Honeymoon "outside" the US after immigrating with K1 visa

[T&R 3]

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are fine on this Monday….=)

I have a question, and I hope you can help me.

Me and I fiancé are going to apply for the K1 visa. We will have the big wedding at the US, and we want to go after getting married (honeymoon) to Puerto Rico or to US Virgin Islands. Is it ok for me to go to any of these places for the honeymoon after I enter with the K1 visa? Because technically, I would be still in an American territory, since both of these places “bellows” to the US.

Thank you for any info you can provide me!

[TracyTN 237]

Yes, you can honeymoon in a US territory without your fiance having advanced parole. Just make sure you do not take any sort of a cruise where you might (even accidentally) leave the soil of the territory.

[payxibka 10,044]

Yes, you can honeymoon in a US territory without your fiance having advanced parole. Just make sure you do not take any sort of a cruise where you might (even accidentally) leave the soil of the territory.

or accidentally venture over to one of the Virgin Islands not under US control

[T&R 3]

Thank you guys!!

[Ladylethal 12]

Also be prepared to "argue" when returning through immigration as some officials are not aware that PR or the US Virgin Islands are not an international trip, as they will be checking your passport and I-94 (don't surrender it, btw).

[T&R 3]

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are fine on this Monday….=)

I have a question, and I hope you can help me.

Me and I fiancé are going to apply for the K1 visa. We will have the big wedding at the US, and we want to go after getting married (honeymoon) to Puerto Rico or to US Virgin Islands. Is it ok for me to go to any of these places for the honeymoon after I enter with the K1 visa? Because technically, I would be still in an American territory, since both of these places “bellows” to the US.

Thank you for any info you can provide me!

Ahhhhhhhh........I meant My fiancé and I, and "belongs" and the end......geez, sorry!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Yes, you can honeymoon in a US territory without your fiance having advanced parole. Just make sure you do not take any sort of a cruise where you might (even accidentally) leave the soil of the territory.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Also be prepared to "argue" when returning through immigration as some officials are not aware that PR or the US Virgin Islands are not an international trip, as they will be checking your passport and I-94 (don't surrender it, btw).

Why am I NOT surprised by this?

At one time I lived in Kentucky. I was visiting Illinois and was going to go skeet shooting. I went to buy ammunition and was asked for my ID to buy it (Slave state of Illinois, I understand this much) The clerk says "Sorry sir, we cannot sell you ammunition because we can only sell ammunition to Illinois residents and residents of states that border Illinois" Ahem...I am a resident of Kentucky, it borders Illinois. "No sir, only Wisconsin and Indiana border Illinois"

With these words of wisdom the clerk eliminated all the land west of the Mississippi river. I imagine he now works for CBP or USCIS

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Also be prepared to "argue" when returning through immigration as some officials are not aware that PR or the US Virgin Islands are not an international trip, as they will be checking your passport and I-94 (don't surrender it, btw).

Ask them what a Puerto Rico passport looks like. Ask them what color a US Virgin Island passport is.

[Ladylethal 12]

Exactly Gary, I almost had a fit in Miami once 'cus of this. Before I started my K1 I came on a tourist visa to PR on vacation and to visit my hubby (then boyfriend) and meet his family.

As I was in my last year of college and had no job the visa interview wasn't a breeze and in the end they gave me a tourist visa that was valid for a single entry to the US. The visa also stated that I was going to PR (they were really suspicious, heheheheheh, except they couldn't be more wrong). So I got a flight from Rio to San Juan with a connecting flight in Miami, and as such, my POE was Miami and I had to leave the boarding gates since I was going through another gate area.

When I got to the security gate again they actually stopped me and started telling me I'd have problems coming back through Miami on my trip back 'cus I had already used my visa on the single entry to Miami, and I was leaving the US to fly to Puerto Rico and then I couldn't fly back with a connecting flight in Miami. I had to argue with them that PR is part of US, or else I would have flown via Panama or something and not even require a visa in the first place and that if I was flying straight from Miami to PR I wasn't leaving US territory. They were actually concerned I was flying over international waters.

It all worked out but yeah, always be prepared to argue about when it comes to Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. I kept thinking about all the puertoricans boarding with their american passports everyday and what these officials were thinking ...

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

While it's "legal" to visit Puerto Rico and the USVI, be prepared to get grilled by CBP officers, as you are crossing enemy territory.

What I mean with that is that somebody, let's say some UK citizen visits the BVI legally, yet from there charters a small sailboat and sails over to the USVI. From St. Thomas -- which is US territory -- he attempts to board a flight to the US mainland. Hey . . . from the US to the US, it's an domestic, inland flight, right? Right, and wrong.

Hence, anybody boarding a flight in St. Thomas or San Juan will be checked carefully, often several times.

Some VJ members have reported smooth sailing withput the slightest hiccup; my wife and I, even with me being a GC holder, have experienced exactly the opposite when returning from the USVI via Puerto Rico. We were treated like terrorists. My wife and I still have nightmares about this experience, and I usually don't have nightmares, ever.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Just Bob

[Ladylethal 12]

I normally have zero issues with the CBP in Puerto Rico itself, but arriving in any POE in the USA coming from PR is a different matter, precisely for what Bob is relating. A lot of dominican illegals come to PR, stay a while and then try to fly to US, as they're already in US soil.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I normally have zero issues with the CBP in Puerto Rico itself, but arriving in any POE in the USA coming from PR is a different matter, precisely for what Bob is relating. A lot of dominican illegals come to PR, stay a while and then try to fly to US, as they're already in US soil.

I understand the general scutiny for whatever reasons are unique to the territory, but I could not understand them questioning if you had left US soil, so to speak.

I travel to Canada alot because it is like 6 miles away, and I feel like we are often given closer scrutiny than people from, say, Florida or Missouri who are returning from their only ever trip to Canada. Even though they may have been there for a couple weeks, while I may have been there for lunch. Go figure.

[Ladylethal 12]

Maybe they think you're trying to live in one side and work on the other, or somehow take advantage of the proximity? I never know what really goes on with the CBP.

[Marcela&Marc 1]

I am an airline pilot and was previously based in Puerto Rico for 5 years. Our airline flew nearly all the island in the Caribbean. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale Florida and commuted from either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale Fl. every week. From any flight originating from the US to Puerto Rico or Puerto Rico to the US you will NOT pass through any checkpoints of customs or immigration. However there is on occasion an immigration officer that sits just inside the airport security screening area in Puerto Rico at least on the 2 screening areas for American Airlines. I can not remember ever entering the screening area for other airlines so I can not say for those areas. I cannot give you an exact percentage of passengers checked but it is extremely rare for them to look at any documents. I have passed through that security with passengers countless times and maybe 1 or 2 times in 5 years did I ever see them talking with a passenger. I frequently was out of uniform going through security and I was not checked even once. It could have simply been a passenger had a question for the officer. However if I were you I would contact the airline you would be flying on to verify what documents you need for check in. The airline could and might check your passport and visa and the airline could cause you problems. Now any flight originating from the US to USVI you will NOT pass through any customs or immigration. However on the return from the USVI there is US immigration checkpoint prior to being able to proceed to the boarding area. I cannot answer if the officers at this checkpoint would allow you to pass. However if you choose Puerto Rico you can rest assured that there will be no immigration checkpoints and would only have to worry about the airline restricting your travel. Good luck and hope this helped.