F-1 Student visa to K1 or I-130...confused

[Will and I 0]

hi,

i've been in the U.S for about 2 and a half years on an F-1 Student visa (i am British), i moved here with my then boyfriend, who is a U.S citizen. We are now engaged and would like to get married here too, and stick around after graduate perhaps. I've been looking everywhere but can't find out what forms i need to fill out first, k1 suggests that i can enter the county and marry within 3 months, but i'm already here, and am still going to University, so i don't really have time to leave my studies to go home, fill out paper work and return. i have tried calling and emailing several immigration offices to get automated messages after automated message. We just need to know how to get started. any help would be great.

[Hell0W0rld 10]

if you came here to the states with intent to marry then you can marry now, go back home and file for CR1 if you had no intent to marry when you came here and suddenly fell in love and decided to marry, you can marry and file for adjustment of status which does not require you to go home. Reading your post it sounds like you knew your boyfriend prior to coming here, so I think Cr1 would be the better choice. Remember, keep it honest on the forms.

[freetv 7]

1. Your going to have to answer to someone about why you came to the u.s. (for your studies or to be with your bf?)... and remember, they know your bf came with you.

A: Came here to be with him and planned on getting married

2. You would need to go back and file an immigration visa.

B: Came here only to study

2. If you came here only to study go to this forum: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showforum=130

3. Make a post there and you will find all the information you will ever need... your just going to adjust your status.

But no matter what you end up doing, your in the right place to ask questions.

[TracyTN 237]

To quote the very intelligent VJ user Caladan (on another forum), "Simply getting married doesn't void one's F-1 status, but it may make it difficult to demonstrate non-immmigrant intent, which gives you two problems. First, adjusting status may be more difficult (I tend to think this is easier than some, just because I know plenty of students who married and adjusted status) if one's last entry looks like it could have had immigrant intent, and second, it may be more difficult to re-enter the country on an F-1 if one is married to a citizen.

Anecdotally, my friends have had no problem as long as their F-1 was still active, i.e., they were enrolled in an active degree program."

I couldn't find a better way to express what she said so I thought I'd quote her instead of trying to rephrase.

[rahulv 4]

You have multiple options

1. Finish your studies, graduate, go back home, and go through K-1 process, come to US marry within 3 months and apply for AOS.

2. Get married, finish your studies and go back home and go through CR1 process.

3. Get married, file for I-130, AOS all together, you can continue your studies and stay in US. In this case you may have to prove that you didn't have any intent to marry when you first entered US on F-1. In my case, I came on F-1, finished studies got a job on H-1B and then met my wife so I went through this route since I didn't even know my wife when I entered US.