dwarfer

I am British, I was almost denied my adjustment of status as the interviewer thought we got married before I came in on my K1. What they mistook for us marrying wasn't even a wedding or party for us.

My husband was best man at his dad's second marriage and she was all for denying us until I said I could get a copy of father in laws marriage certificate with my husband as witness.

This is how strict they can be.

Thanks for sharing your story.

That would have freaked me out big-time. Sheesh.

FWIW (My post was a total joke - hence the fake flowers and quotation marks)

No worries...You know the internet these days...I always assume people are 'taking the piss'.

Good luck with your visa process, BTW.

We are talking about Australia and I do not remember seeing anybody have such an issue, never seen one from the UK either.

Asia and Africa, yes, but that is where the legalities can be complicated.

Having said that stop calling something a wedding if it is not, avoid the dressing up and do not submit photos as evidence.

No harm having a party.

Yeah. I think I'll organise a nice family dinner to celebrate our engagement, since my extended family has never met him. I just wanted to have some formal celebration of our relationship for my family to attend.

I'll probably also get the "proof of no marriage" letter from my government, since I'm paranoid like that and I have an affinity for legal paperwork

DISCLAIMER: Sorry long time member here

I wish I had $1 for everytime I saw one of these posts. I could cut and paste 100 links to threads just like this one. I don't know about anyone else, but this visa journey has been the most stressful, difficult thing I've ever done. The last thing on my mind is to risk a denial/refusal for any reason. Go to the Ghana forum and read how many people have been denied for "knocking ceremonies". Others denied for engagement parties that look like weddings or were confused for weddings. African Sub-Sahara forum where VJers were denied because their fiance brought gifts and drinks to in laws.

OP is it worth risking a denial? Is this "fake" wedding ceremony worth not having your loved one here with you? Why, Why risk it?

"Guys, it was just a theater production. I was playing the role of the groom, and she was playing the role of the bride. Father Rory was playing a priest. Those flowers were all fake, too."

Thanks for your advice baron555. Much appreciated.

As noted above, we are planning, but haven't undertaken nor booked a 'wedding party'.

Hence why I'm asking advice on here before taking any further steps.

And at the risk of stating the obvious, I would not lie to immigration - nothing is worth jeopardizing my relationship over.

At the end of the day, we want the same as everyone else...to be together in the most reasonable amount of time possible.

Ah...the joys of immigration.

As I've said - thank you to you all for your replies (which I value, hence asking the question on this forum), and I refer to my previous response highlighted above.

I will investigate a family 'get-together' to celebrate our engagement, instead. It will be at least a couple of years until I return home and it is possible that some of my relatives might pass away in that time....so, I would like to celebrate something with them before I leave, and also for my fiance to meet my extended family.

Thanks for your advice baron555. Much appreciated.

As noted above, we are planning, but haven't undertaken nor booked a 'wedding party'.

Hence why I'm asking advice on here before taking any further steps.

And at the risk of stating the obvious, I would not lie to immigration - nothing is worth jeopardizing my relationship over.

At the end of the day, we want the same as everyone else...to be together in the most reasonable amount of time possible.

Ah...the joys of immigration.

In my years on VJ, I've seen Europeans and Canadians denied, at the interview or at the border. Up to you to see if a party is worth the possible trouble.

Thanks for the info. I find anecdotal evidence useful.

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For what it's worth, I just read that my state provides "proof of no marriage" letters for periods of 5 years (i.e. from any date chosen, and the preceding 5 years).

In case anyone else is reading this thread in the future, it may be worthwhile checking if your government does the same thing? In case a letter of intent does not suffice for the original I-129f petition.

That's exactly why the consulates are so strict about it. If it looks anything like a marriage ceremony, you are "too married for a fiancé visa".

Yeah, I understand the confusion that could arise...

That's why I was particularly interested to hear from Westerners about whether they'd had problems..

Rightly or wrongly, I assume that our fellow K1-visa people from more corrupt parts of the world are scrutinised more, due to the confusing grey area between traditional customs and legal marriages.

Given the very clear legal distinction in Australia between married and not, and the fact that I can show that I am not legally married, I was hoping that the consulate here might be more chilled out about it.

I mean, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I know the K1 visa can't be issued if I'm already married. We're applying for the K1 Visa so we can get married in the US...If I wanted to get legally married here, I would do that and apply for a spousal visa. Anyway...c'est la vie.

