After USA Wedding - how soon can she depart?

[Chrys and Dave 1]

Hello VJ Friends,

We are days away from filing our I-129. An interesting twist has been brought into the mix and I do not know the answer.

My fiance has been offered a government position in her country which is truly incredible. The position she has worked and studied for many, many years. Notwithstanding the twist of the timing of moving to the USA but more so on the immediate future.

We are guesstimating the K-1 will be complete with Visa in January-February 2013 time frame. She starts her new position January 2013. We are aware that upon receiving the K-1 she has 180 days to come to the USA then an additional 90 days to get married. The question is how soon can she return to her country after the wedding to meet her new job requirements? In other words, because of her new position she will not be able to stay long. We do not know what time she will have away from work.

After the wedding what has to take place in order for her to come to and from the USA without delay? And how quickly can this be received?

Thank you VJ friends.

Dave

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

She can leave anytime after the marriage but if she intends to come back then she needs to file the AOS and include AP which will allow her to come back without nullifying her status. I think 3 months to get the AP?

If she intends to continue that work in her country I do not personally see a way for her to migrate, not saying it's impossible. Some of the requirements actually includes length of stay in the US during the process.

[Oksana & Max 94]

If she is planning to work in her country why are you filing for Visa now? After she will enter US and you will get married which could take about a month or tow as some states require SSN to get married. You will need to file for AOS with AP. To get AP will take another 2-3 month, then she can travel, but you don't want her to stay long in her country, as in order to obtain a GC she requires to maintain a legal presence in the USA.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Hello VJ Friends,

We are days away from filing our I-129. An interesting twist has been brought into the mix and I do not know the answer.

My fiance has been offered a government position in her country which is truly incredible. The position she has worked and studied for many, many years. Notwithstanding the twist of the timing of moving to the USA but more so on the immediate future.

We are guesstimating the K-1 will be complete with Visa in January-February 2013 time frame. She starts her new position January 2013. We are aware that upon receiving the K-1 she has 180 days to come to the USA then an additional 90 days to get married. The question is how soon can she return to her country after the wedding to meet her new job requirements? In other words, because of her new position she will not be able to stay long. We do not know what time she will have away from work.

After the wedding what has to take place in order for her to come to and from the USA without delay? And how quickly can this be received?

Thank you VJ friends.

Dave

If she has no plans to reside in the US permanently, as evidenced by her taking a job overseas, it would be useless for you to continue with the K-1 process. Although, if you do, once you are married, she may leave the country on the following day, in which case, you will need to do an entire new process for CR/IR visa once she is ready to move to the US full time. Until she is ready to move to the US, she can come and go with a tourist visa.

Edited August 7, 2012 by Gegel

[Ivie & Eguagie 119]

Hello VJ Friends,

We are days away from filing our I-129. An interesting twist has been brought into the mix and I do not know the answer.

My fiance has been offered a government position in her country which is truly incredible. The position she has worked and studied for many, many years. Notwithstanding the twist of the timing of moving to the USA but more so on the immediate future.

We are guesstimating the K-1 will be complete with Visa in January-February 2013 time frame. She starts her new position January 2013. We are aware that upon receiving the K-1 she has 180 days to come to the USA then an additional 90 days to get married. The question is how soon can she return to her country after the wedding to meet her new job requirements? In other words, because of her new position she will not be able to stay long. We do not know what time she will have away from work.

After the wedding what has to take place in order for her to come to and from the USA without delay? And how quickly can this be received?

Thank you VJ friends.

Dave

She has 6 months to use the K-1 visa and 90 days to get married after Arriving the U.S.

[Chrys and Dave 1]

Our plans are for her to reside in the USA - eventually. I do not know the term "AP". We are thinking as of now she will remain in her country for a least a year before making the permanent move. The objective for this year is to have the required visa to allow her in and out of USA without issue. I need to have a clear-cut plan of action as soon as she arrives for the wedding. I am not sure on the SSN requirement for my state (thank's for the heads-up).

After we are married she can come and go on a Tourist Visa? She has alrady been denied a tourist visa but as a girlfriend not a spouse.

She has 6 months to use the K-1 visa and 90 days to get married after Arriving the U.S.

Yes, thank you. 180 days is almost, nearly, just about 6 months.

