Two legal weddings

[Chayil 0]

WE NEED HELP. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE YOU REPLY.

My fiancé and I are planning to get married this year. He filed for my K-1 visa in December, and as soon as my visa is granted, we will have our wedding. Let's say I have my K-1 visa approved, and I receive it with no setbacks, no problems.

If I get legally married in my country, and then enter the US within the same week, to get legally married where he lives, using the K-1 visa I would already have, am I breaking the law?

My wedding abroad would still not be registered in any official agencies, my marriage certificate would not yet exist, nor would my documents have been changed to my new name. I would still be single, according to my records in the system.

If you have educated input on this, please reply.

Thanks for the help!

[YuAndDan 153]

WE NEED HELP. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE YOU REPLY.

My fiancé and I are planning to get married this year. He filed for my K-1 visa in December, and as soon as my visa is granted, we will have our wedding. Let's say I have my K-1 visa approved, and I receive it with no setbacks, no problems.

If I get legally married in my country, and then enter the US within the same week, to get legally married where he lives, using the K-1 visa I would already have, am I breaking the law?

My wedding abroad would still not be registered in any official agencies, my marriage certificate would not yet exist, nor would my documents have been changed to my new name. I would still be single, according to my records in the system.

If you have educated input on this, please reply.

Thanks for the help!

Legally married is legally married.

A K-1 is for UN-MARRIED people, if legally married before using it to com to the USA, then you are NO LONGER UN-MARRIED. You WILL be starting over this time with filing an I-130 for a spouse visa.

Asked not more than 8 hours ago..

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/289490-can-i-have-the-wedding-ceremony-before-my-fiance-enter-into-us/

Edited January 5, 2011 by YuAndDan

[Sra Gomez 9]

You can have a ceremony that is NOT recognized by the authorities in your country. Some countries don't recognize religious ceremonies, so that might be an option, but its hard to give you an input without know what country you are from =)

The moment you get legally married in a foreign country you are voiding your K1 visa.

Might I suggest that you get married in the US first, than after your AOS, go to your country and get married again?

Good luck on your journey

-Bela

[canadian_wife 1,791]

If you legally marry in your own country, you will not be able to come to the US on a K-1 visa. K-1 is for UNMARRIED people

Perhap get your K-1, marry in the US, file AOS and AP, receive AP, travel back to your country, marry again - that would work

Good luck

[Andrea&Mal 1]

I guess my biggest question would be why do you need to get married before you leave? As said before, there is no way for a K-1 to be valid if you are already legally married. It seems like what you are really asking is if you are likely to get caught if you get married very soon before you leave for the US. There is no real way of knowing that for sure.

Can you return to your native country to get married again after your US wedding? That way everything is good and legal.

Andrea

[pushbrk 12,110]

WE NEED HELP. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE YOU REPLY.

My fiancé and I are planning to get married this year. He filed for my K-1 visa in December, and as soon as my visa is granted, we will have our wedding. Let's say I have my K-1 visa approved, and I receive it with no setbacks, no problems.

If I get legally married in my country, and then enter the US within the same week, to get legally married where he lives, using the K-1 visa I would already have, am I breaking the law?

My wedding abroad would still not be registered in any official agencies, my marriage certificate would not yet exist, nor would my documents have been changed to my new name. I would still be single, according to my records in the system.

If you have educated input on this, please reply.

Thanks for the help!

Your plan is a bad one. Yes, you would be committing at least two crimes if you use this plan.

Crime 1 is entering the USA with a K1 fiancee visa when you are already legally married. It's visa fraud and the penalty would include deportation and a potential lifetime ban from entering the USA. This crime and penalty can be charged at any time, even if you think you already got away with it.

Crime 2 is fruadulently obtaining a marriage license in the US State where your second marriage would take place. You MUST affirm in writing that you are unmarried, to obtain a license to marry. This is a lesser crime but definitely a crime.

Can you return to your native country to get married again after your US wedding? That way everything is good and legal.

Andrea

Of course they can't marry again when already married. Married is married. Ceremonies and parties that DO NOT constitute marriage are another matter entirely.

[ATPEACE 43]

So may I ask if you do it your way, if you would divorce, which country would you get a legal divorce in. Just asking so you can see the way you have indicated doesn't work. BECAUSE if you have two legal marriages you would have to get 2 legal divorces. Just a thought...

BTW, I know the real answer to this.

[MalaysianGirl 26]

I've got a friend who married her American husband in her home country before going to the US on a K1 visa, but note that she only had the wedding ceremony - they did NOT sign any marriage certificate in her home country. After arriving in the US they had another wedding ceremony AND signed the marriage certificate there. They had no problems whatsoever.

[iampatricias 17]

The distinction between religious and legal wedding is important to me too. For me, having a spiritually valid wedding is of primary importance, while the legally valid wedding is "just paperwork". They're two separate institutions in my mind, and yet, I can't get past the nagging feeling that even if we did get married at a church with no marriage certificate, and then we crossed the border and said, "no we're not married, we're going to the courthouse next week", we'd be somehow lying. In any case, I can't convince my pastor/priest to marry us but not legally - marriage is marriage in his mind.

Other countries/cultures/religions do this differently though - this is my Canadian/Christian experience.

[Al422 221]

The title of your thread is a bit ironic because if you have a legal marriage in your native country before leaving on the K-1, the second legal marriage in the U.S. will not take place because you will not get in.

Even if you should somehow "beat the clock" and get here before the computers pick up your first marriage, you still need the AOS process after you marry here, and you will definintely not beat that clock.

So don't do it, period.

If you want a religious ceremony in your native country that is not legally recognized, I suggest asking a lawyer in your native country how to do it. It is too intricate and the consequences of it not working are too great to take a chance on informal advice from non-professionals.

If I were you, I would do it the safe way: Apply for advance parole with your AOS application, return to your native country with AP in hand, and do the religious marriage in a 100% safe and legal fashion.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Al422

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

WE NEED HELP. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE YOU REPLY.

My fiancé and I are planning to get married this year. He filed for my K-1 visa in December, and as soon as my visa is granted, we will have our wedding. Let's say I have my K-1 visa approved, and I receive it with no setbacks, no problems.

If I get legally married in my country, and then enter the US within the same week, to get legally married where he lives, using the K-1 visa I would already have, am I breaking the law?

My wedding abroad would still not be registered in any official agencies, my marriage certificate would not yet exist, nor would my documents have been changed to my new name. I would still be single, according to my records in the system.

If you have educated input on this, please reply.

Thanks for the help!

If you get married before entering on a K-1 visa you are breaking the law. If what you do is not a legal marriage then NO, but what is the point if it is not legal? There can be only ONE legal marriage and with a K-1 it must occur in the US after you enter. The CR-1 is for people married outside the country.

You can have as many unofficial ceremonies as you want from now until you die.