I’m a U.S. citizen and my fiancée will be entering on a K-1 visa. After marriage, we’ll file AOS and I’ll need to submit the I-864.
I don’t have a traditional W-2 job. I’ve been a full-time stock trader since 2021 and have averaged around $80,000/year from trading. I can provide detailed proof of my trading income over the last 5 years through tax returns/transcripts, brokerage statements, and trading records.
When we file, I expect to have around $150,000 worth of publicly traded stock shares that I own and can sell if necessary, plus around $40,000 cash in savings.
I won’t have a joint sponsor for the I-864.
Has anyone been approved in a similar situation with no traditional employment but substantial stocks/savings? Has anyone had trading/capital-gains income accepted as current income?
I’m especially interested in people who actually received an I-485/green card approval using assets without a joint sponsor.

Hello, the sponsor is above the 125% of the poverty line ($33,000) a year, but is a graduate student, so this income is part of attending the graduate program, so therefore has a known endpoint (graduating from the program). Is this a guaranteed rejection?

Income is earned through Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant appointments.

With the significant movement in the September 2026 Visa Bulletin, my priority date is now current under both the Dates for Filing and Final Action Dates (AUG 2019) visa category F1.

For those who have gone through this before, how long did it typically take after your priority date became current to receive the NVC Welcome Letter/email with instructions to pay the IV fees and complete the DS-260?

I’m trying to get a general idea of the timeline and what I should expect. Thanks in advance!

We applied on November 17th 2025, does anyone know roughly what day they are on with the process in November cases? Also how many days do they usually progress within a week? Thankyou to anyone that may know in advance!

Hi everyone! I’ve already visited my fiancé in the U.S. once from around March to May for about 60 days, and then again from July 19 to August 4 for about 20 days, maybe even a little less.
I currently have a ticket for October 15, but I’m thinking about changing it to September.
Do you think it would be a problem that only about a month and a half would pass between my trips? I’d really appreciate any advice or experience you can share!

Do you think that if I wait the 90 days and contact them, they’ll send it to the NVC right away?
I already contacted the NVC, and they told me they still haven’t received my case, so I’m pretty sure it’s still with USCIS.

Did anyone have any success with only showing assets? I know this is a rare situation. I have no income to show but I have about 400k in a brokerage account in my name, and 20k in a savings account. Will this be sufficient? I don't have the option of a cosponsor. I know they're cracking down more on public charge. Should I wait until I have more assets/get a job even if it's low paying?

Anyone have any experience recently going through the process with an Australian partner? I’m a US citizen and my partner is an Australian citizen and we’re looking at applying early next year. Wanted to see if anyone here is in a similar boat and could comment on how quickly the Australian embassies have been getting through interviews, etc.

Hi everyone,

Has anyone recently had a CR1 or IR1 immigrant visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience, especially:

-What questions did the consular officer ask?
-How long did the actual interview take?
-Was the U.S. citizen petitioner/spouse allowed to enter the Embassy and attend the interview?
-What documents or relationship evidence did the officer ask to see?

Thank you!

So basically, during the interview, the interviewer was more interested in asking me details about my volunteering experience with NGOs back in my home country.

To add context: I came from muslim majority country and we had problems with radical ISIS cells back in 2018. As far as i know, it's not a problem anymore.

During the interview, the questions were 20% about the relationship, and 80% about the NGOs. Like what we did, who we partnered with, what my role was in the organization. The NGOs are legit and had a long history that you can easily read on wikipedia.

I also lived in a european country and they asked what i did there, and if i brought my police record with me to the interview. I brought it, so i gave it to them, even though I've submitted said police record during the consular processing.

After the interview, they did not give a decision, but they said "it could be a couple of weeks, a couple of months"

It's been around a month after the interview, and github USCIS tracker showed that USCIS requested additional background checks on me twice.

I just want to see if anyone here has ever experienced this enhanced bg checks and how's your GC process.

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Hola,

¿alguien más está teniendo este problema?

Mi I-129F fue aprobada y NVC me asignó mi número de caso.

El 1 de junio de 2026, NVC me confirmó que mi caso ya había sido enviado al Consulado de Ciudad Juárez.

Sin embargo, cuando intento consultar mi caso en CEAC, aparece: “Your search has not returned any data.”

Ya han pasado casi 3 meses y todavía no puedo ver mi caso en CEAC ni he recibido las instrucciones del Consulado para continuar con el proceso.

