Our U.S. Immigration Journey

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Chris

Chris

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Here is a timeline of my wife and my immigration experience-

August 2019- I filed a K-1 (fiancée) application in order to obtain a Visa for her to travel to the U.S. for marriage. The process proceeded in a fair amount of time and we were given an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki for the final interview. Then Covid hit and a Presidential Proclamation brought such processes to a complete halt.

Early March 2021- After 12 months of no progress we decided to formally withdraw the application and for her to travel to the U.S. as a visitor and get married. This was easier said than done. Due to U.S. restrictions, travel from Schengen countries (basically any country in the EU) into the U.S. was forbidden due to the pandemic. Travel from Russia was not (because they handled the pandemic so well, right?). So she flew from Helsinki to Moscow and then onto the U.S.

Late March 2021- We were married in Florida and then filed the I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for the purposes of obtaining Legal Permanent Residence (green card).

October 2022- A 2-year Conditional Green Card was issued.

October 2024- We filed the I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions, for the purposes of obtaining a 10-year Green Card.

March 2025- Yesterday we received that 10-year card.

Only one step remains to gain full freedom from restrictions and governmental oversight. In this coming October we can file the N-400, Application for Naturalization (Citizenship). We are both looking forward in anticipation for this process to be finally completed. 👏🏼
 
Going through anything immigration right now has got to be hell. Best luck, RedWolf

More to the point, I'm sorry you're going through this. You shouldn't have to.
 
RedWolf said:
Chris that sucks but congratulations. VERY HAPPY for both of you

I am going through immigration hell right now.

Her fiance visa was shot down because I could not produce a court document from 1988. NO county state or federal records even showed it. We got married and resubmitted the I130 based on legal advice (the requirement for that doc goes away)

Paid taxes since 1978/14 yo.
Decorated Veteran honorable discharge, former Ranger that supported the 10th SF Group. Some Ops that I was involved with are in movies.
Tons of federal experience:
*Post 911 I was part of a limited team that built a new Pentagon critical Communication Center.
*I did all three Network designs for TSA airports. I built the TSA headquarters and data center.
*I built four DHS headquarter elements and three DHS data centers
*I have held a TS/SCI clearance and a Q clearance

Does any of that mean anything? Do I get any cred or props? Hell no. Effing Aholes

And people ask me "Why are you retiring outside of the US?"
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Is the I-130 working it’s way through the system now?
 
RedWolf said:
Yes sir
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Good to hear. It’s a slog, no doubt, often with no apparent end in sight. Keep the faith.

I understand your frustration. I wrote a detailed and heartfelt letter to Biden expressing both the particulars of my case and the frustration I was feeling. You can guess the impact it (didn’t) have. I did, however, get back a nice response from him that had absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter that I addressed. So there is that. 🤣
 
Chris said:
Good to hear. It’s a slog, no doubt, often with no apparent end in sight. Keep the faith.

I understand your frustration. I wrote a detailed and heartfelt letter to Biden expressing both the particulars of my case and the frustration I was feeling. You can guess the impact it (didn’t) have. I did, however, get back a nice response from him that had absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter that I addressed. So there is that. 🤣
Click to expand...

I'm going to wait a little bit more and then call a buddy of mine at DoS to escalate. He will make gears grind
 
I wish you all the best in your struggles.

It upsets me that there is a proposed process of just paying $5 million to get American citizenship. Rich get to move to the front of the line. It's really not supposed to be like this. :cry:





:indian-chief:The Rook
 
I went through a similar process with my wife from the Philippines. I filed for the K1 Visa in October of 2019. She didn't get here until December 2021 due to covid. She got her Green Card in Dec. 2022 and we filed to remove the conditions in November 2024 so we waiting on that. The one thing that surprised me about the original poster is how quickly the conditions got removed and she got her 10 year green card. I was hearing that was taking over a year on average, but it seems like it only 6 months in his wife's case. I guess I don't under quite understand why the original poster felt frustration with his case. To me it looks like everything happened on the normal timeline.

In regards to RedWolf, I would contact your Congressman or Congresswoman's office and work with their staff. All major agencies have a Congressional liason office to work with requests from the staffs of Congressmen. If you think your case is not progressing as it should have you Congressmen's staff contact USCIS. At minimum someone from USCIS will physically have eyes on your case because they need to report back to the Congressperson's staff. Now if your case is not really being screwed up, it might not do anything, but if you case is not being handled properly that should fix it. I work in a JAG office and servicemen come to us when they think their case is not progressing and for the most part there is nothing we can do as USCIS is a different agency so we refer them to their Congress person. I am not sure your friend in the State Dept. is going to have sway with USCIS as State really doesn't have anything to do with processing routine immigration cases.
 
