Hello VJ families, I came into the US on a K1 visa and I have applied to adjust my status since after my marriage. My wife and I got married civilly but now we are planning to have a big church wedding and also traditional marriage according to our native customs. I would like to invite my closest sibling to attend the ceremony but my questions are;

1.Does the US embassy recognize native/traditional marriage ceremony?
2.Would the US embassy regard the church and traditional marriage ceremonial, null and void considering our civil wedding as a legal union?
3.What are the chances of my sister getting a non-immigrant visa?

I will deeply appreciate any comments, contributions and/or advice. Thank you

You can only get married officially once without getting divorced. If you have these other servies they are not considered real . The key is the procedure at which your marriage lic. is signed. Many married people will "remarry" at anniversy dates. All the costs none of the paperwork. You can do as you want in that respect as long as your official / first marriage happened here.

As for getting your sister here that is difficult from Nigeria. She has to be able to prove that she doesn't intend on staying. That she has a home and family and a job that she has to return to. Most of us suffer months or years apart while waiting to be reunited because it is so hard to get a non immigrant visa from Africa.

This first section applies to bringing a sibling to live here. If he tries to get a visitor visa it is very difficutly from Nigeria. Almost impossible unless he has a good job, family, money in the bank......basically anything to show he will need to return.

How Do I Bring a Sibling to Live in the United States?

This information is for U.S. citizens who wish to bring a sibling to live permanently in the United States. Only U.S. citizens can bring their siblings to live permanently in the U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents can not.

Definition of a Sibling
A sibling is a brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or adopted brother or sister. For the necessary sibling relationship to exist, each person must have been a child of at least one of the same parents. The siblings need not share the same biological parents as long as both became “children” at the appropriate time (before the age of 16 in cases of adoption, and before the age of 18 for stepchildren).

Overview of the Immigration Process
A legal immigrant (or “lawful permanent resident”) is a foreign national who has been granted the privilege of living and working permanently in the United States. There is a three-step process for your brother or sister to become a legal immigrant:

1. The USCIS must approve an immigrant visa petition that you file for your brother or sister.

2. The State Department visa bulletin must show that a sibling immigrant visa is available to your sibling, based on the date that you filed the immigrant visa application.

3. If your brother or sister is outside the United States when an immigrant visa number becomes available, your brother or sister will be notified to go to the local U.S. consulate to complete the processing for an immigrant visa. If your sibling is legally inside the U.S. when an immigrant visa number becomes available, he or she may apply to adjust status to that of a lawful permanent resident using the Form I-485.

Depending on the relationship and the country involved, the wait for an available sibling visa number may be several years. You may refer to the Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for current priority dates.

This is an immmigrant visa. The OP is talking about a nonimmigrant visa. The OP is NOT a USC.

She's not coming here to the US with an immigrant visa as I'm not yet a US citizen. My wife and I want to invite her over on a non- immigrant visa for our wedding ceremony since we didn't had such ceremony when we got married civilly.

I'm just trying to imagine the possibilities of having her here for such occassion though she's not going to stay in the US. The whole senerio is that, my father is a US citizen and he'd petitioned for all my siblings but they won't get a visa until a visa number is available to them because of their age and that will definately be after the traditional marriage ceremony. My thoughts are :

1. Would the invitation for non- immigrant visa affect her status for the immigrant visa petitioned by my father.
2. Would the embassy falsly think this is a deliberate strategy for her to migrate here especially now that two of my younger siblings(below 21years) just got immigrant visa last week through my father's petition.

I'm really confused. I want her to attend my traditional marriage and at the same time I don't want to affect her chances of coming here when visa number becomes available to her case.

I think the chances of the Visitor Visa is slim, but it is worth a try.

I believe the only answer to the question will come after you try to obtain it. If your sister can show that she has not reason to stay here after arriving, that might give her points to making it possible. Her age, marital status, occupation, stability all play a part in that decision.

You can only know the outcome if you try. Go ahead and see what happens. You have nothing to lose. Make sure she goes with as much convincing evidence as possible that she is going to return.

If she gets denied it is not going to affect her getting an immigrant visa in the future.

That's a good one!!! I will give it a try, I hope it goes well.I will keep you guys posted when I start the process and the outcome. Onces again thank u'all