Immigration issues - entry visa - green card - citizenship
K-1 visa
The legal way to move to U.S.A. and getting married with U.S. citizen
is to apply K-1 visa. This is done by form I-129F. Also, you both need
to file G325A (biograph info) and someone must sign affidavit of support
to be enclosed to the application.
Some sources says it is not
necessary to file affidavit of support while filing I-129F and
consulate will ask for it while interviewing you for K-1. In my case
it was signed by my father-in-law (my wife didn't work then so
we thought she might not be eligble to sign it) and filed it
together with I-129F - it didn't cause any harm. Affidavit of
support is form I-134.
Once application is sent to an INS center closest to you it usually
take 30-90 days to process it. They will send your package to the
foreign consulate and the one in the foreign country will
receive a letter about it. They ask
you to gather some documents and when you are done call them and
make an appointment about interview.
After collecting necessary papers to K-1 visa interview you go to
interview in the U.S. consulate. These papers you need to collect
are:
- Birth certificate
- Medical exam by authorized doctor. In Finland they took blood test, checking for HIV for example and urine test. They alse took X-rays and checked
for tuberculosis.
- Police records from all cities you have lived since you were 16.
- Record about your military service
- Valid passport. It must be valid for 6 months from date of the
interview.
- Proofs of you 2 together. You must have seen your SO in real life
as well. This must have happened during last 2 years - it means that
you can't marry someone who you met last time 10 years ago. Take
phone bills, letters and photos of you 2 together to the interview.
- I think there might have been something else... I will check later.
They will interview you and ask simple questions like "how did
you met", "when did you met" and if all goes well they issue you
K-1 visa.