Thanks again everyone for the great insight and advice into the process. I'll admit, I haven't done much exploring into different options and routes to take. Obviously I'm not going to jump into anything sooner than we are both comfortable, but I will be seeing her for a month, and I feel like if we get along as well in person as we do online after a month, my mind will be set on whether I want to marry her or not.
The reason I have been searching for a job in the US is so we can avoid going the 'marrage route' to living together as we both agree that we want it to be done because we are ready, not because we can't stand the LDR any more. That is one of the reasons for keeping it a secret from family for now. The second reason, is because both of our families wildly disapprove of long distance relationships, yet alone making a decision to marry (which after this trip we will both be ready to or not). Its not to violate any sort of marrage of convienience, we both are genuinely in love with each other and can prove it. (no exaggeration here, there hasn't been a 6 hour period in the last 12 months that we haven't been in a skype call / facetime call).
However, all things considered, I think our best route is to go for a K1. We'll see how the trip goes in a month, then at the end of it decide whether to file it then, or after another trip. In any case, it seems like there will be less scrutiny from immigration, and probably an overall shorter wait time, i'll just have to figure out a way to support myself for 3-4 months while I get a work permit and job
Rhavoreth got a reaction from Penguin_ie in Question about Legality of travelling to the US to marry