my fiance visa expires jan 13. do we need to get married before his visa expires??

[m.o. 2]

he attended the PDOS seminar in the philippines and they told him that we should get married before his visa expires. he's planning to leave philippines on nov 17. i thought we should get married 90 days upon his arrival. we were thinking around february. but his visa expires on january 13. 2012. pkease advise

[Hypnos 6,579]

The K-1 is void the second he walks out of the airport.

Provided you marry within 90 days of entry (i.e. before the date on his I-94) then you have fulfilled its requirements. Marrying before the date on the K-1 is not required, since it is already voided upon use (entering the US).

[Kathryn41 3,205]

he attended the PDOS seminar in the philippines and they told him that we should get married before his visa expires. he's planning to leave philippines on nov 17. i thought we should get married 90 days upon his arrival. we were thinking around february. but his visa expires on january 13. 2012. pkease advise

There are two dates that you need to consider. The first is the date of the K-1 visa. It is valid for 6 months, and the visa needs to be used to enter the US before it expires. That mean's he needs to use it to travel to the US before January 13th.

When he goes through immigration at the US border, they will stamp the visa in his passport and write in a date 90 days in the future - and - most importantly, they will staple a small card called an I-94 visa into his passport. The I-94 visa will have the same 90 days in the future date written or stamped on it. This is the date by which you need to get married.

So, you need to use the K-1 visa to enter the US before it expires, but once it is used, it is used up. He can't re-use it and the 'expiry' date doesn't matter anymore. His new immigration document is the I-94 form in his passport. This proves his legal status in the US for 90 days. The conditions on which he got the K-1 visa are still in place so that means the two of you need to get married before the I-94 expires.

Getting married still doesn't give him legal right to live in the US - it only gives him the right to apply to become a permanent resident based upon a K-1 visa marriage, so you and he will also have to apply to change his status from K-1 non-immigrant to Permanent Resident by filing an I-485 petition. You don't need to file this before the I-94 expires, but you should try to file before or shortly after the I-94 expires because once the I-94 expires, he loses legal status in the US. His legal status is re-instated when his application for a green card (AOS/Adjustment of Status) is submitted to USCIS..

I hope this helps.

(btw- I like your avatar !)

Edited September 15, 2012 by Kathryn41

[fantonledzepp 159]

You have to get married within 90 days of entering the US. If he travels in November, you are still cutting it close to the 90-day mark in February. If February is what you have planned, why not travel in early January, before the expiration date?

[m.o. 2]

There are two dates that you need to consider. The first is the date of the K-1 visa. It is valid for 6 months, and the visa needs to be used to enter the US before it expires. That mean's he needs to use it to travel to the US before January 13th.

When he goes through immigration at the US border, they will stamp the visa in his passport and write in a date 90 days in the future - and - most importantly, they will staple a small card called an I-94 visa into his passport. The I-94 visa will have the same 90 days in the future date written or stamped on it. This is the date by which you need to get married.

So, you need to use the K-1 visa to enter the US before it expires, but once it is used, it is used up. He can't re-use it and the 'expiry' date doesn't matter anymore. His new immigration document is the I-94 form in his passport. This proves his legal status in the US for 90 days. The conditions on which he got the K-1 visa are still in place so that means the two of you need to get married before the I-94 expires.

Getting married still doesn't give him legal right to live in the US - it only gives him the right to apply to become a permanent resident based upon a K-1 visa marriage, so you and he will also have to apply to change his status from K-1 non-immigrant to Permanent Resident by filing an I-485 petition. You don't need to file this before the I-94 expires, but you should try to file before or shortly after the I-94 expires because once the I-94 expires, he loses legal status in the US. His legal status is re-instated when his application for a green card (AOS/Adjustment of Status) is submitted to USCIS..

I hope this helps.

thank you so much for your advice! i appreciate it. we have to get married first before applying for AOS, right?

(btw- I like your avatar !)

You have to get married within 90 days of entering the US. If he travels in November, you are still cutting it close to the 90-day mark in February. If February is what you have planned, why not travel in early January, before the expiration date?

he has reponsibilities that he needs to fix first before leaving philippines, but i'll convince him to get here early

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yes, you need to get married before he can apply for AOS. In order to be eligible to apply to adjust status, he first has to fulfill the conditions of the K-1 viisa - getting married to you within 90 days of his entry to the US on the K-1 visa.

If you don't get married within the 90 days but get married after 90 days, he won't be eligible to adjust status based upon the K-1 visa, but he can still apply to adjust status based upon the marriage to you. Since the K-1 would no longer be applicable, you would have to file a new sponsorship petition - an I-130form that will take the place of the I-129f you submitted for the K-1. He could still only adjust status through marriage to you, though - not to any one else.

