K1 Visa Question

[JagsAK85 0]

Hi everyone, 

 

I am new here to this visajourney website in terms of posting questions, this is my first question.

My question is this.  My Fiancee and I are planning to get married, she is from the Philippines and I am from the USA, I am doing the Visa Fiancee Petition right now. Say everything goes well with the Visa Interview and she comes over here and we get married, the question is this of wanting to discover what the answer is.  After we get married over here in the USA, could we move back to the Philippines and live together in the Philippines or does she have to come and get married to me and stay over here, what is the law about getting married in the US and then going to the Philippines after we get married, is this even possible or would we be breaking the law by doing this?  It is a thought we boh are having and would like more information from someone that knows more about this.

 

Thanks A lot,

David.

[geowrian 22,335]

If she obtains a K-1 visa, she is permitted to enter the US for 90 days. During these 90 days, if you go through with the marriage, you can file for AOS so that she can stay in the US as a permanent resident (green card holder). AOS is currently taking over a year to complete at most offices, but she can remain in the US while the case processes. She can apply for AP to travel abroad and return, and an EAD to work. ETA: ~3-6 months from filing (file this with AOS). If she leaves the US after filing for AOS but before getting AP (or a green card), then her AOS application will be abandoned she won't be let back in without a new visa.

Also, the K-1 is single-use, so she can't return on that same visa.

 

If you don't want to stay in the US before filing for AOS, then you can just travel abroad. It's basically using the K-1 visa as a very long (~8-11 months) and expensive one-use tourist visa. Unless there is a specific reason to marry within the US, I don't suggest this route...just get married abroad. If you want to move to the US afterwards, you can petition her as a spouse at that time fine (and DCF is available for Philippines, which makes the process only a few months in most cases).

 

If she becomes a permanent resident then you want to live abroad, you can do that at any time. However, her permanent residence requires her to live in the US, so it would be abandoned in the process. In general, a permanent resident must reside within the US more than outside of it. Travel abroad in excess of 1 year has a presumption of abandoning residence, although any stay abroad over 6 months may raise scrutiny of abandoning residence.

If she did abandon her permanent residence status, she can formally abandon the LPR status then you can re-petition for a new green card at any time.

 

If she becomes a US citizen, she can travel abroad for any length of time without issue, then come back to the US.

Edited June 10, 2018 by geowrian

[JagsAK85 0]

thank you for answering my question, give me some thoughts to think about and see where I do want to take this procress.  Thank You for the reply.

[TNJ17 1,329]

A K1 visa is a visa for people who want to move to the US and live there permanently. You would be wasting a lot of time and money by doing K1 visa if you have no intention of living in the states. If you want to marry here have her get a tourist visa, get married here and move wherever you want. Or get married somewhere else. If you have no intentions of living here don’t go through the process. 

[JagsAK85 0]

Thank You TNJ17 and Geowrian for the answers

[JFH 12,189]

*~*~*procedural question moved from “progress reports” to “process and procedures”*~*~*

[Chris Duffy 1,256]

Option B:

 

Marry her in Philippines.

 

You will get Balikbayan Privilege

 

Just leave the country once a year, make a quick  trip to Hong Kong or Singapore with your wife and you will get one year free entry in Philippines

 

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/faqs/visa-inquiry/balikbayan-previlege

 

[Brittani 484]

The K1 is really for people who intend on immigrating to the US.

Marry there and live there. 

[JagsAK85 0]

11 hours ago, Chris Duffy said:

Option B:

 

Marry her in Philippines.

 

You will get Balikbayan Privilege

 

Just leave the country once a year, make a quick  trip to Hong Kong or Singapore with your wife and you will get one year free entry in Philippines

 

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/faqs/visa-inquiry/balikbayan-previlege

 

Never really thought about this option...I still have time to figure things out...thanks for the suggestion and if I have any questions regarding the balikbayan previlege... I'll ask in this thread...cheers

[JagsAK85 0]

1 hour ago, Brittani said:

The K1 is really for people who intend on immigrating to the US.

Marry there and live there. 

We do intend to get married in the US and she wants to live here for a few years then we'll see how things go after that....thank you for responding

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, JagsAK85 said:

We do intend to get married in the US and she wants to live here for a few years then we'll see how things go after that....thank you for responding

In that case she'll qualify for US citizenship after 3 years.  After that, you can travel to and live where you want without worrying about maintaining/abandoning residency.

[geowrian 22,335]

11 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

In that case she'll qualify for US citizenship after 3 years.  After that, you can travel to and live where you want without worrying about maintaining/abandoning residency.

Just to clarify to the OP...

 

If you marry then file for a CR-1 (spousal) visa, then she can apply for citizenship under the 3 years rule (assuming you remain married, met the other requirements, etc.). Processing timelines are ~12-16 months for the visa, then several months to a year or so for the N-400 (naturalization application). So you would be looking at ~5.5 years form now to citizenship if everything goes well, with about maybe 4 years living in the US.

 

If you do the K-1 visa then apply for AOS, the 3 year clock to apply for citizenship doesn't start until AOS is approved. So add another ~7-18 months of living in the US to the timeline if you go this route.

 

Personally, marrying and doing the spousal visa process seems like the best bet overall here. It's a few more months apart, but you can both live in the US for a little while and figure out where to go from there. If it ends up being living in the Philippines, she can abandon the green card at that time (and apply for a new one if you change your minds later). If you want to stay a little longer and get citizenship first, you have that option. Doing the K-1 here just doesn't seem like a good fit IMO.