Living abroad while waiting for K-1 visa

[JoeyB]

I am a US citizen and she is Ukrainian. I'm not the type to be able to come home and leave her in Ukraine while we work on the visa. So, options...

1. Live in Ukraine while we wait. What will I need to do to make that work? Do I fly back to the US every 90 days and then immediately return to Ukraine? How hard is it to get a tourist visa for 1 year? I will be working, but it will be for my own company online.

2. If we choose a place like Dominican Republic, that allows her 90 days without a visa, how does that work? Does she need to go back to UA each 90 days, and then can she return to DR immediately?

3. Anybody know of a better option? A country that makes it easy?

FYI, this is a handy link for countries that allow Ukrainians to visit without a visa or allows them to get a visa on arrival.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Ukrainian_citizens

Any advice is appreciated.

[Maxx2]

Georgia is fairly close and no need for a visa and can stay up to 360 days. They even give you a free bottle of wine at the airport last I heard,


Then there is Moldova. That is really close.

[alex330]

1. From my understanding you cannot border jump in Ukraine very easily. You would need to remain out for the correct period of time. Someone please correct me if this is incorrect.

2. In most Latin American (and Caribbean) countries you can jump in and out quite easily. I know many people who do it all the time in Costa Rica and Panama. Leave for 3 days and re-enter. DR is probably the same.

If you work online and have the finances you could just hop from country to country until she is approved. Three months in Ukraine, three Mexico, etc. There is a member who lived in Mexico while waiting for the K1 to go through if I recall. She will need to return to Ukraine for the interview, doctors exam, and have all paperwork in order.

[ML]

Those who have already done this can correct me, but . . .

I would think both of you need to be in your home countries during this process because you each could be getting mail telling you to send such and such, come to this place at this  time to do such and such,   etc., etc.

[alex330]

There are ways around that but it certainly increases the chances of missing an important appointment or letter. The USCIS was not very good in regards to the text messages and emails in my experience. The site is pretty useless as well. If I were to go this route I would plan on living in Ukraine towards the end of the process. That is when she would need to visit the docs in Kiev, the interview, gather university and medical records, etc.

[Turboguy]

Sometimes it seems like yesterday but it was 7 years ago that we were waiting for our visa.  Once my file was sent to NVC we were put into Administrative Review.  There were lots and lots of people in those days having the same problem and I was into contact with many, some of which had been in A/R for as much as 8 years. 
We wanted to be together and had no idea how long the A/R would last.  We started to look for a place to live together.  Our first location we checked out was Sochi.  We didn't like it that well.  We decided to spend the summer together and to check out the Caribbean.  We spent most of the summer in Grenada and Barbados.  We picked those places because my wife wanted to be somewhere that English was the language so it would help her assimilate faster and we eliminated DR because the language there was Spanish.  We did decide that if our visa stayed in A/R we would move to Grenada.  Shortly before our summer together was to end we came out of A/R along with 10's of thousands of others on the exact same day.  A few months later she arrived in the USA.
I do like visiting Ukraine and Russia but really don't have a desire to live there.  I am sure being together is the important thing so what ever you pick will be a good choice.
We had no problem keeping up to date on our visa process online and with a few phone calls.

[Maxx2]

Sometimes it seems like yesterday but it was 7 years ago that we were waiting for our visa. 

It seems like 3 years to me. Time flies doesn't? Congratulations Ray on those 7 years.

[JoeyB]

Many thanks to all who contributed. This was very informative. I will be setting up a PO box for all my mail, including business stuff, that someone will pick-up for me, so that should solve the notification problem. Her mother will get her mail, so that is not a problem.

What if I hired an immigration attorney? Would they get the notifications in my stead? And does that even help with the overall process?

[Turboguy]

If you hired an attorney he would get the correspondence.  You will have to rely on him for any information which sometimes is like pulling hens teeth from a chicken.
Just figure that using an attorney will slow the process from 30-45 days, increase the chances of problems by 50% and add $ 1500 or so to the cost. 
The part I would worry about in your plans is if you got an RFE which is probably 5% of the time doing it yourself and 10-15% of the time using an attorney the information you might need to send them could be home and you wouldn't be there to access it but it is such a minor risk I would not worry about it.  Just be careful to give them everything the first time.

