wanting to get married but how and where?

[pushbrk 13,409]

The problem is that the F-1 isn't dual intent, meaning it's purpose is to study (or here, extended past his studies with the dean's permission), but not to immigrate. (i.e., normally, you leave once you're done.) Some visas (the H1-B, one of the Ls) are dual intent, meaning that you can use them having the intent to work AND immigrate. I know, it seems weird.

As far as where to marry, pretty much anywhere that you can get a marriage license. Most places seem to be satisfied with a valid passport and a social security number (or a good reason for not having one.) You should call the office for the county where you want to get married, as in my experience the information they have online tends to pre-suppose someone is a citizen.

If he were to successfully adjust status through a work related sponsorship, and H1b or other status that allows adjusting to permanent resident, then his marriage to a USC would become irrelevant. If he uses the marriage to USC as basis for adjusting status, then the couple needs to marry and file the paperwork before he leaves and needs to re-enter again. Clearly he had no immigrant intent based on marriage to a USC, upon his most recent entry. On his next entry, if not already married and AOS filed, then files AOS based on marriage to USC, he clearly had intent to do so upon entry and is committing fraud, IMO.

[Nancy2015 2]

Although if he already is working part time on a F-1 doesn't that mean he is dual intenting already?

Nope, it doesn't indicate dual intent. Working on-campus of for a recognized international organization is allowed to F-1 holders.

I guess it doesn't matter what I think, its what the immigration office thinks.. I just don't understand what the difference is, of marrying now on an F-1 vs. marrying sometime in the coming year or two when he is here on a HB or whatever its called-- wouldn't the process be essentially the same? And how exactly do you ever prove intentions one way or another?

Please don't let anyone scare you too much I myself adjusted from F-1, and our officer at the interview couldn't care less about my intent upon entry - it never even came up. All she was interested in was proof of our relationship, and we had plenty of that.

The best proof of not intending to use a student visa for immigration purposes is the fact that your boyfriend actually went to school. Had he entered with an F-1, never showed up at school, got married and applied for AOS right away - that would have been fraud. He didn't do it.

Immigration officers are not lawyers, and I suppose, most of them are not too sophisticated. They would never try to interpret the immigration law the way some members on this site do. So, don't worry about it too much.

When my now husband and I decided to get married, I seriously thought I would have to go back to my country and wait for a K-1 visa. I'm happy I did ore research and found out that it was perfectly legal for us to get married and file for AOS in the US - it saved us a lot of time and money (and we're not rich).

[tokori 0]

Thanks Jewel12-

Its great to hear a positive and painless story! Do you mind me asking what proof you had? I'm wondering what exactly we need to provide? Witnesses? Bills? Photos?

It seems a lot of the luck has to do with who gets your paperwork or interviews you? Has anyone gone through this process and resides in Manhattan?

I guess I need to call the student int. office and find out what exactly our options are under our current situation.. (getting married under an F-1 in vs. out of school on F1, getting married under a work visa vs F1 visa. etc)

[Caladan 19]

The problem is that the F-1 isn't dual intent, meaning it's purpose is to study (or here, extended past his studies with the dean's permission), but not to immigrate. (i.e., normally, you leave once you're done.) Some visas (the H1-B, one of the Ls) are dual intent, meaning that you can use them having the intent to work AND immigrate. I know, it seems weird.

As far as where to marry, pretty much anywhere that you can get a marriage license. Most places seem to be satisfied with a valid passport and a social security number (or a good reason for not having one.) You should call the office for the county where you want to get married, as in my experience the information they have online tends to pre-suppose someone is a citizen.

If he were to successfully adjust status through a work related sponsorship, and H1b or other status that allows adjusting to permanent resident, then his marriage to a USC would become irrelevant. If he uses the marriage to USC as basis for adjusting status, then the couple needs to marry and file the paperwork before he leaves and needs to re-enter again. Clearly he had no immigrant intent based on marriage to a USC, upon his most recent entry. On his next entry, if not already married and AOS filed, then files AOS based on marriage to USC, he clearly had intent to do so upon entry and is committing fraud, IMO.

Not quite the timetable I was thinking, so marriage isn't irrelevant for what I was thinking. Were he on an H1-B, and he married a USC, he wouldn't have to worry about leaving the country for a vacation and returning right before the marriage being a sign of immigrant intent because immigrant intent is okay on an H1-B. The adjustment would still be based off of the marriage rather than the work visa, assuming they didn't want to wait.

OP, talk with your international office but Jewel's pretty much nailed it. This is not a big deal, it happens ALL the time, and your fiance HAS used his visa properly. It's just with his graduation coming up that I'm not sure how his status would look were he to leave, return, and then get married (as opposed to returning for another year of schooling). But the international office will know that.

[Nancy2015 2]

Thanks Jewel12-

Its great to hear a positive and painless story! Do you mind me asking what proof you had? I'm wondering what exactly we need to provide? Witnesses? Bills? Photos?

It seems a lot of the luck has to do with who gets your paperwork or interviews you? Has anyone gone through this process and resides in Manhattan?

I guess I need to call the student int. office and find out what exactly our options are under our current situation.. (getting married under an F-1 in vs. out of school on F1, getting married under a work visa vs F1 visa. etc)

By the time we had our interview we were married for almost a year - we didn't file for AOS right after marriage, cause I was in status, and I actually wanted to wait with AOS until our second wedding anniversary to avoid the lifting of conditions. However, I got tired of being a non-immigrant after a while, and we filed AOS after all. We had a ton of joint financial stuff - joint accounts, joint car insurance and car titles, joint lease, phone bills, life insurance, dental insurance, renters insurance etc. Our pics were kinda sucky, and our wedding pics were even worse, because our financial situation at that time was, to put it mildly, destitute - we couldn't afford to have a nice wedding

Sure, luck comes into play when you're dealing with USCIS, but it is true when you adjust status from other types of visas too, including K-visas. I'd go as far as saying that, if the adjustment of status is based on marriage, the immigration officer will put more importance on the bona fide nature of your relationship, rather than intent upon entry - regardless of the type of visa you're adjusting from.

There is a number of people on this board who are in process or have successfully adjusted from F-1 visas. Most of them don't even read the K-visa forums, you can find them in the Adjustment of Status part of this board. A lot of them weren't married for a long time before their AOS interviews, and didn't have that much proof of relationship, but they were fine nevertheless. You can get more responses if you post your questions in the AOS forum.

Good luck! You'll be fine