When should she apply? Help about time on 90day K1 visa

[doingittherightway]

Hi there, me and my fiance have been engaged for 11months now a year in may! we planned on getting married this year but the company i was with closed down and posted our plans due to my financial mishap. We have the date set in late September of 2014. We have our venue booked and plans all ready. I've been to see her 3 times over the course of 2 years spending ALOT of time over there. So yes we are legit and yes we do love each other and i have everything humanly possible to prove that lol.

I'm in Australia, Perth to be exact. I was wondering since i have been reading up on the process. That it is more suitable for the fiance to enter on a fiance visa rather than a B1 tourist visa due to fraud issues. When should she apply for the petition for my K1 fiance visa? Do they let you pick when the 90 days for the wedding will be? or is it just a random date that they give to you based off applying. I have a lot of my family flying over for the wedding and she has ALOT of her family from around her to be at the wedding too, thus we want a planned wedding and not one on a 90day notice.

Also after we get married during the 90 day time period given to us what happens if the paperwork doesnt get back before that? do i stay over the 90days? that seems a bit iffy to me, i really dont want to break the law and get kicked out of the country!! We truly do love each other and really the only hurdle we have come across is understanding these laws so that we can be together and no get thrown in jail! lol.

Thank you in advance for those who reply and help out!

[wavedom]

An approximate timeline for K1 would be the following:

1. Processing of the I-129F petition: 3-6 months
2. USCIS -> NVC -> Embassy: 2-4 weeks
3. Visa issued: 1-3 months

The validity of the visa is six months from the day it is issued. You can enter the US anytime during those six months. The 90 days are based on when you enter the country, i.e. you have to be married within 90 days from the day you enter the US. In that way you can delay your 90 days according to the wedding date, as long as you enter the country before your visa expires. If you have set a date around September 30th 2014 (for example), your visa should not be issued any earlier than by the end of December 2013. That means that the I-129F petition should not be approved earlier than by August or September 2013. The I-129F petition is valid for four months once it’s approved. I don’t know if you need to have received your visa within that time or if you just need to be in contact with the Embassy within four months.

Once you’re married you have to apply for AOS, which will take about 3-6 months. This means that you will be staying past the 90 days without having a green card, but as long as you get married within the 90 days you’re fine. Ideally, you should also submit your AOS application within those 90 days. Once you have submitted that application, you’re put into pending status, which gives you the right to stay in the US during the reviewing process, even though you don’t have a green card and you’re past 90 days.

One warning though: Estimating when the whole process will be done is very difficult. The approval date of the I-129F petition itself can vary with several months. Some people are approved in less than three months. Some have to wait longer than six months. When the paperwork reaches the Embassy, issuing the visa can be a fast process, but it can also take months, depending on when they have an available interview time, when you can get an appointment for the medical exam and how fast the paperwork is processed etc. It’s good if you can keep the wedding date somewhat flexible. If not, try to count how long time the process takes in average. Processing times can be found on the USCIS website. You can also try to google processing times for the I-129F. It seems to vary with what month they are filed (i.e. how busy the offices are), as well as what office that handles the application.

[slovakdiva]

Hi there, me and my fiance have been engaged for 11months now a year in may! we planned on getting married this year but the company i was with closed down and posted our plans due to my financial mishap. We have the date set in late September of 2014. We have our venue booked and plans all ready. I've been to see her 3 times over the course of 2 years spending ALOT of time over there. So yes we are legit and yes we do love each other and i have everything humanly possible to prove that lol.

I'm in Australia, Perth to be exact. I was wondering since i have been reading up on the process. That it is more suitable for the fiance to enter on a fiance visa rather than a B1 tourist visa due to fraud issues. When should she apply for the petition for my K1 fiance visa? Do they let you pick when the 90 days for the wedding will be? or is it just a random date that they give to you based off applying. I have a lot of my family flying over for the wedding and she has ALOT of her family from around her to be at the wedding too, thus we want a planned wedding and not one on a 90day notice.

Also after we get married during the 90 day time period given to us what happens if the paperwork doesnt get back before that? do i stay over the 90days? that seems a bit iffy to me, i really dont want to break the law and get kicked out of the country!! We truly do love each other and really the only hurdle we have come across is understanding these laws so that we can be together and no get thrown in jail! lol.

Thank you in advance for those who reply and help out!

Hi doingittherightway!
I think you are on the right track! Since you already have a date and know when you want to be in the States, you can approximately start your petition about 14-15 months ahead I would say. the best thing about it is really that the visa is valid for 6 months, so that gives you some time to plan your arrival. Although, as wavedom said, there is always that little uncertainty about the processing time. However, as my experience is if you provide a lot of evidence (photos, skype talks, emails, etc.) and they dont have anything to pick on, the processing times should be as stated. Also, you are an Australian so there is smaller probability they would suspect some kind of marriage fraud I believe. And once you enter the US, you can get married whenever, within the 90 days period, they dont give you an exact date.

Just to give you an example, we started my petition in December 2011 and everything was ready at the end of June 2012. So my process was really fast. I dont know how busy the closest embassy to you is, but maybe you can send them and email and ask to see how long does it usually take to get a visa appointment. Just to get a better idea.


Good luck and no worries!