K1 VISA ENTRY

Robert Jorge says on Jul 13, 2007, 10:49:

Absolutely one entry, no more. She is free to leave, but that is considered abandonment and then to get back into the US, you have to start a new K1 visa process.

BEWARE of gold diggers.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bueno_pues says on Jul 13, 2007, 17:09:

If you marry her in Colombia and then get a K-3, the situation is different. During the two year duration of the K-3 she is free to come and go even while her AOS is pending.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Gator says on Jul 13, 2007, 18:36:

one entry and 90 days-no exceptions

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bamapits3 says on Jul 13, 2007, 22:36:

But once she is married to you in the states can both of you go back to colombia for a few months while the paper work goes through on the AOS? I will have to be out of the states from July- Nov for tax purposes and am wondering if we get married through the courts in june if she can leave after we are married for vacation back to her country?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Robert Jorge says on Jul 14, 2007, 01:55:

Until she receives permanent residency, she can't leave. Again, "yes", she can leave, but the AOS would be considered abandoned, and she will not be able to re-enter the US. The visa is very clear. The beneficiary, your fiance, has to get married to you within 90 days of her entering the US and can't leave, without abandonment assumed, until she receives her permanent residency. If you want her to be able to travel back and forth to Colombia, you better get married there and then file for a K3. When she receives the K3, I believe she can travel immediately.

So, to comment on your last sentence: If you are married in the US next June, on a K1 visa, she will not be able to "vacation" in Colombia without ruining everything both of you worked and waited for. Once she receives her permanent residency, no problem. Just to give you an idea of the time ... my wife and I were married on March 8th. She is still waiting on her permanent residency card. We are at 5 months of her being here in the US, and she still can't legally work, drive, travel outside the country, etc. It sucks big-time trying to do everything legitimately. Good luck to ya.

BEWARE of gold diggers.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bamapits3 says on Jul 14, 2007, 06:47:

pretty clear

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bueno_pues says on Jul 14, 2007, 09:24:

If she is here on a K-1 and has applied for AOS, she can leave the country without abandoning her AOS if she gets a document known as Advanced Parole. Of course that involves a separate application along with the fee and the wait time.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

chester says on Jul 14, 2007, 16:29:

you can apply for both the Advance Parole (permission to leave and re-enter) along with your Employment Athorization Document (EOD) when you send in the paperwork for Adjustment of Status (AOS). Look on visajourney.com for timelines. you should, and many people have, receive permission to leave and re-enter before any green card is finally issued. I would expect to wait about 3 or 4 months for Advanced Parole unless there is a real emergency and you can try for expidited service. the whole system sucks, and now these Pieces of Shit (POS) are raising the fees for their f'd up, inbred service.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Robert Jorge says on Jul 14, 2007, 23:51:

Bueno pues and chester. Yes, I knew about the advanced parole. I didn't mention it, because, # 1: It is supposedly for emergencies and it says that is is rarely granted. #2: The cost is high. #3: It can take 3 or 4 months - like you mentioned ... which means the beneficiary could very well get their permanent residency in the mean time anyway.

I am equally as frustrated with the system. Basically, if you do everything legally and on the "up and up", you are screwed. My wife still hasn't even been able to get a Florida State ID card, and she has been here 5 months LEGALLY. She can't legally work. It really sucks. It is like we are caught in a state of limbo.

BEWARE of gold diggers.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bamapits3 says on Jul 15, 2007, 02:23:

That is crazy, my fiance is definatley going to freak if she cant work for 5 months...... She hates sitting home, but it looks like she isnt going to have to much of a choice..... hmmmm.....thanks for the info, but how i will explain this to her is the question........ I will see......

0 funny, 0 helpful.

chester says on Jul 15, 2007, 05:28:

I spoke with a colombiana yesterday in broward county that had come here 9 months ago and gotten married to a US citizen.

she said she received her work permit in about 2 months and was finally scheduled to go for her green card interview in miami next month.

but some people never receive the EAD card until they have received their green card, then they do not need the EAD.

the visajourney.com website now shows processing dates of at least 3 months for work permits (I-765) and over 7 months for for green card interviews in the miami office.

and,I think processing times could become slower due to an overload of applicants.

if it has been over 3 months since you applied for a work permit, I would suggest contacting US Senator Martinez's local office. ask his office to make an inquiry.

the new fee for an AOS will be over $1000 starting next month. but, I think it includes the EAD and AP fees.

