Help! K-1 or CR-1 (with plans to marry on Tourist Visa)

[ACFP 6]

Greetings all,

My girlfriend (petitioner) and I are trying to figure out which marriage-based US visa to file for me (beneficiary). We have not begun any process as we are still very early in the discussion, but most likely it will be either the K-1 Fiancé visa or CR-1 Spousal visa.

Some background to our situation:

1.    Although my girlfriend is a U.S. citizen, she has only been living in the States for around 3 years. Before this, she was residing in the Philippines. On the other hand, I have lived in Malaysia all my life.
 

2.    We have visited each other 8 times since 2015: she has visited me 4 times in Malaysia and I have visited her 4 times in the Philippines. Her family members have visited me and my family once and my family have visited them once as well. I have one more trip coming up middle of next year (2021) to visit her in the US if and when I’m allow to travel (Malaysia borders are shut currently because of Covid-19).
 

3.    We have passport stamps as evidence that the meetings took place as well as photos both together and with our mutual friends for all the 8 trips. However, we don’t have the boarding passes or hotel receipts with us except for one when we stayed in a AirBnB place back in 2018.
 

4.    She had been working part-time until recently. She took on a full-time job about 2-3 months ago which pays above the 2020 Minimum Annual Income Requirements.

My girlfriend prefers the K-1 visa route because she can’t afford to take the time off from work for us to get married in the Malaysia since she only recently joined this new job. We need about 3 weeks (from start to finish) to get married in Malaysia. We had also thought we could be together faster with this route (at least before the pandemic struck). This however means extra costs, and demands more of our time. She will also have to support me until I have my Green Card or receive the EAD (Employment Authorization) to be able to work in the US.

I, on the other hand, prefer the CR-1 visa route since: it’s less expensive, I will have my Green Card on hand soon after my arrival, and I can start looking for a job right away instead of having to do AOS (Adjustment of Status) after arriving with the K-1 Fiancé visa.

So, we are now thinking of getting married when I visit her middle of next year on my B-1/B-2 tourist visa after which I’ll return to Malaysia (I still have several commitments there, e.g. work, a car loan, family). From there on she’ll file for the CR-1 visa for me while I wait it out in Malaysia. Now the thing is this: we are getting conflicting information if this will be considered visa fraud, i.e. me misusing my B-1/B-2 visa and if it will come back to bite us when we file for our CR-1 spousal visa.

Here’s our current situation:

1.    I’ll be only visiting her for 27 days next year. Some have pointed out the 30/60/90 day rules as a reason why we shouldn’t get married while on this visa, others have pointed it out as a myth (not specifically from this forum but what we’ve read on the internet as a whole).
 

2.    During my tourist visa application interview last year (2019) at the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the interviewer asked me if we are planning to get married to which I answered yes, but not now, probably in the future since we and our families are located in 3 different countries and I haven’t spoken to her parents about it yet before my visa got approved.
 

3.    When I applied for my tourist visa, we had no intention of filling for either K-1 or CR-1 visa as we originally planned to settle down in Malaysia, but things have changed since then. So the thing is if I do enter the US next year, we now have the intention of getting married and settling in the US as opposed to just visiting my girlfriend (what I told the interviewer at the U.S. embassy during my tourist visa interview last year). We just don’t know which visa route to take.
 

4.    The last time we had seen each other in person was in September 2018 (meaning we can’t fulfill the 2-year face to face meeting requirement of the K-1 visa until my trip next year). Also, my trip next year will be my very first time visiting the US.

So, this is our situation and honestly, we are lost as to what we should do. We would greatly appreciate if you guys could advise us on what would be the best route to take, and to advise us if our plan of marrying while I visit her on my B-1/B-2 tourist visa would be problematic, even though I have every intention of returning to Malaysia after my visit. Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Ontarkie 13,960]

~~Moved to What Visa Do I Need, from IR1/CR1 P&P- the OP is researching options.~~

[Boiler 43,738]

CR1 would seem the obvious choice.

