I wanted to explain today a little bit why the name of the blog and where Joe and I are standing right now. Yesterday I wrote about how we met, how our relationship became what it is today, but to get there, we have been going through different situations, some good, some bad. And we have many more waiting for us!!
To start, let me tell you what K stands for, you might thought K was for Karla, my name. But no, K actually stands for the kind of immigration process we started with USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for me to be able to live in the United States with Joe.
After I had to come back to Mexico because of my cultural exchange visa expired, J and I knew we wanted to stay together no matter what, but we were confused about what the next steps were. For a while, we couldn't decide what option suited us best, there were so many but the three main were:
> Apply for a B1/B2 Tourist visa
> Have J move to Mexico
> Get married in Mexico and apply for a K3 Spouse visa
> Apply for a K1 Fiance visa
I applied for a tourist visa at first but at that time my situation didn't match the requirements for it, so it got denied. We decided then to go for the last one, a K1 fiance visa which is a immigrant process for a U.S. citizen's foreign fiance to be able to travel into the States for 90 days. During that time, the couple has to legally marry in order to to apply then for a green card (adjustment of status). If the marriage doesn't take place during those 90 days the visa expires and the foreign fiance has to go back to their home country.
Each visa has it's own requirements and restrictions and this was not the exception, especially because although is not a permanent visa, it shows the intention the beneficiary has to stay in the United States permanently.
The whole thing takes several months, there are different timings from 5 to 12+ months, so you got to be prepared for the waiting. In our case, it was exactly 5 months from the date Joe sent the petition to the date we got our approval, however, after USCIS approves the petition we still have to have the National Visa Center (NVC) and local Consulate (the consulate/Embassy at your country) approval in order to get the visa and travel.
We receive the USCIS approval last September, and were instructed to wait for the letter NVC was about to send us with the information for the following steps. That letter actually came to Joe's home while he was in Mexico with me celebrating my birthday at the beginning if October. Following the instructions of the letter, we have now scheduled in December our appointment at the U.S. embassy where I will be interviewed and they will either approve or deny my K1 visa.
There is where we are right now in our immigration process, hopefully I will be sharing it through this blog so if anyone is going towards the same path or have any questions related they can just take a look and maybe it will be helpful.
After I had to come back to Mexico because of my cultural exchange visa expired, J and I knew we wanted to stay together no matter what, but we were confused about what the next steps were. For a while, we couldn't decide what option suited us best, there were so many but the three main were:
> Apply for a B1/B2 Tourist visa
> Have J move to Mexico
> Get married in Mexico and apply for a K3 Spouse visa
> Apply for a K1 Fiance visa
I applied for a tourist visa at first but at that time my situation didn't match the requirements for it, so it got denied. We decided then to go for the last one, a K1 fiance visa which is a immigrant process for a U.S. citizen's foreign fiance to be able to travel into the States for 90 days. During that time, the couple has to legally marry in order to to apply then for a green card (adjustment of status). If the marriage doesn't take place during those 90 days the visa expires and the foreign fiance has to go back to their home country.
Each visa has it's own requirements and restrictions and this was not the exception, especially because although is not a permanent visa, it shows the intention the beneficiary has to stay in the United States permanently.
The whole thing takes several months, there are different timings from 5 to 12+ months, so you got to be prepared for the waiting. In our case, it was exactly 5 months from the date Joe sent the petition to the date we got our approval, however, after USCIS approves the petition we still have to have the National Visa Center (NVC) and local Consulate (the consulate/Embassy at your country) approval in order to get the visa and travel.
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| May 2015 |
We receive the USCIS approval last September, and were instructed to wait for the letter NVC was about to send us with the information for the following steps. That letter actually came to Joe's home while he was in Mexico with me celebrating my birthday at the beginning if October. Following the instructions of the letter, we have now scheduled in December our appointment at the U.S. embassy where I will be interviewed and they will either approve or deny my K1 visa.
There is where we are right now in our immigration process, hopefully I will be sharing it through this blog so if anyone is going towards the same path or have any questions related they can just take a look and maybe it will be helpful.
