Travelling to the US, filing the K1 there...

[musa 0]

my fiance and i are planning for me to come to baltimore. we've never met in person. what we have in mind is for me to come to baltimore on a tourist visa, then we'll file for the k1 and see if they'll let me stay for the duration of the process. has anybody ever tried this or heard about anything relating to this? can u please give me some advice on this?

[Krissy! 0]

Well...... have you gotten the tourist visa yet? Customs will deny you if you say your intentions are to marry...

And no, you usually can not stay in the states while the K1 is being processed. You can visit, but you can not overstay.

.... I'm just a little baffled that you said you and your fiance have not met in person....

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

When you travel on a tourist visa you have to leave by whatever date they give you on your paperwork when you come. I am not sure if you already have a visitors visa but they are hard to get from Nigeria. Unless you have strong ties it is hard to get a visitors visa. If you use a visitors visa as a shortcut to immigrate, that can get you in trouble for visa fraud and sent back to Nigeria with a ban. You would also have to return for your interview to Nigeria. We all wish there were short cuts but it is a big waiting game. Good luck

[KimandRuss 0]

If this was so easy to do... we'd all be doing it!

As stated, not easy to get a visitor visa from Nigeria in the first place. Even if you did get a visa, it is still at the discretion of the POE officer to let you in the country ...or not. If you state your intentions of staying you will be turned away. If you overstay your visa you will risk a ban from the U.S. and then have to file a waiver proving you did not have immigrant intent when you entered... something you can't really do.

You have to have met your fiance in person before filing for the k1. There are very few exceptions to that rule. Your best bet now is to visit each other 'somewhere' and then part again to wait out the process like the rest of us.

[pushbrk 12,182]

If this was so easy to do... we'd all be doing it!

As stated, not easy to get a visitor visa from Nigeria in the first place. Even if you did get a visa, it is still at the discretion of the POE officer to let you in the country ...or not. If you state your intentions of staying you will be turned away. If you overstay your visa you will risk a ban from the U.S. and then have to file a waiver proving you did not have immigrant intent when you entered... something you can't really do.

You have to have met your fiance in person before filing for the k1. There are very few exceptions to that rule. Your best bet now is to visit each other 'somewhere' and then part again to wait out the process like the rest of us.

This is absolutely correct. If you can actually get a tourist visa, you can stay as long as they tell you you can stay at the time you enter. You must then leave the USA, so plan accordingly. Your visa interview will be in Nigeria, so you'll be returning for that anyway.