Getting married on a K-1 Visa

After two vacations to the Philippines, Greg and I decided to start the K-1 process. It is also known as the Fiance(e) Visa, a faster visa process than the Spousal Visa and it requires the applicant to marry the U.S Citizen fiance(e) within 90 days after the applicant's U.S entry.  This way we weren't rushed into marriage first  -- main reason why we chose it. 

We waited seven months from date of filing to visa approval but average wait time is 4-6 months. We wanted to make sure we were ready for the interview and everything fell in place like a puzzle. Surely good things do happen to those who wait. :-) It was a stressful wait, somehow we saw it as a blessing in disguise. We were tested by distance, how far we could endure being apart from each other for a year.

I was quite proud with how we filed the paperwork because there were no lacking documents plus the fact that we didn't hire an immigration attorney and I recommend NOT to get an immigration attorney because you are going to save a lot of money, no arguments and some of them aren't sure of the process itself or even lazy to file your application promptly. For us, the tedious hours of gathering all paperwork were worth it.

So this is just a summary of my whole experience as a K-1 Visa Holder. Below is my K-1 Visa timeline:

03-24-2011 Filed i-129F Petition for Fiance(e)
04-06-2011 NOA1
07-11-2011 NOA2
07-15-2011 NOA2 (Hard Copy)
11-02-2011 Visa Interview
11-25-2011 POE (Chicago)
01-27-2012 Civil Wedding

Related Topic: What is a K-1 Visa?