Do we need to have a wedding within 90 days or is a legal marriage sufficient?

[kthruelsen 2]

Hey there guys,

As the topic title suggests, I am curious to know if the USCIS wants to see plans ready for an actual marriage upon arrival of my fiance? I would assume no however I have seen a couple sources on the internet saying yes, I need to have a wedding planned.

Can anyone shed some light on the validity of this?

Thanks again!

~Kevin

[asianculture 14]

When your fiance arrived in USA, they will give her 90 days validity of her visa, you guys have to get married and file for adjustment of status within 90 days to avoid problem.

If she didn't get married within 90 days, she is no longer allowed to adjust status for green card and she will be undocumented without a chance to adjust anymore.

[Girl from Celebes 588]

Hey there guys,

As the topic title suggests, I am curious to know if the USCIS wants to see plans ready for an actual marriage upon arrival of my fiance? I would assume no however I have seen a couple sources on the internet saying yes, I need to have a wedding planned.

Can anyone shed some light on the validity of this?

Thanks again!

~Kevin

No wedding planned is needed. All you have to do is get married within 90 days to fulfill K-1 visa requirement.

[kthruelsen 2]

So no actual wedding. Gotcha.

Thanks Girl From Celebes!

[Girl from Celebes 588]

So no actual wedding. Gotcha.

Thanks Girl From Celebes!

You're welcome. My husband and I got married in the courthouse and no wedding ceremony.

[khenzee 5]

When your fiance arrived in USA, they will give her 90 days validity of her visa, you guys have to get married and file for adjustment of status within 90 days to avoid problem.

If she didn't get married within 90 days, she is no longer allowed to adjust status for green card and she will be undocumented without a chance to adjust anymore.

Not true. Will still be able to adjust.

[asianculture 14]

My husband an I went to the court house last week to get married and that's it! Today we sent our AOS .

[Pitaya 2,576]

When your fiance arrived in USA, they will give her 90 days validity of her visa, you guys have to get married and file for adjustment of status within 90 days to avoid problem.

If she didn't get married within 90 days, she is no longer allowed to adjust status for green card and she will be undocumented without a chance to adjust anymore.

That is incorrect. See response below.

Edited September 4, 2014 by A&B

[Pitaya 2,576]

When your fiance arrived in USA, they will give her 90 days validity of her visa, you guys have to get married and file for adjustment of status within 90 days to avoid problem.

If she didn't get married within 90 days, she is no longer allowed to adjust status for green card and she will be undocumented without a chance to adjust anymore.

That is incorrect. The K-1 visa is a one-time, one-way visa that is null and void once the foreign fiancé(e) enters the US at their POE. The foreign fiancé(e) immigration status is then dependent on their I-94. To fulfill K-1 visa requirements, the foreign fiancé(e) has to marry their USC petitioner within 90 days of their US arrival. There is NO specific timeline requirement for starting the adjustment of status (AOS) process. It IS a general forum recommendation to start the AOS process as soon as possible after marriage. The foreign spouse can start the AOS process anytime after marriage, however, it is advisable start the AOS process prior to the expiration of the I-94, as that you will start accumulating out-of-status days, and that may complicate your immigration journey. There are many benefits for starting the AOS processes, look at the Guides, Flowchart, and forum threads for further details.

[raven52 233]

We were just asked when we came through POE, about when we planned to marry, and being warned, "you must be married in 90 days, or we will be knocking on your door".,.,.,..,was his words!

[lizascissors 65]

Just make sure you get photos at your courthouse wedding to use as evidence with AOS!!!

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

When your fiance arrived in USA, they will give her 90 days validity of her visa, you guys have to get married and file for adjustment of status within 90 days to avoid problem.

If she didn't get married within 90 days, she is no longer allowed to adjust status for green card and she will be undocumented without a chance to adjust anymore.

If they marry within 90 days of entry then there is no deadline to file for AOS. They will be out of status when the I-94 expires, but they do not have to file for AOS within those 90 days

As for not marrying within the 90 days, they can still adjust status. They are just no longer to adjust status based on the approved I-129F petition and marriage within 90 days of the K-1 visa entry. The USC spouse would need to file an I-130 along with the AOS forms because the eligibility would then need to be based on an immigrant petition instead.

Edited September 4, 2014 by KayDeeCee

[Rudy & Keren 7]

Hey there guys,

As the topic title suggests, I am curious to know if the USCIS wants to see plans ready for an actual marriage upon arrival of my fiance? I would assume no however I have seen a couple sources on the internet saying yes, I need to have a wedding planned.

Can anyone shed some light on the validity of this?

Thanks again!

~Kevin

Kevin

Technically no you don't have to have a wedding planned for the fiancee visa, BUT

They will not issue a visa if one or more govt officers reviewing the visa petition doesn't see enough to confirm their is an intent to marry.

the fiancee visa is not issued unless a couple convinces the govt officers they are engaged and the person is entering the US to marry.

They only have what ever info you provide in the 1-129F petition so IF you do a real good job with the rest of the petition the officers that review it may not want to see any more "proof" of intent to marry.

But do you want to take the chance that they will slow the process and request more information?

I had some low cost invitations made and set a likely date in the coming months for my wedding.

I listed my residence as the place we will marry and have the reception.

I supplied a guest list also.

Wedding dates and times are subject to change so if after my fiancee arrives in the us we decide to hold the wedding at a different place or time. The govt doesn't care as long as you marry within 90 days of entry.

In fact both of us submitted original signed letters of intent to marry within 90 days. She signed hers and mailed to me up here in the US and it went into the petition.

My suggestion is to spend a lot of time reading the many guides and comments on the I-129F so that you can understand what works decent and what works really well.

I got 70% of the knowledge to put together my own 500 page I-129F petition from this site which is awesome!!

Last comment is that from what I read and understand, the more complete your visa petition is that initially gets filed with the USCIS the easier it may be once the fiancee finally gets to the US embassy for the required interview!

The officer will review the petition before speaking with the fiancee and so if the visa petition that was initially filed left him or her with a warm and fuzzy feeling that the couple was in love. well there will be fewer questions potentially to ask.

Thats why it was a no brainier for me to get some wedding invitations printed.

Hope that helps give you something to think about.

[nobbie 105]

a courthouse marriage is a wedding, just get married one way or the other within 90 days of arrival.

Most folk on a K1 cant plan it as you never know when you are going to get the visa in hand. We just got here, then a couple of weeks later got married in a park with a small group of her family. That's all you need to then file for AoS. You can have a family thrash later on, we had ours 7 months later.

[Zedayn 485]

Just make sure you get photos at your courthouse wedding to use as evidence with AOS!!!

The marriage certificate is evidence of the wedding.