Fiancee visiting on tourist visa

[APOLONIA 1]

The USCIS is not considering religious wedding to process CR1 visa.  We did the same and our application got rejected.  We then hired a lawyer who suggested us to start the entire process once again and to provide with civil marriage certificate.  

[Redheadguy03 505]

2 hours ago, APOLONIA said:

The USCIS is not considering religious wedding to process CR1 visa.  We did the same and our application got rejected.  We then hired a lawyer who suggested us to start the entire process once again and to provide with civil marriage certificate.  

That's not the same situation. The op filed for a fiance visa after having a religious ceremony. Which is usually not advised. 

 

It's considered "too" married for a k1. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by Redheadguy03

[Scandi 3,970]

2 hours ago, APOLONIA said:

The USCIS is not considering religious wedding to process CR1 visa.  We did the same and our application got rejected.  We then hired a lawyer who suggested us to start the entire process once again and to provide with civil marriage certificate.  

Correct to a degree, a religious ceremony without documentation won't be enough for a CR-1, but it will be enough to get a k-1 denied. Once OP cancels the K-1 application or it gets denied because they're already married, they still need to "get married" again in the sense that they get it documented.

 

What Peru thinks is a marriage or not won't matter. USCIS and the embassy is American, and they do what they see fit no matter what Peru thinks.

[Going through 5,668]

12 hours ago, conquistador said:

I appreciate everyone trying to help.  I spoke to another lawyer today, via the link on this website, who also told me that as long as Peru doesn't consider us married, we should be fine.  Every country has different laws for marriage, and every situation is different, so I don't want to jump to the conclusion that just because some other people who had different situations had their visa rejected, I should assume that mine will be also.  I think I'm going to take the legal advice of two immigration lawyers over the good intentions of non-lawyers on the internet.  The other factor is, if we wanted to start over with the CR1 visa, I probably wouldn't be able to travel to Peru for a civil wedding for at least a couple months anyway, so waiting to see how the fiancee visa plays out seems like the better option for us.  I'll try to remember to keep you posted on how it turns out.  I suspect that many people do what we are doing and have their visas approved, but the smaller number who get theirs denied are more likely to complain about it on the internet.  

You've gotten good advice here but ultimately it's your decision, time and money to spend.

 

VJ will still be around to help you when the K1 is denied and you're ready to file for the CR-1.

 

As for her travelling on the tourist visa and presenting "strong ties" at POE---keep in mind that any CBP officer worth his/her salt will realize that those "strong ties" are the exact same ties she would be easily giving up if the K1 is approved (and also that a very strong tie to the USA is a USC fiance). So she faces a bit of a problem there when presenting them as compelling reasons to return to Peru, as the officer will likely presume she's crossing the US to forego any visa and adjust status from within the US instead.

Edited January 2, 2019 by Going through

[Audrey & Clay 3]

23 hours ago, conquistador said:

I am USC, fiancee lives abroad.  I filed for her K1 visa in November.  She is planning to visit for 3 weeks on a tourist visa.  She has visited several times previously on tourist visas and never overstayed her visa, but all those times were before we filed for the K1.  We did a religious wedding in her country in November, but are still not legally married.  She lost her full-time job last year, and has been living with her mother since then, with only occasional self-employment work.  Now we are worried that it will be difficult for her to prove strong ties to her country when she visits.  I did a little research on here, and I saw some people suggest bringing the NoA and show that she came on a round-trip ticket would help.  She also has ownership of an apartment in her name, but she doesn't actually live there (the way she explained it to me, a family member paid for the apartment, but put it in her name because she is single, and it saves taxes somehow) 

 

1.  I know there are no guarantees, but do you think it's likely that she will be allowed into the US this time?

2.  Any other suggestions on how she could prove strong ties?

3.  Would changing the length of her visit make any difference?  If we made it shorter, would she be more likely to be allowed in?  If we made it longer once she gets here, would that cause any problems in the visa process, as long as she returns before the visa expires? 

4. Would bringing evidence of ownership of the apartment be helpful to prove strong ties?  

5. Regarding the apartment, I put the apartment that is in her name as her current address on the 129, before she explained the full story on it.  Do you think that could cause any problems for us later on?  When we do our interview, are they likely to ask us what her current address is?  

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Feel free to move to another forum if it's more appropriate.  I wasn't sure where to put this.  

 

Hello , 

i am married to a us citizen since December 2017 .

before applying for the CR1 for a second time we asked for a visitor visa in last august  ( USCIS lost my first cr1 file sent in May and told me to apply for a visitor visa and arrived in US to ask for adjustment of status and that is at the discretion of the agent at the US embassy) .) 

arrived at the embassy (Paris) I explained that and the officer denied my Esta and told me to do « the right way »

 

so if I can give you an advise is to start to apply for the IR1/CR1 for your wife asap and be patient it’s a long process .

if your wife want to come visit maybe they will allow her , maybe not ..

eaven if she can show evidence that she will come  back after 3 month with a round trip ticket etc if they consider that she wants to immigrate she will maybe not be allow to enter in US.

i asked question many times at the French embassy , USCIS .. but the answer is still the same . 

Its at the discretion of the agent.

sorry to be so direct 

i hope these informations can help you .

have a good day and good luck to you and your wife  

 

[Sarah&Facundo 576]

You can visit while waiting for a K1 or CR1 application, as long as they have a reason to return home if asked. My now-husband did this back then twice.

