Skipping the K1 Visa?

[DS1419 1]

Just a curious mind here regarding the K1 visa process and skipping it entirely.

My fiancee and I have recently gotten engaged. I am canadian and live and work in Vancouver, she is american and lives and works in Seattle. We plan on getting married in Seattle in a years' time hopefully and I would move down there permanently. We currently see each other every weekend, either I travel down or she travels up. In such a situation, the K1 Visa feels like it would cause more problems than solutions, which has lead to some questions:

1- If we were to petition, then apply for the k1 visa, and it was accepted, would I not be allowed to enter the US until we plan on being married within the 90 days? Say if I crossed in March, and we were aiming for marriage in September, would the K1 automatically start ticking from when I first crossed, or can I choose to not use it until later on? and just cross using my nexus on weekends?

2- Seeing as once the K1 Visa starts, I can't come back into Canada for the 90 days. Can we not just skip this step entirely? I would then work in Vancouver until the wedding date, visit her on weekends, and then just enter using nexus and marry and then begin the paperwork? I feel like the K1 would cause more restrictions than anything else. I would not be allowed back in Canada to visit family, I would not be able to work those 3 months before the wedding, and I would be out a fair amount of money for the process.

3- Does the K1 Visa shorten the time it takes to receive permanent residence status after the marriage?

4- Given our situation, me in Van, her in Seattle, and visiting on weekends, what would be the best course of action? Any recommendations?

I'm trying to find all these answers on the boards, though there is a lot of reading on here. Thanks in advance.

[EllaC 190]

Just a curious mind here regarding the K1 visa process and skipping it entirely.

My fiancee and I have recently gotten engaged. I am canadian and live and work in Vancouver, she is american and lives and works in Seattle. We plan on getting married in Seattle in a years' time hopefully and I would move down there permanently. We currently see each other every weekend, either I travel down or she travels up. In such a situation, the K1 Visa feels like it would cause more problems than solutions, which has lead to some questions:

1- If we were to petition, then apply for the k1 visa, and it was accepted, would I not be allowed to enter the US until we plan on being married within the 90 days? Say if I crossed in March, and we were aiming for marriage in September, would the K1 automatically start ticking from when I first crossed, or can I choose to not use it until later on? and just cross using my nexus on weekends?

2- Seeing as once the K1 Visa starts, I can't come back into Canada for the 90 days. Can we not just skip this step entirely? I would then work in Vancouver until the wedding date, visit her on weekends, and then just enter using nexus and marry and then begin the paperwork? I feel like the K1 would cause more restrictions than anything else. I would not be allowed back in Canada to visit family, I would not be able to work those 3 months before the wedding, and I would be out a fair amount of money for the process.

3- Does the K1 Visa shorten the time it takes to receive permanent residence status after the marriage?

4- Given our situation, me in Van, her in Seattle, and visiting on weekends, what would be the best course of action? Any recommendations?

I'm trying to find all these answers on the boards, though there is a lot of reading on here. Thanks in advance.

If you decide your fiancee files the I-129F for the K-1 visa and you are approved, your K1 will be available for 6 months. When you move to US it will turn into 3 months. I mean, it will be valid for 3 months. You'll HAVE to marry within those 3 months.

From your post, it sounds like you want to get married first and then begin with the process and move south. You can do that with a K-3 or IR-1/CR-1 visa. You should NOT apply for K-1 if your intention isn't to marry within the 90 days period.

The difference between K1 and K3 is that the K3 visa is for "already married" couples. While the K-1 requires to be just engaged and be free to marry within 90 days the same USC that files the I-129F for you. K-3 has a validity of 2 years and within these 2 years of being in the US you have to file for AOS. The K-3 doesn't need an advance parole to travel outside the US, while the K-1 does.

I really hope I'm not making any mistakes. If I'm being wrong, you can correct my post.

And... just to be sure, check the guides: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare to compare the possibilities.

Good luck!

[ryna 132]

I'm certainly no expert, but you could always enter the U.S. as usual, get married in Seattle, then RETURN to Canada and have her file for a CR-1 visa. There's nothing wrong with that as far as I know (anyone?) as long as you don't stay.

