Question about 90 day Fiance visa and the Catholic church

[djbod 0]

Hello,

I have a question regarding the Fiance visa 90 day period. My fiance and I are both Catholic, so I talked to the priest at my church and he tells me the Catholic church requires a 6 month period before we can marry. Problem is, the visa is only good for 90 days. What's the solution? I'm sure other people have encountered this situation before. The only solution I can see would be to get married via a civil marriage, and then marry in the church afterwards. Is that possible? Neither of us have been married, so it's simple from that perspective.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Lalo & Susana 50]

That is exactly what my fiance and are are going to do. When he comes to USA we are going to get married at the town court in a civil marriage then in a few months we are going to get married at the catholic church and have a reception after. My parents did the same thing over 30 years ago. I've been told it is very common. I am not exactly sure how you would file everything but I know it can be done.

[Cathi 5,832]

the only solution is to have a civil ceremony. It is a requirement of the k1 visa to be married in the US within 90 days of entering. If you don't your fiance will be illegal

[Harpa Timsah 13,259]

I have read reports where people have spoken to their priests about the situation, and the priest has agreed to do some of the classes over the phone in advance, so the 90 day period can be met.

[Diana and Chris 25]

That is exactly what my fiance and are are going to do. When he comes to USA we are going to get married at the town court in a civil marriage then in a few months we are going to get married at the catholic church and have a reception after. My parents did the same thing over 30 years ago. I've been told it is very common. I am not exactly sure how you would file everything but I know it can be done.

Exactly my thoughts. There is no way around the 6 months premarital courses, and it's important to get married by the church. So, to not sound redundant: What was said in the post in Quote and get married in a civil before 3 months and church after 6 months.

[hcfrey 6]

do the civil wedding first then church wedding after

[sera77 35]

Just had to add my own experience with this.

My old school head of our local church priest would not make any allowances for our k1 visa situation. Old priest, very strict by the rules guy.

Basically we ended up getting married at the local town hall in a civil ceremony because the priest would not budge. Big disappointment for my parents, believe me.

The priest would not accept our getting married first in the town hall and then in the church after finishing up the pre cana instruction, the most he would bend was he offered to do a 'blessing of the marriage', but even that he would not do IN the church itself, only at another location (such as my parents' house).

I hope you have better luck with a more progressive church leader.

My marriage is wonderful,the wedding was not because I knew how much it hurt my parents not to have a big traditional religious ceremony with family friends.

[Xanax 349]

Just had to add my own experience with this.

My old school head of our local church priest would not make any allowances for our k1 visa situation. Old priest, very strict by the rules guy.

Basically we ended up getting married at the local town hall in a civil ceremony because the priest would not budge. Big disappointment for my parents, believe me.

The priest would not accept our getting married first in the town hall and then in the church after finishing up the pre cana instruction, the most he would bend was he offered to do a 'blessing of the marriage', but even that he would not do IN the church itself, only at another location (such as my parents' house).

I hope you have better luck with a more progressive church leader.

My marriage is wonderful,the wedding was not because I knew how much it hurt my parents not to have a big traditional religious ceremony with family friends.

So sorry to hear your story. If you still want to get married by the church you can do so, you can get married again, find a priest who will do it for you! You should not have to miss out on something that special if it is important to you and your parents.... Better late than never?

[tmarie838 4]

I had a similar issue. At first the priest said we have to wait 6 months to get married because we have to do our marriage preparation. I asked him if we could do it over Skype. He checked with our diocese (Baltimore) and they agreed. In our diocese we each have to take a test(FOCCUS) and then meet with our marriage sponsors (a married couple from my church) several times over a 6 month period. The topics and issues we discuss are based off our responses to the questions on the test. We both just finished the test, so now we can begin Skyping with our sponsors.

It's funny that some priests are saying you cannot have a civil ceremony first. My priest actually suggested we do that. He said there are a lot of countries that don't consider a religious ceremony to be legal, so they require a civil ceremony anyway.