Future Fiance Visiting US & Pregnant - Marry Now or Later?

[frenchiedre 0]

Hello all.

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide:

My girlfriend and future fiance has been visiting the US from France for the last year in 3 month periods. We go back and forth together as we both have jobs that allow remote working. We have not violated any visa laws, as far as we know. We planned after her current visit to return to France (Dec 10th) and then apply for a K-1 Visa Dec 11th (or shortly thereafter) to minimize our time apart. Whammy: a week after she came for her current visit (October 5th) we found out she is 5 weeks pregnant.

She will return to France to have the baby because of health care/ monetary reasons.

My theory is that I think we should get married in the US, return to France, get married there so that I can with her during the pregnancy and not have to leave. We apply for a Visa for her in the US as soon as we get married, before returning to France. We then return to France, knowing that we probably can not return to the US until her visa is approved. It is not a problem that we can not return for 8 months to 1 year.

Is this a good plan, am I missing something and are the any potential issues with this plan? Are we breaking any laws? We did not plan this, we would be getting married for both Visa reasons and it is my personal belief of baby = marriage.

Lord o might what a stressful situation this has been

Thanks again!

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Either Visa will take a yearish to have a visa in hand. You will need to be making enough to support 3 of the AOS . The child will travel on a US passport so that is no issue. If her legally working in the US is an issue then a CR1 is a better visa to work immediate an slightly cheaper overall. You could file today if you wish, and she still leave to have her baby at home. That would shorten the process by a few weeks. ( as soon as you marry if you go for the CR1 )

[frenchiedre 0]

Thanks igwe and lolo. Am I correct in my assumption that she most likely will not be able to return until we have the CR1 in hand? We would go for that one because she does want the ability to work here. I supposie I posted in the wrong forum. Thanks again.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

If she can show strong ties she could travel as long as it is medically ok any doctors do not like the idea of a birth 40000 feet in the air and will suggest not flying later on. Keep this in mind so you don't get trapped on the non insured side of the ocean. Of course the little bump will cause more questions and need more proofs

[teach706 3]

Congratulations on the baby!

Your plan sounds like it will work, but you should look into petitioning from France if you will have residence there after December. It could shave several months off of your wait.

To petition as a French resident, you'll need your titre de sejour. If you don't already have one, consider applying for a spousal visa at the French Consulate before heading back to France in December. You can't get the titre de sejour on a tourist visa / visa waiver. (It would also keep you regular in France if you plan to stay more than three months.)

For the AOS, you'll need to show 25k in income on your most recent IRS transcripts. If you can meet that requirement, start looking for a co-sponsor.

When your child is born, you'll need to schedule an appointment at the US Embassy / Consulate to apply for a consular report of birth abroad, passport and SSN. The baby should enter the US on an American passport.

Do you plan to marry in both countries just for the sake of ceremony? It's not something you have to do.

Our daughter was born in France two years ago, and it's been an unbelievably crazy, magical ride. Having your baby there is a good choice. Good luck!

[milimelo 4,494]

Once you get married in the US that's it - you're married. So no additional marrying in France as you will already be married. Check with the French embassy in the US what sort of paperwork you need for France.

My theory is that I think we should get married in the US, return to France, get married there so that I can with her during the pregnancy and not have to leave.

[loladolly 51]

Hello all.

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide:

My girlfriend and future fiance has been visiting the US from France for the last year in 3 month periods. We go back and forth together as we both have jobs that allow remote working. We have not violated any visa laws, as far as we know. We planned after her current visit to return to France (Dec 10th) and then apply for a K-1 Visa Dec 11th (or shortly thereafter) to minimize our time apart. Whammy: a week after she came for her current visit (October 5th) we found out she is 5 weeks pregnant.

She will return to France to have the baby because of health care/ monetary reasons.

My theory is that I think we should get married in the US, return to France, get married there so that I can with her during the pregnancy and not have to leave. We apply for a Visa for her in the US as soon as we get married, before returning to France. We then return to France, knowing that we probably can not return to the US until her visa is approved. It is not a problem that we can not return for 8 months to 1 year.

Is this a good plan, am I missing something and are the any potential issues with this plan? Are we breaking any laws? We did not plan this, we would be getting married for both Visa reasons and it is my personal belief of baby = marriage.

Lord o might what a stressful situation this has been

Thanks again!

Congrats to you both !

So i would strongly advise you against a CR1 if you are looking for a fast option. Right now just the approval of the spouse petition takes over a year ! And then there is the nvc and embassy stage left, you are looking at over a year and a half of procedure... There is no DCF possible in paris embassy...