At that point, I don't know about your ability to continue visiting the U.S. using NEXUS, but you could certainly continue working in Canada and the worst case is that she would have to do the visiting until the CR-1 is approved. The whole process would probably put you in your original time frame to get married. You could still have the "big" ceremony at that time in Seattle as well. The added benefit of the CR-1 is that (I think) you'll immediately be eligible to work upon your permanent arrival in the U.S.

Just my thoughts and probably full of holes.. Good luck!

[EllaC 190]

As seen from VJ members' timeline, the typical waiting time to get a K-1 is 6 months, 8 months for K-3 and 9 months for IR-1/CR-1.

But the thing with IR-1/CR-1 is that you won't need to file for AOS, compared to K-3, which does.

Ryna's right, you won't need an Employment Authorization Document to work.

From what I know, you can still have the marriage in Seattle, if that's you want. But you HAVE to come back to Vancouver while the spousal visa is being processed. If you have a tourist visa, maybe you could travel in the USA to see her while waiting for the IR-1/CR-1 to be processed. But I'm not sure if that's possible or for how long. The visitor visa will be cancelled when you'll have the fiance or the spouse visa.

Maybe someone more "certified" to help you out here?

Edited July 6, 2010 by Sunshine13

[canadian_wife 1,785]

1- If we were to petition, then apply for the k1 visa, and it was accepted, would I not be allowed to enter the US until we plan on being married within the 90 days? Say if I crossed in March, and we were aiming for marriage in September, would the K1 automatically start ticking from when I first crossed, or can I choose to not use it until later on? and just cross using my nexus on weekends? After you petition (and it's approved) you must then apply for the visa at the consulate. This is a multi-stage process. But you can visit between petitioning and receiving the visa - admittance and duration of stay is up to the border guards so make sure you bring ties to Canada. Once you enter using the K-1 visa, you have 90 days to marry.

2- Seeing as once the K1 Visa starts, I can't come back into Canada for the 90 days. Can we not just skip this step entirely? I would then work in Vancouver until the wedding date, visit her on weekends, and then just enter using nexus and marry and then begin the paperwork? I feel like the K1 would cause more restrictions than anything else. I would not be allowed back in Canada to visit family, I would not be able to work those 3 months before the wedding, and I would be out a fair amount of money for the process. If you enter using a K-1 visa, you may leave at any time. You cannot, however, re-enter the US without your green card or your advanced parole. This is issued after marriage and after your AOS has been applied for (AP applied for separetly). And no, skipping steps is generally not permitted

3- Does the K1 Visa shorten the time it takes to receive permanent residence status after the marriage? Not really, the benefit for you is that you will interview in Vancouver, interviewing in Montreal for a Cr-1 (spousal) visa will lengthen your time because Montreal is a slow consulate. However, once the K-1 visa is given, you must then apply for your adjustment of status. This, plus the entire K-1 process, may be longer than a spousal visa. However, a spousal visa will allow you to travel and work immediatly upon entering the US with that class of visa

4- Given our situation, me in Van, her in Seattle, and visiting on weekends, what would be the best course of action? Any recommendations? Depends on what you value. The K-1 is slightly faster to get you to the US, but you'll have to deal with the working and traveling restrictions. You can interview in Vancouver vs. Montreal (quicker), and the length of time to the actual green card is longer. I suggest you begin reading up on the 'guides' tab

http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare

Edited July 6, 2010 by canadian_wife

[pushbrk 12,093]

The difference between K1 and K3 is that the K3 visa is for "already married" couples. While the K-1 requires to be just engaged and be free to marry within 90 days t

The key difference between K1 and K3 today is that a K1 visa can actually be obtained, while a K3 cannot. For this situation, I recommend marriage first and a CR1 visa. You can start with a simple civil marriage and then have your "planned" ceremony and celebration after the CR1 visa is in hand.

[DS1419 1]

The key difference between K1 and K3 today is that a K1 visa can actually be obtained, while a K3 cannot. For this situation, I recommend marriage first and a CR1 visa. You can start with a simple civil marriage and then have your "planned" ceremony and celebration after the CR1 visa is in hand.

I think so far this is what we've discussed as a possibility the most. In this case, would we have to show that the first civil marriage was spontaneous? Or is that now required? If we were to go this route, got the marriage certificate, and applied for the Visa, what are the key differences between a K3 spouse visa and a CR1 visa?

