mille-feuille

5 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

I think we understand that, but since you have not even received the NOA2 from the I129F yet, and the potential of going through the process only to be denied a K1, you have to weigh the risks.  If a year or so down the road you get to the K1 interview, and the CO denies the application on the grounds you do not qualify for the K1, it will be even longer.  Immigration is a long and arduous process.

 

Regardless, the decision on risk is up to you and your partner, we can only show you the potential pitfalls you may see.

 

Good Luck!

Legally-speaking, he is not my husband yet. To even apply for a I-130, he would need to fly here again, we go to the embassy, find a religious institution to marry us, and then freaking redo the wedding. My country isn't somewhere we can just make an appointment at the courthouse and get a marriage certificate quickly. It doesn't work like that at all. Meanwhile, the wedding I had before had no official record (not even a religious certificate) and certainly did not qualify us for a spousal visa. 

I'm sure you all mean well, but to simply withdraw and apply for a spousal visa just don't make actual sense in my case. 

5 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

Never lie to a federal officer, that would be a serious misrepresentation.  If asked, you have to answer truthfully, and if you do not and are discovered, whether at the K-1 visa interview, US point of entry, or later at the adjustment of status, removal of conditions, or naturalization, it would likely mean a permanent bar from ever entering the US again.  Is your husband willing to move to your country if that happens?  Why risk it when a spousal visa would  only take a few months longer?

A few months longer? I-130 takes 10,5 months as of now (if not getting pushed back). I'd say this once again, I can't just apply for a spousal visa. The wedding I had included zero paperwork that would be needed to register for a civil marriage. 

10 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

we have seen too many people that have a celebration (some say engagement party) and the CO at embassy sees the submitted photos as "too married for  fiancee visa

 

when they suspect this could be the case they also look at messages between the couple to see if they say "my husband or my wife"

at this point ,  u need to register the wedding and go for a spouse visa 

I don't understand how an engagement party could be an issue. The photos we submitted were travel photos and engagement shot (basically just us at the beach, not with wedding dress/suit). 

What messages?

5 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Let us know how it all works out.

 

Good Luck!

Thanks

5 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Nope.   That’s 100% fraud.   Why risk your chance of ever living in the US by doing that!?

One of the must-submit document for a spousal visa is a copy of civil marriage certificate. We don't have that, because we never meant to register it legally. 

4 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

You’re no longer eligible for the K1.   You need to be petitioned for a spouse visa.

To even register my marriage and apply for a spouse visa I would need to actually marry again. Why? Because our ceremony didn't have any official record. To get married legally we'd need to first go to the US embassy/consulate here and fill out a form there for a CNI and then get a marriage certificate from a religious institution. There's a bunch of paperwork to be done for a marriage here and we never did or submitted any.  We can't just go have it registered now, so really we can't just apply for a spouse visa. 

7 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Because you're "too married" for the K-1, withdraw it.  This is actually a long-term boon for you -- see the comparative benefits of the CR-1 visa as compiled by our fine member Crazy Cat:

=============================

K-1        
    More expensive than CR-1    
    Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)    
    Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)    
    Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 6-8 months)    
    Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period    
    Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.
    A K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also
    In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice   
    A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire
    

CR-1
    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required.    
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US    
    Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival.    
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US    
    Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.
    Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.

===============================

In addition, if you're married longer than 2 years before you enter the U.S., your CR-1 visa converts to an IR-1.

Thanks for the compilation. I get that CR-1 has its own advantages, but one of the major disadvantages is that we need to start from zero and wait even longer. We filed for K1 before any wedding plans (in fact, we didn't even know when could we meet again at that time as my country's borders were closed). I literally only signed up on this site last night and never heard that non-registered wedding could be such a problem before. 

7 hours ago, slavaskii said:

Because OP has themselves already called their SO "husband" and mentioned "marriage" several times (as opposed to just 'religious ceremony'), it most certainly seems like this has blown past any arguable K-1 qualification. And that's ignoring the fact that, whatever "conservative country" this may be, the Church records may actually be uploaded / accessible somewhere. OP: the only logical way to end this headache is registering the marriage as said above and doing spousal.

There is NO church record. I didn't refer it as a religious ceremony because I'm not actually religious. 

29 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

"Husband"?  Husbands are not qualified for a K- visa. You are headed for possible big trouble. 

 I have asked the friendly Mods to split your comment out into a new thread. 

Ok I'm very much new here and I never heard of other couple's stories. But really why would I head for a possible big trouble when I'm not legally married?

Long story short, we never intended to violate anything. We applied for K1 2 months after getting engaged, decided to have a wedding during the long wait after because we wanted to celebrate and also for convenience's sake (I live in a more conservative country). We never submitted wedding pics and during previous embassy interview I said fiance. 

Just now, Family said:

Since now you know.. that your marriage is very much “legal “ and deemed a marriage…what will you do? 

Seriously, can I just not mention it during the interview? It isn't on the civil registry here and we don't even have a church certificate. 

6 minutes ago, Ecofolux2427 said:

Wait....so you were in the process of getting approved for a K1 Visa, got tired of waiting and tried to enter the US on a Tourist visa but was denied?

 

Did you have to buy a ticket immediately and fly back home? 

Well, long wait. No NOA2 yet. My husband could visit me here, but I wanted to see where he lives too and meet his family, so we tried the tourism visa. Official reason for denial is no strong ties to home country. Really though the officer didn't ask that much about myself, mainly about our relationship.

No tickets bought yet.

1 minute ago, powerpuff said:

That would be grounds for denial. It doesn’t need to be officially registered to be denied, there are several examples here on VJ where that happened. 

Wow really? I didn't know about it, I thought it'd only matter to them if it's legal. Thanks for letting me know.

2 minutes ago, rich rich said:

If there was no record of you applying for K-1 why were you denied a tourist visa?  So you never received the NOA1?

 

 

Oh we received the confirmation after we applied in March, just haven't heard anything again ever since. No record at the embassy here yet, but I was denied because I admitted I have a fiance in the US (thought I shouldn't lie because after all we have submitted K1 application before and I was planning to stay with him while in the US). I think the officer thought I was gonna misuse the tourist visa to stay there and get married. 

Hi, I'm new here. I guess I made an account and jumped straight to the forum so I feel less lonely in the frustration, lol. Submitted in early March, got the confirmation they've received it, but no more updates ever since. Tried to visit the US on tourist visa in September but got denied and told to do the K1 instead. I told the officer we've submitted it already but still haven't heard back (hence I wanted to visit in the meantime), then he checked on his computer and said they didn't have any record of it and simply told me to reapply (#######).

Oh well. I guess the documents simply haven't reached this embassy. 

I actually got married to my fiance in my home country during this crazy long wait, BUT it's not legal. We had a symbolic ceremony and a reception. We didn't actually register it because we don't want to have to cancel this application and start a new one (read: more cost and even longer wait). I wonder should I mention it when I have my interview one day (whenever will that be)?

How long do you all had to wait?