hello everyone ,
i have been a member for a while but have just been studying the site for months, now it seems it's my turn to ask anyone for advice and or info about our situation.
my partner is a us citizen living in the us . i am a uk citizen living in the uk. we are planning on getting married in england but living in america after we are married. from all of my studying of various sites from government to message boards i think this is the route we are going to take ...

my partner will come over to the uk on a uk visit for marriage visa , he will reside with me for at least 8 days before we go to the registry office and give notice of our intent to marry , that has to be on display to the public for 15 days before we can actually wed. we get married then he will go back to america without me and start the k3 visa process . hopefully that will work out and i will be able to join my then husband . if it doesn't work out then we will try the other way around and my husband will move to the uk.
i am not sure if that makes sense , it is late and i'm tired , but we are determined to marry in the uk and eventually live together in the us . we are prepared to be apart for a long time , but we have had a long distance relationship for a few years now where we haven't seen or touched each other for months at a time(thank god talk talk has free broadband and free international calls). i realize a k3 visa can take 12 months or more to come through , (sometimes sooner but always prepared for the worst).
has anybody been through this process in this way? how long did it take the uk visit for marriage visa to come through ? how long was the k3 process? overall timeline?
thanks in advance x x

Your plan sounds correct. Check out the timelines for the UK to get an idea of how long the process takes. Just one other comment - in the US the term "partner" most often refers to one half of a homosexual couple - thought you might want to know that.

I went through the UK fiance visa process a few years ago. It was fairly painless compared to the US K-1 process, and it only took two months. I didn't have to go through an interview, just filled out the online forms ( http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/Welcome.htm ), mailed in supporting information and my passport, and they mailed me back the visa. You can also set up an appointment to apply in person for your visa at the Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles British embassies, and they can issue the visa the same day, though there might be unexpected delays. You might want to check out the forums at http://www.americanexpats.co.uk/index.htm and also http://www.britain-info.org/index.asp the British Embassy's US site.

You can click the "Immigration Timelines" link above to see how long the K-3 process has taken at various times and for varying countries. In our case, the process from filing to interview has taken roughly seven months. YMMV.

I am USC and my husband is a UK citizen. I got a visa to go to the UK for marriage in March 2006. The application process took less than a month start to finish (so much easier than US). I entered the UK at the end of May 2006 and we got married on August 4, 2006. I was able to stay in the UK until mid-December (on leave from work). We filed the I-130 on Sept. 1, 2006 and followed with the I-129F as soon as we got our NOA1. My husband's K-3 visa was approved on April 18, 2007 and he is arriving on the US on April 24. We are just under 8 months from the time we filed our 1st form with USCIS. There are a lot of variables but our timeline would be an example of the same visa (K-3) and the same embassy (London).

Yeah, that one threw me when I moved to the UK but here it's more like a commonlaw wife/husband. Marriage here is getting more and more rare.

UK fiance visas are ridiculously easy to get. I fedexed my application to LA on a Thursday, the visa was issued Friday, and my passport (with visa inside) was fedexed back to me on Monday. Easy as hell. That was in 2001 though...before 9/11.

If you're prepared to sit out a wait for a US visa, why get the K-3? A K-3 is a non-immigrant visa, meaning that technically you can't work on it (though you can get employment authorization) and you have to go through the AOS gauntlet once in the United States. I'd look into the CR1/IR1 if I were you, since once it's issued you will get a 2-year conditional green card which authorizes you to work immediately upon entering, and all you have to do is remove conditions in 2 years. I'm pretty sure you'd get the conditional one since you guys won't have been married for long. My husband and I had been married for 5 years when he got his green card so it is not conditional.

The CR1 is a 'better' visa than the K-3. It may take a little longer to process (sometimes it takes less time) but when you think of all the headaches you'll be spared in the USA, I think it's well worth it. No matter what, you guys will have to go through a US service center anyway...no DCFs for you...so why not just go for the better visa? The CR1 is what you'll get when you adjust your status on a K-3 anyway, so why go through all that bother (and expense)?