[YueQian 22]

Without seeing each other in the last 2 years, you don't qualify for a K1 visa.

 

It's ok to get married while on a tourist visa - I know a ton of people did that, filed for CR1 and came back to the home country to wait,  no problem. It's questionable if you marry, stay and AOS. 

[ACFP 6]

43 minutes ago, Boiler said:

CR1 would seem the obvious choice.

That's what we were thinking, the only worrying part is the "getting married on tourist visa".

[ACFP 6]

22 minutes ago, YueQian said:

Without seeing each other in the last 2 years, you don't qualify for a K1 visa.

 

It's ok to get married while on a tourist visa - I know a ton of people did that, filed for CR1 and came back to the home country to wait,  no problem. It's questionable if you marry, stay and AOS. 

You are right about that. Hence we don't plan to file either K1 visa or CR1 visa until my next visit next year.

That's good to know! That's our plan really: to get married, file for CR1 visa, and I'll return to Malaysia to wait it out.

Edited September 25, 2020 by ACFP

[NikLR 13,220]

you can marry on a B2 visa. You cant enter with the intent to stay, so your current plan is fine. 

[ACFP 6]

33 minutes ago, NikLR said:

you can marry on a B2 visa. You cant enter with the intent to stay, so your current plan is fine. 

Thank you for the clarification.

[juancarlos 122]

Yep, that's right.

 

You can marry in a tourist visa, then return to your country and file for CR1. You cannot come in a  tourist visa with the intention to marry and stay (adjust status).

 

The only concern is that you will be asked by CBP agents when you arrive to the US, so you have to show strong ties to your country at the time of your arrival. You have to clearly demonstrate that you want to get married here and then go back, so make sure you have supportive documents to show (contract, lease, if you own properties, cars...)

Edited September 25, 2020 by juancarlos

[SalishSea 16,900]

12 hours ago, YueQian said:

It's questionable if you marry, stay and AOS. 

Not questionable.  Fraudulent.

[Chancy 6,233]

13 hours ago, ACFP said:

That's what we were thinking, the only worrying part is the "getting married on tourist visa".

 

Perfectly legal to get married in the US while on a B2 visa, then return to your home country.  That's what I did.  And CBP knows about it.

 

That I had intent to marry during my trip is probably on record because they took me to secondary interview.  Interview took around 5 minutes.  As expected, the questions were mostly about my work back home.  I didn't get asked for any supporting documents before I was let through.  Maybe I have an honest face, lol

 

Husband and I got married 3 weeks after my arrival.  I stayed for almost 2 months, then left on the date I told CBP I would.  4 months later I returned for another visit.  I told CBP I'm visiting my husband and that he's a US citizen.  They let me through without any fuss.

 

[YueQian 22]

3 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Not questionable.  Fraudulent.

I can see how that makes sense, but in reality people have gotten green cards that way (not all), so apparently some are considered not fraudulent by the government. I don’t know why or how

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

19 minutes ago, YueQian said:

I can see how that makes sense, but in reality people have gotten green cards that way (not all), so apparently some are considered not fraudulent by the government. I don’t know why or how

No. It's that they haven't yet gotten caught for committing fraud. 

[YueQian 22]

5 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

No. It's that they haven't yet gotten caught for committing fraud. 

Immigration knows their path - b visa, marriage, AOS, and approves their green card applications. I don’t know what’s left to be “caught”. 

 

Obviously I do not recommend this path. And based on some decisions made by the government(and not my feelings about it), I use the word questionable. 

[SalishSea 16,900]

48 minutes ago, YueQian said:

Immigration knows their path - b visa, marriage, AOS, and approves their green card applications. I don’t know what’s left to be “caught”. 

 

Obviously I do not recommend this path. And based on some decisions made by the government(and not my feelings about it), I use the word questionable. 

Coming on a B visa with the intent to adjust status and stay is illegal.  This thread is starting to hover on a TOS violation.