had online wedding before K1 visa issued, now waiting for AOS (split topic)

[AneliaO 10]

12 hours ago, whackytech said:

I disclosed everything. In my post, You can read the letter I included with my petition. I even included the marriage certificate. The original intent was to get married in the Philippines when I was there for 3 months, but things happened and we ran out of time before I had to return home. She wanted to be married, so we chose the remote marriage path, not thinking about the immigration process. I never did any research until after the fact. Based on my research the K1 visa was the path forward.

You gave me another COA to think about. But I plan to get a lawyer to ensure we have our Ts crossed. 

[Crazy Cat 44,812]

1 hour ago, AneliaO said:

You gave me another COA to think about. But I plan to get a lawyer to ensure we have our Ts crossed. 

This thread is completely irrelevant to your situation.  I would disregard it.  An online marriage and a K-1 are incompatible unless the marriage takes place after the K-1 visa holder has entered the US. 

Edited Monday at 02:47 PM by Crazy Cat

[wildbug100420 288]

17 hours ago, whackytech said:

I met my wife online and spent 3 months in the Philippines together. When I got back to the states, we got married in an online zoom call. We filed a K1 visa and was approved. We are now waiting on the AoS approval. 

I think the AoS will be denied. Couples are supposed to be unmarried at the time the beneficiary enters the US. Marriage is supposed to be in the USA 

[wildbug100420 288]

3 minutes ago, wildbug100420 said:

I think the AoS will be denied. Couples are supposed to be unmarried at the time the beneficiary enters the US. Marriage is supposed to be in the USA 

Actually both couples must be unmarried at the time the petition is filed and remain unmarried until the US entry. The visa should have not been granted. 

[Marieke H 2,567]

I am curious to see at what point in the future some USCIS officer will pay attention to the marriage date and the arrival date and flag this case. Could be during AOS, ROC, or citizenship. I would be very concerned that this will cause issues at some point. Definitely would not recommend this as an immigration pathway.

[Scott-Ilyn 90]

Just when I thought I've seen it all.  Another strange scenario emerges. 🙂

[Boiler 47,615]

36 minutes ago, Marieke H said:

I am curious to see at what point in the future some USCIS officer will pay attention to the marriage date and the arrival date and flag this case. Could be during AOS, ROC, or citizenship. I would be very concerned that this will cause issues at some point. Definitely would not recommend this as an immigration pathway.

It has happened came across one last week F2b

[JaredShadkin 77]

The immigration journey is complicated enough as it is - not sure why you (or anyone else for that matter) needs to add further complexity to the process. 

The point of a K-1 Visa is to marry once in the United States, not the other way around.

One can only assume that you will potentially have scrutiny further down the line. Nevertheless, best of luck to you! 

A reminder for those about to embark on their immigration journey: 1) Do things by the book 2) KISS: Keep It Stupid Simple. 

[AneliaO 10]

4 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

This thread is completely irrelevant to your situation.  I would disregard it.  An online marriage and a K-1 are incompatible unless the marriage takes place after the K-1 visa holder has entered the US. 

I meant that if all else fails. We will do the online marriage while I am in Morocco and then file for the spousal visa upon my return to the states. We will exhaust all avenues for K-1. I know it is not recognized in Morocco. But we will use it as one way to show a bonafide relationship. We are getting married one way or another.

Edited Monday at 06:44 PM by AneliaO

[spicynujac 82]

21 hours ago, whackytech said:

I met my wife online and spent 3 months in the Philippines together. When I got back to the states, we got married in an online zoom call. We filed a K1 visa and was approved. We are now waiting on the AoS approval. 

OP's spouse was granted a visa, and has already entered the US.  

I see this is a split topic, so maybe something got deleted but what is the question or issue here?

 

[pushbrk 13,665]

The OP in this thread is not the one who got a K1 after the online marriage.  The case of the person who did is irrelevant to the OP, and they have not clarified whether USCIS and the Consulate was aware of THEIR online marriage.  The case was of interest to me on that score but not related to this actual thread.  Nobody is suggesting anybody is adjusting status based on an online marriage that took place before filing a fiancee petition.