What are your reasons for marrying the UK? It would be cheaper and faster to marry in the US. The marriage visit visa now costs $1,000. You can enter the US under the Visa Wavier Programme, apply for a marriage license (normal fee and waiting time, ours was $35 and three days), marry him and return to the UK on your own. It's perfectly legal. My husband did it this way. Just bring proof of your ties to the UK, such as letter from an employer/uni and a lease/mortage agreement.

Also, I agree with homesickamerican. If you're prepared to wait, definitely go the CR1 visa. It has a lot of advantages and costs much less than the K3 route in the long run.

Hah, yep when I moved back from the UK, I referred to D as 'my partner' to all my new workmates who then thought I was a lesbian, lol

Oh, and yeah, if you're braced for the wait, then CR-1 would be the way to go. Easy peasy once you get here

They even sell cards now that say stuff like "To my partner: happy birthday" and crap like that. When they brought in civil partnerships for gays, the unmarried straights started stomping their feet and whining that they wanted civil partnerships too. They already have those for straights. They're called 'marriages'.

LolI wasn't in the UK for the gay civil union change. In fact, I'm gone from there now 2 years....

Well, I can say that while I was there...being in my late 20s and being that we've been together for so long, I liked 'partner' cos it sounds more adult than 'boyfriend' lol I thought 'partner' sounded perfectly reasonable. I mean what do they call Kurt Russell? Goldie's 'boyfriend'?

I know! Unbelievable. If you are are in a heterosexual relationship, and you want to sign a piece of paper to take advantage of rights given to those of us who got married, you can get married too! I liked it so much, I did it twice! Seriously, these are the people who whinge about how marriage would "tie them down" or threaten their independence, but want all the attendant benefits without taking on the serious responsibilities of forming a state sanctioned life bond. Frankly if you are not willing to sign up for the whole shebang -- through marriage for us straights, or the imitation in the form of a civil partnership for gays -- you should not get the advantages of forming a partnership endorsed by the state. Rights AND responsibilities -- like peanut butter and chocolate, two great tastes that taste great together!

(That last bit makes me want a peanut butter cup now... )

Well, I'll tell you what happened when they brought in civil partnerships for gays: nothing. Nothing exploded, nobody died, Satan did not return to Earth to rule, and the divorce rate didn't spike. I wish they'd do that in all fifty states in the US, mainly because I cannot see a reason not to!



I never had any objection to the word 'partner'; it's an appropriate word to describe the relationship. But to a lot of Americans, 'partner' means 'gay partner'.



I completely agree with everything you wrote, up to and including the bit about peanut butter cups.

lol, i never knew "partner" referred to same sex couples . my partner ...i mean fiance , is 100% hetero so i should refer to him as fiance from now on .

in response to margotdarko, we are having our wedding in the uk because i have a very large family , this is my first time getting married and it is a big occasion where all the family will get together in one place (that doesn't happen very often ) i have family coming from england ,ireland, scotland and wales , and also spain. it is basically going to be a big send off aswell , as i probably won't see alot of them again before i move to america. it has been a difficult time lately , my dad has just had the all clear from having cancer for the last few years , my gran died a few days after i made her wedding invitation (i was her only grandaughter) and my uncle died a couple of weeks ago, just before i was sending the rest of the invites out. the whole family is looking forward to this as much as me and my fiance. i couldn't expect all my family to pay to go over to america. it is just easier and better doing it the way we are. i couldn't NOT have them involved, it's going to be hard enough saying goodbye as we are all very close.

the reason we decided on the k3 route was originally because we were prepared for the waiting and the paper work, but once i was over there we could go through the rest of the stress together .

thanks so much for everyones advice it is greatly appreciated , and i'll be letting my fiance know i was referring to him as gay (although he does have a very feminate side to him hehe)

Aw, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have asked if I had known how far along in the wedding planning you were.I was just concerned that you may not have known all your options.

To be fair, I think it will be more stressful for both of you if you go the K-3 route. There is page after page after page of the heartache and stress K-visa holders go through to adjust their status, and it's more expensive. Think of it this way...you guys will be going through a painful and stressful process regardless, so may as well take the path that makes your life a hell of a lot easier once you get to the USA.

I strongly recommend that you reconsider the CR1 route.