Chinese fiancee wants to travel on K-1 visa before coming to US?

[zhang2200 0]

This is my first post, though I've been lurking around for the past year and a half reading posts and getting information about the K-1 visa process as I went through it myself. I've read through a lot of the guides, and used the information to prevent problems or delays during the waiting period. However, I have a bit of an odd question that I don't think is answered in the guides.

My fiancee and I both love traveling, and I actually met her on a round-the-world trip 6 years ago. Although she's serious about getting married, she'd like to take one more small trip if possible before starting work or school. She'd love to tour Japan for just 3 or 4 days, then continue on to the US. Is this possible? I would think that most layovers are just 8-10 hours max (at least in my experience), and to get several days in a country you might need to buy two separate plane tickets. I'm worried that if she buys plane tickets, Japan might not honor her K-1 visa and it'll cause us problems. I'd imagine in this case that she'd also need to get a tourist visa to Japan? I'm worried that having two visas, one for marriage in the US, and one for tourism in another country might look suspicious to the officer at the Chinese airport. What are your thoughts? Are there any safe ways for her to travel Japan for just a few days?

She got the visa in November, by the way, and plans to come here in February.

[Darnell 8,480]

china-japan-usa ? sure - it's possible, no USA Visa change/involvement for that routing.

However, she'll need a tourist visa for Japan for her stay there. The China Immigration Exit control staff at the airport would choose whichever visa to look at, either (K-1 to USA or Tourist Visa to Japan) will allow her to exit China.

If she goes china-usa-japan, she'll not be able to return to USA on that K-1 visa, as it's a one-time, one-use entry .

Edited December 14, 2013 by Darnell

[FromPAUS 4]

Yes, sure. When she exits China show ticket to Japan and tourist visa to Japan. When she exits Japan, just show the ticket to US. Then don't case if you got a US visa or not since you are not their citizen.

[zhang2200 0]

Thanks very much for your replies. If she needs a tourist visa to Japan, then it might just be impossible for her to go. She was telling me that a tourist visa to Japan would be even more difficult to get than a tourist visa to the US, so it's not even worth trying in her opinion.