Fiancé visa application

In December, Victor surprised me by quitting his ten-year employment at Presur. He said he is now ready to spend enough time in the U.S. to use a fiancé visa and wait for a green card.

When I returned to Los Angeles, I began looking at the application in detail. When I told Victor that he would have to get a passport-style photo, he insisted he wanted to wait and do that together with me during my next planned visit in March. I'm not sure why he didn't want to go by himself, but this meant I couldn't get the application done earlier.

In late March, we got the photos (easy, of course), and I had Victor sign one page of the application, and we asked his mother about her birthdate and information about his father. In April, back in L.A., I began filling out the forms.

I also searched online for information about fiancé visa denials. That's not very common, but I still put together a fat package of material:

• The 6-page application
• The two biographical information forms, one for each of us
• Our two photos
• My check for $535 (!)
• A copy of my birth certificate (required)
• A detailed relationship and visa and travel chronology
• A page about my finances, with proof
• 17 pages with color copies of 32 photos 1993-2017
• Supporting statements from family and friends who know us
• The form requesting notification of receipt

I mailed all that May 1. The Post Office estimated it would get there in about three days, but it wasn't until May 11 that I got the acceptance confirmation email.

Unless we're immediately denied, the next step will be for Victor to fill out another form online in order to sign up for an interview. Although the form questions are available in other languages, the answers must be in English. I'll try to go there to do that with him.

There are scores of sample interview questions online. I will go over those with Victor. I also plan to go with him for the interview. For a fiancé visa, I read that they usually let the U.S. citizen accompany the applicant, although they might not.

I'm pretty hopeful about this. The next two steps — the additional form and the interview — will both make Victor nervous. But I'm still optimistic. I think Victor will get here this year! At long last!