable.
And in case you are both separately asked the same questions, your answers will be identical.
I have put together about one hundred and twenty typical questions and if you want to get a free copy please visit Fianceevisaservices.com and subscribe to the free Fiancee Visa Secrets newsletter. The questions will be automatically sent to you.
Assuming the interview went well your Fiancee will be given a pink slip and advised that her visa will be ready a few days later. Sometimes she is instructed to return to the consulate a few business days later to pick up her passport or the passport is sent to her via a delivery service. She needs to fill out the delivery service forms before she leaves the embassy.
Once she receives her passport and visa she can start her trip to the USA anytime within the next six months.
Getting through immigration is one of the toughest obstacles most couples will face.
As a matchmaker my mission is to bring couples together as quickly and reliably as possible, by providing nurturing supportive responsive expert help.
If you’d like to speak about your situation please call me I would be very happy to speak with you directly.
In order to successfully petition for your spouse or fiancee to come to the USA, or obtain a Green Card after marriage, the US sponsor must demonstrate to Immigration that he has enough income coming in, that he could support his wife, and household.
The threshold financial requirement is that the sponsor must have income equal to and preferably more than 125% of the poverty
income level where he lives.
Each year the Department of Health and Human Services
publishes their Poverty Guidelines. In 2009 and 2010 the guideline numbers did not change. So the eligibility thresholds (after adding 25%) were $18,300 per couple plus $4,700 per additional household member.
The new Poverty Guidelines published at
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml
have risen about $100 per person. So todays eligibility thresholds (after adding 25%) are now $18,400 per couple plus $4,800 per additional household member.
The way the financial eligibility calculation works:
The sponsor must have sufficient income or assets to indicate that he is financially able to support the fiancée in order to prevent the fiancée from becoming a ward of the state. The sponsor’s annual income based on the number of dependents his combined household will have, should be at least $125% of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guideline for his state. As of January 2011, for residents in the continental US the Financial Eligibility Thresholds for K1, CR-1 or Green Card are as follows.
Required Annual Income
$18,388, if 2 Persons in Family or Household
$23,163, if 3 Persons in Family or Household
$27,938, if 4 Persons in Family or Household
$32,713, if 5 Persons in Family or Household
$37,488, if 6 Persons in Family or Household
For each Additional person add $4,775
The Financial eligibilty thresholds are lower for
active military, and higher for residents of Alaska or Hawaii.
How to prove your Income.
The way to demonstrate his income, the US sponsor
normally provides his most recent Federal Tax Return,
3 to 6 pay stubs showing ‘Year to date’ earnings,
plus a letter from his employer confirming his
job, and what the annual pay is.
Cash Assets count as an alternate to income.
In some cases a sponsors income may be low, but he has
‘money in the bank’. Cash assets, can be used as
a substitute for annual income. ‘Cash’ assets
are assets which can be easily converted (sold)
to cash. For example: stocks, bonds, certificates of
deposit, cash in a checking account can be used.
Other assets that can NOT be easily turned to cash
such as equity in real estate, are not useable.
Cash Asset Equivalents
For a Fiancee visa. $3 cash assets = $1 annual income
For a Spousal Visa or Adjustment of status (green card)
$6 cash assets = $1 annual income
For example, a retired Fiancee Visa sponsor living in California,
with no income, and no dependents would need to have $55,164
in cash assets to quality.
3 x $18,388 = $55,164
Alternatively a combination of income and assets will work. For example, if sponsors income is $10,000 per year, then he should have
$25,164 cash or convertible assets to qualify.
$18,388 – $10,000 = $8,388 x 3 = $ 25,164 cash assets needed.
Using a Financial Co-sponsor
If the sponsors income or assets are not enough to achieve the
eligibility threshold, the sponsor can ask a relative or friend
to act as a co-sponsor. Just like buying a car, a second person
could ‘co-sign’ your loan. In this case he is co-sponsoring
your petition.
When a co-sponsor is used the size of the household increases.
The combined household (for the financial calculations) would include
the household size of the sponsor combined with the household size
of the co-sponsor.
For example, a college student petitioning for his fiancee, asks his father
to co-sponsor. Both the college student and the father would each complete an affidavit of support. The students household is just 2 persons, himself and his fiancee. The fathers household would be father, mother, and the two siblings still living at home. Thus the combined household would be 6 persons, and the combined income of both sponsor and co-sponsor would have to be $37,488 or more.
A co-sponsor can be used for any Spousal Visa or Adjustment of Status petition, and can be used for most Fiancee Visa petitions. Not all consulates allow the use of a co-sponsor for a Fiancee Visa.
Philippines, Vietnam, Nigeria do not.
If you are applying for a Fiancee visa and know you will need a co-sponsor, before filing the petition, best is to contact the consulate to confirm whether the consulate’s policies permit the use of a financial co-sponsor.
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