Leaving the US on a K1 Visa

[Almaviva 1]

Hi everyone,

I'm from Chile and I've lived with my fiancée down here for a few years. We are getting married in the States in July, but we're not even gonna stay there, we're coming back here after the wedding. We were told that getting the visa would be the correct thing to do anyway, and since we are planning on living in the states in the future, we wanna have everything in order.

My problem is that I got my K1 visa approved last week (I'm supposed to go pick it up tomorrow at the embassy), but we're getting married in July and we have a trip to the US now in May to work on wedding stuff.

I had a tourist visa valid until the end of 2020, but I didn't know that the K1 visa would cancel my tourist visa, so now I would have to go under the VWP (Visa waiver program).

My question is, can I enter the US (I've been in the states 8 times before so this wouldn't be my first time there) using the VWP while I hold a K1 visa? I don't know if I'm supposed to use the K1 visa as soon as I enter the us, or I can go on the VWP and use the visa before the expiration date.

We have had the tickets for this trip on May since December 2015 and they are non refundable, so I don't wanna lose them. Plus, we have to do wedding stuff since planning a wedding from abroad can be very difficult.

Thank you everyone for your help and sharing your experiences

Edited March 22, 2016 by Almaviva

[Anh map 2,098]

Getting the K1 was not needed and may complicate your travel plans. The K1 shows immigrant intent so it's going to be up to the CPB officer as to what they allow. Give the ESTA a try. Best of luck.

[Unidentified 2,930]

It will be a bit of a gamble and will depend on the CBP Officer. He will either accept that you're only coming in on the VWP to do wedding stuff. OR he will "activate" your K1 (meaning the clock will start ticking on your 90 days to get married). Use the search function to see others who have been in the same situation.

[Shauneg 762]

I'm just wondering why you wouldn't have came on got married on your previous visa? It would have perfectly legal. What was the thought process for filing for a K1?

[Almaviva 1]

We thought it was the correct thing to do because even when you could get married on a tourist visa, when asked for the purpose of my trip at the airport, saying that it would be getting married but leaving the country would have made the CBP officer very suspicious about everything.

They say it's not necessary, but everyone who was been through an airport process in the US knows that the CBP officer is supposed to expect the worst from you and they are not the nicest people around. We thought that if we wanted to do it and not get in trouble (or just lie to the officer at the airport), we would need the Fiancé visa for it.

[Shauneg 762]

We thought it was the correct thing to do because even when you could get married on a tourist visa, when asked for the purpose of my trip at the airport, saying that it would be getting married but leaving the country would have made the CBP officer very suspicious about everything.

They say it's not necessary, but everyone who was been through an airport process in the US knows that the CBP officer is supposed to expect the worst from you and they are not the nicest people around. We thought that if we wanted to do it and not get in trouble (or just lie to the officer at the airport), we would need the Fiancé visa for it.

Fair enough. I think it may have been alright as you have strong ties going back because you have a life there, both of you and haven't been in the states for years....but you never know, you're right on that part. Another option would have been to drag out the K1 process until after the May trip, but's too late for that. Typically the embassy invalidates visas you have in the passport and the K1 is activated upon admission into the U.S.....there is no hard set rule though. Do you already have esta or are you going to have to apply since you had a visitor visa?

[Almaviva 1]

I'm gonna have to apply for it, I don't even have the new passport that allows us to go under the VWP. I had the old passport with the B1-B2 visa valid until Oct 2020.

I think my best shot is asking tomorrow at the embassy when they give me my visa, what's their opinion about holding my visa until July and going under the VWP to the us this time in May. Even though, I'm aware it all depends on the CBP officer anyway

I just wanted to hear some opinions and experiences of people who have done it, to see how it would go for me.

[Shauneg 762]

I'm gonna have to apply for it, I don't even have the new passport that allows us to go under the VWP. I had the old passport with the B1-B2 visa valid until Oct 2020.

I think my best shot is asking tomorrow at the embassy when they give me my visa, what's their opinion about holding my visa until July and going under the VWP to the us this time in May. Even though, I'm aware it all depends on the CBP officer anyway

I just wanted to hear some opinions and experiences of people who have done it, to see how it would go for me.

If they're going to cancel your visa it's going to be canceled before you pick up your passport. At this point it's a little too late for that it seems. I guess you could inquire about ESTA when you go. I wish you luck and hate the difficulty faced when people try to do things right.

[Almaviva 1]

Thank you!

I hope everything goes well with this. As you said it, it's such a hassle when you try to do things right, but well there's no other option I suppose.

[Almaviva 1]

Hi everyone,

My Fiancée is american but she has been living with me in Chile for the past 2 years, and we would like to stay here at least for another few years. We are getting married in the states because her family is way bigger than mine, and we thought it would be easier that way. Silly us.