 

Also,  I think this is where you are getting confused. Peru's rules do not differ from the rules of any other country. It is the same in China, Mexico, Canada, England, or any other country. Why? Because the embassy you will interview in is AMERICAN not Peruvian. At our embassy in Argentina, an AMERICAN (who lives in Argentina) did my husband's interview. They are the same rules across the board.

 

You are too married for the K1, but not married enough for the CR1. As others mentioned, go back to Peru to get married for real and file the CR1. 

 

 

[conquistador 3]

I just wanted to post an update to this.  After I decided to continue with the K1 visa, choosing to believe the immigration lawyers I had talked to and disregarding the advice of several members on here, I've avoided coming back here because I didn't want to be constantly worrying about getting denied and having to start all over (I was worrying anyway, but oh well).  I don't doubt that you were all intending to help, but my fiancee's visa was just approved a couple days ago.  When she went to the interview, she was open about the fact that we already had a catholic wedding, and brought with her a letter from the Archdiocese of Lima which gave dispensation to have a Catholic wedding there without a civil wedding.  She had previously arranged this with the church, and was given permission to do it after explaining that we were doing it so that we could live together sooner.  At the end of the interview, she got an RFE requesting that she provide something called a constancia negativa de inscripcion de matrimonio.  I think it's basically a record that the Peruvian government keeps to show who is single and who is married.  After she provided that, we were approved in a couple weeks.  So that's at least one data point that a religious ceremony does not mean you will automatically get denied for a K1 visa.  If I had to start over, I don't know if I would choose this route again, but in our case it made the process faster because I would have had to wait a long time before I would be able to travel back to Peru and do another ceremony.  It has worked out for us in the end.  From my understanding, according to US law, if you have a ceremony in another country, you're only considered married by the US if you're considered married by the other country.  Because Peruvian law requires a civil wedding to be considered married, and we could prove that we didn't have a civil wedding, we were not considered married.  This probably varies a lot depending on the country, but that's how it worked for us with Peru.  I hope my experience helps someone, and I wish you all the best of luck on your own visa journeys!  

[Boiler 43,433]

It is just a risk, varies according to situation, and one that is needless.

 

Depends on how risk adverse you are.

 

 

[conquistador 3]

13 hours ago, Boiler said:

It is just a risk, varies according to situation, and one that is needless.

 

Depends on how risk adverse you are.

 

 

Because I was already 3 months into the process before anybody told me I shouldn't do it, and because I would have had to wait another 3 months before I would have been able to travel back to Peru to get a civil wedding and then re-file with the spouse visa, it was a risk we were willing to take to start our life sooner.  The "risk" you're referring to is based on a bunch of other cases from people coming from other countries with their own laws, and likely missing the fact that the denial cases are much more likely to post on here than the approvals are.  It's sort of like saying you should never get married because you've gone on a relationship advice site and discovered that every relationship ends terribly.  We were confident that the law in Peru was on our side, and so were all 3 lawyers we talked to.   Everyone should make their own decision based on their own individual circumstances.  

[Unlockable 7,306]

16 hours ago, conquistador said:

So that's at least one data point that a religious ceremony does not mean you will automatically get denied for a K1 visa. 

Yes. But you need to clarify that you received an RFE and had to provide a document from the government proving that the marriage wasn't official. This is a very important point that should be stated. Without that document, you can't say for certain that you would have gotten approved.

 

So it is true that a religious ceremony does not equate to an automatic denial, but please do not disregard the added effort you had to go through. And take note that not every country has that document from their government like the one you provided.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Unlockable

[geowrian 22,335]

1 hour ago, Unlockable said:

And take note that not every country has that document from their government like the one you provided.

And even they do, there's no guarantee the CO would accept it unless requested. They don't need to prove that you are married...just not be convinced that you are single.

Edited October 16, 2019 by geowrian

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

On 10/15/2019 at 2:11 PM, conquistador said:

I just wanted to post an update to this.  After I decided to continue with the K1 visa, choosing to believe the immigration lawyers I had talked to and disregarding the advice of several members on here, I've avoided coming back here because I didn't want to be constantly worrying about getting denied and having to start all over (I was worrying anyway, but oh well).  I don't doubt that you were all intending to help, but my fiancee's visa was just approved a couple days ago.  When she went to the interview, she was open about the fact that we already had a catholic wedding, and brought with her a letter from the Archdiocese of Lima which gave dispensation to have a Catholic wedding there without a civil wedding.  She had previously arranged this with the church, and was given permission to do it after explaining that we were doing it so that we could live together sooner.  At the end of the interview, she got an RFE requesting that she provide something called a constancia negativa de inscripcion de matrimonio.  I think it's basically a record that the Peruvian government keeps to show who is single and who is married.  After she provided that, we were approved in a couple weeks.  So that's at least one data point that a religious ceremony does not mean you will automatically get denied for a K1 visa.  If I had to start over, I don't know if I would choose this route again, but in our case it made the process faster because I would have had to wait a long time before I would be able to travel back to Peru and do another ceremony.  It has worked out for us in the end.  From my understanding, according to US law, if you have a ceremony in another country, you're only considered married by the US if you're considered married by the other country.  Because Peruvian law requires a civil wedding to be considered married, and we could prove that we didn't have a civil wedding, we were not considered married.  This probably varies a lot depending on the country, but that's how it worked for us with Peru.  I hope my experience helps someone, and I wish you all the best of luck on your own visa journeys!  

It's good you did that to avoid a lot of the anxiety.  Good job on finding the information! 

Edited October 16, 2019 by Ed&Midori1031