K-1, IR-1/CR-1, K-3 General question

[jun5 0]

I am a US citizen currently living in South Korea and planning to marry a South Korean. I had a few questions about the various visa options for bringing my fiance/spouse to the US to live.

1. If we get married in Korea and then apply for an IR-1/CR-1 visa or K-3 visa, what is the average time to wait until we can enter the US under a valid visa for my spouse?

2. If we get married in Korea, can we go to the US and then apply for a visa for my spouse (without her having to return to Korea)?

3. If we travelled to the US together (her with no visa-- South Korea has a visa exemption agreement for under 90 day visits), and then got married in the US, could she then receive a visa in the US (and then green card) without returning to South Korea? If so, how long would this take?

Basically, what I would like to do is marry my girlfriend and move to the US permanently as quickly as possible, and I am curious as to the type of visa and location of marriage that would make the process go the quickest.

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Edited June 5, 2012 by jun5

[Hypnos 6,576]

1) 8-10 months (possibly longer).

2 / 3) Entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa (which the VWP is) with the preconceived intention of remaining permanently would constitute immigration fraud.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Hypnos

[jun5 0]

1) 8-10 months (possibly longer)

2 / 3) Entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa (which the VWP is) with the preconceived intention of remaining permanently would constitute immigration fraud.

So going to America on a tourist visa and then getting married is immigration fraud?

[Hypnos 6,576]

If you planned ahead of time to do exactly that, by doing an end-run around obtaining an immigrant visa, yes.

[jun5 0]

If you planned ahead of time to do exactly that, by doing an end-run around obtaining an immigrant visa, yes.

Hmm... But how do the immigration authorities judged whether someone "planned" to avoid getting an immigration visa by going to the US and getting married, or they simply went to the US and happened to get married when they were there? Legally isn't that a bit difficult to distinguish? Does everyone marrying a foreigner always get an immigrant visa for their spouse before entering the US together?

Thanks for all the advice.

[canadian_wife 1,823]

It is not the job of immigration to find out, it is YOUR job to show them you didn't do this. Clearly if you both pack up and move from Korea then it is preconceived correct? I mean I can see that and I'm not an immigration authority.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Follow the guides. Why would you want to risk this anyway? Your wife could get banned from the US. Marry now, file for the Cr-1 visa and have her visit the US

Good luck

[Hypnos 6,576]

Hmm... But how do the immigration authorities judged whether someone "planned" to avoid getting an immigration visa by going to the US and getting married, or they simply went to the US and happened to get married when they were there? Legally isn't that a bit difficult to distinguish? Does everyone marrying a foreigner always get an immigrant visa for their spouse before entering the US together?

Thanks for all the advice.

Well that's the rub; they can't peer inside people's minds and see exactly what they are thinking at the time they enter the US for the first time.

The Adjustment of Status process exists for people who entered on a nonimmigrant visa, whose circumstances then changed to where they wanted to stay. Perhaps they were at school, graduated and then met someone that they married. This would be a change in circumstances that AoS was designed for.

There are people who manipulate the entire system by entering on an (easier to obtain) nonimmigrant visa and then adjusting almost immediately. Some get away with it and some don't. Given that the potential consequences to a denial are so high (being removed from the US and potentially barred from re-entry, to which you would need to spend time and money on waivers to attempt to overcome with no guarantee of sucess), an immigrant visa is the "right way" to do things when you fully intend to remain in the United States. Could you go the "wrong way" and get away with it? Possibly, but is it something you really want to risk?

Edited June 5, 2012 by Hypnos

[jun5 0]

Well that's the rub; they can't peer inside people's minds and see exactly what they are thinking at the time they enter the US for the first time.

The Adjustment of Status process exists for people who entered on a nonimmigrant visa, whose circumstances then changed to where they wanted to stay. Perhaps they were at school, graduated and then met someone that they married. This would be a change in circumstances that AoS was designed for.

There are people who manipulate the entire system by entering on an (easier to obtain) nonimmigrant visa and then adjusting almost immediately. Some get away with it and some don't. Given that the potential consequences to a denial are so high (being removed from the US and potentially barred from re-entry, to which you would need to spend time and money on waivers to attempt to overcome with no guarantee of sucess), an immigrant visa is the "right way" to do things when you fully intend to remain in the United States. Could you go the "wrong way" and get away with it? Possibly, but is it something you really want to risk?

Okay I see what you're saying. The reason we would want to do it this way is simply that waiting for a fiance visa or spouse visa takes so long and we would like to go to the US as quickly as possible. If it is a huge risk then yes it does not seem worth it, but if is possible then it would be far preferable than waiting here in Korea for the time it takes to receive such a visa. Due to current circumstances, such a wait time would be highly undesirable.

[jun5 0]

If I could then interject a follow-up question for anyone who is able to answer:

Between getting married in Korea and applying for the CR-1, and applying here for the K-1 fiance visa here and then getting married in the US, which would be the faster process? Which would allow my wife/fiance to come to the US more quickly? My impression is that the K-1 takes up to about 5 months, is that correct?

Thanks!

[michael82 0]

Getting married in Korea would be the much faster option, have a look at this thread:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357465-usc-petitioner-living-abroad/

Apparently filing CR1 from outside the US is much faster than filing from within, in our case it took less than 4 months to complete the entire process start to finish.

Best of luck!

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Two quick things:

- it is not the getting married in the USA that is the visa fraud, it is getting married AND STAYING.

0 She can use her visa waiver to visit for 90 days at a time during the process, so you would not have to be apart for that long.

[reginakrys 33]

Get married, apply for an i130 FROM ABROAD.. That would probably get you into the magical auto expedited queue at USCIS. I say probably because i don't know for sure whether all petitions filed from abroad do get this special treatment.

[JNEKG 4]

Getting married in Korea would be the much faster option, have a look at this thread:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357465-usc-petitioner-living-abroad/

Apparently filing CR1 from outside the US is much faster than filing from within, in our case it took less than 4 months to complete the entire process start to finish.

Best of luck!

I agree. Get married there and file from abroad. Like Michael82 we filed from abroad and our whole process is likely to be concluded in 4 months and that includes having RFE's at NVC.

All the best.

[pushbrk 12,975]

I agree. Get married there and file from abroad. Like Michael82 we filed from abroad and our whole process is likely to be concluded in 4 months and that includes having RFE's at NVC.

All the best.

The most practical way to immigrate may well be to marry and file from abroad. However, if during a visit to the USA, you were to decide to stay and adjust status, that's certainly a viable option. Note the order of the sentence though. "During a visit, you decide..." meaning you're already here when you decide to stay instead of go home. Never lie to a CBP officer upon entry.

[Ryan H 3,813]

DCF is also available in South Korea (a USCIS field office is located in Seoul). The catch with DCF is you will have to reside in South Korea for a minimum of 6 months on a long term stay visa or residence permit, tourist visa extensions will not count.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Ryan H