Holding the ceremony outside of the USA?

[TimsDaisy 0]

Hawaii is a state - how about that?

As for Puerto Rico - I would make some calls on that one. The commercials their tourism board have been running on TV clearly say at the bottom "No passport required for US Citizens." But your foreign fiance isn't a US Citizen yet, right? So I wouldn't book anything before making damn sure it counts. The US also has some Virgin Islands under its control, but I would be less certain about them

Then, as rebeccajo said, there's TONS of tropical Florida Coast, and how about Cali? We got lots of stuff here. Hey - Catalina Island easily doubles for the Italian Riviera!

Bottom line: DON'T ASSUME! Find out for sure before you travel. I don't think I've seen any confirmation here that someone went to PR or an American Virgin Island and had no troubles. In fact, I wouldn't even book a cruise that enters international waters without making damn sure nothing went pear-shapped on the way back!

(p.s. No, technically it is not all the same country. Puerto Rico may be a territory, so, colloquially it is "part" of the US, but not really - they don't have full citizenship rights, they don't have seats in Congress, etc. NOT A STATE! So not the same thing as a state.)

Edited April 26, 2007 by TimsDaisy

[TimsDaisy 0]

Not so fast! According to wikipedia - which MUST be all true, right?! - people born in Puerto Rico ARE in fact citizens. So I was wrong there, assuming wiki is right. I would still double check the hell out of traveling there for NON US citizens, however. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_rico

[Yodrak 8]

Duke,

To be recognized for US immigration purposes a marriage has to be valid in the jurisdiction where it took place. One should follow whatever guidelines and process are required by the jurisdiction where one wishes to be married, be that jurisdiction a US state, a US territory, or a non-US jurisdiction.

Yodrak

There seems to be a false assumption prevelant. The US Government does not automatically recognize all foreign marriages. Foreign marriages have to conform to certain guidelines, and a specific process has to be followed, to be regognized in the USA. .....

[Arnold_and_Joan 0]

STOP trying to push the envelope or trying to find loopholes with the K-1 Visa. Look what happened to this guy:

http://www.visajourney.com/news/2007/04/07/17/#more-17

Just follow the guidelines... enough with the "fake" or "Non-Legal" marriages. One slip up and you're going to regret it. Just get your fiance over here first, get married in one of the FIFTY States in the U.S., not the territories, not Virgin Islands, etc. Your future is just too precious to be second-guessing this way. Good Luck!!

[*JG* 2]

STOP trying to push the envelope or trying to find loopholes with the K-1 Visa. Look what happened to this guy:

http://www.visajourney.com/news/2007/04/07/17/#more-17

Just follow the guidelines... enough with the "fake" or "Non-Legal" marriages. One slip up and you're going to regret it. Just get your fiance over here first, get married in one of the FIFTY States in the U.S., not the territories, not Virgin Islands, etc. Your future is just too precious to be second-guessing this way. Good Luck!!

That is exactly what I said to that other post. A K-1 is a K-1 and has rules to follow. If it is that big a deal, get married in you SO's country and file for a K-3. I just don't see the big deal. The wedding is just a formality. The relationship....the marriage.....the rest of your life is so much more important. Would you really do anything to risk something that may come back to haunt at any time?

[TimsDaisy 0]

STOP trying to push the envelope or trying to find loopholes with the K-1 Visa. Look what happened to this guy:

http://www.visajourney.com/news/2007/04/07/17/#more-17

Just follow the guidelines... enough with the "fake" or "Non-Legal" marriages. One slip up and you're going to regret it. Just get your fiance over here first, get married in one of the FIFTY States in the U.S., not the territories, not Virgin Islands, etc. Your future is just too precious to be second-guessing this way. Good Luck!!

Yes, dumb chances are dumb. But non-legal marriages are non-legal marriages! To say that a non-legal marriage is the same as what the people in that article did is just incorrect! They got in trouble because they were legally married and still tried to use a FIANCE visa. Dumb.

As for the OP's question, however, as mentioned by many so far, there are PLENTY of mainland/HI/AK exotic locales that present no risk at all.

[Duke 0]

Just follow the guidelines... enough with the "fake" or "Non-Legal" marriages. One slip up and you're going to regret it. Just get your fiance over here first, get married in one of the FIFTY States in the U.S., not the territories, not Virgin Islands, etc. Your future is just too precious to be second-guessing this way. Good Luck!!

