What are the fees and costs in getting a fiance visa?
The total fees and costs for the entire fiance visa process, including getting the green card after your marriage, will typically range from $2,000 to $5,000. There are three basic categories of costs in the fiance visa process: government filing fees, other required costs, and legal fees.
Government fees for the fiance visa process:
$340 Form I-129F fiance visa petition filing fee
$265 K-1 visa fee
$1,070 Form I-485 adjustment of status fee
Other costs:
Medical exam – changes by doctor and location
Passport photographs – changes by photographer
Translation costs – varies by the translator and type of documents being translated into English
Original documents/certified copies – varies by case
Legal fees:
There is no requirement to hire a lawyer to assist you with your fiance visa application. However, many people find the assistance of an immigration lawyer to be very helpful in successfully navigating the fiance visa process. Overall, a fiance visa lawyer can help you avoid unnecessary delays, present the strongest case possible to minimize the risk of a denial and reduce the amount of stress that you experience in trying to figure out the process on your own. You can learn more about whether you should hire an immigration lawyer for your case by reading the Fiance Visa Guide.
If you decide to hire an immigration lawyer, the legal fees will vary depending on the law firm and the complexity of your case. You should focus your search for an immigration lawyer on finding the best immigration lawyer for your case. Your case is important and you should work with the lawyer who you believe has the knowledge and skills to best represent you. Simply hiring the lawyer with the lowest fees will rarely help you in finding the best legal representation for your case.
When do the different fees and costs need to be paid?
You generally will not need to pay all the fees and costs when you begin the process. To begin the process, you’ll need to pay the I-129F filing fee. You’ll also need to get some passport photos and may need to do some translations at this point. The K-1 visa fee will be paid just before or during the fiance visa interview. As you prepare for your fiance visa interview, should also expect to pay for the medical exam costs, additional passport photos and translation fees, and the costs of obtaining original documents or certified copies. The I-485 filing fee does not need to be paid until after you marry and are ready to apply for your green card.
When and how you will need to pay your lawyer’s fees will depend on which lawyer you decide to hire. Some lawyers offer payment plans while others require the entire fee to be paid at the beginning of the case. I typically require that the entire fee be paid at the beginning of the case, but I accept credit cards so that my clients can spread the payments out over time by making monthly payments to their credit card company. In addition, you may be able to split the lawyer’s fee into different parts depending on your situation. For example, you may be able to pay one fee for the fiance visa process and then pay a second fee later on for the adjustment of status process.
About Kimberley Schaefer
hi i would like to know in my case how would things be. im 18 turning 19 on august. and my boyfriend is 26 turning 27 in two weeks. i wanna file for a k1 fiance visa, but the issue is that he was already in the U.S for 3 years. and while he was here we had a baby, who is now turning 2 years old on september. so i did read about having to fill out a waiver for him, for the simple fact that he left back to mexico february of this year. so how can i start the whole process? do we fill out the waiver first or what? and im afraid things might be more difficult because of our age differences. but then again having a child together can also help us im guessing. please give me your opinion. thankyou!
Assuming that you are a United States citizen, your first step would be to submit an I-129F petition to begin the K1 visa process. If your fiancé’s unlawful presence in the United States is the only reason the K1 visa cannot be approved during the visa interview, he will then be able to submit an I601 hardship waiver for unlawful presence.
The most important thing to keep in mind with an unlawful presence waiver is that it can only be approved if you can show that you as a United States citizen would experience extreme hardship if he is not allowed to return to the United States or if you had to move to Mexico to be with him. You can learn more about the waiver process at http://ImmigrationWaiverLawFirm.com