K1 Visa: Moving Wedding Date

[Alexxie 10]

To be fair, I probably already know what the answer to this question is, however, I will still pose it for further insight.

 

Due to difficult conversations/input from outside family members, we were coerced in to setting a wedding date after being together for 10 years and prior to getting engaged. (something dumb along the lines of, your wedding date is the date you get married and it's dumb to have a ceremony later - I digress very dumb reasoning in retrospect). Prior to being engaged, I submitted the K1 visa in the middle of May. We then set a tentative wedding date for the middle of August 2022. On the USCIS processing timelines, I see they're currently taking case inquiries for the end of March 2021.My fiance and I have fought on and off about whether or not there's enough time to complete the entire process with approval before our set wedding date in the middle of August. He's Canadian and currently only the Montreal Consulate is processing visas. There is talk that in early 2022 that other consulates/embassies will be open to further expedite the process. However, we're doubtful this will work in our favor.

 

We currently only have a venue, photographer/videographer, and floral design planner. I had clauses written in the contracts to move these services to an alternate date if the visa does not come in on time.

 

Yesterday, we got into a large argument, where he expressed that he was unsure whether we would get everything completed in time (although, I estimated 15 months for the entire process). We know that vendors need a big enough notice to change venues. He proposed moving it to October 2022, just 2 more months, to give it enough time. However, I feel we should just move it to Spring/Summer 2023 because I don't want to end up with the same problem. 

 

How far would you push back the wedding and should we wait until January/early February before making a final decision? (I kind of want to just go ahead and move it back further because my job is extremely stressful and I don't want this stress on top of it. Plus, we're in a very large metropolitan city so I know wedding season is busy, so I want my wedding planner and vendors to have enough time to make alternate plans. We're planning to run this by our planner next week.) I know we only have one shot to move these vendors to a new wedding date so I don't want to choose poorly.

[JeanneAdil 6,243]

to be completely honest ,  u have to marry within the 90 day period of the arrival to the US so not sure how u plan anything and USCIS says not to plan anything until u have the visa in hand

But u could marry in the courthouse within the 90 days and then have the big wedding as planned later

trying to do a big wedding  within the 90 days is going to add the stress no one needs

October 22 might not be a good time /Spring 23 better (and that is just my opinion)

[powerpuff 5,970]

Honestly, nobody here will be able to advise you when to have a wedding because it’s simply impossible to predict when your fiancé will get the visa. As @JeanneAdil mentioned, you have to marry within 90 days of his arrival per the conditions of a K1 visa. I just don’t see how you can plan to have a big wedding within those 90 days. 

Your only real and reliable option is to have a courthouse ceremony within the 90 days of his arrival (sooner the better so you can send off your AOS application ASAP) and have the wedding celebration in Spring 2023 to be safe rather than sorry. 
 

1 hour ago, Alexxie said:

There is talk that in early 2022 that other consulates/embassies will be open to further expedite the process. However, we're doubtful this will work in our favor.

What do you mean by this? Like transfer the case to another consulate with shorter wait times? Unless he has legal residency or a work/student visa (not visitor) in that country, that won’t be possible. To add, wedding is not a valid reason to expedite. 

Edited November 25, 2021 by powerpuff

[Alexxie 10]

1 minute ago, powerpuff said:

Honestly, nobody here will be able to advise you when to have a wedding because it’s simply impossible to predict when your fiancé will get the visa. As @JeanneAdil mentioned, you have to marry within 90 days of his arrival per the conditions of a K1 visa. I just don’t see how you can plan to have a big wedding within those 90 days. 

Your only real and reliable option is to have a courthouse ceremony within the 90 days of his arrival (sooner the better so you can send off your AOS application ASAP) and have the wedding celebration in Spring 2023 to be safe rather than sorry. 
 

What do you mean by this? Like transfer the case to another consulate with shorter wait times? Unless he has legal residency or a work/student visa (not visitor) in that country, that won’t be possible. To add, wedding is not a valid reason to expedite. 

Also, technically there's 9 months total for marriage.

example: waited until the last month to enter (e.g. 6 months, the last month to enter) and then having the additional 3 months for marriage once he enters. That's technically how I ended up planning it. 

 

Not planning to expedite the process! Wouldn't dream of even trying to do that and I know you can't. I just meant having more consulates/embassies open that can work on more cases at once, rather than just only one place doing all of them. I don't think we're above anybody even if it's a big expensive wedding. Just want to clarify that!

