Question about leaving the country...

[cmoore25 4]

Thinking ahead to honeymoon type things...how and when can a K1 visa holder leave the country? Can they ever leave? My understanding is that the k1 visa allows for the recipient to enter the US once...is that it? Can he never visit his family or go on vacation? I hope that I'm missing something!!!

[amykathleen2005 441]

He can leave after you are married once you have been filed for AOS and been approved for AP. Or you have a greencard. Whichever comes first (hopefully AP). Once you file AOS you will probably have AP in around 60-70 days.

Edited March 25, 2011 by amykathleen2005

[Helen Louise Pile 80]

You can honeymoon in the US...they made sure I understood that this was a single entry visa at my K1 interview in London and at my POE. Good luck with everything!

[Matt :) 1]

as soon as you get married on paper apply for green card & Advance Parole at same time. Advance Parole usually takes 60 days, up to 3 months.

[payxibka 10,045]

moving thread

[HeatDeath 430]

As soon as possible after you get married, he will need to file for Adjustment of Status. This involves sending a packet of forms and documentation to USCIS. One of those forms will be an I-131 Application for Travel documents. 6-10 weeks after they receive those forms, they will send him an Advance Parole document. He can use that document to reenter the US if he leaves before his green card is approved. It will be superceded by his green card when it arrives a few months later.

What you were told, and is quite accurate in and of itself, is that if he leaves the US without either an Advance Parole document or a green card, he will not be allowed back in.

Once he has the advance parole document, he is quite free to travel internationally as long as he returns to the US for any immigration appointments or interviews, maintains a US residence, spends more than 50% of his time in the US, and does not stay outside the US for more than a year without first obtaining a reentry permit. If he stays outside for more than 6 months in a single trip, though, the burden of proof for showing that he has maintained a US residence shifts to him (as opposed to it being incumbent on the border officers to show he hasn't.)

As you can see, it is in his best interest to file his AOS papers as soon as humanly possible after the wedding. Ideally he should have the forms all completed well before the wedding, post dated for the day after the wedding, so that they can be mailed off the instant you guys get a certified copy of your marriage certificate. Besides, neither of you will feel like dealing with immigration paperwork after the wedding!