I got my K1 visa last week and our weeding will be held on July. Unfortunately for us, we had another trip planned now in may - to work on wedding stuff, since planning from abroad can be so hard. I asked at the embassy if I could hold on my visa until July and go under the VWP now in may, but they said that is not possible.

We are only going for 10 days now in may, and now we are gonna have to get married during this trip to give the visa any use. Our ceremony will still be in July, just that the legal stuff will be done now (May).

My question is: will I have any problems coming back in July since I'm gonna be leaving the US a few days after getting legally married? It seems like the normal stuff would be to stay and apply for naturalization, but we don't intend on staying for now so we have to come back to our jobs here. The consul at the embassy suggested to apply for residency anyway since we go back a couple of times a year to visit her family and I could somehow still get it. He advised me to talk to USCIS about.

If anyone went through something similar or has any idea of what would happen could give me a hand, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

PD: I forgot to mention I had a valid B1-B2 visa until Aug 2020 that was cancelled without prejudice when I got this one. I have entered the us 8-10 times (I forgot) in the past 5 years of our relationship without never overstaying or having any other issues.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Almaviva

[Tricked 33]

You won't be able to leave and come back. You need to stay once married until your AOS has been processed.

K1 is good for 1 admission only, leaving invalidates AOS requests.

Sorry.

[Almaviva 1]

Thanks for your response. As I said, we have to leave after 10 days to come back to our work down here, so staying is not an option (plus we have our house, car, pets and everything that will stay down here).

Maybe I expressed myself wrong, but at this point it seems like my option is to leave and just give up on the process that comes after the entry on a K1 visa and come back to the states in July under the VWP. Would that be fine?

[Tricked 33]

You would be getting into a very dubious legal position doing that.

You'd then have to file AOS as a convert from a travel visa, which given that you have already married, etc, will be viewed as visa fraud by USCIS.

I'd recommend you speak to an immigration lawyer if that is the route you wish to pursue.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1k3aos the I-131 is what he needs, called advanced parole, to leave the US while still being processed for AOS.

I'll try and be concise.

Entry on K1 is one way, you enter, you have 90 days to marry, you then are 'stuck' for up to 90 days while EAD and AP are processed, pre AOS. At which point he can't leave without impact to AOS.

If he leaves pre AP he will forfeit his application.

If he then enter under VWP or Travel visa, and stays beyond the agreed time he is permitted to stay (for example 3 months) he faces deportation, or if filing for AOS, prosecution for visa fraud and rejection.

I say this not to scare you, to make you consider speaking to an immigration specialist.

Also to be clear, are you saying you don't intend to take up permanent residence in the USA?

In which case, if you are living abroad, then you can travel all you like under VWP.

The above is only an issue if you would be looking to get a green card or citizenship.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Tricked

[phd1974 17]

Yes, if you come to the US, the K-1 visa is good for only 1 entry and you have to get married within in 90 days of entry into the US. Once you enter, you have to get married and can not leave. If you leave before you get married, the entire process would be voided and you would have to start the process all over again IF you decided to do a K1 visa again.

If you come on the K1 and decide to stay until wedding, you would still have to apply for AOS and an AP card to allow you to travel while your AOS is being processed, which would take an additional 2-3 months to get after your AOS papers are submitted. But still then, you would need to report for a biometrics appointment in the US, then you may or may not need to attend another interview at the local offices in the US before you are granted AOS. Then once all that is established, you would want to leave the US for an extended period of time (more than 1 year), which would require submitting paperwork for another AP.

To be honest, if the plan was to stay in your country and only come to America to get married, the K-1 visa probably was not your best option. It would have been best to get married in your country first ... and then apply with an I-130 about a year before you are ready to come to America. If you still wanted to have some type of ceremony, you could have a second marriage ceremony in the US once you get here.

With the K1, I do not see an option that would accommodate for what you want to do, especially, to come here to marry and then leave the US to live in another country for more than a year.

[Almaviva 1]

I'll try to be really brief about the situation:

- My fiancée and I live in Chile. She is american, I am chilean. We've lived together here for a few years.

- We are getting married in July , but we don't intend to stay in the US after the wedding. We are not planning to live in the States after we get married. At least not for some years. Our trip to the US in july will be for a total of 2 weeks and then we go to our honeymoon abroad, outside the us.

- We are traveling in May for 10 days. The original plan was this trip to be just for wedding stuff, but since I got my visa before we thought I would, we are gonna have to get married in May. Just legally, the ceremony will still be held in July.

- I don't care about naturalization or green card or anything, since we don't intended to live in the us at least in the near future. My concern is if I will have any problems coming back in July for our ceremony under the VWP since it would seem very odd that we left after a few days of getting married.

- The only reason why we got the K1 visa was because CBP officers are jerks (sorry for the vocabulary) and if they asked for the purpose of my trip to the states I didn't wanna have to say "we are getting married under a tourist visa and leaving in 2 weeks" and not be believed and be sent back home before my own wedding.

Hopefully I made sense...

Edited March 28, 2016 by Almaviva