We are starting our K1 Visa application

[Life'sGood]

So, me and my SO is currently assembling all the forms, documents and proof that we need to file in the K1 petition. I am hoping that we can get it right and not get an RFE. (SO travels a lot, for weeks at a time). I think we should be fine in the that regard.

 

My concern now is, about moving to where he is and leaving everything behind. I have about a year to figure things out, what will stay here and what will come with me.

 

Then, there's the wedding, engagement, visa process, and everything else.

 

So, I am partly ranting, and I also want to get more input on this. What should I expect? :bunny:

[Emilia]

I've had a quick look at your past posts but can't tell where you live. Where are you moving to?

[Life'sGood]

I've had a quick look at your past posts but can't tell where you live. Where are you moving to?

 

I'll be moving from Malaysia to Guam (somewhere in the first half of 2014), and in 2015, we'll be moving to somewhere else. SO is with the Navy so they move a lot depending on where he's going to be stationed.

[Emilia]

I'll be moving from Malaysia to Guam (somewhere in the first half of 2014)' date=' and in 2015, we'll be moving to somewhere else. SO is with the Navy so they move a lot depending on where he's going to be stationed.[/quote']

I can't comment but it sounds like an adventure

[Life'sGood]

I can't comment but it sounds like an adventure

 

That's one way to look at it! Why didn't I think of that? I have been to Guam and I like it there. I think I will have no problem adjusting. It might take some time for me to find a decent job.

 

The amount of things that I need to do is overwhelming! I guess I can just pack light and move. Start a whole new life with new things, and new wardrobe :bunny:

[Els]

Can't help with the K1, but having applied for a partner visa in another country, I have to say...

 

TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES. WITH BOTH OF YOU INSIDE.

 

Aside from that, Emilia's right - go into it with the 'adventure' mindset - I'm sure you'll have a blast! Definitely travel light, the extra baggage is going to cost more than it's worth unless you have particularly important things to bring with you. Have you looked into whether your qualifications are accepted by the USA ? Not sure what field you're in, but it never hurts to be sure...

[CherryT]

Congrats on the big move!!! I'm starting to wonder if I should be starting this process... we're wanting to close the distance in 2014 as well. But we're just waiting for the housing market to settle a bit more before we purchase... we're unable to stay at his small bachelor apartment right now full-time. And I think taking this time to ensure that he gets a decent deal on his place and is able to purchase the right home for us (without rushing), we'll be in a better position. Plus it gives us a little bit more time.

 

I'm thinking around this time next year is when we'll want to move... so not sure if we should start looking into the paperwork now? Sorry, kind of kiboshed your thread but will be checking back to see what others say.

[Life'sGood]

Congrats on the big move!!! I'm starting to wonder if I should be starting this process... we're wanting to close the distance in 2014 as well. But we're just waiting for the housing market to settle a bit more before we purchase... we're unable to stay at his small bachelor apartment right now full-time. And I think taking this time to ensure that he gets a decent deal on his place and is able to purchase the right home for us (without rushing), we'll be in a better position. Plus it gives us a little bit more time.

 

I'm thinking around this time next year is when we'll want to move... so not sure if we should start looking into the paperwork now? Sorry, kind of kiboshed your thread but will be checking back to see what others say.

 

That's ok. I think you should start too. The visa will be valid for 6 months upon approval and it will take at least 6 months to get approved. Most of the time, it takes 8 months. The long wait is good for me because I get to spend some time with friends and family and it gives me a heads up on the time that I will eventually move.

[AJinlove]

I believe this is the biggest mistake of your life; I mean: how much time have you really spent together? It is like getting married to a stranger; unless all you want out of this is a US passport, of course....

[Pyro]

Be sure to make copies of all your paperwork and double/triple check your forms to make sure that everything is filled out complete and correct.

 

With a K1 the powers that be want to make sure that your relationship is legit.

 

Photos, phone records, emails, ticket stubs from any shows that the two of you went to, etc.

 

Not sure if Guam has the same standards as the US does in regards to the K1 but they will treat each country different IMO on how fast they will ok your application.

 

Aside from that I do hope that you are prepared to leave friends and family and your social life behind for a fresh start. Hopefully the guy is worth it. Good luck.

[Life'sGood]

I believe this is the biggest mistake of your life; I mean: how much time have you really spent together? It is like getting married to a stranger; unless all you want out of this is a US passport, of course....

 

To answer your question, I don't think that it will the biggest mistake of my life (I've never regretted anything anyways). You don't know anything about my relationship, so, I think maybe what you believe in, don't apply here.

 

To answer your question, we have met in person for 4 times, in less than a year and we spent weeks together. We Skype for at least 4 hours EVERYDAY (with some days being the exception) since a month after we first met.