[Henry&Rebecca 39]

I am no expert on the matter, just a guy who did a lot of reading on the matter. It seems to me like you would be better served with marrying her in her country, and then applying for the marriage visa. The reason I say this is because my understanding is that a marriage visa can be used more than once to enter the US, whereas a fiancee visa is a one time entry visa, so if you went with the fiancee visa you'd need an Advanced Parole to reenter (apparently those take 3 months to be in hand) or a Green Card (which apparently takes 6 months to be in hand) after marriage to reenter the US.

Again... Not an expert. Just a guy who knows how to use Google

Edited August 7, 2012 by Henry&Rebecca

[TracyTN 237]

Our plans are for her to reside in the USA - eventually. I do not know the term "AP". We are thinking as of now she will remain in her country for a least a year before making the permanent move. The objective for this year is to have the required visa to allow her in and out of USA without issue. I need to have a clear-cut plan of action as soon as she arrives for the wedding. I am not sure on the SSN requirement for my state (thank's for the heads-up).

After we are married she can come and go on a Tourist Visa? She has alrady been denied a tourist visa but as a girlfriend not a spouse.

Yes, thank you. 180 days is almost, nearly, just about 6 months.

I agree - this job has made the K1 irrelevant for you. It was designed for those who wish to marry and then settle in the US immediately after. AP (advanced parole - read the K1 guide) is granted to allow the immigrant the opportunity to visit home or travel abroad for pleasure, etc. - not to basically leave and start a new job in another country.

If she has already been denied a tourist visa, chances are slim she'll get one just because she's married to a US citizen. In fact, it may hurt her chances as they would suspect her of having strong immigrant intent, and thus would not use the tourist visa for the intention it was issued. Sounds strange I know, but there it is.

There is no point in filing the I 129f. Marry and then when her job is done and you are both ready to settle here, follow the CR1/IR1 process.

*edited for clarity*

Edited August 7, 2012 by TracyTN

[JohnR! 5,495]

Our plans are for her to reside in the USA - eventually. I do not know the term "AP". We are thinking as of now she will remain in her country for a least a year before making the permanent move. The objective for this year is to have the required visa to allow her in and out of USA without issue. I need to have a clear-cut plan of action as soon as she arrives for the wedding. I am not sure on the SSN requirement for my state (thank's for the heads-up).

After we are married she can come and go on a Tourist Visa? She has alrady been denied a tourist visa but as a girlfriend not a spouse.

By marrying you she will not be granted a visa to allow her in and out of the USA without issue. By marrying you she will become eligible to reside in the US, as a green card holder. The green card process takes time and has one main requirement: the green card holder must live in the US full time. Since she has no plans to move to the US in the next year, and needs to return to her country to work, she will not have the necessary time to complete the green card process and even if she did, she would have trouble keeping it considering she is not living in the US.

If you are planning to move to her country, she should not have a hard time getting a tourist visa, so long as you can prove you have ties with that country. For her to get a tourist visa, the ties with her country will be her job and you, so in a way, by marrying you it may make it easier for her to obtain a tourist visa. If you are planning to maintain your residence in the US, she may have trouble getting a tourist visa, for there will be the presumption she might stay in the US and do Adjustment of Status.

Ironically, AOS is the one thing she does not need to do, having every chance to, so am I not sure if that would look favorable to her.

Good luck!

[Ivie & Eguagie 119]

Our plans are for her to reside in the USA - eventually. I do not know the term "AP". We are thinking as of now she will remain in her country for a least a year before making the permanent move. The objective for this year is to have the required visa to allow her in and out of USA without issue. I need to have a clear-cut plan of action as soon as she arrives for the wedding. I am not sure on the SSN requirement for my state (thank's for the heads-up).

After we are married she can come and go on a Tourist Visa? She has alrady been denied a tourist visa but as a girlfriend not a spouse.

Yes, thank you. 180 days is almost, nearly, just about 6 months.

Yes, you are right 180 days nearly equals 6 months it was me not thinking straight lol. AP means Advance parole which will enable her to leave and come into the country before getting her greencard and it is free when it is included in the AOS package.

[Oksana & Max 94]

Our plans are for her to reside in the USA - eventually. I do not know the term "AP". We are thinking as of now she will remain in her country for a least a year before making the permanent move. The objective for this year is to have the required visa to allow her in and out of USA without issue. I need to have a clear-cut plan of action as soon as she arrives for the wedding. I am not sure on the SSN requirement for my state (thank's for the heads-up).

