From K1 to L1-B - ? problems ahead?

[Storm555 0]

Hi all

I can't find anyone who has had a simlar problem on here so here goes...! As a total newbie to this board I thank you in advance and totally appreciate your time. I live in UK, married a US citizen almost 2 years ago outside the US and filed a K1 as we were going to marry in the US as we thought it would be nice to remarry with his family there and didnt figure it would be a problem as we would be marrying each other again! Given the recession etc etc we both have jobs and have been travelling back and forth to see each other and got a couple of extensions on the application which is now at the embassy awaiting medical and affidavit of support etc. Then out of the blue my employer, who has an office in the US, offers me the chance to relocate - same job, different office. As finding work was the problem in the first place I am overjoyed, and then I realise I will have to apply for an L1B visa while I actually have a K1 in process. I realise that I have to withdraw the K1 and am in the process of doing that, but, and this is the big worry - if my employer applies for a L1B visa it will be at the same embassy who will of course have my K1 papers etc. Whilst I am going to be totally truthful about my naivety I am now panicking that they wont grant a L1B visa as I obviously have intent to change status at sometime given that my husband is in the US and I was planning on moving there. Any advice?

[Barbara J 115]

Hi all

I can't find anyone who has had a simlar problem on here so here goes...! As a total newbie to this board I thank you in advance and totally appreciate your time. I live in UK, married a US citizen almost 2 years ago outside the US and filed a K1 as we were going to marry in the US as we thought it would be nice to remarry with his family there and didnt figure it would be a problem as we would be marrying each other again! Given the recession etc etc we both have jobs and have been travelling back and forth to see each other and got a couple of extensions on the application which is now at the embassy awaiting medical and affidavit of support etc. Then out of the blue my employer, who has an office in the US, offers me the chance to relocate - same job, different office. As finding work was the problem in the first place I am overjoyed, and then I realise I will have to apply for an L1B visa while I actually have a K1 in process. I realise that I have to withdraw the K1 and am in the process of doing that, but, and this is the big worry - if my employer applies for a L1B visa it will be at the same embassy who will of course have my K1 papers etc. Whilst I am going to be totally truthful about my naivety I am now panicking that they wont grant a L1B visa as I obviously have intent to change status at sometime given that my husband is in the US and I was planning on moving there. Any advice?

Q? How can you apply for a K1 visa when you are already married? It would be denied anyways. Your husband should have filed a Cr1 spousal visa for you not a 129f Petition fiancee visa.

[Anh map 2,098]

You are not eligible for a K1 visa because married is married. US recognizes legal marriages from any spot in the world.

Perhaps you meant K3 rather than K1. Typically the CR1 spousal petition is filed concurrently with the K3.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Q? How can you apply for a K1 visa when you are already married? It would be denied anyways. Your husband should have filed a Cr1 spousal visa for you not a 129f Petition fiancee visa.

Exactly right, she can't. What she did is state that her husband is her fiance which is a lie (material misrepresentation) and carries a lifetime ban.

OP - regardless of the L1B you can't apply for a K1 visa. You need to IMMEDIATELY withdraw your K1 petition. It certainly doesn't look good that you lied about being married on the K1 forms and I would be more worried about that... it's not like you didn't know you were married.

[Storm555 0]

Hi all,

We married in Italy and as yet aren't even 100% certain it would be legally recognised in the US as we didnt get paperwork /advice from the US Embassy in Italy like we were supposed to (have since found out) and this is being verified... so we may well not be married in the eyes of the US government. We made a mistake in that we thought that marrying each other again in the US wasnt breaking any laws so thought K1 was the way to go at the time, but hindsight is a great thing. The letter is in the post withdrawing the K1 by both of us, but my problem in the initial posting still stands - will it cause problems with the L1B and my intent to move permanently to the US as I will obviously adjust status when I am there. A lawyer told me that this has happened before and shouldnt cause problems if a person is honest and withdraws K1.

Thanks in advance to everyone who replied, but I would appreciate if you left out the heavy comments like 'lifetime ban' when this is not the case as many other people have done the exact same thing as us and made it through to green card so what you are saying is in fact inaccurate. No crime committed or criminal background or anything shady...!

