We're thinking CR-1

[christiannokes 0]

Hello Everybody, I am a first time poster and beginning to look into Visa options for my fiance...

So my Australian fiance and I met when she came to America in June of 2012. I am a US Citizen. We got engaged on August 12th. She was here on the 3 month VWP and left in September 2012. Now I am arranging for a trip to Australia in December-January. We are thinking about getting married while I am over there and going the CR-1 route while I find a job here.

Is it suspicious if you get married and submit a I-130 immediately after doing so?

She is 21 years old and I am 30. I am going to be getting a job soon but haven't had much income to show for over the last year.

Any ideas?

I know the K-1 might get her over here quicker but it so much more money and isn't that much faster it seems. I just hope that we don't get denied after all of the time that it will take to go the CR-1 route. That would be a crusher.

We want to do it the most legit way.

Thanks

-Christian

[Ryan H 3,856]

Is it suspicious if you get married and submit a I-130 immediately after doing so?

No

[MedRoni 161]

Submitting an I-130 right after marriage will not look suspicious. Getting married within 6 months of meeting may.

Just make sure to gather plenty of evidence for a bona fide relationship and be prepared if they ask about such a short courtship/engagement.

[canadian_wife 1,829]

You met in July 2012 and were engaged in August 2012? That's the suspicious part

But no, we filed 2 days after our wedding

Good luck

[christiannokes 0]

Ok. Yeah, I can see how an early engagement/marriage date would look suspicious. What would be a length of time that would look unsuspicious to them? How about if we got engaged in January when I went over there? There's nothing written down that says we are engaged at all so would telling them the engagement date was later be wise at all? Or risky? Maybe we could just change the marriage date to be later???

We know that we certainly want to be married to each other (we are both religious people and our religion is the foundation of our marriage) and are open to making it as easy as possible on ourselves through this whole thing. If that means waiting longer and changing the engagement date/marriage date then we would.

[christiannokes 0]

I don't mean to be sneaky or anything, but to me it sounds like they have to be convinced to not refuse us. I've been reading posts on this forum about people that sounded legitimately in love that had been denied.

So it's not about whether you are in love and want to spend the rest of your lives together, but whether or not you can convince them that that's what you want in addition to meeting the requirements, submitting forms, and paying the fees. As far as I'm concerned that means I have to play the game now, and I want to play it as best as possible so that my dear fiance and I don't have to be apart because we didn't do this consciously from the very beginning.

[canadian_wife 1,829]

The burden is always on you, the USC and the beneficiary to prove your marriage is legit.

Meeting and getting engaged within a month...doesn't that sound weird to you? It does to most of us

But make a decision on what is best for YOU, not USCIS

Good luck

[pushbrk 13,422]

You met in July 2012 and were engaged in August 2012? That's the suspicious part

But no, we filed 2 days after our wedding

Good luck

Except coming from low fraud countries like Australia or Canada, the suspicion is really not an issue. Once married, why would you wait to file? Most married folks would want to be together as soon as it can be arranged.

If filed 12 days after our marriage in China. No worries. The key issue is to have and document a bona fide relationship.

Edited October 29, 2012 by pushbrk

[NikLR 13,232]

When you're in love, you are in love. I married my husband 5 months after our engagement which was only a month after our first meeting. But we were already in love before the first meeting. I think it happens when you spend as much time talking and communicating long distance as people in our situations do. You get to know a person's inner workings faster than traditional dating as long as both are honest and open. I've seen fast engagements and marriages in person too. IMHO most people have a long engagement to plan for a wedding. It's my feelings that I would never say yes to the question unless I was prepared to do it the next day and keep those vows. An engagement isn't a trial period, that's what dating is. Engagement simply allows time to plan a wedding. But that's my opinion and off topic.

Met in July and married in Jan? Sounds fine if you both are okay with the wedding plans.

Edited October 29, 2012 by NikiR

[Darnell 8,479]

Since you'll be living and working in Australia -

why not wait a bit, chase after a DCF'd I-130 or the fast expedite queue for filers from abroad?

[christiannokes 0]

"Since you'll be living and working in Australia -

why not wait a bit, chase after a DCF'd I-130 or the fast expedite queue for filers from abroad? "

I won't be working there, and it's only going to be for a month. I need to rush back to America to get a job so that I can show that I have money to support her.

Thanks for all of the responses!