Big Dilemma

[Danilow 0]

Hello everybody !

I'm so glad I discovered this website. I hope you'll be able to help me with my issue. Here's the situation :

I'm a French citizen living in Paris and I'm deeply in love with an American woman who is spending a year in France with an au-pair visa. We want to be able to continue our life together and so the best solution seems to be marriage. We are traveling to the US on July 5th and we thought that we could get married during our journey and then come back to France and spend another year in Paris before moving to the US. We just discovered the existence of the Fiancé visa and understand the importance of having one. Our problem is that it will be quite difficult to get one before leaving. Do you know how long it takes for the deliverance of this kind of visa ? If we don't get the visa but still get married during our stay, what would be the consequences ? Could it be a solution to get married in France and to contact the US Authorities when we're willing to move to the States ? What would you advise us to do ?

Thanks in advance for your help !

Greetings from Paris,

Daniel

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Hello everybody !

I'm so glad I discovered this website. I hope you'll be able to help me with my issue. Here's the situation :

I'm a French citizen living in Paris and I'm deeply in love with an American woman who is spending a year in France with an au-pair visa. We want to be able to continue our life together and so the best solution seems to be marriage. We are traveling to the US on July 5th and we thought that we could get married during our journey and then come back to France and spend another year in Paris before moving to the US. We just discovered the existence of the Fiancé visa and understand the importance of having one. Our problem is that it will be quite difficult to get one before leaving. Do you know how long it takes for the deliverance of this kind of visa ? If we don't get the visa but still get married during our stay, what would be the consequences ? Could it be a solution to get married in France and to contact the US Authorities when we're willing to move to the States ? What would you advise us to do ?

Thanks in advance for your help !

Greetings from Paris,

Daniel

You don't need a fiance visa in order to marry in the US. In fact, from the plans you describe, a fiance visa is NOT what you want.

First, anyone can come to the US and get married. The laws vary from one state to another, but most states only require some form of ID and statements that you are free to marry. Your passport is sufficient ID. Me and my wife got married at a county clerk's office - 20 minutes to get the license and get married by a Justice of the Peace. We even got a JP who spoke Vietnamese!

Second, a fiance visa requires the foreigner and US citizen petitioner to marry within 90 days. After that, the foreigner is supposed to submit an application for a green card. If the foreigner leaves the US before getting a green card or advance parole then they won't be able to return - the fiance visa is a single entry visa.

Third, a resident alien with a green card is required to live in the US or risk losing their resident alien status. Trips abroad of more than one year require advance permission to reenter the US.

So, come to the US, get married, and return to France. When you're ready to immigrate to the US (if ever) then your wife can file for a spousal visa.

[reymets10 5]

The K1 visa is only filed by US citizens that want to bring their fiance(e) to the US. If the US citizen marries before or during the K1 visa, the K1 becomes void. The US citizen would need to file the K3 visa. Both Visa's take 6 months - 12 months from start to finish. There are no short cuts.

Is it possible for the US citizen to file either a K1 or K3 and live outside the US (with their significant other) during the process, yes. I do not know any specifics but others on here are more knowledgeable and I am sure will respond.

Just don't start a K1 visa and then get married. The process would have to be started at step #1 all over again with a K3. If you still continued to try to come to US on a K1, you might get a lifetime ban from the US due to fraud.

[kzielu 1,147]

Could it be a solution to get married in France and to contact the US Authorities when we're willing to move to the States ? What would you advise us to do ?

Thanks in advance for your help !

Greetings from Paris,

Daniel

Read the guides http://www.visajourney.com/content/guides - that's excellent help - especially http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare. Looks like you may be surprised by the fact that being a spouse of US citizen you will not be allowed to just go and live in US...

Best for you (seem like) would be to get married and file for CR-1 - year sounds like the time it would take to get it, just make sure you review the addidavit of support requirements to get either a fiancee or spousal visa, so there is no surprise...

[Danilow 0]

That sounds right. Thanks a lot !