 

It will not be like getting married to a stranger. I know his friends and family, I talk to them sometimes too, and we went to his work party together, and I met his colleagues there. He knows my friends and family too.

 

Having a US passport is not something that I want at all. I might have to do that somewhere down the road, but I don't think I will do that for the first few years. I am not ready to let go of my citizenship here.

 

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

 

Not sure if Guam has the same standards as the US does in regards to the K1 but they will treat each country different IMO on how fast they will ok your application.

 

Aside from that I do hope that you are prepared to leave friends and family and your social life behind for a fresh start. Hopefully the guy is worth it. Good luck.

 

 

Yes, the standard is the same. I'm not too worried about the application (thanks to Visajourney), and I don't really care about how long it will take, as long as it's within the normal time frame (6-12 months).

 

I have a GREAT life here in where I am. I don't think I will ever be really ready to leave but I know that the move will be bittersweet.

 

Right now, I am only dealing with the Visa and and getting a job there. It doesn't look convincing because I don't think that they recognise certificates from any Malaysian university or institution... The only thing that I can do for now is to get an internationally recognised English certificate eg. TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC, FCE, CAE. With that, I think my chances will be higher

[Els]

Having a US passport is not something that I want at all. I might have to do that somewhere down the road, but I don't think I will do that for the first few years. I am not ready to let go of my citizenship here.

 

I have a GREAT life here in where I am. I don't think I will ever be really ready to leave but I know that the move will be bittersweet.

 

Hope this isn't derailing your thread; I find this rather... unusual, given your ethnicity and the political situation where you are from. I'm absolutely not insinuating that you're in it for the green card (there are MUCH easier and more economically stable countries than the USA to emigrate to if you desire, frankly...), but you're the first of your kind that I have met.

 

Right now, I am only dealing with the Visa and and getting a job there. It doesn't look convincing because I don't think that they recognise certificates from any Malaysian university or institution... The only thing that I can do for now is to get an internationally recognised English certificate eg. TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC, FCE, CAE. With that, I think my chances will be higher

 

Get TOEFL for the USA. AFAIK IELTS is geared towards British English countries.

 

Malaysian degrees are difficult to recognize, but oddly enough there is a higher chance of recognition if yours is from a government university as opposed to a private one. Twinning programmes certified by a recognized foreign university (Curtin, UniSA, etc) are best. There should be a USA immigration site with further details.

[Life'sGood]

Hope this isn't derailing your thread; I find this rather... unusual, given your ethnicity and the political situation where you are from. I'm absolutely not insinuating that you're in it for the green card (there are MUCH easier and more economically stable countries than the USA to emigrate to if you desire, frankly...), but you're the first of your kind that I have met.

 

I'm not sure what you think of the political situation here, or of my ethnicity, but this place where I'm from is a REALLY GREAT place! hehe. At least, to me it is. Filled with lots of different cultures and ethnics. (There are more than 30 different ethnic races in my state.). I can go on telling you how great it is here but I don't want to digress. I'm not even sure what you meant by "First of your kind", but I know you were not trying to be offensive.

 

Get TOEFL for the USA. AFAIK IELTS is geared towards British English countries.

 

Malaysian degrees are difficult to recognize, but oddly enough there is a higher chance of recognition if yours is from a government university as opposed to a private one. Twinning programmes certified by a recognized foreign university (Curtin, UniSA, etc) are best. There should be a USA immigration site with further details.

 

It is from a government university. I will try and look for more information on that but so far, I don't see a lot of websites that have the information I want, or any information at all.

 

Malaysia is a British English country, so, there are more IELTS courses offered here than TOEFL. I need to look into that too. Thank you for this input. It's really helpful!

Edited May 26, 2013 by Life'sGood

[CherryT]

I believe this is the biggest mistake of your life; I mean: how much time have you really spent together? It is like getting married to a stranger; unless all you want out of this is a US passport, of course....

 

Are you saying that every person that moves for their LDR is making a mistake? I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience, but one can't paint all with one brush.

[Els]

I'm not sure what you think of the political situation here' date=' or of my ethnicity, but this place where I'm from is a REALLY GREAT place! hehe. At least, to me it is. Filled with lots of different cultures and ethnics. (There are more than 30 different ethnic races in my state.). I can go on telling you how great it is here but I don't want to digress. I'm not even sure what you meant by "First of your kind", but I know you were not trying to be offensive. [/quote']

 

I certainly wasn't trying to be offensive - sorry if it came out that way. I shall drop the topic, as the mods will be very unhappy with me if I try to turn a LDR thread into a politics one.

 

It is from a government university. I will try and look for more information on that but so far, I don't see a lot of websites that have the information I want, or any information at all.

 

Malaysia is a British English country, so, there are more IELTS courses offered here than TOEFL. I need to look into that too. Thank you for this input. It's really helpful!

