Marriage before K1 visa approval!

[BrandonJ 0]

Hello fellow visa applicants,

My fiance (us citizen) and myself (uk citizen) are in the process of applying for our K1 visa. Once we are married, I will be moving to the states.

We were planning on getting married in September this year, however due to the processing times, its highly unlikely we will have approval by then. Our plan was to get married in september and then I will return to the UK and wait until the K1 visa is approved.

Is this legal, or will it jeopardise our K1 visa application?

Your opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[BlueRain77 0]

I am not sure, but if you want to get married before the visa you need to apply for a K3 visa not a K1.

[aleful 1,905]

Hello fellow visa applicants,

My fiance (us citizen) and myself (uk citizen) are in the process of applying for our K1 visa. Once we are married, I will be moving to the states.

We were planning on getting married in September this year, however due to the processing times, its highly unlikely we will have approval by then. Our plan was to get married in september and then I will return to the UK and wait until the K1 visa is approved.

Is this legal, or will it jeopardise our K1 visa application?

Your opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

you can't. the K1 is to grant legal entry to the country and marry within 90 days. You have to have the visa approved, then enter and then marry.

How do you plan to enter then the US? it makes no sense to have filed for the K1.

Maybe you didn't understand what was the K1 for? It's for marrying in the US and AOS in the US once you're married.

[Moomin 292]

At POE on a K1 the petitoner is supposed to be free to marry. If you are married before you don't live up to the requirement regardless of the situation. At the embassy interview things will get more complicated if they're not just going to deny you flat out because of you being married already.

If it's about saving time I'd suggest you either withdraw the I-129F, get married and file for spouse visa or delay the wedding a wee bit until you have the K1 visa in hand. I'm personally fond of option number two since you already have your petition at a service center.

[mrs.T 1]

Hello fellow visa applicants,

My fiance (us citizen) and myself (uk citizen) are in the process of applying for our K1 visa. Once we are married, I will be moving to the states.

We were planning on getting married in September this year, however due to the processing times, its highly unlikely we will have approval by then. Our plan was to get married in september and then I will return to the UK and wait until the K1 visa is approved.

Is this legal, or will it jeopardise our K1 visa application?

Your opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

K1 - it's a financee visa after you got married you no longer apply for K1, but for K3 or CR1

Hope this helps!

[iampatricias 17]

Just as a special note too, the K3 is not an option anymore.

For how you'd like to proceed through this relocation process, it sounds like the IR1/CR1 visa (a spouse visa) is more applicable to you. As everyone else has said, you may not apply for K1, marry, and then wait to receive the K1, and then enter the US. The K1 allows fiance(e)s of US citizens to enter the US, marry and stay legally. The IR1/CR1 visa does the same, except it allows a spouse of a US citizen to enter the US and stay.

[Ryan H 3,812]

My fiance (us citizen) and myself (uk citizen) are in the process of applying for our K1 visa. Once we are married, I will be moving to the states.

If a petition for a K1 is already pending, DO NOT get married until AFTER you enter the the US. Otherwise, the K1 visa will be null and void.

Furthermore, if you were to get married before your approval of the petition or issuance of a K1, it would be necessary to refile a petition for a CR-1. Think of it in terms of a board game that has a space in the early part of the game that says go back to start if it landed on by a player; refiling for a CR-1 means you go back to the start, the waiting you and your SO have done so far will have been for naught.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I don't understand how this question can be asked so frequently. The rules of the K1 visa (which should be read and understood before applying) FIRMLY state that the petitioner and beneficiary must get married within 90 days of the beneficiary entering the United States. If you get married BEFORE you get your K1 visa, you no longer have a fiance. You will have a spouse.

[amykathleen2005 441]

Hmmm......OP let's think critically for a second. If something is a FIANCE visa and the main requirement for the visa is to marry in the US within 90 days after your arrival on the visa do you think you would be able to marry before you even received said visa?

[kaibosh 3]

Hello fellow visa applicants,

My fiance (us citizen) and myself (uk citizen) are in the process of applying for our K1 visa. Once we are married, I will be moving to the states.

We were planning on getting married in September this year, however due to the processing times, its highly unlikely we will have approval by then. Our plan was to get married in september and then I will return to the UK and wait until the K1 visa is approved.

Is this legal, or will it jeopardise our K1 visa application?

Your opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

If you already have a firm wedding date in place and can't adjust your date maybe it would be best to have that day as an engagement party of some sort? Then once you are approved for your K1 you could just have a small official wedding at city hall or something? Just an option, I've heard of a few ppl juet getting married at city hall once their K1 has come

[George & Gina 29]

Hello fellow visa applicants,

My fiance (us citizen) and myself (uk citizen) are in the process of applying for our K1 visa. Once we are married, I will be moving to the states.

We were planning on getting married in September this year, however due to the processing times, its highly unlikely we will have approval by then. Our plan was to get married in september and then I will return to the UK and wait until the K1 visa is approved.

Is this legal, or will it jeopardise our K1 visa application?

Your opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

You will not be granted a K-1 visa if you are married at the time of the interview. If you get married after being granted the visa but prior to entering the US, then the K-1 (FIANCE) visa will be null and void because you're no longer a fiance. If you enter anyway without advising immigrations that you're already married, you'll have major issues once your try to adjust your status because they'll review your marriage certificate and see that you were married prior to entering the US. Which would mean that you entered under false pretenses.

Your finance and you should probably have researched the the requirements of the visa that you're petitioning for prior to making plans that can be affected by them.

You'll have to either postpone the wedding until you're in the US, or withdraw the I-129F and refile an I-130 and petition for a CR-1 spousal visa once you're married.

George

Edited March 20, 2011 by George & Gina

[HeatDeath 430]

When you eventually show up at the US PoE with your K-1 to enter the US, you will be asked if you are legally free to marry. If you answer no, because you are already married, your K-1 visa will be canceled and you will have to start all over with a spousal visa.

If you lie, and say you are not married, then when you file your AOS forms, there will be a conflict between the date on your marriage certificate, which you have to include, and the date you entered the US, which they will have from the copies of the passport stamps and I-94, which you have to include. Your AOS will be denied, and you will get slapped with a significant and possibly permanent ban on entering the US. They call lying to them about something important "material misrepresentation" and take it VERY seriously.

Do NOT, in the name of all that is Holy, get married before entering the US on a K-1!

[Mike&Cherry 45]

It would be a good idea to research the Visa process before you make any decisions, whether it's K-1 Visa or CR-1 Visa. You can do that research here on Visajourney.

[AL+ ALENA FOREVER 1]

I think that everyone has spelled out to you the facts. I can understand that you have a desire to get married to the one person what you love but to do it the wrong way cause you and your fiancee too many problem to list. I think that you need to find the strength to go through this process legally.

Of Course no one can force you to listen - You need to weight the positive of weighting to get married after you K1 visa was issued VS and negative of getting married before you receive an answer on your K1 application.

I hope you pick the option that best ensures a happy life together with you fiancee

GOOD LUCK

[L&F 0]

How about if it's just a wedding/ religious ceremony only--without a civil wedding & no papers signed?