Boyfriend has L Visa, want to get married

[KeoP]

His Visa expires at the end of the year and we would like to get married. Would it be better to get married before his visa ends? Will it be hard if it expires and he has to leave the country and tries to come back on a fiance visa? I am currently married and in the process of a divorce. We do not live together and probably won't until after marriage as I have small children. Any information is appreciated.

[inadmissible]

There are several moving parts here, the L, the K, the divorce, the overstay, and the adjustment to permanent residency.

It takes about 7 months to process a K visa, and at the end he will have to attend an interview at the consulate abroad. You can't start the process until your divorce is finalized.

You may not be able to accurately forecast when your divorce will become final, because of judicial backlogs and the back and forth over separation details. You may have more definitive idea when your separation agreement is complete.

If he overstays his visa, and ultimately marries you, he can adjust his status to that of a permanent resident. His overstay and unauthorized work will be forgiven. However he risks deportation and won't have the documents needed to actually get a job. Like all illegal aliens, he would have to choose between being self-employed or working a manual labor job for an abusive but cash-paying employer. He will have no contractual protection if you choose not to marry him, and he would be stuck remaining illegal, or he could leave and be barred from returning to the United States. It is a three year bar for 180 days overstay, or ten years for 365 days of overstay.

Of course, it would be easiest and safest for him to marry you before his L visa runs out, but is that realistic given that you are still married?

[KeoP]

Thanks for your reply!

Inadmissible, my divorce is pretty straight forward. It will be final around October. His company just asked him to stay until March of next year. He's in a position to wait a little bit to work so no abusing ahole boss to work for. If we got married before his L visa runs out, what is the next process?