Legal Wedding vs Religious ceremony

[LisaBrian 2]

My Canadian fiance and I haven't started fililng yet, but have been gathering information and documents.

I've read someone's timeline saying that the whole k-1 fiance visa journey from petition to his coming here would take about 8 months. i think we'll have our ducks in a row by springtime and can have a nice visit and file the 129 fiance petition together.

If we file in the spring, then that would put his arrival in Dec,Jan,Feb, and I really don't want a winter wedding. But from what I'm reading, the getting married in 3 months part is the legal issues. So, when he gets here, we can go to town hall and file for the wedding contract and do the legal end of it, and then take our time planning a religious ceremony in the spring with friends and family and a nice place.

I don't want to mess anything up, so I thought I'd ask. Is this correct?

Thanks, the site here has been very helpful already and we haven't officially started yet.

Edited December 24, 2013 by LisaBrian

[AlejandroEsther 1]

Not everyone's visa timing is the same it just depends on the process time and the quantity of cases the USCIS has, good luck

[Ryan H 3,903]

It's perfectly fine to have a civil wedding in order to fulfill the requirements of the K1 visa and then have a religious ceremony at a later time of your choosing.

[kitthekat 1,317]

My Canadian fiance and I haven't started fililng yet, but have been gathering information and documents.

I've read someone's timeline saying that the whole k-1 fiance visa journey from petition to his coming here would take about 8 months. i think we'll have our ducks in a row by springtime and can have a nice visit and file the 129 fiance petition together.

If we file in the spring, then that would put his arrival in Dec,Jan,Feb, and I really don't want a winter wedding. But from what I'm reading, the getting married in 3 months part is the legal issues. So, when he gets here, we can go to town hall and file for the wedding contract and do the legal end of it, and then take our time planning a religious ceremony in the spring with friends and family and a nice place.

I don't want to mess anything up, so I thought I'd ask. Is this correct?

Thanks, the site here has been very helpful already and we haven't officially started yet.

You can definitely do a courthouse wedding first to fulfil the 90 day requirement and then do a religious ceremony later (kinda like renewing your vows).

As to whether it will take 8 months, no one can say for certain if that will still hold in the spring. Right now, K1s are whizzing through the system (ours took 4-5 months from filing to visa issued) while in the past there have been periods where it's been well over a year. For a better indication, once you are ready to file, check the timelines of people who filed in the month/weeks just before you.