A couple of questions...

[aminley 0]

I'm visiting my boyfriend in Morocco pretty soon and I'd like to get this whole process started. I noticed that the K1 Visa and the Spousal Visa have different income requirements, with the spousal visa having slightly higher requirements. This bothers me because I'd like to get married to him as soon as possible and just marry him in Morocco, but I don't want to have to meet higher requirements and make it harder on myself because I'm already worried about the financial piece. Does anyone know if it would make that much of a difference? I also heard that the spousal visa takes longer, is that true? 

 

Also, my boyfriend isn't clear on some information, like his fathers exact birth date and etc (he's passed away now). I've noticed this is fairly common in Morocco since birthdays don't seem to be as important as they are here. Does anyone know if this will be a problem though? Is it okay to make an educated guess? 

 

Finally, if anyone has any good tips for when I travel there, please let me know! It would be greatly appreciated. I know that we should take pictures together and things like that to prove our relationship but what else should we do? Thank you so much everyone. 

[SalishSea 17,914]

30 minutes ago, aminley said:

I'm visiting my boyfriend in Morocco pretty soon and I'd like to get this whole process started. I noticed that the K1 Visa and the Spousal Visa have different income requirements, with the spousal visa having slightly higher requirements. This bothers me because I'd like to get married to him as soon as possible and just marry him in Morocco, but I don't want to have to meet higher requirements and make it harder on myself because I'm already worried about the financial piece. Does anyone know if it would make that much of a difference? I also heard that the spousal visa takes longer, is that true? 

 

Also, my boyfriend isn't clear on some information, like his fathers exact birth date and etc (he's passed away now). I've noticed this is fairly common in Morocco since birthdays don't seem to be as important as they are here. Does anyone know if this will be a problem though? Is it okay to make an educated guess? 

 

Finally, if anyone has any good tips for when I travel there, please let me know! It would be greatly appreciated. I know that we should take pictures together and things like that to prove our relationship but what else should we do? Thank you so much everyone. 

Oh boy.  Can o' worms here, and we have our resident Casablanca experts in house.  @adil-rafa in particular.  There may be no measurable difference in the timeline for the K-1 vs. spousal in Casa.  Both can end up in extended bouts of administrative processing.  I believe that the income requirements for K-1 AOS and CR-1 are the same, 125% of the federal poverty level.  The 100% for the initial K-1 is really useless, as you will need to be prepared for your spouse to adjust status soon after POE, even if it could take >one year.    Have you researched all of the costs associated with immigration?  It is not cheap, and with the K-1, the beneficiary cannot work for many months.

 

Casablanca really looks for red flags.  Have you  already met in person?  If so, how many times? It is never advisable to marry on the first visit.  Age difference?  Woman/petitioner older than man/beneficiary is scrutinized.  Same religion/ethnic background?

 

Pictures together are not that useful, as you could have a three day visit with 1000 pics together.  For Casa and other high fraud embassies, the amount of time spent in each other's presence is extremely important, as is time around each other's families etc.  

 

Tl:Dr:  Processing though Casa is uniquely difficult for a variety of reasons; immigration is spendy and takes much longer than any of us would like.

Edited February 2, 2019 by Jorgedig

[Just Paul 4,595]

Just so you know, you are going to need the higher income when you file AOS after getting married.    

 

The  CR does take longer but In  Morocco I think it comes out to be the same.  Ir seems that more CR-1s are approved than K1s.   The big advantage of the CR1 is that he can work and travel right away after coming in. 

 

For the father's birthday you can put what he thinks but you can put a not at the end of the petition.

[Kowatti 189]

7 hours ago, aminley said:

I'm visiting my boyfriend in Morocco pretty soon and I'd like to get this whole process started. I noticed that the K1 Visa and the Spousal Visa have different income requirements, with the spousal visa having slightly higher requirements. This bothers me because I'd like to get married to him as soon as possible and just marry him in Morocco, but I don't want to have to meet higher requirements and make it harder on myself because I'm already worried about the financial piece. Does anyone know if it would make that much of a difference? I also heard that the spousal visa takes longer, is that true? 

 

Also, my boyfriend isn't clear on some information, like his fathers exact birth date and etc (he's passed away now). I've noticed this is fairly common in Morocco since birthdays don't seem to be as important as they are here. Does anyone know if this will be a problem though? Is it okay to make an educated guess? 

 

Finally, if anyone has any good tips for when I travel there, please let me know! It would be greatly appreciated. I know that we should take pictures together and things like that to prove our relationship but what else should we do? Thank you so much everyone. 

The only thing I can help with is your fiancé's concern about parents date of birth.  My parents died a while back when I was young.  I prepared a side note on a separate piece of paper & sent it with my packet, letting USCIS know that both parents are deceased & I cannot remember their birthdays.  Honesty is always the best policy.

[JFH 12,190]

*~*~*moved from “K-1 fiancé visa progress reports” to “what visa do I need” as OP is still considering the options*~*~*

[Oliversmom 250]

Hi.  For the K1, when he comes to the US and you get married you will still need the higher amount of income for the AOS.  I would personally recommend the Cr1.  That is what my husband and I chose.  But we had several visits before we married and filed which I believe is important for Casa.  Also, with the Cr1 your husband will be able to work and travel right away after arriving in the US.  Working was important to my husband.  He also wanted to be sure he could travel home right away in case of any emergencies.  Whatever, you choose I wish you luck.  Getting married in Morocco is a process in itself.  

