My K1 Fiance Visa Timeline

As I have had quite a bit of interest shown in my post on the fiance visa processing and wait time, I thought that it might be useful to post a simple breakdown of my significant dates in the process and put together a K1 Fiance Visa timeline.  It is not surprising that people get concerned about wait times and start wondering how long each stage of the process is supposed to take - applicants don’t get a great deal of information from the USCIS, in my experience, and it can sometimes feel like you have been forgotten, or your application has got lost in the system.

Once again, I think it wise to remind people that this is my own person experience of the K1 Fiance Visa process.  As far as I am aware, my experience is fairly typical, but other people’s experience might be different.  Processing times can vary according to factors such as how many other people happen to be applying at the same time as you, or if the USCIS are being more particular because they are responding to security concerns, or whatever.

The K1 Fiance Visa Timeline begins with the I-129 petition, which is submitted by the US citizen and ends with non-US citizen being issued with a K1 Fiance Visa.  The bureaucracy doesn’t end there, however, as you still have to move to the USA, get married, then begin the I-485 Green Card application process in order to work and live in the USA indefinitely – this process is easier than the visa, but still a pain.  (I will post a Green Card Timeline on here too, when I’ve got time).

Anyway, here is my K1 Fiance Visa Timeline:

March 2^nd.  I-129 Petition submitted by my fiancée (the US citizen) along with the I-129 Petition relationship proof.

March 13^th.  My fiancée receives a letter of receipt saying that the I-129 petition has been received.

July 2nd.  My fiancée receives notification that I-129 petition has been approved and will be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC).

July 10^th.  My fiancée receives a letter stating that the NVC has received the approved I-129 petition and will be sending the information to the London Embassy within a week.

July 19th.  I receive a letter from US embassy informing me to submit the K1 Fiance Visa forms.

August 11th.  I sent off my K1 Fiance Visa application forms to the London Embassy along with my proof, including things like my UK Police Certificate, passport-style photos etc.

September 14^th.   I receive a letter sent to me inviting me to arrange a K1 fiance visa medical exam and giving me my K1Fiance Visa interview date.

September 30^th.  Attend K1 Fiance Visa medical exam in London

October 13^th.  Attend K1 Fiance Visa interview in London.

October 21^st.  K1 Fiance Visa delivered to my workplace, where I signed for it.

USCIS I-129 Petition Relationship Proof

There were two occasions when my wife (fiancee at the time) and I had to provide some sort of relationship proof during the k1 fiance visa process.  The first time was when filing our USCIS I-129 petition and the second was when I filed my K1 Fiance Visa application.  In this post I intend to focus on the first occasion, the relationship evidence that we included with the I-129f (I intend to focus on the K1 application in a later post).

The I-129f relationship proof is meant to provide proof that the couple in question have met each other within the two years before the filing of the I-129 petition application.  In our case, my wife (fiancée at the time) was the us citizen applicant and I was the foreign fiancé, so it was she who put in the petition albeit with some supporting evidence from myself.

We were both legally able to marry, neither of us having being married before.  This made some things easier as there were no divorce papers etc. to submit to the USCIS as part of our relationship evidence.

We had met on a number of occasions, despite us living on opposite sides of the Atlantic, with me visiting Florida half a dozen times and my wife and her daughter coming to the UK twice to see me.  We therefore included photos of us together and photos of us with other members of our family.  My wife and I got engaged a month before we filed the I-129 petition, so we also included a photo of the engagement ring on my wife’s hand.

We included ticket stubs for some of the flights we’d taken to visit each other.

Although it probably wasn’t entirely necessary at this stage, we also included some sample copies of the conversations that we’d had with each other on Skype and Instant messaging.

I also wrote a statement, in which I stated that I intended to marry my wife (fiancee at the time) within three months of arriving in the USA.  I signed the letter and posted it to my wife, so that she could use it as relationship evidence.  My statement sample is below:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to confirm that I began a romantic relationship with My Fiancee Name in 2009.  Although the relationship began online, we have since met six times in person in both the UK and USA.  Between visits, our relationship has continued through online chatting, webcam conversations, telephone, letters and email.

In Spring last year, we became engaged to be married.

I have not been married previously.

If a visa is granted, I intend to marry Fiancee Name within 90 days of my arrival in the USA and will make the necessary arrangements in order to do so.

yours faithfully

My name

The I-129 petition process

This article is not intended to be any sort of official guide (you should contact the USCIS for specific details of the rules and procedures relating to visas).  Rather it is a personal account of what my wife and I experienced when we filed a USCIS I-129 petition and began the fiance petition process, as the initial part of the K1 visa application process.  From my account, you should hopefully get a good idea of what was involved for my wife and I, however, both practically and psychologically.

My wife (fiancee at the time) and I had been involved in a relationship for three years and were engaged to be married by the time we decided to get a USCIS K1 visa.  After some discussion we had decided that I would move to the USA, rather than her moving to the UK (I am British).  This was because firstly, my wife has an adolescent daughter and secondly, I fancied the adventure of moving to the USA and beginning a new life in Florida.

After weighing up all the visa options, we decided that we would go for a k1 fiance visa.  This would allow me to live in the USA indefinitely, after we were married and I’d applied for an adjustment of status.  I’d also be able to get a US social security number when I arrived in the USA and a green card at the end of the entire process, by us doing things this way.  After we’d made our decision, we researched the process regarding K1 visas on the USCIS website and also on British expat forums.  We were, however, a little naïve with regard to how long it would take and all the effort and money that would be involved.

Once you know that you meet all the various criteria for a K1 visa (the main ones usually being that one of you is a US citizen and you are in a bona fide relationship), the first step is for an USCIS I-129 petition to be filed.  This is done by the member of the couple who is a US citizen.  In the visa language, they are ‘petitioning’ the USCIS to consider allowing their foreign partner to move to the USA to marry and live.  In my case, it was my future wife who was the petitioner.  It doesn’t make any difference if the genders are reversed and it is an American man petitioning for his female partner to come to the USA, as far as I’m aware (although then presumably it would be then be a ‘fiancee petition’, rather than a ‘fiancé petition’!).

The burden is very much on the petitioner at this stage.  They have to provide proof that they are a US citizen, and lots of financial evidence to show that they can support their partner, once they’ve moved to the USA.  The fiance on the other hand, me in this case, just has to provide some basic biographical information and some proof that the relationship is a real one and not a sham.  The forms aren’t always east to fill out, however, and any mistakes you make could lead to a delay, or in extreme cases, rejection, so you have to be very careful when filling them out.  Neither my wife or myself are wealthy, so there was no question of us getting a lawyer or attorney to help us.  We just did it ourselves, referring to the USCIS guidelines and information that we’d researched online.

Some of the proof can take a lot of time to assemble and organize.  But it’s worth the effort, in my opinion.  The last thing that you want is for the whole process to be extended further.  There is also a large fee of several hundred pounds to pay when you’re finally ready to send off your USCIS I-129 form.

In some ways, the worst bit is waiting.  Once you’ve sent off your USCIS I-129 petition with all the other forms and evidence, they send you a receipt to say they’ve received it, then you just wait and wait.  If you’re anything like my wife and I, you begin to wonder if they’ve forgotten about you, or there’s been some major bureaucratic error.  Over three months had gone by when we received our notification (a form called an I-797) that the I-129 petition had been accepted and all the necessary documentation would now be passed on to the National Visa Centre.  It’s apparently not unusual for people to wait longer or shorter than we did, it all depends on how busy the USCIS are.

About a month after we'd received the I-797, the US Embassy London contacted me in the UK with instructions for filing the K1 fiance visa application forms.