Hi, I'm Russian and new to this forum.
I need some info from American guys to help my fiance figure out what to do with the petition because he's pretty stubborn and won't listen to me half the time.
We're both 23 and we've been together since summer 2008. This summer we rented together in Pittsburgh, bought rings and a marriage license to get married. I was in the States on a J-1 visa. But something happened and I had to go back to Russia. We had some breakup-makeup time after I left and now we're filing for a K-1 and can't wait.
I suggested we should attach a copy of our marriage license (it's actually expired now but whatever), pix of our wedding bands and its receipts to show USCIS that we're serious about our relationship and we were already going to get married anyways.
But now I read on a Russian forum that providing that proof we would show them that we tried to trick the government by getting married while I was in the country on a non-immigrant visa...? wtf? Should we attach that proof of our relationship or not?
I need to know because we don't have that many pix together because we both worked hard and moved to a new area and kind of just were together all the time without a bunch of friends photographing us. And then, we were about to get married anyways so it didn't seem all that important.
Will we screw it up if we let them know we had a marriage license at hand and wedding bands, too?
My fiance is also 23 and doesn't have tons of money. He makes about $30,000/year working 2 jobs but he started working that hard and not under the table (sorry, tough world) only this past summer so W2 is going to be a problem as well as an impressive bank statement unless we put our assets together and make it around $5,000... Would he need to ask his father, for instance for co-sponsorship?
Sorry for asking so many questions, we just want to be together so bad... Thanks.
Pix of your marriage license will not work. Go through the paperwork as everyone else.
I am about to do it myself. My plan is to go to visajourney.com to find out the papers needed. Then, I will go to the USCIS website to find out how to get the papers.
You will not be able to do this, but I have an acquaintance who has two children who are lawyers. His children's expertise is not immigration, but he seems to know a lot about the paperwork. He also wants to see me succeed in my endeavor, for some reason. He even offered to pay for my wedding reception up to 100 people. I will ask him to help me.
I spoke earlier about going to lawyer seminars on immigration. The lawyer, herself admitted the K-1 process is just a matter of reading, following instructions and filling out forms. Then, she went into difficult immigration cases in which she charges thousands. I will try to do it myself as Baron did.
RB, I have the same screen name over on VJ. Go down to the Regional Forums and to the RUB (Russia-Ukraine-Belarus) subforum. That's where I hang out and you'll get better info that is FSU specific.
Come on over for great discussions about guns and pie and other.
True Nerd
The advice above is sound. Do not send photos or a marriage license. You will only complicate your visa process. I did the K-1 myself by reading the forms carefully and following the instructions exactly, no shortcuts.
Result = My wife and I have been married 2 1/2 years. We are actually waiting for the appointment for her permanent residency.
Good luck
Remarkable command of the English language for a Russian.
Tough world to have to work two jobs and still make half the average wage.
Doesn't bode well for a future of marriage bliss.