[Anh map 2,098]

Hi all,

We married in Italy and as yet aren't even 100% certain it would be legally recognised in the US as we didnt get paperwork /advice from the US Embassy in Italy like we were supposed to (have since found out) and this is being verified... so we may well not be married in the eyes of the US government. We made a mistake in that we thought that marrying each other again in the US wasnt breaking any laws so thought K1 was the way to go at the time, but hindsight is a great thing. The letter is in the post withdrawing the K1 by both of us, but my problem in the initial posting still stands - will it cause problems with the L1B and my intent to move permanently to the US as I will obviously adjust status when I am there. A lawyer told me that this has happened before and shouldnt cause problems if a person is honest and withdraws K1.

Thanks in advance to everyone who replied, but I would appreciate if you left out the heavy comments like 'lifetime ban' when this is not the case as many other people have done the exact same thing as us and made it through to green card so what you are saying is in fact inaccurate. No crime committed or criminal background or anything shady...!

If a person commits a "material misrepresentation" (intentionally lies or hides the truth) then that is something that can trigger a lifetime ban. In this situation it's a simple mistake and you are taking steps to clarify/correct. The poster was simply stating that representing a spouse as a fiance could be in that material misrepresentation category.

[JoannaV 173]

Are the two of you living in the US, or are you living in separate countries still? If you wanted to have a marriage ceremony in the US you can do that any time: just fly over there and do the wedding ceremony. You are already legally married so it would only need to be a, err, ceremonial ceremony.

I don't know anything about having to register your marriage with the US Embassy or whatnot, but I'm pretty sure that you ARE legally married :-)

Oh wait ok, I now see that your husband is indeed in the US and you are planning to move there eventually. Well you either need a spousal visa (CR-1 or PR-1 depending on if it's more or less than two years you've been married) OR you go on a work visa and then adjust status. You should definitely withdraw the K1 application as you are already married. (Unless you had a ceremony in Italy and it is not recognised by Italy, like you just hung out on the street and had a ceremony without an official present...)

As for whether there may be problems getting a work visa as you have intent to immigrate eventually....that question has been asked before. It may be that you'll need to ask the question again because people reading this particular thread may get distracted by the K1/marriage issue.

I read the other day a topic about E3 (US work visa just for Australians) in which someone said that the US had issued a ruling/statement/something saying that they should not consider possible intent to immigrate when deciding whether to grant such a visa. But I do not know if this is a general rule or not, and I know nothing about the L1B.

[Barbara J 115]

Hi all

I can't find anyone who has had a simlar problem on here so here goes...! As a total newbie to this board I thank you in advance and totally appreciate your time. I live in UK, married a US citizen almost 2 years ago outside the US and filed a K1 as we were going to marry in the US as we thought it would be nice to remarry with his family there and didnt figure it would be a problem as we would be marrying each other again! Given the recession etc etc we both have jobs and have been travelling back and forth to see each other and got a couple of extensions on the application which is now at the embassy awaiting medical and affidavit of support etc. Then out of the blue my employer, who has an office in the US, offers me the chance to relocate - same job, different office. As finding work was the problem in the first place I am overjoyed, and then I realise I will have to apply for an L1B visa while I actually have a K1 in process. I realise that I have to withdraw the K1 and am in the process of doing that, but, and this is the big worry - if my employer applies for a L1B visa it will be at the same embassy who will of course have my K1 papers etc. Whilst I am going to be totally truthful about my naivety I am now panicking that they wont grant a L1B visa as I obviously have intent to change status at sometime given that my husband is in the US and I was planning on moving there. Any advice?

Ok I have just read up on this LB1 visa and your company will sponsor you and write to USCIS to have you come to the USA to work, Visa lifetime is approx 3 years but can be extended. Ok the crunch of it comes that you would get this visa but you plan to adjust status(immigrate) so really coming here under false pretenses. You would have a lot of explaining to do at interview for GC as you knew before this LB1 visa that you were married and that may go against you. To be honest you need to tell your company that you are married to a USC and the only legal way to be here with your husband is CR1 spousal visa. Then you can work for this company here as you get GC status right away/able to work.

[Storm555 0]

Hi everyone,

Many thanks for taking the time to post and reply. I seems that the L1B is one of the few categories that allow a thing called 'dual intent'- This means that the entrant can have non-immigrant (L1B) as well immigrant intent (K3) at the time of entry in the United States of America. My employer knows I am married to a US citizen (they gave a wonderful gift) and that was one of the reasons they asked me to relocate.

My other half and I have been living in different countries since we met, three years ago.

