K1 Fiancee Visa Question

[donavan]

im an american citizen and planning on applying for a k1 visa for my thai girlfriend when i return to the USA. Can anyone tell me a little about the process and how long it usually takes? As well as what the success rate of getting the visa? She is a thai citizen, she lived in the US for 7 years when she was a teenager. 4 years ago. So she speaks fluent english. Donno if that makes a difference in the process... ok thaks for any information. oh yea..will it help to hire an attorney to speed the process??

Edited February 15, 2006 by donavan

[daveh]

im an american citizen and planning on applying for a k1 visa for my thai girlfriend when i return to the USA. Can anyone tell me a little about the process and how long it usually takes? As well as what the success rate of getting the visa? She is a thai citizen, she lived in the US for 7 years when she was a teenager. 4 years ago. So she speaks fluent english. Donno if that makes a difference in the process... ok thaks for any information. oh yea..will it help to hire an attorney to speed the process??

The length of time depends a great deal on where and when you file your I-129F petition. I was fairly lucky, I managed to get a total turn-around time of 6 months from petition to visa and this was in California which is supposed to be one of the slower states. I was expecting more on the order of 9 months to a year.

If you do your own taxes, then you probably don't need an attorney especially since your GF can read and write English. In general all they do is ask you the questions listed on the forms, fill them in for you (hopefully with the information you provided and not lies to "have a better chance"), then have you sign them. The added paperwork transfer time between you and the attorneys could slow things down. But if they help you avoid missing a mistake that would cause your application to come back to you, then they would save you a little time. But the savings would only be on the order of weeks, not months.

I bought a nice book from Nolo press that was very helpful. Basically, it answered all my questions I had regarding the entire process.

Fiance & Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration. I highly recommend it if you want to do it yourself. It was the best $30 I've ever spent.