[Alexxie 10]

1 hour ago, JeanneAdil said:

to be completely honest ,  u have to marry within the 90 day period of the arrival to the US so not sure how u plan anything and USCIS says not to plan anything until u have the visa in hand

But u could marry in the courthouse within the 90 days and then have the big wedding as planned later

trying to do a big wedding  within the 90 days is going to add the stress no one needs

October 22 might not be a good time /Spring 23 better (and that is just my opinion)

yeah that's what I figured would end up being best. Had a feeling most people would agree with that!

Thanks!

[Mike E 11,726]

1 hour ago, Alexxie said:

How far would you push back the wedding

Cancel the wedding plans and have a wedding at the county office within 30 days of POE.  
 

Or cancel the I-129F, plan the big wedding your family wants, get married and file I-130.  
 

Those are the choices.  
 

It hasn’t been practical for K-1s to plan a big traditional wedding at a venue in the US of A in at least 20 years.  

[powerpuff 5,970]

3 minutes ago, Alexxie said:

Also, technically there's 9 months total for marriage.

example: waited until the last month to enter (e.g. 6 months, the last month to enter) and then having the additional 3 months for marriage once he enters. That's technically how I ended up planning it. 

 

Not planning to expedite the process! Wouldn't dream of even trying to do that and I know you can't. I just meant having more consulates/embassies open that can work on more cases at once, rather than just only one place doing all of them. I don't think we're above anybody even if it's a big expensive wedding. Just want to clarify that!

Keep in mind that K1 visa expires 6 months after your medical exam, not the issue date. Good luck with the process! 

[SalishSea 16,860]

1 hour ago, Alexxie said:

To be fair, I probably already know what the answer to this question is, however, I will still pose it for further insight.

 

Due to difficult conversations/input from outside family members, we were coerced in to setting a wedding date after being together for 10 years and prior to getting engaged. (something dumb along the lines of, your wedding date is the date you get married and it's dumb to have a ceremony later - I digress very dumb reasoning in retrospect). Prior to being engaged, I submitted the K1 visa in the middle of May. We then set a tentative wedding date for the middle of August 2022. On the USCIS processing timelines, I see they're currently taking case inquiries for the end of March 2021.My fiance and I have fought on and off about whether or not there's enough time to complete the entire process with approval before our set wedding date in the middle of August. He's Canadian and currently only the Montreal Consulate is processing visas. There is talk that in early 2022 that other consulates/embassies will be open to further expedite the process. However, we're doubtful this will work in our favor.

 

We currently only have a venue, photographer/videographer, and floral design planner. I had clauses written in the contracts to move these services to an alternate date if the visa does not come in on time.

 

Yesterday, we got into a large argument, where he expressed that he was unsure whether we would get everything completed in time (although, I estimated 15 months for the entire process). We know that vendors need a big enough notice to change venues. He proposed moving it to October 2022, just 2 more months, to give it enough time. However, I feel we should just move it to Spring/Summer 2023 because I don't want to end up with the same problem. 

 

How far would you push back the wedding and should we wait until January/early February before making a final decision? (I kind of want to just go ahead and move it back further because my job is extremely stressful and I don't want this stress on top of it. Plus, we're in a very large metropolitan city so I know wedding season is busy, so I want my wedding planner and vendors to have enough time to make alternate plans. We're planning to run this by our planner next week.) I know we only have one shot to move these vendors to a new wedding date so I don't want to choose poorly.

If a big, organized formal wedding is the preference, K1 was not the right choice.

 

Montreal has been the only consulate processing immigrant visas in Canada for years.

Edited November 25, 2021 by Jorgedig

[SteveInBostonI130 3,328]

As far as I'm aware, only Montreal handles family based immigration and fiance visas, pre covid and post covid.  I will defer to the many Canadian VJ'ers to confirm or correct me.

 

There is a chance your timing may work.  However, please do NOT let others interfere with your immigration process.  It is not very complicated, but immigration has to follow a precise set of rules and guidelines to be completed successfully.  None of your friends or family have to deal with the Department of State and Homeland Security like you will need to.  Do not let them torpedo this stage of your lives.

 

[powerpuff 5,970]

8 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

None of your friends or family have to deal with the Department of State and Homeland Security like you will need to.  Do not let them torpedo this stage of your lives.

This. Well said and so true. I bet if they would be the ones going through this you wouldn’t hear a peep about a big wedding from them. 

