Going forward with Wedding while on AP.

[Jordan J 3]

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to ask your honest opinion and some moral support from anyone of you, who may have been in similar situation.
Me and my fiance (from Morocco) got engaged in 2017. My fiance's (K-1) interview at Embassy was on Oct 2017, since then;
she has been placed on AP for about a year now. The AP was for 221(g). Submit DS-5535 via email and mail missing police report.
The interview went well as they took her passport. The following week, she sent all missing documents and were received on their
end. But still on AP.

Contacted Embassy last week and got reply, saying the case is still in AP. We both are tired of AP, as it's not going anywhere.
We are planning to get married in Dec of this year. We both had been strong and understanding during these last 13 months.
But we want to get married to solidify our relationship and to make it easy for our worry-some parents. Plus its makes more sense
and logical to wait as husband and wife (after refiling for CR-1). This Wedding may also remove any doubts if there is any, in this
relationship. 

We both are from same religion, first marriage and no kids.. she is 9 years younger than me. And I have visited 4-times to Morocco
from the day we meet.

Fiance K-1 visa is still active in AP mode, we both are confused and don't know what should be done at the moment. Is it wise to
make this move. "Wedding while on AP"

 

Thanks

- Jordan J

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

You can.... or wait out the AP. If you do make sure to withdraw the case from the embassy and probably notify USCIS that you are canceling the petition.

 

Just getting married though doesn't "fix" things with the embassy for the CR-1 visa. This is what people always think, but it doesn't. You need to know what the hold up is... is it for doubt in the relationship? Is it a background security check issue? 

[payxibka 10,044]

5 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

You can.... or wait out the AP. If you do make sure to withdraw the case from the embassy and probably notify USCIS that you are canceling the petition.

 

Just getting married though doesn't "fix" things with the embassy for the CR-1 visa. This is what people always think, but it doesn't. You need to know what the hold up is... is it for doubt in the relationship? Is it a background security check issue? 

The uscis doesn't care about the petition because they are already done with it.  Once the embassy is notified it will be returned and archived 

[Jordan J 3]

@Ben&Zian Thanks for reply! We both understand marriage is not going to fix the issue. And we are also not

sure what is the hold-up for. My fiancé has travelled more than me. So I'm assuming it has to do with Security

checks.

 

-JJ

[RJandHamid 1,129]

The DS-5535 is currently taking around 1 year for processing in Casablanca (someone here on VJ was just approved after waiting 13 months). Do they still have her passport? 

You could be hearing very soon, and it would be unfortunate if you were to go and marry now, and then the DS-5535 processing is completed and she is 'approved' but cannot use the K1 visa. But I understand your desire to try to move on to the CR1 because the wait under AP is just so unknown. You could go ahead and get married, but they may ask for evidence that the K1 petition was either refused or expired when your fiance (wife) goes for her interview. And she could still be asked to submit the DS-5535 again after a CR1 interview, especially if they note that it was not fully processed the first time. 

 

You are stuck in a situation where there is no clear good or bad path. If I were in your situation, I'd wait until the end of the year to see if any progress is made with the DS-5535. Then consider the option of marrying in the new year. 

 

I hope everything works out for you. 

 

[Jordan J 3]

@RJandHamid We both don't want to wait for another round of CR-1 processing + AP when we file for CR-1. You are correct, about DS-5535.
We will push back to as far as March, if its needed, as I didn't know; it's taking about a year from Casa Embassy for AP. I will wait out few more
months and use our initial K-1 filing as we waited for so long. And yes they still have her passport. Thanks you for your reply and support.

 

-JJ