dpx

On 3/26/2020 at 4:42 AM, BandQ said:

I feel that everyone is being way too harsh on you in this thread. It seems like everyone is too busy ripping on you about what you should or should not have done to actually answer your question. Whats done is done and the fact that you managed to get everything planed so well in those 90 days to begin with is impressive despite the risks. No one could have predicted a pandemic and no one should blame you for it too.

 

So to answer your question in the most polite way possible, there no recourse given the situation. Immigration only cares that you are getting married within the 90 days of entry. Luckly though, they dont have to enter right away. I think it's 6 months from the visa being issued that they have to enter the US plus another 90 days to to submit for AOS. That is after you already have to wait for a new interview. Considering that most of the wedding was planned to begine with its possible to be able to reschedule everything at a more predictable date after the visa is issued.

 

Be aware though, the longer your fiancee takes to enter the country, the more likely immigration may ask you about it during your followup interview. Personally, I would have a courthouse wedding asap to lock things in since luck doesn't seem to be on our side. That gives you guys more time to plan the wedding ceremony better. If a courthouse wedding doesnt seem to float your boat, you could try to have an elopement style wedding with just the 2 of you and a witness. Me and my fiencee were thinking of doing that on this beautiful mountain side north of us, then having a actual ceremony for our 1 year.

Thank you for your comment and for your understanding! It's nice to hear some positivity. We are becoming more accepting of the situation now and are willing to wait. Also, for what it's worth, I didn't mind your comment about being asked about traveling later during the interview. I just know for us that even with 9 months total, it's incredibly difficult planning a wedding with one person stuck in one country for 6 of those months, if we were to maximize the time. We actually exercised restraint in picking a wedding date, which we did a month after the initial USCIS approval. Save the dates went out a little after that, and the wedding invites weren't even sent until we had already been past the initial NVC step and had correspondence from the consulate. So we did our best. I know neither of us wanted her to wait 6 months to travel, so that seemed unrealistic to us. Thanks for suggesting a courthouse wedding - we think it's best to wait for that until after the K1 interview and approval though.

On 3/26/2020 at 6:28 AM, Leah88 said:

Hi there, 

 

I got my visa in February and planned to move on the 1st of May. I am currently not expecting for that to happen. I did not make any wedding plans, however I did quit my job and cancelled my lease. The pandemic screwed with my plans, and I do not know, if I can travel before my visa expires.

I didn’t quit my job before I had my visa in hand, and I didn’t tell my landlord either. However, I found myself in a miserable situation, when the travel ban and pandemic struck 2 weeks ago. 
i had to ask my boss, to take me back (keeping in mind LOADS of people are losing their jobs right now in Germany), and I had to have multiple discussions with my landlord to extend my lease for a month. What I want to tell you is, if I were you, I would push back the wedding you planned. I don’t think it is going to happen, but no one on here will be able to tell you, no one can expect what’s going to happen at this point.
i understand where you’re coming from and why you made your plans the way you did. No one should judge you, because no one could have predicted that the whole world would shut down. 
I am going to wait things out, hoping and praying for everything to be over soon, so we all will be able to go one with our lives.

for now, I would suggest for you to wait and not make any rush decisions that you might regret in the future. You’re really close to getting your visa, have some patience for now! If you do the cr1 you’ll have to start from zero.
I hope you and your family will be fine, and I have a lot of respect for everyone who is fighting the virus! So good luck and much health and happiness to you!!! 

Hi Leah88, thank you for your understanding and for your encouragement! The earth really is closed, isn't it?! This such a frustrating and testing time now for everyone. As mentioned above, we're becoming more accepting of the reality and also seeing the unexpected silver linings that are coming from this situation as well, so thank God. We don't want to pursue a CR1 either, so we'll wait this out for now. I really hope things pan out for you as well with a new travel date soon. I'm hoping that no more than a month from now we're all back to some semblance of normalcy, even if the world will seem different then. My best wishes to your family, and stay safe!

