Tricky situation....

[tyriun_j 0]

Okay here is my situation...

My fiance is coming down in a couple of weeks to visit for a few months just on her passport. My whole family has been hounding me to get married while she is down here. I havent been able to give any of them a valid answer cause I thought we couldnt do that but they say that we could do it easily so Im wanting to get the facts straight! Is it possible while shes down here to get married when shes only down here on her passport? If so how would we go about it? We would still go through the right channels to have her down here legally ( K-3 VISA ) but we are curious if we could get married while shes on her vacation here. If anyone knows if this is possible or how to go about it please let me know. Thanks. I appreciate it

Jared

[Tygrys 143]

Okay here is my situation...

My fiance is coming down in a couple of weeks to visit for a few months just on her passport. My whole family has been hounding me to get married while she is down here. I havent been able to give any of them a valid answer cause I thought we couldnt do that but they say that we could do it easily so Im wanting to get the facts straight! Is it possible while shes down here to get married when shes only down here on her passport? If so how would we go about it? We would still go through the right channels to have her down here legally ( K-3 VISA ) but we are curious if we could get married while shes on her vacation here. If anyone knows if this is possible or how to go about it please let me know. Thanks. I appreciate it

Jared

Of course you can marry, but she will need to return home before her visa waiver expires.

[stet5811 0]

There is no law that says she can't come here and marry you. Were you will run afoul of the law is if she comes here on a tourist visa then tries to adjust her status to stay. That is visa fraud and big trouble for you and her. You two can marry here she just has to go home when her time is up then file the appropriate paperwork for your K-3 etc.

[imaisha 1]

you certainly can get married while she's just here visiting. she just has to go back to canada while the visa is processing. visits will still be ok while you're waiting. the laws for this are made by the states so what you'll need (marriage licenses, etc.) will depend on where you live.

what's sometimes not ok is when someone gets married while here as a visitor and then overstays and applies to adjust status. if she comes with that intention then it's visa fraud. if she comes not with that intention (though it seems like you're already considering it so this is moot) then she can stay and adjust status as long as you can convince immigration that it was completely unintentional and just happened.

[stet5811 0]

There is no law that says she can't come here and marry you. Were you will run afoul of the law is if she comes here on a tourist visa then tries to adjust her status to stay. That is visa fraud and big trouble for you and her. You two can marry here she just has to go home when her time is up then file the appropriate paperwork for your K-3 etc.

Forgot to mention. Marriage is one of those legal areas that is divided between the powers of the states and the feds. Marriage laws are the jurisdiction of the individual states. The feds have no control over that, but they do have control over immigration.

[YuAndDan 153]

You can marry, HOWEVER, you cannot change a K-1 petition to a K-3, you will need to withdraw the K-1 petition, and file a new petition starting with an I-130 for a spousal (CR-1) visa.

Note K-3 is an OPTIONAL visa type, which was designed to allow spouse to enter the USA and WAIT for I-130 approval. Since USCIS has been tying I-129F and I-130 together and approving both on the same date, this defets the whole reason for K-3.

Since USCIS approves both petitions for K-3 on same date, and since NVC has streamlined I-130 processing, CR-1 visa has been taking just about the same to get processed and interviewed for.

SAVE your self $$$ and consider CR-1.

One other note, CR-1 does NOT adjust status, gets green card on entry to the USA so can work and apply for SSN. K-3 needs to adjust status to get green-card and CANNOT take a job until they have EAD or Green-Card.

[Dakine 26]

Okay here is my situation...

My fiance is coming down in a couple of weeks to visit for a few months just on her passport. My whole family has been hounding me to get married while she is down here. I havent been able to give any of them a valid answer cause I thought we couldnt do that but they say that we could do it easily so Im wanting to get the facts straight! Is it possible while shes down here to get married when shes only down here on her passport? If so how would we go about it? We would still go through the right channels to have her down here legally ( K-3 VISA ) but we are curious if we could get married while shes on her vacation here. If anyone knows if this is possible or how to go about it please let me know. Thanks. I appreciate it

Jared

Tricky thing.

If you guys haven't and don't plan om marrying and her staying when she comes but "suddenly" decide to marry after she is here 2 months or so then you can marry and adjust status!!

If you planned such you can marry but she will have to return to Canada and do a normal spouse visa. CR-1 visas are MUCH better than K3s.

Edited May 21, 2009 by Haole

[tyriun_j 0]

There is no law that says she can't come here and marry you. Were you will run afoul of the law is if she comes here on a tourist visa then tries to adjust her status to stay. That is visa fraud and big trouble for you and her. You two can marry here she just has to go home when her time is up then file the appropriate paperwork for your K-3 etc.

Okay that sounds good

Forgot to mention. Marriage is one of those legal areas that is divided between the powers of the states and the feds. Marriage laws are the jurisdiction of the individual states. The feds have no control over that, but they do have control over immigration.

Do you happen to know where I can find the documentation to go about this? I imagine its somewhere for my state I assume..