Also, what would be a typical wait time? Say if we were planning on getting married September 2011, how far in advance would we require doing the civil marriage in order to have everything in place by the September deadline? Thanks for all of your guys' help on this. I have been learning a lot!

[DS1419 1]

So just from reading here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare#k3 regarding the K3 and CR1, does anyone know if, during the K3 application, the non-US citizen spouse can enter the US? I read that with the CR1, that typically takes 7 months, the spouse typically can't enter the states during that time period. Is that always the case or are there ways around it? This is just in regards to visiting on weekends as I've been doing so far.

[ScottThuy 140]

It depends on the CBP officer at the POE.. if they decide there are insufficient ties to Canada, then they often deny entry..

[pushbrk 12,093]

I think so far this is what we've discussed as a possibility the most. In this case, would we have to show that the first civil marriage was spontaneous? Or is that now required? If we were to go this route, got the marriage certificate, and applied for the Visa, what are the key differences between a K3 spouse visa and a CR1 visa?

Also, what would be a typical wait time? Say if we were planning on getting married September 2011, how far in advance would we require doing the civil marriage in order to have everything in place by the September deadline? Thanks for all of your guys' help on this. I have been learning a lot!

K3 is dead. Forget about it. It would be perfect for your situation but for all intents and purposes, is no longer available. It doesn't matter if the marriage is spontaneous or not but if you indicate the purpose of the visit is for marriage, they won't let you in on the assumption you'll stay illegally. If you want to maintain the most flexibility for travel, marry first and take the CR1 visa route. If you want to have an immigrant visa by September, 2011 get married early this fall.

[DS1419 1]

K3 is dead. Forget about it. It would be perfect for your situation but for all intents and purposes, is no longer available. It doesn't matter if the marriage is spontaneous or not but if you indicate the purpose of the visit is for marriage, they won't let you in on the assumption you'll stay illegally. If you want to maintain the most flexibility for travel, marry first and take the CR1 visa route. If you want to have an immigrant visa by September, 2011 get married early this fall.

So what are the reasons behind removing the K3?

So without the K3, if I went CR1 route, would I be able to enter the US if I were to show enough ties to Canada (ie rental property, letter from employer) that I would be returning after a few days (weekend)? A big concern would be that I would not be allowed to cross the border to visit once every couple weeks as we've currently been doing. Of course if my aim is marriage I would be willing to sacrifice visiting Seattle for the 7-9 wait time, but I am wondering if I were to show enough ties they would let me still go down for a visit. Is that at teh discretion of the border officer?

"The applicant will most likely not be able to enter the US while their IR1-CR-1 Visa is being processed. " from the visa compairson page.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

So without the K3, if I went CR1 route, would I be able to enter the US if I were to show enough ties to Canada (ie rental property, letter from employer) that I would be returning after a few days (weekend)? A big concern would be that I would not be allowed to cross the border to visit once every couple weeks as we've currently been doing. Of course if my aim is marriage I would be willing to sacrifice visiting Seattle for the 7-9 wait time, but I am wondering if I were to show enough ties they would let me still go down for a visit. Is that at teh discretion of the border officer?

"The applicant will most likely not be able to enter the US while their IR1-CR-1 Visa is being processed. " from the visa compairson page.

Look in the Canadian Forum, there are many VJers who have successfully crossed the border frequently while the CR-1 was processing.

In addition to bringing strong ties to Canada (Employer Letter, Lease, etc) also bring copies of your NOA-1 & NOA-2 (when you received them) to show that you are going about immigrating the legal way. Also, don't try to start moving your possessions into the US before you have your Visa. If they see a car-load of personal possessions when you are stating a weekend visit it may cast doubts on your intentions.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Bob 4 Anna

[pushbrk 12,093]

So what are the reasons behind removing the K3?

Read about it in the K3 forum. Reasons, IMO are just a turf war between USCIS and Dept. of State. The K3 was designed to save time but hasn't saved but a few weeks at most for almost four years.

Remember that each border crossing is a new decision for everybody in every circumstance. There are never any guarantees but you have the Nexus pass and are close to the border.