Re the marriage - l"legal validity of your marriage is governed, in part, by the laws of the country in which you marry. In most, if not all cases, the legal formalities abroad are very different from country to country. For example, a church marriage abroad is usually a purely religious ceremony with no legal effect. Because it is not recognised in law in the country in which it takes place, it cannot be regarded as a legal marriage in other countries. This is the case even though a marriage in the same church or denomination in the UK or Ireland can be legally binding. Other countries require a civil ceremony and a barrage of red tape paperwork to be filed before the marriage is legal and this is especially so if the couple getting married aren’t themselves citizens or residents of the country they marry in. It is very important, therefore, that you make sure to meet all the legal requirements of the country you are marrying in."/i] Not sure if we complied or not, still waiting to find out...!!

Its not simple to just turn up and get married in the US without disclosing this was my intention beforehand. Given all the confusion over my status if I were to be asked by border control why I was entering the US and I didnt say 'I'm here to get married' that would be fraud and entering the country as a tourist then marrying would cause more problems. I would then have to get on a plane home. Its hard enough being apart but the whole idea is to have married life together...!

I actually rang the American Embassy this morning and spoke to someone there. They said it has happened before that a K1 was in process and the couple got married and wont go against me as long as I withdraw K1 before submitting another application so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

As someone pointed out I probably will have some explaining to do at the interview so am just going to be 100% honest and see what happens.

Many thanks to all for your posts. I will keep you posted! .

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Yes, L visas are dual intent (as are H visas).

[Harsh_77 716]

First step would be to WITHDRAW your K1, does not matter even if you did not file with registrar in Italy, even if you just got married in Church or somewhere else, you are married.

Getting a marriage certificate is a different story, so you spouse should file for CR1, based on number of years you have been married you would be eligible for CR1 or PR1.

If your company can convince your company to wait for approx 6-7 months where they can let you work from your current office, then they can save all the L1 cost as you would not need it.

Once you get your CR1 or PR1 you can enter US as a legal resident with option to work for any employer you want to, you can even start working from next day onwards from your entry – given you already have a SSN number.

My thought would be withdraw K1 file for CR1 and then go with that.

[Benoit and Jess 0]

Hi all,

I am in the same situation as Storm 555, except that I did not get married at all. I and my fiance are in the process of a k1 visa and my company might transfers me also through a L1 visa. I would like to confirm with you the following : is is possible to turn up at the port of entry with two visas a k1 a l1 ?

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Benoit and Jess

[Dakine10 5,452]

Hi all,

I am in the same situation as Storm 555, except that I did not get married at all. I and my fiance are in the process of a k1 visa and my company might transfers me also through a L1 visa. I would like to confirm with you the following : is is possible to turn up at the port of entry with two visas a k1 a l1 ?

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Benoit and Jess

Yes, you can have both visa's, but you are not going to enter on both visa's. At some point, you will have to pick one. If the K1 is already in process and they want to start the L1 now, then you might as well just see which one is ready first. The benefits of entering with the L1 are obvious so I would do that if possible. The K1 can still be a backup if the L1 gets denied - they sometimes do.

[Harsh_77 716]

Hi all,

I am in the same situation as Storm 555, except that I did not get married at all. I and my fiance are in the process of a k1 visa and my company might transfers me also through a L1 visa. I would like to confirm with you the following : is is possible to turn up at the port of entry with two visas a k1 a l1 ?

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Benoit and Jess

you can apply for both, but during the time of interview it will come up that you have K1 in process or already granted. At this point it would be upto CO to grant L1 or not, best thing would be talk to your company let them know your K1 is in process only down side to this is you will not be able to work for your company immdiately after you move.

you will have to wait until your AOS process is complete.

Say your L1 is granted, you can enter US with L1 and then get married to your fiance and file for AOS - in that case the down side is you will have to start all over again and whatever money you have spent on k1 is lost.

[Benoit and Jess 0]

you can apply for both, but during the time of interview it will come up that you have K1 in process or already granted. At this point it would be upto CO to grant L1 or not, best thing would be talk to your company let them know your K1 is in process only down side to this is you will not be able to work for your company immdiately after you move.

you will have to wait until your AOS process is complete.

Say your L1 is granted, you can enter US with L1 and then get married to your fiance and file for AOS - in that case the down side is you will have to start all over again and whatever money you have spent on k1 is lost.

Thanks very much guys for your time and your answers !!! Benoit and Jess