Wedding in the church before k1 approval?- (NOT singing certificates until after)??

[Jaded337 0]

Hey everyone. Fist off my fiance and I are are not trying to cheat on anything. We're going thought the whole process and all so don't panic. Also I am aware that if we got legally married without the K1 being approved we would be abandoning our case and we'd need to file for a spousal visa.

So here's the situation, We're not really sure what we're going to do yet. We're still looking at all the logistics of everything but we really want to be together within the next 6 months. So if her visa get's approved by then what we would like to do is have the wedding ceremony in Mexico, Sign NO documents or anything, have our honeymoon in Mexico. Then come to the states using her K1 visa and go to the court house and sign a marriage license.

That's the first option, The second option is this: is that if for some reason our application get's delayed, and it starts to look like it probably won't be ready until maybe 9 or 10 months from now, instead of 6. What we would like to do is for her come here in February using her tourist visa, have a wedding ceremony in the church, but not sign any documents or anything. and then around May when the visa is ready go to Juarez for the appointment, get the visa, and then return to the states and officiate everything in the court house.

As far as I can tell where we both live, neither Common law marriage nor wedding cerimonies are considered legally binding. With that said, I'd assume that USCIS wouldn't consider us married as well being that we would have only been married in the church but haven't singed anything.

What do y'all thank?

[Hypnos 6,577]

Visas can and have been denied because the embassy has checked out your Facebook page and seen pictures of the wedding and/or people referring to their fiance/e as their husband or wife, even if the ceremony was not considered legally binding.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Hypnos

[Anh map 2,098]

Signing a marriage license gets you the "permit" for a wedding ceremony. After that an authorized person (judge, clergy, etc.) has to perform the ceremony and then file the paperwork with the appropriate government offce.

You can have a party for any reason. Stand up in front of a group of friends and family and say anything that you want. But don't give yourselves potential headaches by having an unofficial official ceremony.

Immigration takes time and patience. Love and yearning doesn't make most folks act patiently. Immigrating using a vistor visa (coming in February) is against immigration law. Be careful that you don't outsmart yourselves.

[Maritah 101]

If you are under the process of K-1 visa, I strongly suggest you don't do it. Don't take the risk and get a denial for that.

Good luck with your journey.

M.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Technically, you can do that.

Realistically, we have had people here denied because the embassy thought they were married, based on seeing "wedding like" photos on FB or being submitted, friends and family refering to the couple as husband and wife or referencing the wedding in emails or interviews, and similar issues. I wouldn't risk it.

[Illiria 980]

It's not just at the K1 visa interview that this can be raised as an issue.

At my adjustment of status interview they grilled me on a photo of us at my father in laws second wedding. I had only included as it is my husbands favorite picture of us.

We had to explain in detail that this was not our wedding and that my husband was just acting as best man for his father as the interviewer was convinced by this innocent photo that we got married years ago. As my husband had witnessed the marriage I offered to get a copy of my father in laws marriage certificate to prove he got married when we say he did and an affidavit from witness's to attest that my husband was best man. It was only at this point that she backed down.

[Jaded337 0]

When y'all are saying y'all wouldn't advise it are y'all mostly referring to the second scenario or either of them. I completely understand that for the second one as it would be a big risk. we would be living together and there could be a lot of way's things could go wrong and get us denied. So that's understandable (Although I still want to believe there's a way, but I guess I have to get my head out of the clouds. Also for clarity when I say Marriage ceremony I mean getting in front of a a group of family and friends at the church and have a pastor speak a little and say I can kiss the bride. etc. But from what everyone is saying USCIS doesn't if you signed papers or not. If y'all wear the title it's enough for them...

Anyway, but with the first scenario are y'all also advising me against that. From all I can tell it should't be much of a problem being that we wouldn't have the wedding until after she already has the visa in hand. We'de just be having a celebration with her family and our honeymoon in Mexico before coming to the states to sign everything before the 90 day's are up.