[wildbug100420 288]

3 hours ago, spicynujac said:

OP's spouse was granted a visa, and has already entered the US.  

I see this is a split topic, so maybe something got deleted but what is the question or issue here?

 

The issue is the visa was granted under the incorrect pretense and perhaps the parties may be getting charges of misrepresentation. The parties should have just used the spouse visa process. 

[S2N 355]

Honestly on the K-1 after an online marriage, I don’t see the denial of AOS really as the major risk — once she’s physically here in theory the class of admission or whether it’s the correct one doesn’t matter all that much as AOS should cure it (though with the current administration that’s changing.)

 

The bigger risk I see here is CBP sees a marriage certificate and refuses to admit as K-1 and sends her back since she doesn’t meet the conditions for the class of admission the visa allows her to apply for.

 

This is one of the few fiancée or spousal cases where reminding people that a visa isn’t permission to enter the U.S., it’s permission to ask permission to enter the U.S. is relevant.

Edited yesterday at 03:07 AM by S2N

[Dashinka 25,957]

6 hours ago, S2N said:

Honestly on the K-1 after an online marriage, I don’t see the denial of AOS really as the major risk — once she’s physically here in theory the class of admission or whether it’s the correct one doesn’t matter all that much as AOS should cure it (though with the current administration that’s changing.)

 

The bigger risk I see here is CBP sees a marriage certificate and refuses to admit as K-1 and sends her back since she doesn’t meet the conditions for the class of admission the visa allows her to apply for.

 

This is one of the few fiancée or spousal cases where reminding people that a visa isn’t permission to enter the U.S., it’s permission to ask permission to enter the U.S. is relevant.

There are a few nuances that could come back to bite this couple.  The OP says they disclosed the online marriage to the consulate, but was it disclosed to CBP when attempting to enter on the K1.  Usually, when a K1 visa holder requests entry into the US, they get a question about marrying, and information regarding the terms of the K1 visa and the fact that they are not required to actually get married, or forced to be married.  How did the OP's spouse respond to those questions when entering on the K1.  Did they inform the CBP officer they are already married ?  Would they have been allowed entry with the K1, or turned around?  We shall see how this plays out.  Best case, they only need to include an I130 with their AOS package.  Worst case, the IO notices the date discrepancies, and digs deeper.

[S2N 355]

2 hours ago, Dashinka said:

There are a few nuances that could come back to bite this couple.  The OP says they disclosed the online marriage to the consulate, but was it disclosed to CBP when attempting to enter on the K1.  Usually, when a K1 visa holder requests entry into the US, they get a question about marrying, and information regarding the terms of the K1 visa and the fact that they are not required to actually get married, or forced to be married.  How did the OP's spouse respond to those questions when entering on the K1.  Did they inform the CBP officer they are already married ?  Would they have been allowed entry with the K1, or turned around?  We shall see how this plays out.  Best case, they only need to include an I130 with their AOS package.  Worst case, the IO notices the date discrepancies, and digs deeper.

Agreed. The POE will be critical here. BIA held in Matter of Quilantan that someone who had no visa or other permission to enter and was waved through the southern border in the pre-WHTI days without question when the driver of the car she was in said they were a U.S. citizen had been inspected and admitted for the purposes of AOS, because the admission and inspection was procedurally correct even if it was not lawful. Would seem to cover a case where CBP admits someone under a class they’re not eligible for without asking any questions (I am not a lawyer.)

 

But if they ask questions then that’s where the trouble starts and USCIS very much could dig into this for misrepresentation since CBP should turn them away at the POE as not eligible to be admitted under K-1. Basically they need CBP to screw up and not ask questions, which is perfectly legal: the visa gives the privilege of being considered for that class of admission. It’s just a horrible legal strategy if your best chance is the incompetence of government officials.

 

Honestly it’d make a fascinating BIA case to read, but there’s no one who wants their journey to be a precedent case…

Edited yesterday at 12:52 PM by S2N