On 3/26/2020 at 10:00 AM, JL & ML said:

Hi dpx, 

 

My fiancée and I also took the risk of planning a religious wedding and ceremony under K-1, since our faith is the most important thing in our lives and is the reason we met in the first place. We applied for K-1 in May of last year and planned our wedding for this year in May, to give ourselves as much time as possible. It was very difficult being in long-distance relationship for nearly two years but we managed as best as we could. Now with churches and county offices closed, this throws a lot of uncertainty into the mix.

 

I sense there is a lot of bitterness and frustration around the present situation and it's hard for so, so many people. But just so you know you're not the only one who puts great importance onto faith matters. Pay no attention to the "serves you right" responses you're getting. Two people love each other and want to unite until death and share their lives, and are trying to get this done while respecting all the dizzyingly complex laws of their respective countries and getting through bureaucracy as best as they can. That's all there is to it. It's a very, very hard situation to navigate and you deserve credit.

 

Things will work out somehow! 

Hi JL & ML, thank you for this very nice comment. Faith is really big for us, and we don't consider living together and starting a life until we've been married before the altar. So, it's uplifting to hear from others out there who share this as well. Blessings to you and yours, and I hope that this pandemic is not affecting you to any great extent.

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Understood. You chose the path you did against the golden rule and accepted the risks of it not going to plan. Unfortunately, your bet did not pay off.

As noted, you actually had close to 9 months to marry: 6 months of visa validity + 90 days of K-1 status. The amrriage only needs to be a legal marriage. A religious ceremony can come later if necessary.

 

You can marry (in either country or a 3rd country) and start over with a CR-1 if you really want. I don't believe it is possible to do in the US or Canada right now due to travel restrictions, and flying to a 3rd country is not advised right now by the DOS. IMO, waiting out the K-1 seems the most logical step forward. Plan the wedding after the visa is in hand.

You're right, we did take a risk, and even though this was a very rare thing to happen when we pursued this, here we are. We're making the best of it though, and focusing on ourselves more and being there for each other as well. I will take the 9 months total into consideration next time. I thought initial approval was closer to four months but I'm obviously mistaken. We had wanted to move forward soon after the approval any way.

12 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

Did you you know plan a wedding with a lot of guests? Even if she were to get her visa now, I don't think a wedding in May will be possible unfortunately. I'm sorry, and thank you for helping save lives! 

Our wedding is a small wedding, thankfully. We already gave all guests a heads-up a few days ago, with a final decision to come in about a week. They've been understanding.

You're welcome and thank you for the kind comment.

Thank you all.

Thank you for your reply. No she's not in the US now unfortunately.

We had our reasons to plan our wedding when we did, including stringent church requirements, so no judgments please. Three months after approval is not any time to plan any wedding, and we put the religious ceremony above the civil one in terms of gravity and importance in our life. Every case is personal.

Hi all,

Part-time lurker, first-time poster here. I'm a US citizen who successfully petitioned for my Canadian fiancee through the K1 visa process. We started the process last August. We were just at the final step with a consulate interview in Canada already scheduled (for today!), when they emailed her last week and cancelled it, as is now happening with a lot of US consulates abroad.

Based on researching wait times for the K1 process, including checking the official travel.state.gov website throughout the process, we planned our wedding for mid May of this year. It seemed we picked well but couldn't predict a global pandemic, obviously. 

My question is, do we have any recourse aside from rescheduling the wedding for later this year? We have done all the right things, and we are wary of setting off any bells if we end up getting married anyway before her new interview date. Is CR-1 a good option if we marry and she goes back to Canada? Or would you say just wait it out a bit for now? We have discussed potentially getting married in September, and we're hoping this pandemic is well over by then. On a personal note, both my sister and I work in healthcare (pretty front-line). We are all praying that this passes soon for all of us affected in any way.

Much love!