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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Peru
Timeline
Posted

So, my fiancee and I filed for the i-129f. According to the timelines, it should be adjudicated around early September. Thats fine and good. We understand that we must be married within 90 days of her arrival here.

However, she is very close to her family and it just tears her apart to get married here without them. Like most South Americans, they are Catholic. They typically have one "religious" ceremony, getting married in the eyes of God. Additionally, they'll have the civil ceremony, being married in the eyes of the law.

Our question is can I go down there and get married to her in the Catholic church, understanding that we cannot be "legally" married when she arrives into the USA. Then, at some point within the 90 days of her arrival, we can do the civil ceremony here in the USA and fulfill the obligation.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Philippines
Timeline
Posted

other people have done as you are thinking... as long as it is NOT legal and you legally consummate the marriage in the USA you should be fine... however, DO NOT mention this to the consulate as you do not want them to even begin to think you are married

YMMV

Posted

In Peru, if a couple only gets married in church, and does not follow through with marrying in a civil ceremony, are they still considered legally married? If the church ceremony is considered a legal marriage, then it would not be an option for you to do before the K-1 visa interview, and before you fiancee is issued the visa. Many in your situation have used he K-1, came to the states married and then planned a larger church ceremony for the family 'back home' at a later date. It is the more sure route, IMO.

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Canada
Timeline
Posted

Agreed if a religious ceremony is considered a legal marriage in the place that it occurs than that would make you legally married and inelligble for a K-1.

K-1

05/05/2009 - NOA1

07/17/2009 - NOA2

08/27/2009 - Visa Received

10/09/2009 - Married

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01/15/2010 - EAD Approved

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Posted

Personally I wouldn't even attempt that - looks too much like a marriage. There was a woman who had an engagement ceremony in Nigeria and showed those photos at interview and was denied for being married - and they even know the custom of engagement ceremonies. Bad idea to even take the chance. Best plan is that of Minya's wife - get married legally here in the US and then go to Peru for the religious ceremony.

VISA JOURNEY

USCIS Journey

02/23/09 ............I-130 sent

03/27/09.............NOA2

TOTAL 32 DAYS

NVC Journey

04/15/09.............Case # Assigned

07/10/09.............Interview assigned

TOTAL 105 DAYS

Embassy Journey

07/14/09.............Forward the case to Embassy in Dakar, Senegal

09/28/09.............Visa in Hand

TOTAL 80 DAYS

VISA GRAND TOTAL 217 DAYS

US CITIZENSHIP JOURNEY

Conditional Resident Journey

09/29/09.............POE New York PIECE OF CAKE!!!

10/27/09.............2 year Green card received

TOTAL 29 DAYS

Removal of Conditions Journey

07/18/11.............I-751 packet sent

03/23/12............10yr GC Received

TOTAL 249 DAYS

Naturalization Journey

07/03/12.............N-400 packet sent

07/23/12.............Resent N-400 packet (husband FORGOT check!)

08/23/12.............Biometrics done

09/12/12.............Interview letter received

10/16/12.............Interview scheduled

Filed: Lift. Cond. (pnd) Country: Peru
Timeline
Posted

As far as I know, Peru requires a civil ceremony, it is not legal to just have a religious ceremony. However, if you had a religious ceremony you would have to hide it and that might cause more problems than it's worth. Personally, I'd be nervous enough at the interview without having to hide something like that, wouldn't want to get nervous and say something about it on accident. :blink:

*~Meghan~*

Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Australia
Timeline
Posted

I am in the same boat and it really bothers me that after having the civil ceremony in the US we are required to wait till the AP document clears and then fly out to my home country to have a religious ceremony here with my family and friends. I want to follow the correct process and wait but it still bothers me as you still cant plan things properly

I just dont understand this requirement of having to be married in the US. does anyone know why you must be married in the US? I mean what does it matter to them where you actually get married?

Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Ukraine
Timeline
Posted
So, my fiancee and I filed for the i-129f. According to the timelines, it should be adjudicated around early September. Thats fine and good. We understand that we must be married within 90 days of her arrival here.

However, she is very close to her family and it just tears her apart to get married here without them. Like most South Americans, they are Catholic. They typically have one "religious" ceremony, getting married in the eyes of God. Additionally, they'll have the civil ceremony, being married in the eyes of the law.

