wallaby4rent

Just wanted to update anyone who this information might be useful for.

Yes, you are allowed to cross from Canada to the United States using the B1 visa without activating your K1. My husband had no problem at all doing so. As we all know, whenever you cross the border it's up to the CBP's discretion to let you enter, however, it is permissible to enter the US on the B1 without entering on the K1.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought the second wedding on your list was the "pomp" wedding.

It's ok. I just didn't want anyone to think I thought it was ok for the rules to be bent for me.

Purplesky, in theory, your idea is perfect, but since the honeymoon was booked for two days after the wedding, and I'd need my fiance present in the US for the wedding, we wouldn't be able to fly him out of Canada to DR. And there's no way to push anything back with the wedding: we'd lose everything we've spent. * sigh * I do agree, it's not worth risking anything, especially when you're getting conflicting advice from people who should be telling you the same thing. Also, too much of what goes on with a person crossing and the BP is up to the officer's discretion. You never know.

The way I am looking at this now is that at least we will be able to get legally married at our wedding, which we didn't think was going to happen.

NO!!!!!

Is the font big enough?

The K1 is invalid once you are married! You can't marry, leave the US, and then return with a K1 visa. You MUST BE LEGALLY FREE TO MARRY WHEN YOU ENTER WITH THE K1!

Sorry, there is no way your plan can work.

Please re-read what I wrote. There will be no marriage at the wedding - like I said, it's pomp and circumstance. It's just going to be a big party. We planned the wedding a year after the engagement, and we were told that was plenty of time. Obviously it was not, and I advise anyone who is about to go through the process, don't listen to what lawyers tell you. Just because they make a living off of immigration procedures, doesn't mean they're always right.

Because I've gone through the process, yes, I am keen enough to know that leaving the US after using the visa invalidates it and that I can't get married before it's been used (or else I just forfeited all of the time and money that went into it). Our plans have to be changed since he's required to use the visa the next time he enters. We can't cancel the whole wedding, and we're not going to give up the visa just to go on a honeymoon, so it's going to have to be thing that gets canceled.

Just to make sure we have this right:

-your fiance will fly to boston

-You will then fly to DR (beautiful place for a honeymoon btw)

-You'll fly back to the USA and activate the K1

-Then you'll get married

Sounds like a solid plan. I have heard of people going across the border without activating the K1. As long as the CBP agent knows this then you should be fine. I might not mention it to the CBP agent that it was your honeymoon trip. Maybe make it your reunion trip as honeymoon definitely sounds like you already got married which would invalidate the K1.

Have fun and hope it works out ok

Just as a quick run-down to answer everyone's questions:

Kennym, yes I do know we have to get married here. Our wedding is in NH.

Inky, the honeymoon is after the wedding. Our wedding is September 3, we had booked the honeymoon for Sept 5.

Long story short - Because of all of the hangups we were having with processing time (US being busy), we accepted the fact back in April (after getting a letter from the Consulate in Montreal saying it'd be another 4-6 months before my fiance's interview) that we would probably not be able to get legally married at our wedding, so it'd be a pomp-and-circumstance party. We would just have to wait until after he got the visa to have a legal, officiated ceremony.

The plans was

-Fiance drives to MA

- "Wedding"

- Leave for DR

- Fly back to Boston

- Fiance drives home, grabs his stuff

- Fiance enters on K-1

- Get married

After finding out the visa is *affixed* to your passport, I accepted all of this as impossible, and honestly, I still don't know if trust that he will be able to enter the US after the DR trip without a problem. Booking the honeymoon was a mistake, however, we thought we were clear on all of the terms. One of the most frustrating things about this whole process is that you can get contradictory information even from official sources.

I take it you two are not ready to live together? I know my wife and I wanted to be together as soon as possible. Then again, she couldn't just go back and forth as you can. Myself included.

No, we do want to be together as soon as possible, it's just that we spent a lot of money booking a honeymoon, so I was hoping we could hold off on the visa until we returned from DR, at which point we'd go back, grab his belongings and move him in with me. <3

He called the Highgate Springs, VT, border office, and the official border officer reassured him it was completely ok, and that he was able to enter the country without using it, based on the B1 visa (? I think that's what it was called). He also emailed the US Consulate in Montreal about it. I'm just not sure what happens when we enter DR and they see it. I don't know how it works when you go into other countries, tbh. I've never used my passport for anything other than Canada.

And Hendea, yes -- that's what we want to do: enter on the K-1 after the trip, but the flight is out of Boston.

Unfortunately we were told some months back that they send you something separate from the visa, and you attach it when you're ready. And unfortunately, we just booked a honeymoon in the Dominican. Non-refundable.

My fiance was approved for the K-1 (YAY!), however, I am wondering, can he enter the US without using the visa? Can he hold off on using it for a trip or two?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

The packet that he received from the US Embassy in Montreal told us we were required to fill it out.

Is that wrong?

It's listing the following documents as required before an interview can be scheduled:

DS-230 pt. 1, DS-160, DS-156K, DS-156, and the confirmation receipt from the DS-156.

"List dates of all previous visits to or residence in the United States. (If never, write "never") Give type of visa status, if known. Give DHS "A"

number if any."

I'm not really sure how to go about this. My fiance is Canadian. Over the last two years, he's traveled into the US anywhere between 20-30 times for weekend visits, and a couple of extended holiday visits. The longest he has ever spent here was 10 days. Are we required to attach a separate piece of paper telling them all of those dates? To be honest, it'd be like clutching at straws -- it'd be hard to choose exactly which weekends they were for the most part. Accuracy on that would be shoddy.

It seems to me like they are only asking for visits that would require a specific visa for stay, but I'm always so careful with these forms.

It's really impossible to give you an approximate time Wallaby. Montreal seems to go in waves with their scheduling. For a while the wait time will be in and around that 5 month mark, and then they will suddenly schedule tons of people at one time, and the wait times will go down to around two months or sometimes even less. It's basically a game of luck, depending on when you send back the packet and when Montreal decides to schedule. The good news is that generally the wait times don't hit that 5 month mark. I'd guess that the norm is closer to 3 months. So, you may very well make your wedding date, and I hope you do. You're getting married on my birthday!

Good luck! Keep us updated.

Your birthday is on a fantastic day, Hugglebuggles.

As frustrating as this all is, I really appreciate everyone's help.

coraliesolms -- Well, we basically have everything minus the medical exam and the police report (which should arrive in the next week or two), so...yeah. Sigh.

My jaw dropped to the floor last night when my fiance was reading to me instructions for our next step after receiving our approval notice. The US Embassy in Montreal stated that once all of our materials have been received, an interview would be scheduled between 4 and 6 months after.

I'm so confused. Is giving such a extended time just a safeguard? From what I've heard and read, Canadian fiance(e)s seem to get their interviews within a month or two after all of their materials have been sent to the fiance(e)'s local office. Our wedding is September 3, 2010, and while we knew there was a chance that we would not be approved by that time (we'd have a mock ceremony and not sign anything until the visa has gone through), I'm still shocked to think that it could be nearly a year before we even get an interview.

Can someone shed some light?