[Faux Pas]

A lawyer is a waste of time and money. The visa requires gathering information and making sure the right boxes are ticked. If you pay a lawyer, you will still have to gather all of the needed information and get it to him. Basically, you are injecting a middleman into the process. You can do it yourself and avoid that and the expense.

Last I heard the wait time was about 6 months. Why not apply and work it proper while you visit a few times? Why is your ass on fire?

[alex330]

Agree with the guys, no attorneys.

My wife and I received an RFE during the process like Turboguy mentions. If we had been out of country it would have complicated things a little. Fedex the paperwork, resubmit forms, etc. Another concern is the police report and delays associated with that in Ukraine. It can take a bit sometimes like finding her old medical records. That is why I mentioned spending the back portion together in her hometown.

[calmissile]

Agree with the guys, no attorneys.

My wife and I received and RFE during the process like Turboguy mentions so if we had been out of country it would have complicated things a little. Fedex the paperwork, resubmit forms, etc. Another concern is the police report and delays associated with that in Ukraine. It can take a bit sometimes like finding her old medical records. That is why I mentioned spending the back portion together in her hometown.

Agree, spending the time with her in Ukraine while doing paperwork and waiting might be the best choice.  It wasn't clear to me whether the relationship was mature enough yet for marriage, but Joey might want to consider getting married in Ukraine and then file a CR-1 Spousal Visa.  That is what my wife and I did.  Our situation has been much more complicated than the norm because there was a divorce, custody, child support, exit permit for the child, etc that has taken about a year to get resolved in the courts in Ukraine.  Hopefully, your situation is much simpler.  I agree with the others that you do not normally need an immigration attorney unless there are special circumstances that warrant it.   

I did use an agency to compile and submit the visa documents however.  It was primarily because of their experience processing thousands of successful applications and also because they have agents that know both English and Russian.  In order to avoid any hickups due to translation errors with my fiance/wife, I thought it was worth the money, but if I had the time to do it without them, it certainly could have been done.  It's a personal choice, and you can evaluate the tradeoff's between cost and risk.

An advantage we have in going the Spousal Visa route (CR-1), is that while we are waiting for all the court proceedings to finalize, we both can fly to each other periodically which helps during the wait period.  My wife filed for the tourist visa after we were married in Ukraine and received a 5 year, multi-entry, Toursit Visa.   If we had filed for the CR-1 first, the tourist visa may not have been issued.  The regulations are not clear about this.  You cannot have two visas at the same time, however filing for another visa while holding a current visa does NOT constitute having two visas.  The second one is simply an application, and at the time it is issued, I suspect the Tourist Visa would be cancelled.

You have a large advantage over most men in that you are free to travel and stay in your lady's country while waiting for visa processing.  In addition to being able to generate income at the same time.  My suggestion is for you to stay with her in Ukraine and make the most of the opportunity to learn the culture and enjoy the warm company of her Ukraine friends.  There is much to see while you are there.  If you are a bit adventuresome, you might want to read my trip report from my last extended vacation in Ukraine.

http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=15123.0

Best of luck to you.  If you have any specific questions, you can PM me and I will respond.

[Wayne]

If you get married in Ukraine, you can apply for a TPR for Ukraine and live in Ukraine while the CR1 visa is in progress.
 
You might also be able to do a direct consular petition which bypasses USCIS. In that case, everything would be done at the US Embassy in Ukraine.

[ML]

If you get married in Ukraine, you can apply for a TPR for Ukraine . . .

But this is NOT uncomplicated.  Doesn't it involve work permits, etc.? 

I think it is about as difficult, time consuming and uncertain  as trying to get a visitor's visa for Ukrainian to come to USA.

[Wayne]

If we had some details about Joey and his woman we could give better information.