Once again - thanks to everyone for your advice.

The distinction between a wedding and a wedding-party is difficult to make, I think. At least from an outside perspective.

To me, a marriage is a legal agreement, and so (if we do it) it wouldn't be a marriage because it won't be legal.

I.e. the lack of legal status is the very thing that makes it a non-wedding.

In my country, the laws are very clear. A marriage is only a real marriage if it is registered with the Government department for these things.

A de-facto relationship only occurs if you live together in a 'marriage-type relationship' for at least 12 months. This is also not the case because he lives in the US, and I live here.

In light of the above, I would call it a wedding-type party, and not a marriage.

Nevertheless, I understand the points made, and thank you all for your advice.

We will re-assess our situation and see what our other options are.

Hi all,

My fiance and I have a wedding ceremony planned in my home country which will almost certainly occur before I get a K1 Visa, but after the I-129f paperwork has been submitted.

It will not be a legal wedding - just a ceremony. My country would not recognise this wedding in any way, not even as a de-facto type relationship.

We're doing it here for various reasons, mostly because I have many more family members than him, and they would not be able to travel to the US to see us marry there.

Besides, our legal wedding in the US will just be a courthouse one, and nothing much worth celebrating...

Furthermore, his mother can't travel and we wanted her to witness us getting married, as it's important to her.

All-in-all, this process suits our respective family situations the best.

I see that many people get visas refused because of confusion over the 'married-ness' of some cultural pre-wedding type celebrations.

As such, I will not take any photos to or mention the ceremony in my visa interview, whenever that occurs.

I've also locked down Facebook to ensure no-one can add any photos of us, and will generally keep ourselves offline until I have the visa in my hand.

Does anyone from a western country have experience taking this route?

Is it less of a problem for our countries because our customs and the legal aspect of marriage are very similar to the system in the US and so consulate employees are more familiar with it?

Any other advice or recommendations?

Thanks for your advice.

So you are filing the I-129F. But are you just visiting now to the US or you are living here with your fiance'?

The SSN and A# are yours for life. No need to take photocopies of it and explain a whole lot of things that may raise other questions and issues.

I thought that they were "mine for life", I just wasn't sure if I should list them now or now.

Thanks to everyone for your really quick replies and advice.

If you are in the US right now, you could get married & file for AOS...

Yeah - I am in the US at the moment...but, I'm here on the Visa Waiver, and don't want to mess around with trying to do an AOS, in case they reject it...also - I have to go home. I have a good job, and can't just leave my life at home behind like that - I'd burn too many bridges.

Besides...we want to do this the "right way", and a K1 seems to be the best option for us right now.....

Also - regarding my fiance's birth certificate - he has a certified copy of his birth certificate. I'm looking at ordering a copy from the California Dept of Health, but they only give certified copies - you can't order an original. Do I send a certified copy (sent form DoH) with our application, or can I send a photocopy of his current certified copy?

Thanks again to everyone for your help and advice.

Hi all,

New to the forum, but not to USA visas!

Briefly; my fiance and I have been officially dating for about 5.5 years and have known each other for 7 years. He's a US Citizen by birth, I'm an Australian citizen. I met him while taking some extended travel in the USA in 2008 on a B2 visa.

We visited each other a couple of times after that, and then I came to the USA on an F1 visa to study. I wanted to study overseas anyway, and it also gave us a great opportunity to spend time together to see if our relationship would work out.

I lived in the USA (with him) from Aug 2010 to Aug 2014. The first 3 years of that time, I was a full-time student, and the last year I was on OPT. With the OPT, I received a temporary SSN and Employment Authorization Card (With A-number). Those two documents have expired as of June 2014.

I left the USA within 60 days after the expiration of my EAC and have just come back to the USA on the visa waiver to visit my fiance. It's our first time seeing each other since I left, 18 months ago.

We're getting ready to submit a Fiance Petition (I-129f). I'm filling out the form and it asks for my SSN and A-number (if I have one). I can't find any information to say whether I should add those because I have had them (even though they're expired), or whether I should only add them if they're currently valid.

I'm going to put a copy of the two cards in with my application, and have an explanation of our whole situation including my previous visas.

I'm thinking I should add them even though they're expired?

Anyone else had this situation and have any recommendations? I can't find any advice about this.

I might call USCIS on Monday otherwise.

Thanks all for your help.