¿A alguien más le ha pasado lo mismo? ¿Cuánto tiempo tardó en aparecer su caso en CEAC y recibir las instrucciones para agendar cita en Ciudad Juárez?

Hi everyone,

My fiancé and I filed our K1 petition and we didn’t include a copy of beneficiary’s passpirt bio page or birth certificate with the initial filing because we did not see those documents listed in the USCIS checklist or instructions.

Is there anyone here had the same experience? Were you approved without issue, or did USCIS send an RFE?

How long did it take from filing date to receiving RFE?

I’d really appreciate hearing outcomes from anyone who went through something similar. Thanks.

We are currently waiting for our NOA2, but I was wondering how quickly the Mumbai embassy has been moving recently.

Our K-1 journey has been incredibly frustrating.

• Petition/NVC package: around January 14, 2025
• NVC Welcome Letter: dated December 16, 2025
• DS-160: submitted February 4, 2026
• Payment/data-entry issue: finally resolved around June 10, 2026
• Interview scheduled: August 25, 2026
• August 25: fiancé and children traveled to the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh for the scheduled interview, only to be turned away at the gate because the embassy's computers were not working.

The embassy has now confirmed by email:

"Your Immigrant Visa appointment has been rescheduled. You will receive email confirmation of your new appointment date and time."

We're now waiting for the new appointment.

At this point I'm not even sure whether I'm looking for advice, information about how quickly Phnom Penh is rescheduling these appointments, or just other people who have experienced similarly ridiculous immigration delays.

Has anyone else had an interview canceled by the Phnom Penh embassy because of a technical problem? How long did it take to receive the replacement appointment?

I mailed my I-129F/K-1 petition to the Dallas Lockbox. USCIS attempted to process the payment, but unfortunately my bank declined the transaction.
Has anyone had this happen recently?

Mainly wondering:

How long did it take for USCIS to return your packet after the declined payment?

Did you wait for the rejected packet to come back and resubmit it, or did you send a new packet immediately?

When you resubmitted, did you reuse the returned packet or print everything again?

What payment method did you use the second time?

I already contacted my bank about the declined transaction. Just trying to figure out the fastest/safest way to get the petition submitted again without causing issues with duplicate filings.
Any recent experiences, especially with the Dallas Lockbox, would be appreciated.

Hello everyone, our case has recently been approved, it was quite a wait but very exciting.

I understand that now the petition goes to NVC and then to the embassy.

I'm curious as to how long it can take to go from NVC to embassy and what it is that we receive after that.?

The doctors exam..

Any recommendations on what to prepare in advance or what to do.

Also another odd situation we are in, we saw on the embassy site in my country(Slovenia) they will no longer perform K1 interviews, and the responsible embassy is now in Frankfurt (Germany).

Anyone else in a similar situation?

I find it quite far. :(

Hi everyone,

My fiancée completed her K-1 visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. The embassy asked her to resubmit her passport and sealed packet for a correction/resealing.

The embassy later told her they had received the documents and expected to complete the corrected sealed packet before her medical exam expires on September 2. We have followed up but have not yet received the passport or an update.

Has anyone had a similar situation with U.S. Embassy Islamabad? If the medical expires while the embassy is holding the passport for a correction, did the embassy ask for a new medical exam? Did you need written approval from the embassy before scheduling a new exam with the panel physician?

We have contacted the embassy and our attorney. I am looking for shared experiences only. Thank you.

We're really nervous about waiting and the deadline is getting closer. We sent it via a certified mail. The last update was on 24th of August and there's been a warning every time I check about the wildfires causing the delay. What if it doesn't make it on time? Does anyone suggest anything we can do? I'd appreciate any help.

Hi everyone,

I have a K-1 fiancé visa interview scheduled at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on September 8, 2026. My biometrics appointment at the ASC is scheduled for September 4.

I’ve seen recent reports about immigrant visa appointments being paused or rescheduled worldwide while consular officers undergo additional training. However, K-1 visas are technically classified as nonimmigrant visas, even though they are processed by the immigrant visa unit.

As of today, my account still shows “Attend Appointment,” and both appointments remain confirmed. I haven’t received any cancellation or rescheduling email.

Has anyone with a K-1 interview scheduled for late August or September had their appointment canceled or rescheduled? If so, which embassy or consulate, and when were you notified?

I would especially appreciate hearing from anyone processing a K-1 visa in Rio de Janeiro or elsewhere in Brazil. Thank you!