Closing my eyes and jumping in head first

[HollyGolightly 72]

Hello everyone,

My boyfriend of almost 4 years just asked me to marry him about a day ago. I said yes and now I am not sure how to proceed.

We met in the Philippines when he was working as a teacher for a local school there. Shortly after, he moved to Japan until the Tsunami of 2011 devastated the town where he worked. He returned to the U.S. and now lives and works in Colorado. We maintained our relationship despite the distance and arranged visits. I spent the holidays with his family twice when I visited him in his home town of New Orleans. He also came back to the Philippines in the hope that he could find a good job and we could be together there but things didn't work out as he had planned so he decided to apply for jobs in the U.S. Continuing on the arrangement to visit each other, I came here on a sabbatical (6mo leave) from my 5 year government job in the Philippines. I did not intend to stay. I came here with 2 suitcases, one of which was empty so I could fill it with little trinkets from shopping in Denver. I have a car, house, dogs and friends waiting for me back in Manila.

I am torn. I love him and I do want to start a life with him but deciding to get married and staying here feels like a huge step. As if marriage isn't scary enough, I find this site and all the horror stories about filing visa adjustments, paper works, interviews, application denials etc. I do not understand how something so simple as marriage and a relationship between two people can be made complicated by such a circuitous system.

Wish me luck and thank all of you for the resource and the wealth of knowledge from your experiences. I am going to put all this to good use in my own visa journey.

[me & her 2]

wishing you well

[JBForever 12]

as far as i know, you would need to go back home (after your visit to the US) and have him file for a fiance visa petition for you so you two can get married in the US. you can also get married in the phils and file for K3 or spousal visa. either way is about the same processing time. Check out the guides on this site. its very helpful. Good luck!

[bigdog 376]

K3 is not used at this time and has not been. We did K-1 but would have gotten married first, about the same time and less money. Check out the guides.

as far as i know, you would need to go back home (after your visit to the US) and have him file for a fiance visa petition for you so you two can get married in the US. you can also get married in the phils and file for K3 or spousal visa. either way is about the same processing time. Check out the guides on this site. its very helpful. Good luck!

K-3 is not used.