If your foreign fiance is looking to come to the United States on a fiancé visa, they might be interested to know the steps involved in the whole process. Mainly, processing a K 1 visa involves 3 steps;
- Filing Form I 129F (Petition for alien fiancé)
- Completing Form DS 160 (Online non
- Attending a K-1 Visa Interview.
This article will focus on STEP -1 of the process, which is the most crucial step, as without having your Form I 129F petition approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), your application will not move forward to the next stage. This article will be an excellent read for you if you are looking to apply for a fiancé visa now or in the near future.
What is Form I-129F?
Filing Form I 129F is the first step in all K-1 visa processes. It is also known as the ‘Petition for alien fiance.’ The petition is filed so that USCIS can verify your and your foreign fiance’s bonafide relationship.
Hence, other documents are also required along with this petition. The US sponsor can file Form I 129F for both the foreign citizen fiancé for their K 1 visa and also for their children dependant (under 21 years of age and unmarried at the time of entry in the US). Only a single form is required to be submitted to the USCIS, and the name of all the dependents should be mentioned in the form.
Who can file Form I-129f?
This form is filed by the US sponsor fiancé, who will sponsor a foreign citizen fiancé to come to the US and get married to them within 90 days of entry. You will be eligible to file a Form I 129F petition if:
- You and your foreign citizen fiancé are legally free to get married, and you both have intentions to get married within 90 days of your foreign fiance’s entry into the US.
- You and your partner have met in person within two years of filing the Form I 129F petition unless you can satisfy the following conditions:
- Any such meeting with your foreign fiance will be in violation of the long-established customs of their culture or social practice or,
- Any such meeting would cause extreme hardship to you.
Once you are good with the above conditions, you may proceed to file an I 129F petition for an alien fiancé. You may be required to submit supporting documents along with the application to prove all the conditions.
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While filing Form I 129F, there are several documents that you need to submit along with the application. These documents are submitted to show the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that you and your foreign partner are in a bonafide relationship. The documents that you need to submit are:
- Proof of your US citizenship. This is because Form I 129F can only be filed by a US citizen and not by a person who is a permanent residence or green card holder in the US. You can submit your passport, naturalization certificate, birth certificate, etc., to prove your United States citizenship.
- Colored passport-size photograph of you and your foreign fiancé.
- If you or your foreign citizen fiancé are previously married, proof that any such marriage has been terminated. You can submit divorce documents, death certificate, etc.
- Proof that you and your foreign fiancé partner intend to get married within 90 days of their entry into the United States.
- Proof that you and your foreign fiancé e have met once in the last 2 years of filing this application unless you can submit evidence that you fall under the exception.
Where can I file the Form I 129f petition?
The Form I 129F petition can be filed at the followingaddress:
US Postal Service
USCIS
Attn: I-129F
P.O. Box 660151
Dallas, TX 75266-0151
FedEx, UPS, and DHL Deliveries
USCIS
Attn: I-129F (Box 660151)
2501 South State Highway 121 Business
Suite 400
Lewisville, TX 75067-8003
You should make sure that you put the correct address before filing the petition. Once you have filed the petition, you will receive a receipt notice from the USCIS after 4-5 weeks of submitting your I 129F petition. That receipt notice is the official proof that USCIS has received your petition and will soon start to process your K-1 visa case.
Furthermore, you cannot file the form I 129f petition online. Unfortunately, only the physical filing option is available for the I 129F petition for all persons. Therefore, ensure that you have completed Form I 129f petition and attached all the relevant supporting documents with it. Then you can post it to the USCIS Dallas Lockbox address.
I have filed Form I 129F petition and also received receipt notice from the USCIS. How can I check the status of my petition?
You are able to check the status of your application once you have received the receipt notice from the USCIS. You will be assigned a 13-character case receipt notice that includes the first three characters as alphabetical letters followed by 10 numbers. You have to put your case receipt number onUSCIS website, where you can check the status of your application.
How much time will USCIS take to approve my I 129 F petition?
The USCIS processing time will mostly depend on case on case basis depending on the sufficiency of the evidence. However, you can expect anywhere between 7-8 months of processing time once USCIS has received your I 129F petition.
Once the USCIS officer has approved your I 129F petition; they will forward your case to the US Department of State National Visa Center(NVC) for further processing. The NVC will further forward your K-1 visa case to the nearest US embassy or consulate office to your foreign fiancé’s location.
The US embassy or consulate will send a notice to your fiancé mentioning the date, time, and venue of the K-1 visa interview that they have to give.
What is the cost of filing form I 129F?
You have to pay a fixed fee of $535 for your Form I 129F petition. You can pay the fee either through money order, personal check, cashier’s check, and also through credit card (Using Form G 1450, Authorisation for Credit Card Transactions). If you are making your transition through a check, it should be payable to the US Department of Homeland security.
Is it worth filing the Form I 129F petition and going for K-1 visa option?
Filing Form I 129F can certainly be a little expensive and can demand a good 7-8 months of waiting time for their approval; however, there is an added advantage to this visa that will attract a K-1 visa applicant every time.
That is, once your Form I 129F petition is approved by the USCIS, your foreign citizen fiancé can appear in the K-1 visa interview, and after they successfully clear the interview, they will be given a K-1 visa.
The k-1 visa allows the foreign citizen to come into the United States, get married and adjust status to a green card holder by applying for a marriage-based green card. Through this route, the foreign citizen spouse can live in the US forever if their future applications are also approved by the USCIS. Contact Herman Legal Group if you want to know in detail about the whole process through our expert immigration attorneys.
How can Herman Legal Group help you?
You are certainly not alone in your US visa case. Herman Legal Group is there for you to help you in every step of your visa process. We are an award-winning immigration law firm, founded in 1995, and experienced in all areas of immigration: family, employment, investor, deportation defense, citizenship, and applying to become a permanent resident (immigrant visa and nonimmigrant visas).
You can consult with our experienced immigration attorneys to discuss your case and get their expert advice. To schedule a consultation with one of the experienced immigration lawyers, call us at1-216-696-6170orbook online. Consultations can be conducted by zoom, skype, whatsapp, facetime, or in-office. A small consultation can bring peace of mind and save your time, efforts, and money.