 

Yes, it's definitely much easier to do IELTS in Malaysia than TOEFL, and TOEFL is also conducted rather less frequently, so you'll need to prepare ahead. TOEFL Test Preparation Programme | ELS Language Centres, Malaysia is a good place to start. Even though you have an innately good command of English, it's generally a good idea to get some practice sets and work with them anyway, to get a feel of things, because it's a very expensive and long test, and a pain in the arse to redo if your marks end up substandard. At least, that is what I've done with IELTS.

[AJinlove]

Are you saying that every person that moves for their LDR is making a mistake? I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience, but one can't paint all with one brush.

 

No; I am not saying that every person that moves for their LDR is making a mistake. I am saying that she getting married is a mistake; unless she is looking for a green card; then it is a great move.

 

I based my statement in facts. First, the fact that it is my personal opinion that you shouldn't get married during the "in love" stage of your relationship. It is my personal opinion and personal experience that you should allow the relationship to settle and then start to grow beyond this stage into the following stage in which you get to know the other person deeply and you saw them many times in the easy ones and on the hard ones. I think marriage is for life and as such I believe you should really know your partner and get married after the first stage is over and after you have been through some real **** together ... specially if you are in your twenties.

 

The second fact is that as early as three month ago Life'sgood was talking about marriage "down the road 4-5 years time". All of the suddden, she is planning her wedding.

 

The third fact is that they have met in person only 4 times. Even if they Skype 4 hours a day; it is easy to put your best face on Skype and blah blah blah.

 

Would you make a commitment for life to someone on the above premises?

 

I am not judging anyone, I am just giving my personal opinion and I do think it is the biggest mistake in her life so far ... unless she killed somebody, in which case that would had been worst.

[Life'sGood]

No; I am not saying that every person that moves for their LDR is making a mistake. I am saying that she getting married is a mistake; unless she is looking for a green card; then it is a great move.

 

I based my statement in facts. First, the fact that it is my personal opinion that you shouldn't get married during the "in love" stage of your relationship. It is my personal opinion and personal experience that you should allow the relationship to settle and then start to grow beyond this stage into the following stage in which you get to know the other person deeply and you saw them many times in the easy ones and on the hard ones. I think marriage is for life and as such I believe you should really know your partner and get married after the first stage is over and after you have been through some real **** together ... specially if you are in your twenties.

 

The second fact is that as early as three month ago Life'sgood was talking about marriage "down the road 4-5 years time". All of the suddden, she is planning her wedding.

 

The third fact is that they have met in person only 4 times. Even if they Skype 4 hours a day; it is easy to put your best face on Skype and blah blah blah.

 

Would you make a commitment for life to someone on the above premises?

 

I am not judging anyone, I am just giving my personal opinion and I do think it is the biggest mistake in her life so far ... unless she killed somebody, in which case that would had been worst.

 

I am interested to know, when do you think this "In love" stage will end and move on to the next stage? And also, how many times do you think we should meet before we think of getting married? And also, what do you define as real **** ?

 

I did not plan my wedding "All of a sudden". We had a long talk before deciding on this, and it's not going to be very soon, it will be next year, we are giving ourselves time to prepare mentally. This decision, is also the best that we can come up with, given the circumstances.

 

I don't have to explain myself to you, but I know that it will be one of the best decision that I will ever make.

[Els]

For what it's worth, there are two posters on LS who married and moved within the timeline that you mentioned, OP, and they seem to still be quite happily married.

 

One question, though: in light of your potentially unrecognized qualifications, what will the two of of you will do in the worst case scenario (you find out that you can't get a job in your field in the USA because it isn't recognized)? Is he willing to support you financially for as long as it takes for you to re-certify yourself and get a good job, on par with the one you left to be with him? Or will he be expecting you to support yourself, even if it means flipping burgers for the rest of your life?

[Life'sGood]

For what it's worth, there are two posters on LS who married and moved within the timeline that you mentioned, OP, and they seem to still be quite happily married.

 

One question, though: in light of your potentially unrecognized qualifications, what will the two of of you will do in the worst case scenario (you find out that you can't get a job in your field in the USA because it isn't recognized)? Is he willing to support you financially for as long as it takes for you to re-certify yourself and get a good job, on par with the one you left to be with him? Or will he be expecting you to support yourself, even if it means flipping burgers for the rest of your life?

 

Actually, he don't want me to work. He can support both of us financially but I insist on working. If I cannot find any job, I will think of something else to do, like join any groups or something. It is just one way to make new friends and get familiar with the new surrounding. Having my own job and money will be a bonus for us, at the very least, I have my own savings too, though not much, but I can use them in case of any emergency.