I’m curious as to why you felt that I was expressing frustration. Covid threw a wrench into the process but other than that our process was better/faster than most that I was reading about. The home country of the immigrant seems to play a significant role in the timeline; perhaps due to volume, perhaps due to something else. Our time moving through the the removal of conditions stage was a big surprise. We submitted a plethora of evidence, most likely more than truly necessary, to avoid questions of marriage fraud which seem to be the #1 concern of USCIS.

My only frustration was that travel to the US from Finland was not allowed by presidential proclamation but travel from Russia was. There is evidence to support that Russia was one of the countries with the poorest responses to the pandemic and that had one of the worst outcomes among it’s population, unless one believes the reporting from it’s free press.
 
Chris said:
I’m curious as to why you felt that I was expressing frustration. Covid threw a wrench into the process but other than that our process was better/faster than most that I was reading about. The home country of the immigrant seems to play a significant role in the timeline; perhaps due to volume, perhaps due to something else. Our time moving through the the removal of conditions stage was a big surprise. We submitted a plethora of evidence, most likely more than truly necessary, to avoid questions of marriage fraud which seem to be the #1 concern of USCIS.

My only frustration was that travel to the US from Finland was not allowed by presidential proclamation but travel from Russia was. There is evidence to support that Russia was one of the countries with the poorest responses to the pandemic and that had one of the worst outcomes among it’s population, unless one believes the reporting from it’s free press.
Click to expand...

The extra context cleared it up. You said you write a letter to Biden regarding your frustrations. But now understanding that you were upset that travel to Finland was not allowed while travel from Russia was allowed explains the frustration. I initially thought you were just more frustrated with the process itself.
 
USCIS is almost intentionally clunky and maliciously expensive.

I feel for anyone that has to go through that process.

My Wife is from Nigeria and already here on a student visa when we met. We went to Nigerian embassy in DC for advice first, one of which was even after getting married to NOT change her last name until it was over in order to not confuse the process.

So after we got married in Virginia in 2019 we started working on the I-485 package and related required documents without a lawyer almost immediately...which was almost immediately followed by Covid. Filing all that initial paperwork still required paying their processing fees that was well over a grand (I'm going off memory here. Pretty sure it was more then twice that, I jus distinctly remember one of the many forms, the one i mentioned, in the initial package being a grand by itself)


We still had to do the interview in person with masks on, kept copies of our documents in our Google drive because they eventually did want certain copies again or questioned us on our answers (so we didn't want to forget then saying something different then we originally submitted).

This eventually lead to her getting her physical green card...which I wanna say was two years later because we filed N-400 last November because needed to hold the Green Card for at least 3 years before filing for citizenship (since she was already in the states before we met):

www.uscis.gov

Chapter 3 - Spouses of U.S. Citizens Residing in the United States

A. General Eligibility for Spouses Residing in the United StatesThe spouse of a U.S. citizen who resides in the United States may
www.uscis.gov

She passed her citizenship test the other day, but because she wants to change her last name still she couldn't take the oath at the USCIS center but has to wait to go to a courthouse instead in June.

I never got the impression this was a very inviting process...way too much paperwork that had to be printed out and mailed but had to be done in a way that it could be easily scanned into their system...if they were serious all of this coulda been filled out online and saved all of us a lot of time. The Process is NOT meant to save time, imo.

I cant talk too much shit because we got through it, but I'm not only one calling it inefficient and borderline dysfunctional and I stand by that after us going through it ourselves.
 
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Our filing for the N-400, which we will file for in October when we return to the US, can now be completely done online. This will be our first filing where that was possible.
 
My wife is from the Philippines. The hardest part was getting her through the BS requirements in the Philippines.

We filed for her K1 at the beginning of 2018. I quit my job and was living there with her in a house we built on about an acre lot that her parents gave us. We lived there together since 2016 so my only income was my Military retirement which was enough to get her to the US. You could live forever in the Philippines on a couple thousand dollars a month easily but I wanted her to be here in the US for at least a while so we did the paperwork. Good thing we did that!

We finally got her appointment to go to the embassy in Manila in December 2018. She lived in Iloilo, which is a totally different island so we decided to just get a hotel in Manila for a few weeks because before we could get the Embassy done we had to do all of the other stuff.

In the Philippines they make you go through a long list of stuff before you can be approved to leave on a K1 visa. I can't remember it all but one thing was a week long 8 hour a day class that she had to attend. 1/2 of it was good info but a lot of it seemed like they were trying to scare their own citizens from leaving. Which is interesting because most of the money in that country comes from the people who left and send it back. Also they need to get a certificate that shows they aren't married, and they have to get a police report that shows they haven't been arrested, and they have to get a physical and shots for everything if they don't have a record of it all.

