My USA Fiancee Visa Immigration Experience & Life Update

Hey Beauty Bees,

As I write this I am sitting in Chicago Midway Airport on my 3 hour layover flight from my Sarnia to Boston trip. I have been in my home town for 4 months and now it is time for me to go back home.

Although this is not a topic that is related to my blogs niche of beauty or fashion, it is a topic that has and will make a huge impact on my life and I figured I would let the world learn a little bit more about me.

This is going to be my full experience of going through the process of getting a US K1 Fiance Visa. It will be a longer post so just a forewarning.

To start with, you are probably wondering why I would even want or need this. The story starts back 8 years ago when I met my Fiance, Chris, an amazing guy who lives just outside Boston Massachusetts. With me living in Sarnia, Ontario the distance was a struggle but after really getting to know each other, many years passing and many visits later, we knew that it was meant to be. In January of 2014, Chris popped the question and I said yes!!

After many late night conversations and much research we decided that we were going to attempt for me to get a Fiance Visa to come to the United States to get married. With this type of visa, the government gives the foreign Fiancee 90 days to come legally into the country and marry their significant other. Afterwards you are able to apply for an adjustment of status to become a permanent resident.

The first step of this process was Chris (the US citizen) having to petition to the United States Government that he wanted me to come into the country to marry him. We filled out the I29f paperwork and sent it in, knowing that it took up to 6 months to process this step. They asked for many different items within this step such as passport pictures, proof of our relationship, birth certificates, and of course their filing fee. We got a reply back in August 2014 that our petition was approved and that we could move on to the next step of me getting my visa. During this step I spent a few months visiting Chris and getting to know the area I was going to be living in. As I was not working at this time, this is when Boston Beauty Buzz was born.

The United States Government then sent me a list of items that I needed to put together for the interview that I was going to have to go to, which for me was to be held at the United States Consulate in Montreal, Quebec. This extensive list was to be put together by myself then I was to send confirmation to the consulate that I was ready to book my interview. Some of the items they ask for are birth certificates, police records, passport, affidavit of support from your sponsor, photographs, evidence of relationship and some other things. Not everything on the list is needed but whatever applies to you. This is when I went back to Canada for a few months to finish off the visa process.

After I sent in my confirmation, I got a reply back in two weeks that I was able to book my interview, which I did for February 9th. I was then able to book my medical exam, which the consulate gives you a list of physicians to choose from that reside in the area you live in. For me I had 3 to choose from which all were around the Toronto area. I choose Dr.Zatzman who has his office in Vaughn, Ontario. He was a very nice doctor and made me feel extremely comfortable, since I am not a huge fan of doctors. His staff was very helpful and professional while processing my paperwork. Along with the initial meeting with the actual doctor, I had to get blood work and an x-ray done in different parts of the office building. The entire medical went very smoothly, lasting around 4 hours with all the wait time and I got my results mailed to me a week after. The sealed envelope then had to be brought with me to my interview. I had booked my exam the same weekend as my shopping trip and first Raptors game, that you can read more about here. 

The next step, and in my mind the most important, was the interview. My wonderful Mom took the long 13 hour trip to Montreal and back with me. We made the trip into a Girls weekend and had a blast. (Thanks for coming with me!!) I will admit I had been very nervous for this since they were going to tell me at the end of this if I was going to be able to get my visa or not to come into the States to marry and be with Chris. 

On that Monday morning I arrived at the Consulate at 7:15 for my 7:40 appointment. After entering the building and going thru security, I waited with many other people until we were ushered into an elevator up to the 19th floor. Once there we were lined up to go through the first set of windows of agents who asked for certain pieces of paperwork that we were to bring with us. They went through to make sure we had the right documents and entered in information onto their computers for the officers who would be conducting our interviews. They also took our fingerprints digitally. I was lucky enough to get there very early as I was the first person to get called for my interview after the initial document screening.

Once inside the little cubby window, I was welcomed by the officer and asked to say an oath as well as give another set of fingerprints. The interview than began. The male officer began asking very basic questions about my Fiance and I such as:

How did we meet?

When did we first meet in person?

What are our full names?

Where does my Fiance live?

Where does my Fiance work?

How much does he make?

Have either of us ever been married?

Do either of us have any children?

Have I ever been to the USA illegally?

My interview was very short because after about a total of 10 or 15 questions and around only 6-7 minutes, the officer told me that he was approving me for my Fiance visa and for me to receive it in 1-2 weeks. I remember leaving the Consulate with a huge smile on my face and the biggest sigh of relief off myself. I believe that my interview went so smoothly and quickly since I was very persistent on getting every single piece of information that they had initially asked for and gave an abundance of relationship proof in our petition stage. I had brought with me a whole folder filled of things to help prove our relationship or other things they could have asked for, but I did not need to reach for a single thing. I do however encourage you to still do this if you are applying for a visa because the officers could ask for anything and they like to see you calm and organized.

After a week and a half, Loomis Couriers and the Consulate emailed me letting me know that my passport and sealed visa package was ready to pick up at Loomis' nearest headquarter in London Ontario. I picked it up the next day and booked my flight back to the United States.

After much packing and many goodbyes, here I am sitting at my Southwest Airline gate waiting to board my flight to Boston. It has been a long years wait but starting today the 90 day countdown begins and the wedding plans are beginning.

If you have any questions about any of the steps of getting a US K1 Fiance Visa, please feel free to leave a comment or message me at Linda.Abballe@hotmail.com.