Change of plan - help!

[the_girl_alex 0]

First of all a huge thank you to this site! The info on here has been invaluable and we couldn’t have got through all the paperwork without it!

I have a few questions, so please bear with me... Here’s the situation:

I am a UK citizen and my boyfriend is a US citizen. We filed paperwork for the K-1 visa in mid-January and with any luck we will receive the NOA2 over the next week or two. We figured that if we receive the NOA2 by the end of May we will hopefully get the visa in hand by the end of July. I have now been offered a place at university in the UK which is an opportunity I can’t turn down; it will mean studying from September 2011 to September 2012.

1. Do we stick with the process we have underway, get the K-1 visa, get married in the US and then move back to the UK (and file necessary paperwork for US spouse to live in UK)? Would this be totally pointless, because I won’t be staying any longer than I could on a visa waiver as I would have to be back in the UK for September? And as far as I know I can, in theory, travel to the US and get married tomorrow as long as I intend to return to the UK. We do intend on moving to the US after uni in 2012 but I guess we wouldn’t be able to file for a change of status after spending a year outside of the US – is this correct?

2. Or do we scrap the K-1 visa (and all the time, effort and money spent so far!) then I can visit the US, get married, then move back to the UK (and file necessary paperwork for US spouse to live in UK) - we could do that straight away rather than waiting for the K-1 visa.

Any advice very greatly appreciated

[TwoCats 55]

I would say that your best option is #2.

There is no reason to get/use a K-1 if you're not planning on staying in the U.S..

Later, you can file the CR-1/IR-1 if/when you decide to move back to the U.S.

[TracyTN 237]

Agreed. The K1 visa is not designed for option #1.

[the_girl_alex 0]

Thank you guys. That's what I was thinking.

We've been driving ourselves crazy waiting for the K-1 visa and now it looks like we'll have to cancel it!

Does anyone know what timeframe you would be allowed out of the US after marriage before applying for adjustment of status?

[missicy 87]

Thank you guys. That's what I was thinking.

We've been driving ourselves crazy waiting for the K-1 visa and now it looks like we'll have to cancel it!

Does anyone know what timeframe you would be allowed out of the US after marriage before applying for adjustment of status?

If you enter the US on K-1, get married and leave, you can't later adjust status based on K-1.

You don't need a visa if you want to get married in the US and then leave, you can do so on VWP, just make sure you leave before your I-94 expires.

When you are ready to permanently move to the US you can file CR-1/IR-1.

Edited May 16, 2011 by missicy

[the_girl_alex 0]

We are expecting our NOA2 any day now - when we get it do we just ignore it or do we have to notify the USCIS that we are abandoning our application?