 

And have fun on your upcoming trip to Morocco.  I can still remember my first trip there and how exciting it was.  Take your time and get to know each other and enjoy your visit without stressing over immigration stuff.  

[carmel34 3,638]

Morocco is a high fraud country so whatever you do, don't marry on your first visit, and make sure before you submit the CR-1 petition that you make multiple visits and spend lots of time together, in person, over an extended period before you file, with loads of evidence of all those visits, documents showing co-mingling of finances, and on and on.  Read some of the posts from couples dealing with the assumption of fraud in Morocco to see what you will need to be successful.  K-1s are commonly denied there, and CR-1s are difficult.  They will view marrying on the first time you met in person and filing the petition right after as a very likely case of immigration fraud.  So do whatever you have to do to overcome those concerns.  Some have even moved to Morocco to live together for three months, six months, or longer before they were able to convince the IO that their marriage was real.  Unfortunately, many men in Morocco have acted like the relationship was genuine, when in reality they are only using the US immigration system to get to the US, get a green card, then get divorced as soon as they can.  So do more research and read up on all the challenges ahead of you, do what is necessary to overcome them, and hopefully it will work out in the end.  Good luck, you have a long journey ahead of you!

[Oliversmom 250]

Yes carmel34 is right - it is difficult to get a visa from Morocco.  But it can be done.  I had multiple visits with my husband and even stayed 3 months one time.  When we filed the petition we frontloaded with lots of evidence.  My husband said the interview was very difficult but he was approved.  Now we are getting ready to apply for citizenship.  So just take it slow.  Get to know your boyfriend by spending as much time together as possible.  Then you have to decide between k1 or Cr1.  Like I said earlier, I recommend the Cr1 but the decision is yours.  I'm happy to give you any information I can.  Enjoy your trip to Morocco!

[aminley 0]

Thank you for the great answers everyone. After reading these replies it seems like getting married on the first trip there wouldn't be a great idea, and people are recommending making several visits there. The only problem is that I'm young still, in school, etc. However I think I can make at least two visits happen in 2019. For the first one, I'm planning to stay close to a month, and for the second one I would stay close to a month as well. Is it best to plan to get married on the second visit and then start the visa process? Or would they still view that as being fraudulent? I have proof that we've been texting and video-chatting nearly everyday for two years but I don't know if that means anything to them? I don't believe that they would find any red flags with us besides the number of visits. Not really an age difference (he's 5 years older than me) and we don't have the same ethnic/religious background but neither of us are that religious. 

 

Also, does anyone know what I would need to do to get married in Morocco or know how I can find out that information? 

Edited February 2, 2019 by aminley

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

Hello

True,  getting married on the first visit is a poor idea/ if fact is "almost sure" to be a denial although it was done successfully by a member who married but stayed 3 months and returned for 2 more long visits after the marriage  before the  interview

you will have to make more than 1 visit no matter K1 or CR1

Morrocco is concerned with age differences,  religion and cultural norms

Make a  trip to and please stay  as long as you are  able to

Photos with his family will be important (especially his mother) as well as the 2 of you

but more important is proof of the relationship and the trips/keep  your boarding pass,etc

cultural norms :

cover arms and legs

if u smoke,  do not do it in public or in front of family/ no one will say anything but the village will speak bad  of u

they eat by hand and have done so since a child /it is an art and i had no experience and made my apology for this and was granted the fork and spoon/they understood

do not kiss and hug in front of family although some do understand

if you watched the "90 day fiance show, you could see all the things the USC girl  did wrong"

best to ask him what  else is important and what his family expects

 

for your own self take some baby wipes/  many public and private tiolets have no tissue/  i know this sounds stupid but you will understand after you are there

 

as far as his dad's birthday no problem /many birth certificates are issued with only a year or a question in Morocco

 

later for marriage there are many documents you will need to take and the process is long with travel to Casablanca and Rabat and his home town

with interviews with police and judge so contact  me or another here has gone thru the process and we can give you the instructions / takes about a month to do this

Translating all your documents into Arabic for the marriage license is probably the most expensive part of the process

 

also when you go to Morocco for whichever you decide to do,  take the application and fill it out together/there is a spot that requires his name and address to be filled out in arabic

 

CR1 for marriage turns out to be as fast as K1 these days for Morocco applicants and the least expensive / as the AOS after marriage here is over $1200 and for CR1 his green card would come after about a month so he would be able to work

Edited February 3, 2019 by adil-rafa

[Oliversmom 250]

When you go for the trip to get married plan to stay as long as you can.  I know most people get in done in about a month and some have done it much faster.  But my husband is from a small village and the Judge there did NOT want us to get married.  He gave us all kinds of hassles and it ended up the only way we were able to get married was to give him some money.  The Judge thought my husband should marry a Moroccan woman and not me.  So I stayed three months and it took almost the whole time to get married.   If your husband is from a city or area that is used to this you should be fine.  But I just wanted to throw this out there so you could be prepared.