I was there for her interview at the US embassy so it was easy. There are horror stories about those interviews where they say all kinds of inappropriate stuff and disapprove people for dumb reasons but I guess me being there helped. Also us living together all that time made it impossible for them to say that we were a scam marriage. We had pictures of all that time together since 2012.

Once we got to San Francisco Jan 2019 though she had to go through a different line at the airport and it was there where she was harassed for 2-3 hours by some asshole immigration dickhead. I was waiting for her with our luggage for hours and the people kept telling me that I had to leave with my luggage and leave hers there but I never did. Finally, several hours later she came out really pissed off and almost crying because the asshole was trying to say that she was either pulling a scam, we weren't legitimate or she was being trafficked. I wish that I was able to be in that line because they bring K1 visa people into a room and interrogate them like POWs. She had all of the paperwork, medical records, pictures of us together for 8 years, and a K1 visa, yet some asshole in the airport thinks he's the boss. I found out who to write a letter to and blasted the guy. She got his name.

Once here in the US we went to the Philippines embassy in DC for something, can't remember why we had to go there after we got married. Probably to inform them of the marriage for her passport. Then did her paperwork, paid more money. She didn't get a greencard until 2020 about when covid was starting.

Then she had her green card extended. They finally sent her 10 year card a few months ago after we submitted all kinds of additional paperwork. She hasn't applied for citizenship but I told her she needs to because when we go back to the Philippines in July we can't go to places like Japan or Korea on the way because she needs a visa to go almost everywhere. We went to Belgium last year so we had to go to Atlanta to go to the Belgian consulate for her visa. To get that is almost like bringing her here again. They want medical records, tax returns, all kinds of BS. I don't know why she didn't want to get citizenship, she can have both. She's probably worried about the interview after the asshole Chinese Immigration turd in SFO.
 
SkinsFTW said:
My wife is from the Philippines. The hardest part was getting her through the BS requirements in the Philippines.

We filed for her K1 at the beginning of 2018. I quit my job and was living there with her in a house we built on about an acre lot that her parents gave us. We lived there together since 2016 so my only income was my Military retirement which was enough to get her to the US. You could live forever in the Philippines on a couple thousand dollars a month easily but I wanted her to be here in the US for at least a while so we did the paperwork. Good thing we did that!

We finally got her appointment to go to the embassy in Manila in December 2018. She lived in Iloilo, which is a totally different island so we decided to just get a hotel in Manila for a few weeks because before we could get the Embassy done we had to do all of the other stuff.

In the Philippines they make you go through a long list of stuff before you can be approved to leave on a K1 visa. I can't remember it all but one thing was a week long 8 hour a day class that she had to attend. 1/2 of it was good info but a lot of it seemed like they were trying to scare their own citizens from leaving. Which is interesting because most of the money in that country comes from the people who left and send it back. Also they need to get a certificate that shows they aren't married, and they have to get a police report that shows they haven't been arrested, and they have to get a physical and shots for everything if they don't have a record of it all.

I was there for her interview at the US embassy so it was easy. There are horror stories about those interviews where they say all kinds of inappropriate stuff and disapprove people for dumb reasons but I guess me being there helped. Also us living together all that time made it impossible for them to say that we were a scam marriage. We had pictures of all that time together since 2012.

Once we got to San Francisco Jan 2019 though she had to go through a different line at the airport and it was there where she was harassed for 2-3 hours by some asshole immigration dickhead. I was waiting for her with our luggage for hours and the people kept telling me that I had to leave with my luggage and leave hers there but I never did. Finally, several hours later she came out really pissed off and almost crying because the asshole was trying to say that she was either pulling a scam, we weren't legitimate or she was being trafficked. I wish that I was able to be in that line because they bring K1 visa people into a room and interrogate them like POWs. She had all of the paperwork, medical records, pictures of us together for 8 years, and a K1 visa, yet some asshole in the airport thinks he's the boss. I found out who to write a letter to and blasted the guy. She got his name.

Once here in the US we went to the Philippines embassy in DC for something, can't remember why we had to go there after we got married. Probably to inform them of the marriage for her passport. Then did her paperwork, paid more money. She didn't get a greencard until 2020 about when covid was starting.

Then she had her green card extended. They finally sent her 10 year card a few months ago after we submitted all kinds of additional paperwork. She hasn't applied for citizenship but I told her she needs to because when we go back to the Philippines in July we can't go to places like Japan or Korea on the way because she needs a visa to go almost everywhere. We went to Belgium last year so we had to go to Atlanta to go to the Belgian consulate for her visa. To get that is almost like bringing her here again. They want medical records, tax returns, all kinds of BS. I don't know why she didn't want to get citizenship, she can have both. She's probably worried about the interview after the asshole Chinese Immigration turd in SFO.
Click to expand...
Damn!
 
