May not receive K1 in time for wedding - please help!

[PandK2016 0]

Agree

Why did you file for the K1?

From what we read, it seemed like the best way of being 100% official and honest.

Do you know how to cancel the K1?

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

You can cancel the K-1 but USCIS already has that record..lol. Say you come and get married and decide to change plans like you are changing one now and decide to adjust.

You will be on the hook for misrepresentation because you knew what you were coming for.

And you can't lie to Customs officials. You are answer could result in your being turn back and put on a flight back to UK.

So your best bet is to move whatever preparation you have made back..

[Boiler 46,885]

You can cancel the K-1 but USCIS already has that record..lol. Say you come and get married and decide to change plans like you are changing one now and decide to adjust.

You will be on the hook for misrepresentation because you knew what you were coming for.

And you can't lie to Customs officials. You are answer could result in your being turn back and put on a flight back to UK.

So your best bet is to move whatever preparation you have made back..

All horribly wrong and best ignored.

[Alaska2012 462]

You don't need a K1 to get married in the US. If you want to stay after the wedding then K1 is the way to go. But if you just want to get married and have no plans on moving until later you can just fly over with the ESTA and get married. It's perfectly fine. Many of us have done so. I don't understand why you want to pay for K1 now and CR1 later?

Edited March 7, 2016 by Alaska2012

[cdneh 3,112]

I'd be putting the wedding off. I understand that money is at stake here, but I'd chalk that up to lessons learned and rebook for later. Once you had the actual visa. Actually, i didn't plan a wedding at all. I didn't want anything getting in the way of getting to the USA, and being able to remain. I didn't want to have to leave again, and wait a year plus to be allowed back.

[Boiler 46,885]

I'd be putting the wedding off. I understand that money is at stake here, but I'd chalk that up to lessons learned and rebook for later. Once you had the actual visa. Actually, i didn't plan a wedding at all. I didn't want anything getting in the way of getting to the USA, and being able to remain. I didn't want to have to leave again, and wait a year plus to be allowed back.

They do not want to remain.

[signalsfly 6]

As a few others have said - it's perfectly legal to go across to the US on an ESTA get married and return home. If anything the K1 is almost a less 'honest' way of going about it as it's with the intent of marrying and then adjusting your status in the US.

If you really do have no desire to immigrate to the US after your wedding, your best bet is probably just to cancel the K1/remove the petition and instead go across in August using an ESTA. Be completely honest but don't volunteer information that isn't necessary and make sure you have lots of evidence of strong ties to the UK (reasons to stay - leases/jobs to get back to/school/etc.). Then, if border control do find the fact you applied for the K1 suspicious you stand a good chance at proving you don't have an intent to stay after the ceremony.

Another option is that you could cancel the K1 closer to August if it looks like it wouldn't be accepted on time - if you decided to continue with the process and still have the wedding. But, if you don't intend to stay in the US then there isn't much purpose to continuing the process!

Edited March 7, 2016 by signalsfly

[tomriesgo 39]

Your K1 is pretty useless for the purpose of going to the US getting married and not choosing to adjust status. You could have gone on a visa waiver got married while "on vacation" and returned. Later applied for a spouse visa. I'm not sure if cancelling a K1 and going to the US will raise any eyebrows, but its possible.

[Anh map 2,098]

The K1 is for relocating to the US. If the intention is just to get married in the US and return to your home country then a visitor visa is all that is needed.

Withdraw the K1 petition (no refunds) and proceed with your plans. Your record will remain in the system so you may be asked some questions about it by CBP. Assuming you travel through a pre-clearance airport you won't have the stress of being possibly turned away on the American side of the Atlantic.

Simply tell the truth if asked. Life happens, Immigration is confusing. You are just going to the US for the ceremony and then returning (without spouse?).

[Lainie B 465]

You should never have filed the I-129f.

My friends made the same mistake. Their I-129f was approved before they realised. They never applied for the visa itself. They simply entered on the VWP and got married and left. Nothing was said at POE about the approved petition

[tomyka81 95]

Don't feel bad.... I have set two wedding dates and made concrete plans only to be still waiting. So I know the feeling. Utter embarrassment. But hey what can you do....?

[templeton 120]

OP, I think you've been on the wrong track from the beginning. If you weren't planning to stay in the US after getting married, there's no need for a K-1.

You come as a tourist, get married and then go home.

[Ms Hogan 295]

I don't know why there is so much advice about sticking with the K1 and then filing the CR1 later. I would cancel the K1 since you aren't planning on staying here anyway. Get whatever you need in order to come visit but when you come visit for your wedding come early enough to make sure you can get across the border in time, don't bring more stuff than necessary and have evidence showing your ties to going back home after your visit. Return flights, lease agreement, job? etc etc

That's my opinion.

Plenty of people get married in the U.S. while visiting and then go home. Even people who aren't marrying an American do that

[cdneh 3,112]

They do not want to remain.

No, the OP does not. However, I understood that they want to return down the line, as the other half of this couple is a USC and lives here. So, they arrive on an ESTA, cancel the K1, get married, and one half goes home. I hope they understand it may take a year, or longer, before the CR1 is a reality.

Seems to me, that is one heck of a lot more trouble than moving the blessed wedding off.

[JFH 12,192]

No, the OP does not. However, I understood that they want to return down the line, as the other half of this couple is a USC and lives here. So, they arrive on an ESTA, cancel the K1, get married, and one half goes home. I hope they understand it may take a year, or longer, before the CR1 is a reality.

Seems to me, that is one heck of a lot more trouble than moving the blessed wedding off.

He has said that his future wife is going to be moving to the UK. No visa of any description required for the OP if they are making the UK their home.

It looks like the OP simply got confused and that is very easy to do if you're from the UK as visas are required for non-EU nationals to marry in the UK, even if they have no intention of staying, are just coming here because they think it's a nice place to get married. Because we are used to people needing visas to come here to get married, it is often assumed that the same applies elsewhere and that to marry in the US you need a fiancé visa. Not so.