The K1 petitions are being approved pretty fast right now (under the 5 months mark for both service centers) so you can count on less than a year for the whole procedure (i would say 7/8 months overall). It is a little more expensive with the K1 but while waiting for the approval of her AOS in the US she will get the EAD in the mid time so there is no issues with her working.

[frenchiedre 0]

teach706, we'll have a ceremony in France since both our families can't be here. Thanks for asking.

I'm getting a bit confused which is not saying much

Let me ask this, under my stated circumstances, what is the best route for us to be together and have the baby in France where she has insurance without my having to apply for residency there? I (US Citizen) want to be in France with her from March on wards. Baby is due May 30th. I'd like to try to get 3 of us back to the US by Nov 2014 with her in the US by then if at all possible. She doesn't have to have a green card by then, I just want for us to be able to return by that time. I don't want to apply for French residency if I don't have to, we want to live in the US after the baby is due.

Options as I see it:

Marry in US then go to France and apply for a CR1 visa? Negative is the time frame, we won't be back by November.

Go to France and apply for K1? How could I stay in france for more than 90/180 rule? I can't imagine being away for 90 days...

Guess other option is to marry here and have her stay here but that would be cost prohibitive because of her not having US insurance.

Thanks to everyone (loladolly, nigeraorbust, milimelo, teach706) for their input.

[Boiler 45,641]

Marry now apply now?

[TBoneTX 45,451]

*** Thread moved from K-1 Process forum to the "What Visa Do I Need" forum -- OP is weighing visa paths. ***

[clem 2]

I would also advise a k1 visa more than a CR1 visa because of waiting time....

my k1 visa got delivered in Paris and the whole thing took one year (even if we had anticipated each step).... so it might be also too much in your situation

I would consider another option.

You and your girlfriend have decided to get married when she got pregnant right?

If that's the case she did not break any law when she entered the US as a visitor.

You might propose and get married in the US without a visa since your mutual decision of getting married was spontaneous.

Once married she would be covered by your healthcare plan and it would be fine to have the baby here?

My fiance had met with an immigration attorney who had explained that the law is the following:

-either you anticipate your mariage (leave your job, sell your apartment) and in this case you need to apply for a visa

-or your decision is spontaneous (your fiancee arrived as a visitor and you made the decision of getting married while she was here). In that case if you can prove there was no anticipation you would not even need a visa.

I know it might sound tricky comparing to all people who applied for a visa and waited for it (me included) but that s what the lawyer had said. If i were you if you want to take that path I would meet with one and be carefully advised what needs to be done to do that.

Good luck!

[teach706 3]

teach706, we'll have a ceremony in France since both our families can't be here. Thanks for asking.

I'm getting a bit confused which is not saying much

Let me ask this, under my stated circumstances, what is the best route for us to be together and have the baby in France where she has insurance without my having to apply for residency there? I (US Citizen) want to be in France with her from March on wards. Baby is due May 30th. I'd like to try to get 3 of us back to the US by Nov 2014 with her in the US by then if at all possible. She doesn't have to have a green card by then, I just want for us to be able to return by that time. I don't want to apply for French residency if I don't have to, we want to live in the US after the baby is due.

Options as I see it:

Marry in US then go to France and apply for a CR1 visa? Negative is the time frame, we won't be back by November.

Go to France and apply for K1? How could I stay in france for more than 90/180 rule? I can't imagine being away for 90 days...

Guess other option is to marry here and have her stay here but that would be cost prohibitive because of her not having US insurance.

Thanks to everyone (loladolly, nigeraorbust, milimelo, teach706) for their input.

If you want to stay in France for more than 3 months legally, you'll need a visa of some kind. The only other way I see for you to be together throughout the pregnancy and to have the baby in France (without one of you being out of status) is to spend Dec - Feb in a country outside of the US or EU.

It really should be easier. I hope someone else has ideas that will help!

[Boiler 45,641]

What makes you think he has health insurance, did I miss it?

[Dfibus 16]

Why not marry in the states and apply for aos...

[frenchiedre 0]

I do have health insurance in the states and will explore that option. I didn't think about the fact I could get her covered under my health care plan. I'll be calling on that option this morning.

We did not plan to get married on this visit. Our plan has been to apply for a K-1 visa 12/11/13, the day she left from this latest 10/5/13 to 12/10/13 visit.

I think we can prove that we had no plans to marry on this visit of hers. I actually don't know how we could prove that other than the fact that we found out she was pregnant days after she got here. Maybe we could show emails to our friends of the excruciating decisions we have been having to contemplate. Unplanned pregnancies can certainly be stressful.

I like the marry now apply now route but if we chose to leave for France for the pregnancy, there are a lot of issues with return dates. 6 of 1, 1/2 dozen of the other. My main thing is I don't want to be away from the baby and I'm not so sure this is going to be avoidable under our circumstances.