SkinsFTW said:
My wife is from the Philippines. The hardest part was getting her through the BS requirements in the Philippines.

We filed for her K1 at the beginning of 2018. I quit my job and was living there with her in a house we built on about an acre lot that her parents gave us. We lived there together since 2016 so my only income was my Military retirement which was enough to get her to the US. You could live forever in the Philippines on a couple thousand dollars a month easily but I wanted her to be here in the US for at least a while so we did the paperwork. Good thing we did that!

We finally got her appointment to go to the embassy in Manila in December 2018. She lived in Iloilo, which is a totally different island so we decided to just get a hotel in Manila for a few weeks because before we could get the Embassy done we had to do all of the other stuff.

In the Philippines they make you go through a long list of stuff before you can be approved to leave on a K1 visa. I can't remember it all but one thing was a week long 8 hour a day class that she had to attend. 1/2 of it was good info but a lot of it seemed like they were trying to scare their own citizens from leaving. Which is interesting because most of the money in that country comes from the people who left and send it back. Also they need to get a certificate that shows they aren't married, and they have to get a police report that shows they haven't been arrested, and they have to get a physical and shots for everything if they don't have a record of it all.

I was there for her interview at the US embassy so it was easy. There are horror stories about those interviews where they say all kinds of inappropriate stuff and disapprove people for dumb reasons but I guess me being there helped. Also us living together all that time made it impossible for them to say that we were a scam marriage. We had pictures of all that time together since 2012.

Once we got to San Francisco Jan 2019 though she had to go through a different line at the airport and it was there where she was harassed for 2-3 hours by some asshole immigration dickhead. I was waiting for her with our luggage for hours and the people kept telling me that I had to leave with my luggage and leave hers there but I never did. Finally, several hours later she came out really pissed off and almost crying because the asshole was trying to say that she was either pulling a scam, we weren't legitimate or she was being trafficked. I wish that I was able to be in that line because they bring K1 visa people into a room and interrogate them like POWs. She had all of the paperwork, medical records, pictures of us together for 8 years, and a K1 visa, yet some asshole in the airport thinks he's the boss. I found out who to write a letter to and blasted the guy. She got his name.

Once here in the US we went to the Philippines embassy in DC for something, can't remember why we had to go there after we got married. Probably to inform them of the marriage for her passport. Then did her paperwork, paid more money. She didn't get a greencard until 2020 about when covid was starting.

Then she had her green card extended. They finally sent her 10 year card a few months ago after we submitted all kinds of additional paperwork. She hasn't applied for citizenship but I told her she needs to because when we go back to the Philippines in July we can't go to places like Japan or Korea on the way because she needs a visa to go almost everywhere. We went to Belgium last year so we had to go to Atlanta to go to the Belgian consulate for her visa. To get that is almost like bringing her here again. They want medical records, tax returns, all kinds of BS. I don't know why she didn't want to get citizenship, she can have both. She's probably worried about the interview after the asshole Chinese Immigration turd in SFO.
Click to expand...

Much of that sounds familiar but definitely not all. There definitely is a difference in the process that is country specific. From my study the Philippines is a notoriously difficult location to traverse the immigration process from. I would strongly encourage you guys to file for citizenship. You can and should attend the hearing with the immigration officer and that will be a plus in navigating the process.

CBP officers can absolutely be difficult. We have found that it is agent specific. My wife’s initial entry into the country was in Chicago and she was treated perfectly and ‘welcomed’ to the US by the officer. Our next arrival, in New York, not so much. I had to deploy some ‘American attitude’ with that officer. If she had been alone through the line it would have been a completely different experience for her.
 
Oh I'm not even worried about her getting citizenship at this point. She shouldn't have had to worry either though.

She never should have had to worry about any of it. She speaks better English than probably 80% of the citizens and she had 2 college degrees before she even left the Philippines. We've been together for almost 15 years at this point. Now she is a director at an assisted living facility.

It's just crazy how different the process is compared to other countries. I'm sure it's the same way for Africa, Indonesia, South America etc.

I'm 52 years old. When I was 27 years old in 2000 I had a girlfriend in Japan where I was stationed. I got orders to Norfolk for 3 years. She just got on an airplane to the US. No paperwork at all, no visa, no cash, no medical records, nothing. We got married in California a couple days later, drove to Norfolk and all her paperwork was done for citizenship before we moved back to Japan in 2003 despite the delays from 911. She never worked in the US and could still barely speak English. No problem though. I had more problems getting my TS clearance because I had a Japanese wife than she had getting accepted in the US.
 
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