[Dashinka 23,355]

1 hour ago, Alexxie said:

Also, technically there's 9 months total for marriage.

example: waited until the last month to enter (e.g. 6 months, the last month to enter) and then having the additional 3 months for marriage once he enters. That's technically how I ended up planning it. 

 

Not planning to expedite the process! Wouldn't dream of even trying to do that and I know you can't. I just meant having more consulates/embassies open that can work on more cases at once, rather than just only one place doing all of them. I don't think we're above anybody even if it's a big expensive wedding. Just want to clarify that!

This is what my wife and I did.  Once she had her K1, she waited almost 5.5 months to actually enter the US which allowed time to plan a nice medium sized wedding for two weeks after she arrived.

[JeanneAdil 6,243]

Working with Wedding planners and caterers and other venders is more work than just planning a wedding 

trying to coordinate all is a hassle even with all the time in the world

 

when i married in US ,  i made appointments for my dress (had to wait 1 and 1/2 month just to get the appointment ) and then 6 months for my 1st fitting

good luck with planning a big one

and best to u both on a good visa journey and future life

[Alexxie 10]

 

3 hours ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

As far as I'm aware, only Montreal handles family based immigration and fiance visas, pre covid and post covid.  I will defer to the many Canadian VJ'ers to confirm or correct me.

 

There is a chance your timing may work.  However, please do NOT let others interfere with your immigration process.  It is not very complicated, but immigration has to follow a precise set of rules and guidelines to be completed successfully.  None of your friends or family have to deal with the Department of State and Homeland Security like you will need to.  Do not let them torpedo this stage of your lives.

 

Yeah, I wish I had outright rejected it because you're right nobody is dealing with it but us. Now i'm the one stressed about this wedding, while just trying to learn my new job, in a new city, far from home. 

But alas, I did what I did so I can only fix things before it gets worse. Which I think is why I tried to put safety nets in contract vendors so they're aware of the possibility that I would do this.

 

2 hours ago, Dashinka said:

This is what my wife and I did.  Once she had her K1, she waited almost 5.5 months to actually enter the US which allowed time to plan a nice medium sized wedding for two weeks after she arrived.

This gives me some hope! It's a wedding with probably 80-100 people so it's not a "giant wedding," per se.

7 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

Working with Wedding planners and caterers and other venders is more work than just planning a wedding 

trying to coordinate all is a hassle even with all the time in the world

 

when i married in US ,  i made appointments for my dress (had to wait 1 and 1/2 month just to get the appointment ) and then 6 months for my 1st fitting

good luck with planning a big one

and best to u both on a good visa journey and future life

yeah it is a lot of work. It's even worse because I don't even live in the city/state the wedding is taking place in. Literally, worst idea for someone that just completed school, moved away for their first job and bought their first home. Definition of no time in the world (You can tell I am overzealous and like to gamble, LOL). However, our planner has been really helpful. 

 

I made my dress appointment back in July (before we were engaged officially because I knew things would be hectic). I bought my dress back in October and it's to be completed by the end of February! I honestly thought a lot about this in advance but even then, I can't predict everything. So maybe I'll get lucky?

[Redro 4,601]

I agree with @JeanneAdil I would get married at the courthouse when your partner enters the States and push the wedding back to Summer 2023 (it doesn't matter if you're married already when you have your big party. You're dealing with immigration not your relatives). 

 

Having a look at the Canada forum it looks like NOA2 to interview (for K1) is taking a long time... 

I might be wrong and it might be speeding up but you can ask in the Canada forum. 

 

 

(this second post has some timelines from filing I-129F - interview in the poster's signature). 

Edited November 26, 2021 by Kor2USA

[Sarah&Facundo 577]

18 hours ago, Dashinka said:

This is what my wife and I did.  Once she had her K1, she waited almost 5.5 months to actually enter the US which allowed time to plan a nice medium sized wedding for two weeks after she arrived.

That's what we did too. My husband entered two days before his K1 expired, so just shy of six months. We got married two weeks later when his parents got here (although we could have technically waited 89 days to get married if we chose, which is what a friend of mine did). Our wedding was also a medium sized wedding and we had a lot of coordination involved. It worked out fine. We hired a bilingual event planner so she could help both sides of the family since they don't speak the same language. The only down side is that it limited my options for dresses since some couldn't be ordered in time, but I did find one and the bridal store I selected was understanding of my issue, so they worked with me regarding fittings to get it done in time. It worked out nicely. Good luck!