Illiria, I'm glad you just said that because my fiancee and I have a few pictures of us together at my sisters wedding and she's in a blue dress( not really anything bridal looking, and I was a groomsmen with a suit.) Maybe I should take those out or add a copy of my sisters marriage certificate or something

Edited October 4, 2015 by Jaded337

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Both options could get you into serious trouble once aos time comes. Have a party by all means. Not a wedding symbolic or not.

[Jaded337 0]

Well I guess that does it then' All my dreams shattered. haha. I really didn't think it was that big of a deal but I guess USCIS sees differently. So y'all don't think I'm crazy/ trying to get around the rules. The reason I thought it really wouldn't matter is because. Religiously speaking I believe I just need to be married in a church infront of God and my family/friends and that's sufficient. However the government won't except that. If I just get married in a church and never sign any documents stating we're married I can't file my taxes as being married or if one of us get's sick or something you have no hospital rights or decision making rights. etc. Following that logic I figured that if to obtain all of those right's with your spouse you have to file the proper documentation then vise versa even if you have a celebration or ceremony but don't sign anything I didn't think it would carry much weight for USCIS. But oh-well. I'll just keep hoping we get approved without any delays or anything. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

[Lemonslice 4,898]

Well I guess that does it then' All my dreams shattered. haha. I really didn't think it was that big of a deal but I guess USCIS sees differently. So y'all don't think I'm crazy/ trying to get around the rules. The reason I thought it really wouldn't matter is because. Religiously speaking I believe I just need to be married in a church infront of God and my family/friends and that's sufficient. However the government won't except that. If I just get married in a church and never sign any documents stating we're married I can't file my taxes as being married or if one of us get's sick or something you have no hospital rights or decision making rights. etc. Following that logic I figured that if to obtain all of those right's with your spouse you have to file the proper documentation then vise versa even if you have a celebration or ceremony but don't sign anything I didn't think it would carry much weight for USCIS. But oh-well. I'll just keep hoping we get approved without any delays or anything. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

Problem is, if you have a wedding and you get married (you're saying it yourself, that you will be married and consider yourself married) and USCIS think you are married, you will have to prove you are not. Proving a negative (to their satisfaction) might be much harder than you imagine. Totally honeymoon before though!!! and after!

Edited October 4, 2015 by Boston~Montreal

[Illiria 980]

I would say do not have anything that looks like a wedding before they are in the US on the fiancé visa.

You can always do a court house marriage in the US after coming on the fiancé visa and then later once the adjustment of status is in and you either have the green card or advance parole you can have the wedding you dreamt of.

I know quite a few people who do this, they use their official marriage date for their green card application but when they privately celebrate their anniversary they celebrate the religious wedding they had later as that is when they considered themselves truly married.

[EmilyandJas 0]

I have the same question. I was told that as ling as it's not legally binding that it would be ok. The more I look into it, it seems that 's not that simple though. I wish there was something crystal clear on this issue as it is very confusing. To me, what two people do in a ceremony or religious union has no law that can even touch that. I mean really someone who wants a K1 Visa wants to be able to live in the Unites States and to legally marry their partner to remain here and to have legal and of course working authorization. Anyone else have any more information on this topic?

[EmilyandJas 0]

Technically, you can do that.

Realistically, we have had people here denied because the embassy thought they were married, based on seeing "wedding like" photos on FB or being submitted, friends and family refering to the couple as husband and wife or referencing the wedding in emails or interviews, and similar issues. I wouldn't risk it.

When you say "emails" what do you mean exactly. Are we to assume every bit of our photos on the internet and emails will be tapped into? Just how invasive do they get when searching? Isn't the point of us giving substantial proof enough, or are there spies everywhere haha?

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

When you say "emails" what do you mean exactly. Are we to assume every bit of our photos on the internet and emails will be tapped into? Just how invasive do they get when searching? Isn't the point of us giving substantial proof enough, or are there spies everywhere haha?

Well, we have had people on here going for a K1 who have been foolish enough to submit, as bonafide evidence, emails where they called eachother husband and wife as nicknames, and holiday cards where they were addressed by family as a married couple... But yes, it is pretty standard in many embassies to google the couple's names, and looks at public stuff; we have also had cases where they asked for the couple's facebook and email passwords to look at the private things, though that seems mostly when there were major red flags already.