i've gotten some very good advice and tips here, but the visajourney.com website is setup strictly for visa issues.

anyone going thru it will find a wealth of tips and guides to smooth this ridiculous process.

also, I believe obtaining a social security number early in the process is a help to establishing an identity. but the visajourney website advices waiting to apply until the beneficiary shows up on their computers as having entered the country. this will involve a visit in person to your local social security office and asking them if they have a record on their system showing she has entered the county on a K-1/K-3 Visa. apparently, if they do not see the beneficiary on the sytem, they send a manual, written request to homeland security to verify the beneficiary entered the country legally and under a K-3 or K-1 status. this can delay a social security card from being issued for months as they wait for the homeland security office to reply.

my fiancee will go crazy too if she cannot work. she does not want to sit around. beneficiaries can go to school, learn english, new skills/job training, but eventually they want to work and have some measure of self sufficiency.

i don't think there is any short term solution to the system. it is overloaded with applicants.

if you apply now for an Advanced Parole travel document, you might get it in time for for travel over the christmas holidays.

the new fees go in effect next month, apply now and followup with calls or visit to your US Senators office for existing applications.

be polite but firm, tell them you need to know what the hold up is.

also, try to get a work permit stamp when she first enters the country. if she is on a K-1, it may only be good for 90 days until the K-1 Visa expires, but it may suffice until she receives the EAD.

and, if you can, travel with her when she enters, and politely but firmly request the temporary work stamp.

I realize this will not help those that have already entered and did not receive the temporary work permit stamp.

the whole system is a FUBAR.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bueno_pues says on Jul 15, 2007, 07:04:

Advanced Parole is routinely given. Just fill out the application and pay the fee. It does take a couple of months to get so if it was really an emergency, it wouldn't do much for you.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

chester says on Jul 15, 2007, 16:48:

if it is an true emergency, make an appointment with info pass at your local office and go in, or just show up early one day and explain the situation.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Gator says on Jul 16, 2007, 15:05:

Bueno_pues, I would suggest he read this before doing anything. It is not give "routinely."
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f6141...

July 30, 2007, the fee for this application, Form I-131: will change to $305. All applications postmarked on or after July 30 must be accompanied by the new fee amount. Also the government is inclined to process a work application after marriage. The I-765 can be filed prior to your marriage, but there is a chance it will be held until the marriage is decided, since permission to work is not the same as permission to stay in the US. You/she will also be required to re-apply for a new authorization after the marriage since the conditions of your wife's stay in the US will have changed. The typical processing time is between 2 and 3 months, and once granted the card is good for one year. The Immigration Form I-765 is not a complicated form, in fact it's 10 pages of instructions and only 1 page for the form but it does require a few additional items to be processed smoothly. For example, photos are required just as they were with the K-1 application. You will also be asked for a copy of the I-94 (do NOT loose this) which is placed in her Passport upon entry to the US. A copy of the Adjustment of Status form is also required as these applications usually follow each other or are filed at the same time.

Good luck

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bueno_pues says on Jul 16, 2007, 20:26:

You may be right, Gator, because that passage from the USCIS site certainly reads that you've got to have a good reason to leave temporarily. From what I've seen though, it seems as if they hand them out routinely. This might require further research to see if anyone's ever heard or read about an application for Advanced Parole being rejected.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Gator says on Jul 17, 2007, 06:54:

DO NOT FORGET!!!! One you leave the USA and are NOT a US Citizen you can be denied reentry with no reason needed. To me the risk is not worth it. I would wait for the adjustment of status, (AOS) to come through-about the sam amount of time as the 131.

What not give bueno puse's advice a try-if it work then we will all know.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Crazy4Cali says on Jul 17, 2007, 08:08:

When my wife applied for the AOS we also applied for the EAD and AP. In 2005/6 that cost about $800. She got the EAD and AP within about two months. I don't recall citing any exceptional reasons for needing the AP, but we might have put that her father's health was iffy and that we planned to return. (Plans can change, of course).

We must have hit it at a good time, because she filed all this Oct 2005 and by Mar 2006 she had her greencard so, in retrospect, she really didn't need the EAD or AP. Of course, if she hadn't filed for those, we would have needed them.

So it goes.

While this experience is now a couple of years old, I do know that making plans in anticipation of what the USCIS may or may not do (or when they might get around to doing it) is still very risky. You can never tell with them.

0 funny, 0 helpful.