[Els]

Actually' date=' he don't want me to work. He can support both of us financially but I insist on working. If I cannot find any job, I will think of something else to do, like join any groups or something. It is just one way to make new friends and get familiar with the new surrounding. Having my own job and money will be a bonus for us, at the very least, I have my own savings too, though not much, but I can use them in case of any emergency.[/quote']

 

Yep, that is right. You will want to consider the long-term implications though. For instance, if your degree is not recognized in the USA and you plan to stay there, it might be a good idea to spend a couple of years to get a certificate that is recognized. Usually if you have a previous degree there will be shortcuts to that end - you might not need to spend 3-4 years re-certifying, just 1-2.

[CherryT]

No; I am not saying that every person that moves for their LDR is making a mistake. I am saying that she getting married is a mistake; unless she is looking for a green card; then it is a great move.

 

I based my statement in facts. First, the fact that it is my personal opinion that you shouldn't get married during the "in love" stage of your relationship. It is my personal opinion and personal experience that you should allow the relationship to settle and then start to grow beyond this stage into the following stage in which you get to know the other person deeply and you saw them many times in the easy ones and on the hard ones. I think marriage is for life and as such I believe you should really know your partner and get married after the first stage is over and after you have been through some real **** together ... specially if you are in your twenties.

 

The second fact is that as early as three month ago Life'sgood was talking about marriage "down the road 4-5 years time". All of the suddden, she is planning her wedding.

 

The third fact is that they have met in person only 4 times. Even if they Skype 4 hours a day; it is easy to put your best face on Skype and blah blah blah.

 

Would you make a commitment for life to someone on the above premises?

 

I am not judging anyone, I am just giving my personal opinion and I do think it is the biggest mistake in her life so far ... unless she killed somebody, in which case that would had been worst.

 

Sounds like you know more about the OP than I do.

 

I think that if two people can agree to what's best for them and they've taken the time to plan it out then it isn't a mistake. You say you're not judging but you're judging the fact that her relationship is "unconventional" so she shouldn't get married. And you're assuming that the reason why she would want to do it this fast is for a passport. I may not have read as many of OP's threads as you, but that's quite a statement if you've never had a direct conversation or have met OP. I know it happens, but she's asking for advice on the process and not your judgement of what her intentions/relationship is. I'll be moving to the US from Canada and will be doing this under the Fiance Visa when we're ready... I'm not moving for a passport, I'm moving because I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with the love of my life.

 

I also believe that marriage is life long, but I've seen people change and relationships change after vows were said. I know a couple who was married for over 10 years and the husband practically changed overnight. He decided he didn't like his profession anymore, even though he was at a senior level and quit his job without consulting this family. His responsibilities at that time didn't change and so his wife had to carry a mortgage and family expenses for the both of them. He then decided that he wanted to live in the Country and his wife did not want to. After about a year of trying to settle everything down, they decided to divorce. To this day, the wife doesn't really understand what had gone wrong. It was a cross between a mid-life crisis to something else... What I'm saying is that nothing is guaranteed. Whether it was spawned from a ldr or not. People get married all the time after only knowing each other for a few months... would I do it? Probably not. But who are we to judge?

[CherryT]

For what it's worth, there are two posters on LS who married and moved within the timeline that you mentioned, OP, and they seem to still be quite happily married.

 

One question, though: in light of your potentially unrecognized qualifications, what will the two of of you will do in the worst case scenario (you find out that you can't get a job in your field in the USA because it isn't recognized)? Is he willing to support you financially for as long as it takes for you to re-certify yourself and get a good job, on par with the one you left to be with him? Or will he be expecting you to support yourself, even if it means flipping burgers for the rest of your life?

 

I agree with this - take the time now to think about your options.

 

My bf and I are planning to close the gap in 2014. Unfortunately, there are a lot of logistics, so when we decide it's time to start the process... it really could take 6-12 months until I'm actually there. I own properties in my city (which I won't sell, but use it as an investment) and I also own a business. Prior to my move, I will need to either stay with one of my clients but work remotely or look for a new job before I move. My investment property will be able to sustain an income for myself, but I'd be bored as heck being at home all the time.

[Life'sGood]

I agree with this - take the time now to think about your options.

 

My bf and I are planning to close the gap in 2014. Unfortunately, there are a lot of logistics, so when we decide it's time to start the process... it really could take 6-12 months until I'm actually there. I own properties in my city (which I won't sell, but use it as an investment) and I also own a business. Prior to my move, I will need to either stay with one of my clients but work remotely or look for a new job before I move. My investment property will be able to sustain an income for myself, but I'd be bored as heck being at home all the time.

 

Thank you!

 

It's really not because of the passport. I will be with the person that I am in love with, and I think, we are suppose to stay in love! You can try and look for a new job, like what I'm doing now. I'm sure it will be so much easier for you than me!