Our question is can I go down there and get married to her in the Catholic church, understanding that we cannot be "legally" married when she arrives into the USA. Then, at some point within the 90 days of her arrival, we can do the civil ceremony here in the USA and fulfill the obligation.

Thanks in advance everyone.

With a K-1 visa you cannot be legally married before she arrives...period. You could get married there and then file for a CR-1 but that takes longer and obviously speed and convenience trump religious belief.

That said, why would her Catholic family be satisfied with a "fake" Catholic wedding and what Catholic clergyman would participate in such a farce? Better to have her come here, have a civil ceremony and THEN have the Catholic wedding, at least then it is truly a valid marriage. Seems strange that someone with a "strong" belief would participate and be satisfied with something which must be engineered not to be "legal and valid" Just sayin'

In Ukraine, where religious marriage is not recognized by the law, the religious couples all go for the civil marriage first and THEN go to the church, so the church has the "last word" so to speak. Usually both are done the same day. No one is invited to the civil ceremony and it is more or less done "in secret" to give it as little personal/family recognition to it as possible.

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Gary And Alla

Posted

Personally, I highly doubt if a Catholic Church,or priest for that matter, would marry you and then say it wasn't legal. I don't think they would participate in that. It is something however you will have to check out.

Two other options that people have looked at, or done, is having a civil ceremony upon arriving, then a celebration of vows (complete with the whole "wedding theme") at a later date. That could be done in either country. Perhaps her family could get a tourist visa to come to the U.S. to attend either a civil ceremony, or even a church ceremony. If not, perhaps you could travel there after she gets her AP, and thus giving her extra time to prepare a more traditional "wedding" in her home country.

I'm just thinking that a third option, if she feels REALLY strongly about this, is to withdraw your petition, go down there and marry in the traditional fashion, and then reapply for a CR-1 visa.

I hope you can find some way to work this out to please both of you!

carlahmsb4.gif
Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Canada
Timeline
Posted
Personally, I highly doubt if a Catholic Church,or priest for that matter, would marry you and then say it wasn't legal. I don't think they would participate in that. It is something however you will have to check out.

Two other options that people have looked at, or done, is having a civil ceremony upon arriving, then a celebration of vows (complete with the whole "wedding theme") at a later date. That could be done in either country. Perhaps her family could get a tourist visa to come to the U.S. to attend either a civil ceremony, or even a church ceremony. If not, perhaps you could travel there after she gets her AP, and thus giving her extra time to prepare a more traditional "wedding" in her home country.

I'm just thinking that a third option, if she feels REALLY strongly about this, is to withdraw your petition, go down there and marry in the traditional fashion, and then reapply for a CR-1 visa.

I hope you can find some way to work this out to please both of you!

/agrees with Carla. My dad is an Episcopal priest, which is a lot less strict than Catholic, and there is no way he'd perform a wedding that wasn't legal!

02.09.2007- Met online (EverQuest 2)

07.11.2008- Met in person (Orlando)

02.14.2009- Got engaged (Toronto)

K-1

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08.24.2009- NOA 2

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02.25.2010- Applied for SS#

04.29.2010- Beach Wedding!!

AOS

05.27.2010- NOA 1 for I-131, I-485 & I-765

06.18.2010- I-485 transferred to CSC

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ROC

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10.26.2012- Biometrics

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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Kenya
Timeline
Posted
So, my fiancee and I filed for the i-129f. According to the timelines, it should be adjudicated around early September. Thats fine and good. We understand that we must be married within 90 days of her arrival here.

However, she is very close to her family and it just tears her apart to get married here without them. Like most South Americans, they are Catholic. They typically have one "religious" ceremony, getting married in the eyes of God. Additionally, they'll have the civil ceremony, being married in the eyes of the law.

Our question is can I go down there and get married to her in the Catholic church, understanding that we cannot be "legally" married when she arrives into the USA. Then, at some point within the 90 days of her arrival, we can do the civil ceremony here in the USA and fulfill the obligation.

Thanks in advance everyone.

No you can not do that. You must be unmarried to use the K-1.