Thanks

[tyriun_j 0]

Okay here is my situation...

My fiance is coming down in a couple of weeks to visit for a few months just on her passport. My whole family has been hounding me to get married while she is down here. I havent been able to give any of them a valid answer cause I thought we couldnt do that but they say that we could do it easily so Im wanting to get the facts straight! Is it possible while shes down here to get married when shes only down here on her passport? If so how would we go about it? We would still go through the right channels to have her down here legally ( K-3 VISA ) but we are curious if we could get married while shes on her vacation here. If anyone knows if this is possible or how to go about it please let me know. Thanks. I appreciate it

Jared

Of course you can marry, but she will need to return home before her visa waiver expires.

Canadians don't need a visitor visa when they visit She can just come down on her passport and stay for maximum of up to 6 months ( prefer to leave at 5 to 5 1/2 just to be safe ) We planned on her returning home at the end of October or beginning of November.

[YuAndDan 153]

There is no law that says she can't come here and marry you. Were you will run afoul of the law is if she comes here on a tourist visa then tries to adjust her status to stay. That is visa fraud and big trouble for you and her. You two can marry here she just has to go home when her time is up then file the appropriate paperwork for your K-3 etc.

Okay that sounds good

Forgot to mention. Marriage is one of those legal areas that is divided between the powers of the states and the feds. Marriage laws are the jurisdiction of the individual states. The feds have no control over that, but they do have control over immigration.

Do you happen to know where I can find the documentation to go about this? I imagine its somewhere for my state I assume..

Thanks

Check with local county or town clerks office for what is needed to apply for a marriage license.

Again forget the K-3, you will be greatly annoyed by the adjustment of status that the CR-1 does not need to do.

K-3:

I-130: $355

I-129F: NONE

Consulate: $131

Adjustment Of Status: $1010 I-485

($1496)

CR-1

I-130: $355

NVC I-864: $70

NVC Visa fee: $400 ($355+$45)

($825)

I see many posts from K-3 holders stating, "Wow this sucks, I am stuck at home because I don't have EAD, DL, etc, or I am having hard time getting added to bank accounts because of NO SSN." K-3 has a 90 day or longer period of limbo while waiting for EAD or Green-card.

K-3 was developed at a time when CR-1 was taking much longer that today, NVC and USCIS has greatly streamlined the CR-1 process to the point where K-3 becomes irrelevant.

[stet5811 0]

There is no law that says she can't come here and marry you. Were you will run afoul of the law is if she comes here on a tourist visa then tries to adjust her status to stay. That is visa fraud and big trouble for you and her. You two can marry here she just has to go home when her time is up then file the appropriate paperwork for your K-3 etc.

Okay that sounds good

Forgot to mention. Marriage is one of those legal areas that is divided between the powers of the states and the feds. Marriage laws are the jurisdiction of the individual states. The feds have no control over that, but they do have control over immigration.

Do you happen to know where I can find the documentation to go about this? I imagine its somewhere for my state I assume..

Thanks

What documentation are you looking for? If it is documentation stating the separation of powers between the states and the federal gov. then that is laid out in the constitution. If your looking for your states laws concerning marriage and the appropriate paperwork to fill out for a marriage license then google you local county courthouse they will have all of that info there.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Okay here is my situation...

My fiance is coming down in a couple of weeks to visit for a few months just on her passport. My whole family has been hounding me to get married while she is down here. I havent been able to give any of them a valid answer cause I thought we couldnt do that but they say that we could do it easily so Im wanting to get the facts straight! Is it possible while shes down here to get married when shes only down here on her passport? If so how would we go about it? We would still go through the right channels to have her down here legally ( K-3 VISA ) but we are curious if we could get married while shes on her vacation here. If anyone knows if this is possible or how to go about it please let me know. Thanks. I appreciate it

Jared

You can get married any time any where. Then you can apply for a spousal visa, CR-1 is probably best route. It takes a bit longer but she can work immediately as it is an immigrant visa. Look at all the options and make your choice. The K-1 would be oiut of the question if you are married.

[JayJay 4]

You know what my advice would be, as someone who actually did come across with the intent of visiting and then got proposed to (back in '05) and married without any pre-thoughts?

I'd just let her come down for that visit, don't think about this any more now and talk to her about it when she gets here. I wouldn't even mention anything beforehand. Just wait and think about it while she's here...much less of a gray legal area in my opinion.

[MapleLeafBaby 1]

You would also want to look at turn around times. Not sure if you guys would be Montreal or Vancouver Embassy, but a K1 fiancé visa is faster to obtain than a K3/CR-1. So you can apply for a k1 and be together in about 8 months, where the k3 is taking about a year.

Benefit of waiting a little longer and marrying first on a CR-1 is her being able to work right away. If the fact that she will not be able to work for the first several months is nor an issue...I would go for the fiancé visa.

Based on Canadian Embassy timelines, people think getting 'hitched' will speed up the process, where it actually takes longer.

Just my opinion

Good luck!