chris_in_nyc

We figured it wouldn't be a good idea anyway. Just curious what experience other folks have had.

Thanks for the input!

Should this be revised then to be less confusing?

5.12.1)...What about visiting Canada or Mexico prior to filing for Adjustment of Status?

A...There is a way for a K1 visa holder to do this, but only if you are not married yet. After marriage, you must have Advance Parole.

If you DRIVE into Canada or Mexico (not fly), and if you do NOT surrender your I-94 (which is normally surrendered upon leaving the United States), you can re-enter the United States before the expiry date on the I-94. One newsgroup participant did that in early 1999, when he was required to take his K2 kids back into Canada in order to comply with child visitation requirements. He received conflicting answers from USCIS (INS) when researching the issue. He left and re-entered the US at the same POE (Detroit, Windsor Tunnel), and consulted with the USCIS (INS) folks there before doing it.

Apologies for posting this question a second time ... not sure if anyone noticed it in the other thread.

My fiancee received her K-1 visa and arrived in the US a few days ago (she is Canadian but was living in Asia). We have a ceremony and reception planned for early October, so we don't plan to do the AOS until then.

She would, however, like to go back to Toronto to fetch a few important things from her brother. What are the rules on this? I understand the K-1 is a single-entry visa, though I saw in the Visa FAQs that it is possible to drive to Canada/Mexico without surrendering the I-94. I'd like some clarification as I haven't been able to find any more info on this on the web.

Does anyone have experience with this?

[Of course we would otherwise just head to City Hall and try to get the AOS done sooner, but the next two weekends are our only chance to travel.]

My fiancee and I visited each other throughout the K-1 application process without any issues. She always traveled with a packet of info (she is beneficiary) in case there were questions, but it never happened. Fortunately she had a clean record with no overstayed visas, etc.

Now, however, I'm in need of clarification on entry/exit rules after landing in the US on a K-1 visa. My fiancee finally received her K-1 and landed in NJ a few days ago (she is Canadian but was living in Asia). They made her wait a while at Newark Airport, but she was finally issued the I-94 and allowed to enter.

We are hoping to go to Toronto next week to see her brother. I've been looking high and low on the forums for anecdotes or answers as to whether there will be any problems doing this, as I understand the K-1 is a single-entry visa. I read in the Visa FAQs that it is possible to travel to Canada/Mexico while in the US on a K-1, but only if we haven't yet married (not sure I see how that makes a difference unless the AOS process somehow voids the I-94) and the I-94 has not been surrendered.

Clearly the AOS process will take several weeks, even if we get married tomorrow. However she'd like to go asap to get a few things from her brother, like driver's license, some bank documents, etc.

Does anyone have experience with this? Can she just show her Canadian citizenship card upon re-entering the US and avoid showing her passport? She has not driven across the border in quite a while and doesn't know what the situation is like these days.

Appreciate any advice!

Yeah, I get it and it all makes sense. Frankly I didn't really think about this issue until I read the post earlier, but of course we'd never act on anything without thoroughly researching it.

Thanks for your comments.

I don't get how there's a grey area here. If you have a ceremony and have it registered, you are married - and by that definition, a K1 visa is no longer an option for you.

The same grey area under which a U.S. citizen can have dual nationality ..

Only requirement I can find is that you must use your U.S. passport to enter/exit the U.S. The gov't apparently does not concern itself with how other countries view your status.

Will USCIS/NVC/US Consulate actually check for overseas marriage status? I was under the assumption that their primary interest is blocking fake marriages or the bringing of multiple K-1 fiance/es into the U.S.

We are also having a ceremony overseas and we've been debating whether to get registered there. Her mother wants us to, but I am against it because of some dual-citizenship issues for me.

VSC must've stepped up their game this week - that or they're all snowed in and have no choice but to process apps.

We also received our approval e-mail last night (NOA1 11/12/09). About 100 days, but at least we can get on with our plans and not sit around worrying about it.

From here will need I-134 and related materials plus further evidence, correct? It's been so long since I've looked at any of the K-1 visa stuff.

Commiserating with all of you ... we filed in early November and are still waiting for either RFE or NOA2 (Vermont). Based on the timelines, however, seems like we are not alone.

I'm confident everything will happen in a somewhat timely manner, but my fiancee is pushing to make wedding plans, etc. I did suggest early on that we at least wait for NOA2 before nailing down plans, but admittedly I also got caught up in the romance and figured our fine government would work in our favor and have everything ready by the fall.

Meanwhile I applied for a passport renewal using expedited processing ... Nat'l Passport Center in Philly received it on Feb. 14 and sent my new passport back on Feb. 16. Absolutely stunned by the speed - I wish the K-1 process were this efficient!

Best of luck to everyone!

Hello all-

Newcomer here, though I've spent countless hours on this site in the past month sifting through the guides and others' K-1 application experiences. Truly informative site for a complex and nerve-wracking process.

I'm from the U.S. and met my sweetheart while living and working in Taiwan several years ago. I came back last year for graduate school, and now that I've found a new job (finally! What a tough couple of months), we've decided to take the plunge and start a new life together.

We are just about ready to send the I-129, but I stumbled upon a potential issue and wanted to see if anyone here has dealt with this. I searched several times but could not find any similar threads. Any advice?

Situation

She is a dual citizen of Taiwan/Canada. We are using her Taiwanese citizenship to apply, simply because she'll more likely be in Taiwan over the next couple of months when it's time for interview/medical/etc. Each time she has visited me in the U.S. (three times in the past 12 months), however, she has used her Canadian passport to enter the U.S. (Taiwan does not have a reciprocal visa waiver with the U.S.; it's difficult/expensive to get a tourist visa).

We were planning on including her passport stamps as part of our evidence of having met in the past two years, but I realized last night that the stamps are from her Canada passport, which we never mention in the I-129.

Question

Will this create a problem with our application? Might they question her use of the Canadian passport to visit the U.S. and Taiwanese passport for I-129/K-1? (I'm assuming I will have to be explicit about her dual citizenship on the application since we will be using stamps from her Canadian passport as evidence of our relationship.)

Lastly, will this affect her ability to visit me in the coming weeks (after the petition is filed)? I don't believe it will be a problem, but I'm still curious to hear your experiences.

Thanks!