A non-licensed religious ceremony is as legally binding as two 12-year olds declaring that they're going steady. For someone to declare to a governmental official that they're "married" after having such a ceremony would be a lie.

Everyone on this site is trying to push the envelope and/or cut corners to some degree. If not, we would have all done things the "proper" way and hired immigration lawyers.

[*JG* 2]

I don't agree that the only "proper" way to do this is to hire a lawyer. I am smart enough and capable enough to search for, fill out, and file the proper forms.

[Dan J 277]

That story doesn't really apply, as they violated the terms of the visa by trying to enter after they were legally married.

Basically, there is marriage as defined by tradition and customs, and there is marriage as it applies to law. Simply getting married as defined by your customs, does not mean that the wedding is legal under the law, normally you go through an extra step or two to have the marriage legally recognized. In the US its getting a marriage license.

If necessary due to your situation, you can do each part seperatly. The terms of the K-1 visa only are concerned with a legal part of a marriage. If you don't go through with that part, you have nothing to worry about. My fiancee's parents want to have a wedding before she leaves to the US. So we will be having a non-legally binding ceremony for her parents in Indonesian customs before we travel to the US together. Then we will have a legally binding courthouse wedding to satisfy the 90 day requirement and so we can file for AOS. Possibly then followed up with a wedding in more western traditions for my parents at a later date probably past the 90 days.

The only thing you have to be aware of is when you go through the PoE, you are still engaged to be married. Although having a non-legal ceremony is perfectly fine, they may find a reason to delay or prevent you from entering if they suspect that you may be married, even though your not. Just don't give them any reason to think otherwise. If you used wedding rings for your non-legal ceremony, don't wear them through the PoE. And until you have a legal wedding in the US, your partner is still your fiancee.

A useless celebrity fact that is sorta related to this, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a legal wedding at a courthouse in California before they went to Italy to have their big wedding ceremony, they had to do that because Italy doesn't recognize Scientology weddings.

[meauxna 15]

A non-licensed religious ceremony is as legally binding as two 12-year olds declaring that they're going steady. For someone to declare to a governmental official that they're "married" after having such a ceremony would be a lie.

Thailand, VietNam or Cambodia much?

This is not a one-size fits all question.

[Arnold_and_Joan 0]

....

The only thing you have to be aware of is when you go through the PoE, you are still engaged to be married. Although having a non-legal ceremony is perfectly fine, they may find a reason to delay or prevent you from entering if they suspect that you may be married, even though your not. Just don't give them any reason to think otherwise. If you used wedding rings for your non-legal ceremony, don't wear them through the PoE. And until you have a legal wedding in the US, your partner is still your fiancee.

And this is the part that worries me. Small slip ups like this may hamper your journey. Being nervous and accidentally blurting out about "a wedding" can cause problems. It may just delay and not prevent your fiance from entering but it's just too much added stress to an already stressful journey IMHO. Just get married in Hawaii - they have great marriage packages that i'm looking at right now. Just do an "Engagement Party" if the family wants some kind of ceremony.

[eric_and_teresa 10]

A non-licensed religious ceremony is as legally binding as two 12-year olds declaring that they're going steady. For someone to declare to a governmental official that they're "married" after having such a ceremony would be a lie.

Thailand, VietNam or Cambodia much?

This is not a one-size fits all question.

Exactly! Civil laws are different from country to country. In some countries religious weddings are not legally binding, in some others they are. If someone want's to have a religious ceremony or traditional ceremony in the fiance's country before entering the U.S. wiht a K-1 they need to make sure such ceremonies are not considered legally binding in the place were the ceremony is celebrated. If this type of ceremony is not recognize by the country's authorities then they should be safe entering the US with your K-1 visa. If the marriage is not valid in the place were it took place it wont be considered valid for the US authorities either.

Edited April 30, 2007 by eric_and_teresa

[John & Annie 1]

Back to the OP:

The Answer to your question is Yes, provided you follow the rules:

1. Enter the US on the K1 Visa

2. Get Married Legally in the US

3. Apply for Adjustment of Status(AOS), Advanced Parole(AP), and a Employment Authorization Document (EAD)

4. Once you receive your AP, you can travel and have a tropical service

Otherwise there are some great suggestions earlier in the post.