After we are married she can come and go on a Tourist Visa? She has alrady been denied a tourist visa but as a girlfriend not a spouse.

Yes, thank you. 180 days is almost, nearly, just about 6 months.

If she will come on the K-1, you will need to get married and file for Adjustment of Status and Travel Document ("AP"). She will not be able to use a tourist visa, as she doesn't have one and they already so an intent for her to immigrate with K-1. Just get married in her country and when ready about 10 month prior to move file for Spousal Visa (CR1).

[Mogambi 96]

If she is going to turn around and go back to her country for a year, there is NO point is going ahead with the K1. Even if she arrives in the US, it will be at the mimimum, 3 months after you FILE for Adjustment of Status, until she can get her Advanced Parole (AP). That is an additional thing you can file for that would allow her back into the US if she left. Normally, she couldn't get back in until she had her green card (6 to 9 months). So most people also file for AP at the same time they file their AOS paperwork.

But again, a bit part of getting a green card is that she has to establish residency here! So it's generally allowed to leave the US for up to six months without too much problem if she has her Green Card. Even up to a year, if you tell them beforehand. But at that point, anything beyond that she would be considered to have abandoned her residency status here, and you'd start all over.

Better to just go there, get married there, if she's going to stay. And then maybe in six months begin the process of CR1, so that after the year is up, you'll be close to having that visa and can decide if she's coming here or not.

But in your situation, the K1 isn't the right solution anymore.

But to answer your question, or her to come and go quickly from the US, she needs her Green Card. And will take 6 to 9 months AFTER you file (so after she's here, you get married, get all the paperwork together). Also during the process of that, she'll have appointments and an interview here that she'll have to make.

So that's why I say the K1 probably is the wrong thing to do if she's going to stay there.

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

Our plans are for her to reside in the USA - eventually. I do not know the term "AP". We are thinking as of now she will remain in her country for a least a year before making the permanent move. The objective for this year is to have the required visa to allow her in and out of USA without issue. I need to have a clear-cut plan of action as soon as she arrives for the wedding. I am not sure on the SSN requirement for my state (thank's for the heads-up).

After we are married she can come and go on a Tourist Visa? She has alrady been denied a tourist visa but as a girlfriend not a spouse.

You should DEFINITELY NOT file any kind of immigrant visa paperwork right now. If you do, you'll just be wasting money. Here's why: Even if she were to come here on the Fiancee visa, you got married, filed for the greencard, etc. Even with a greencard, the most she'd be able to stay out of the US is 6 months out of the year. Any more than that and she'd be abandoning the GC.

Tourist visa would be one option. However, if she was denied before, it means that she didn't have enough ties to the US. Having the new job would help. However, the fact that you live in the US, she has reasons to not return to her country, even with the new job in mind. The other issue is that having a tourist visa doesn't guarantee entry into the US. With a tourist visa, it's possible that she could arrive in the US and be denied entry by Customs & Border Patrol (immigration) at the airport if they feel she has the intent to stay. Though, that doesn't happen all that often.

If I were in your position, I would not file any papers now. I would let her start the new job. She would need to show regular deposits into a bank account. After a few months, when she has a history and some money saved up, she could reapply for the tourist visa. She would have a much better shot.

[Chrys and Dave 1]

I am no expert on the matter, just a guy who did a lot of reading on the matter. It seems to me like you would be better served with marrying her in her country, and then applying for the marriage visa. The reason I say this is because my understanding is that a marriage visa can be used more than once to enter the US, whereas a fiancee visa is a one time entry visa, so if you went with the fiancee visa you'd need an Advanced Parole to reenter (apparently those take 3 months to be in hand) or a Green Card (which apparently takes 6 months to be in hand) after marriage to reenter the US.

Again... Not an expert. Just a guy who knows how to use Google

Excellent observation. The CR-1 may indeed be the proper means to move forward. If we get married in her country then upon my return I file for the CR-1 (i.e I-130)?

[JohnR! 5,495]

Excellent observation. The CR-1 may indeed be the proper means to move forward. If we get married in her country then upon my return I file for the CR-1 (i.e I-130)?

You should initiate the process with the I-130 approx 12 months prior to her desired arrival date in the US to stay and establish residence in the US.

Incidentally, what country is she from?