I-129F: How to Bring Your Foreign Fiance to the U.S.

If you are a U.S. citizen and, at the present time, you are engaged with a person from another country, you might want your fiancé to come to join you in the U.S. You may want that either for the wedding or in order to settle down in the U.S. afterward. In this respect, you should get acquainted with form I-129F, which represents the first step in petitioning for the K1 fiancé visa.

What Is Form I-129F?

Preparing to apply for the K1 visa might seem a bit overwhelming since the stakes are high. This is why it makes sense to anticipate the interview questions and get ready for the entire process in advance. When you request a K1 visa, you also have to provide form I-129F, which is what we’re going to focU.S. on in this article.

Based on this form, you will be granted permission to legally enter the U.S. in order to marry a U.S. citizen. If you obtain the K1 visa, you can file for AdjU.S.tment of StatU.S. in order to get a green card so that you become a permanent legal resident. Until then, though, you should get your facts straight regarding K1 visa health insurance, and other technicalities that might miss your focU.S. but are of great importance.

Who Is Eligible for a K1 Visa?

In order to get a K1 visa, you mU.S.t meet several criteria, which establish your eligibility. Here are the aspects that count in this respect:

• The applicant and his/her fiancé mU.S.t be legally able to marry each other.
• The applicant has to demonstrate his/her honest intention of marrying the American citizen. This should be accompanied by evidence, aside from the K1 declaration; you might provide additional evidence, if available.
• The applicant mU.S.t marry the U.S. citizen after arriving in the U.S.
• Before applying for a K1 visa, the applicant and his/her fiancé mU.S.t have met in person, at least two years prior to the date of application. There is one exception to this rule, in case cultural or social beliefs would be violated by this requirement. In this case, you might waive this requirement.

Note that the U.S.CIS requires proof of the criteria above.

Required Documents for the I-129F Form

U.S.ually, when applying for a visa, you have to provide a list of the necessary documentation, which supports your claims. In essence, you mU.S.t demonstrate that your intention to get married is honest. As for the documents necessary, here is a list of what you’ll need:

• Proof indicating that you are an American citizen; this could be in the form of a birth certificate, citizenship certificate, passport, or other official records of birth abroad. A naturalization certificate qualifies as well.
• Your American Social Security Number – if you don’t supply this number, the application for the K1 visa might not be successful.
• 2 G-325A forms featuring biographical data for you and your foreign fiancé.
• Evidence demonstrating that you’ve met in the last two years. Evidence could be in the form of photographs, plane or hotel tickets featuring your names, so on and so forth. As mentioned before, if you didn’t meet becaU.S.e of cultural, social or religioU.S. reasons, you should facilitate proof of your waiver claim.
• Evidence indicating your truthful intention of marrying the other person, providing information about how you met, the way in which your relationship developed over the course of time, what determined you to take this decision in the first place, where you plan to marry each other, so on and so forth. Wedding plans and invitations might be added to demonstrate the fact that the marriage is sure to happen.

Form 1-129F Checklist

Before submitting the form I-129F, you should double-check whether you’ve completed all the sections that are applicable to you or not. Concurrently, you should sign and date the form appropriately. And finally, make sure that you submit the necessary fee so that the entire process can take place within a limited time frame.

In addition to that, we advise you to make copies of all the completed forms and checks prior to sending them. Afterward, you may proceed and send the documents to the U.S.CIS office. Typically, the office will be different from the local one you might have visited in person in the past. Fiancé visa petitions may be submitted via email only.

How to Fill out Form I-129F

You can fill out form I-129F on your computer. Once you are done with that, you’ll have to send it via mail. Basically, most questions are self-explanatory and to the point.

For example, there are questions requesting you to point out your marital status. Evidently, to qualify for this visa, you have to choose one of the following: single, widowed or divorced. Otherwise, you are not eligible to get the visa.

In part two, question 34a, where you are required to describe in detail the individual circumstances in which you have met, you should write statements on a piece of paper – and write down please see attached statement. It’s advisable to facilitate a more detailed overview of this, so that the U.S.CIS can determine that your relationship is based on real facts, and you’re not making up stories.

As for question 35 part 2, as well as question 2 and 3 under part 3, they are related to the recent International Marriage Broker Regulation Act. This law aims at safeguarding immigrants from marrying a person that has been convicted in the past for domestic violence. In case the U.S. citizen does have a criminal record, it’s best to consult with an attorney when filing in this section, in order to clarify the situation so that it isn’t an impediment in getting the visa application approved.

Filling out part 5 of the form is once again easy and to the point, and you shouldn’t worry too much about it.

How Much Does Form I-129F Cost?

Moving on to the price of the I-129F, you have to pay a filing fee. The fee is $535. You may U.S.e this fee calculator in this respect. Depending on what works best for you, you could pay for it with a personal check, money order or cashier’s check. Alternatively, you might pay by credit card if you U.S.e Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions.

Whenever you complete a payment, this means you agree with the terms and conditions. To that end, you cannot withdraw your request or get a refund once you complete the payment.

I-129F Processing Time

The processing time for the K1 visa can last, on average, between four to six months. But there might be some exceptions depending on the specifications of your case.

Conclusion

Overall, we hope that this article shed some light on the topic of I-129F and K1 visa. If you want to find out more information, you should know that Stilt has created many U.S.eful resources for you regarding other important topics such as K1 visa adjU.S.tment of statU.S., and many others. Most importantly, our loan products are designated specifically for non-U.S. residents, so make sure you browse our website!

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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