What you will do is go to the county courthouse and get legally married with the county judge. Then you must AOS her and once she has her AP or GC, then you go down and do the Catholic marriage. All very simple.

If the family will not have it any other way, and you want to appease them, then withdraw the K-1 petition. Then you go down and marry her and she stays and you return. Then you file for a K-3 or CR-1 and wait out that process.

Or, if you can not be away from her after marriage, you go down and marry her. You then stay with her and file DCF petition and wait with her for that approval.

You have three options.

Phil (Lockport, near Chicago) and Alla (Lobnya, near Moscow)

As of Dec 7, 2009, now Zero miles apart (literally)!

Filed: Other Country: China
Timeline
Posted
So, my fiancee and I filed for the i-129f. According to the timelines, it should be adjudicated around early September. Thats fine and good. We understand that we must be married within 90 days of her arrival here.

However, she is very close to her family and it just tears her apart to get married here without them. Like most South Americans, they are Catholic. They typically have one "religious" ceremony, getting married in the eyes of God. Additionally, they'll have the civil ceremony, being married in the eyes of the law.

Our question is can I go down there and get married to her in the Catholic church, understanding that we cannot be "legally" married when she arrives into the USA. Then, at some point within the 90 days of her arrival, we can do the civil ceremony here in the USA and fulfill the obligation.

Thanks in advance everyone.

No you can not do that. You must be unmarried to use the K-1.

What you will do is go to the county courthouse and get legally married with the county judge. Then you must AOS her and once she has her AP or GC, then you go down and do the Catholic marriage. All very simple.

If the family will not have it any other way, and you want to appease them, then withdraw the K-1 petition. Then you go down and marry her and she stays and you return. Then you file for a K-3 or CR-1 and wait out that process.

Or, if you can not be away from her after marriage, you go down and marry her. You then stay with her and file DCF petition and wait with her for that approval.

You have three options.

If it hasn't dawned on the OP and other readers yet, these family considerations need to be dealt with BEFORE you decide on which visa path to embark. K1 requires marriage in the USA.

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Posted
I am in the same boat and it really bothers me that after having the civil ceremony in the US we are required to wait till the AP document clears and then fly out to my home country to have a religious ceremony here with my family and friends. I want to follow the correct process and wait but it still bothers me as you still cant plan things properly

I just dont understand this requirement of having to be married in the US. does anyone know why you must be married in the US? I mean what does it matter to them where you actually get married?

They don't really care where you get married, that's why they have different types of visas. A fiance(e) visa is for a FIANCE(E) not a spouse. What is so hard to understand about that. If you want to be married in another country then do so and then file for one of the SPOUSE visas.

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Posted

I wouldn't even think about getting married there, even an unofficial marriage and then omitting that information from Immigration (Embassy in this case). If anybody suggested that, keep in mind it's against the rules of VJ.

You don't want to start your new life with a lie.... remember, I-129F is only the 1st step...there will be other forms to file later on....

Either get married there and then file for a spousal visa, or press on with your I-129 and then get married here (civil), go to Peru after AP and marry there in Church.

That's my 2 cents.

Joe.

K1

09/11/08 - I-129F Sent
09/16/08 - I-129F NOA1
02/06/09 - I-129F NOA2
02/13/09 - NVC Received
04/06/09 - NVC Left
04/09/09 - Embassy Received
05/18/09 - Interview Passed/Visa Approved
05/21/09 - Visa Received (picked up at Fedex in Kiev)
05/28/09 - Entered U.S. via JFK
05/29/09 - Applied for SS#
06/08/09 - SS# Received in the mail
06/12/09 - Applied for a Marriage License
06/19/09 - Wedding Day
07/03/09 - SS# under new name received in the mail

AOS/EAD/AP
07/27/09 - I-485, I-765 & I-131 Sent
07/31/09 - Package arrived in Chicago
08/03/09 - NOA for all 3 forms
08/27/09 - Case transferred to CSC
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09/29/09 - Green Card Sent
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12/18/09 - Got my Drivers License.

ROC
06/27/11 - I-751 Sent.
07/01/11 - NOA.
08/15/11- Biometrics appointment.
03/17/12- ROC Approved - No Interview.

Naturalization
01/21/15 - N-400 Sent

04/15/15 - Became a US Citizen

 
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