An Education in Immigration

Marrying an "alien" is hard, but not impossible. Like most people, both Raymo and I didn't realize how hard and time consuming obtaining a fiance visa would be but we are quickly finding out that patience is the key to making it through the process.

We are always trying to explain how the process works, so in an effort to keep everyone informed I thought I would share it on our blog...

*Please note this is the proccess as we understand it. Meaning, we could be wrong.*

First, I filed an I-129F. This document is a petition stating that I am an American citizen with a foriegn fiance who I plan to bring to the United States to marry, live, and work. Along with the I-129F both Raymo and I had to write personal statements about our current relationship and our intent for the future. And that's not all... we filled out papers about our general family and work history, gathered reciepts of money spent on eachother, copied flight iterneraries and included pictures of us together from last January through September. Finally, after completing the packet, I sent it off to the Office of Homeland Security in Laguna Nigel, California. We are currently waiting to hear if my petition was approved. The prcosssing time is about 5 months so we won't hear back until March.

If my petition has been approved, USCIS will notify the U.S. Consulate in London, England. Once they are aware of my petition they will "invite" Raymo to fill out a K-1 visa application. Because Raymo has not yet recieved an ivitation to fill this out we do not know specifically what we will be required to provide the U.S. Conulate with. We do however have some ideas from reading about it online. Some of the requirements include; pictures, emails, phone call logs, skype conversation logs, instant messanger conversations, receipts of money spent on eachother, statements given by family members, ect., ect. Raymo will also be required to have an interview at the U.S. Embassy in London.

If Raymo is approved and granted a Fiance visa, he has six months to enter the United States. Once here, we have 90 days to marry or Raymond will be kicked out of the Country. Don't think the process is over just yet though... Once we are married Raymo must apply to be a permanent resident with restrictions. For two years we will be on probation where the government is entitled to "check in on us" to ensure that we have a real relationship and are not committing fraud. After those two years Raymo will be able to apply for a green card and will be considered a permanent resident with no restrictions.

And that's how it's done!