It does take a while to wrap up the loose ends of your life when you are relocating to a new country, so as long as he is in the US before the K-1 expires, you will be fine. He could enter January 12th, and he would be fine. The 90 days don't start until he enters the US. Let him have the time he needs to make sure everything is taken care of in the Philippines before he leaves so that he can feel comfortable about leaving, knowing he has done what he needed to do in order to leave, rather than have him feel rushed and worrying that perhaps there are some things still at loose ends that need his attention back home. You've got the time. I know it is frustrating to be apart right now - but you will be together for the rest of your lives. The wait of a few months is actually a small price to pay when you are talking about many years worth of a happy marriage.

[m.o. 2]

Yes, you need to get married before he can apply for AOS. In order to be eligible to apply to adjust status, he first has to fulfill the conditions of the K-1 viisa - getting married to you within 90 days of his entry to the US on the K-1 visa.

If you don't get married within the 90 days but get married after 90 days, he won't be eligible to adjust status based upon the K-1 visa, but he can still apply to adjust status based upon the marriage to you. Since the K-1 would no longer be applicable, you would have to file a new sponsorship petition - an I-130form that will take the place of the I-129f you submitted for the K-1. He could still only adjust status through marriage to you, though - not to any one else.

It does take a while to wrap up the loose ends of your life when you are relocating to a new country, so as long as he is in the US before the K-1 expires, you will be fine. He could enter January 12th, and he would be fine. The 90 days don't start until he enters the US. Let him have the time he needs to make sure everything is taken care of in the Philippines before he leaves so that he can feel comfortable about leaving, knowing he has done what he needed to do in order to leave, rather than have him feel rushed and worrying that perhaps there are some things still at loose ends that need his attention back home. You've got the time. I know it is frustrating to be apart right now - but you will be together for the rest of your lives. The wait of a few months is actually a small price to pay when you are talking about many years worth of a happy marriage.

thank you so much for your advice. i really appreciate it. in case we get married after 90 days of his arrival (hope that's not the case).. but just in case.. can he stay here in the US whiile waiting on the I30 petition? he is planning to come here on nov 17 and we want to get married in january or early february.

[Fight for Love 98]

i think your kind of confused...visa expiration means.....your fiance should leave pinas before that expired...usually it takes 6months before that expired since they issue it

now if he arrived on nov 17(POE)...you guys must marry within 90days or else he need to go back in pinas.

goodluck

There are two dates that you need to consider. The first is the date of the K-1 visa. It is valid for 6 months, and the visa needs to be used to enter the US before it expires. That mean's he needs to use it to travel to the US before January 13th.

When he goes through immigration at the US border, they will stamp the visa in his passport and write in a date 90 days in the future - and - most importantly, they will staple a small card called an I-94 visa into his passport. The I-94 visa will have the same 90 days in the future date written or stamped on it. This is the date by which you need to get married.

So, you need to use the K-1 visa to enter the US before it expires, but once it is used, it is used up. He can't re-use it and the 'expiry' date doesn't matter anymore. His new immigration document is the I-94 form in his passport. This proves his legal status in the US for 90 days. The conditions on which he got the K-1 visa are still in place so that means the two of you need to get married before the I-94 expires.

Getting married still doesn't give him legal right to live in the US - it only gives him the right to apply to become a permanent resident based upon a K-1 visa marriage, so you and he will also have to apply to change his status from K-1 non-immigrant to Permanent Resident by filing an I-485 petition. You don't need to file this before the I-94 expires, but you should try to file before or shortly after the I-94 expires because once the I-94 expires, he loses legal status in the US. His legal status is re-instated when his application for a green card (AOS/Adjustment of Status) is submitted to USCIS..

I hope this helps.

(btw- I like your avatar !)

lol i thought i'm seeing twins lol :rofl:

[Kathryn41 3,205]

thank you so much for your advice. i really appreciate it. in case we get married after 90 days of his arrival (hope that's not the case).. but just in case.. can he stay here in the US whiile waiting on the I30 petition? he is planning to come here on nov 17 and we want to get married in january or early february.

Yes, he can stay, in fact, he MUST stay if you intend to file for the AOS. If he leaves, either before or after the marriage, and he does not have either his green card or permission to travel called an Advance Parole (AP) he will not be allowed to re-enter the US and you will have to start the whole immigration process all over again from the start. He will be out of legal status once the 90 days expire and will accumulate out of status days as well, which will put him at risk of being detained by ICE if he is stopped by them, or in some States, by local police. If he acquires more than 180 out of status days, then he will not be able even to use an AP to travel, and he would receive a 3 year ban upon re-entry to the US.

So, in the case where you do not marry within the 90 days, you need to file the I-130 and the I-485 with all of the rest of the related AOS paperwork at the same time and in the same envelope. There are several benefits - the most important being that once they receive the package with both the I-130 and the I-485 application, he immediately has 'legal status' again because he has filed for AOS. It will also allow USCIS to proceed right away with processing the AOS after the I-130 is approved. If you sent the I-130 in first, then you would have to wait for its approval and he would be out of status the whole time and accumulating out of status days.

The easiest thing to do is to fulfill the terms of the K-1 and get married within 90 days of his arrival to the US, even if you just have a small civil ceremony to get the paperwork started and have a big family celebratory 'wedding' later on.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Kathryn41