90 Day Fiance couple Michael Jessen and Juliana Custodio de Sousa from Season 7 believe they are a unique couple compared to most 90 Day Fiance alums.
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Juliana, a 23-year-old model from Goiania, Brazil, met Michael, a 42-year-old self-employed investor from Greenwich, CT, at a dinner party on a yacht in Croatia, and 90 Day Fiance's seventh season will document Juliana coming to the United States on a K-1 visa with the intention of marrying Michael and staying permanently in America.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
While Michael and Juliana's love story would appear to line up with most couples from the franchise, Michael said they're different because they actually met "a few summers ago" and had ample time to get to know each other.
"I think we may be a little bit unique from some of the couples we've seen in that we've been together for about two years. Our visa process was about two years," Michael explained to E! News in a recent interview.
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"And in that time, thankfully, I had a lot of flexibility in life. I'm self-employed, so I'm very independent."
After meeting in Croatia, Michael and Juliana experienced two difficult years of dating, during which they had both been denied tourist visas, according to the New York Post.
"We were asked during Juliana's visa interview in Rio de Janeiro if she had worked as a prostitute within the last 10 years," Michael told the newspaper. "And, of course, the answer was no. She's not a prostitute!"
"Roughly, on average, about a week a month for the last two years I've been able to travel to see Juliana where she was," Michael told E! News.
"She was living in Milan or London, or she would come visit me when I was traveling in Asia for business. So, we've got a very rich and wonderful background."
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RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Michael and Juliana agreed their biggest challenge yet was trying to make a long-distance relationship work for so long.
"It took a long time, much longer than we expected," Michael said of the K-1 visa process.
"We expected it to take six months or nine months, but it took two years," Juliana added.
"So the patience [was hard], and especially by the end, Juliana was losing some hope," Michael revealed.
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"I was losing hope," she admitted. "I had no patience at all."
Michael told E! News of the 90 Day Fiance series, "From what we know and what we've watched of the series, it's interesting how the series offers such a broad variety and different kinds of relationships -- the different ways the couples got together and the different lives they live."
90 Day Fiance's seventh season will show Juliana, a former seamstress who finally obtained her K-1 visa, trying to adjust to a new, normal life in the United States with Michael and his two children, Max and Cece, whom he had welcomed with his ex-wife Sarah.
Michael and Juliana hadn't talked much about how things were going to be or what was going to happen once she arrived in America, so he anticipated daily life might be a struggle and potentially a huge reality check for Juliana.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
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While the time Michael and Juliana had spent together was fun and exciting, Juliana had only seen pieces of Michael's life, but not the full scope of his responsibilities, including being a father.
Michael didn't anticipate Juliana would take on "a mother role," but Sarah feared she'd be a huge disruption in her children's lives. Sarah assumed living in America was going to be a "rude awakening" for Juliana.
Michael and Juliana only had 90 days from her point of entry into the United States to tie the knot, or else she'd have to return to her native country.
Michael said in 90 Day Fiance's premiere the chances of Juliana leaving him after joining him in America would be would be "extremely small," but he noted there was no telling what might happen.
However, spoiler alert -- Michael seemed to confirm in the interview he's still together and happy with Juliana after filming 90 Day Fiance's seventh season for TLC.
"We've made a very big decision to spend the rest of our lives together," Michael said, seemingly suggesting he and Juliana got married.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
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