The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services demands that the U.S. citizen and their foreign citizen fiance had to have been together IN PERSON within the last 2 years.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services mainly will only bend this procedure if it is an EXTREME HARDSHIP for the two people to have met in person, such as if it is against their way of life or system of beliefs to meet in person before being married.

It's always desirable to meet one another face to face before applying for Form I-129F to prove that you have an actual love relationship with your fiance.

My advice to you is to attempt to get everything for the marriage ceremony worked out before your fiancee gets here, especially if you desire something more fancy. There won't be much time to plan when your fiancee arrives.

When we were married we chose to do something really simple for our wedding. We really didn't have that much time to plan it out considering we did not actually know the day when our visa would be authorized or when Josue would get his appointment and endorsement from the embassy.

No matter what kind of marriage ceremony you want, make sure to send some type of wedding invitations or announcements, and save it for your evidence. Also, take plenty of photos at the wedding and make sure to take them in to your appointment when you go for your fiance(e)'s change of status. Keep any wedding cards that people may have sent out to you as well. The more validation that you can use to show that your marriage was true, the better.

When Josue came through the US Immigration and United States Customs and Border Protection, he received a form called form I-94 once he was authorized and accepted by the immigration officers. This is a document that foreigners must fill out when they are being admitted to the U.S. on a non-immigrant status.

We were really not informed about this document before Josue arrived here and we had no clue that such a small document could hold so much importance. This form is consistently stamped as a final authorization for the foreign resident to come into the United States. It is generally rendered over at the time of embarkation from the country. Because Josue was planning, indeed, to not depart from the U.S., we thought that this document would not be that essential.

We had no idea that Form I-94 would be indeed necessary for every next step we took.

It was essential for everything that we had to do to begin his new life here in the states. Whether it was for documents to fill out for USCIS, appointments that we had to go into USCIS to show form I-94 to an immigration officer, to request a driver's permit, driver's license, or identification at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), or for obtaining a social security card at the Social Security Office, almost everyone asked for this card.

Take care of this card with your life, never lose it! We wish we knew more about its value before we had begun this adventure, but understanding this will give you a bit of a better start!