Getting married before applying for an F1 visa?

[polkaparty]

I am a US citizen who has been living in Colombia for several years. My Colombian partner is applying for doctoral programs in the US, and we plan to move together to wherever he is accepted. He will be fully funded, and I will look for a job. In order to save money when we arrive, it would be advantageous for us to stay in university housing and also for me to receive the far superior university health insurance. To do that, we either have to show we are in a civil union or married. We have been together for 3 years so entering into either one of those arrangements is not risky for us on a personal level. However, I don’t want to jeopardize my partner’s F1 visa process. My questions:

1. If we get married in Colombia before he applies for his F1 visa, will that create a problem for him when he does apply? I just noticed that the F1 requires you show intent to not stay in the US after your studies. I imagine marrying a US citizen could be problematic, right?

2. If we enter into a civil union, will that also cause a problem in the F1 application process? Technically, we will not be married, although depending on the questions they will ask at an interview, the embassy could discover that my boyfriend has an American boyfriend.

Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. The irony of all of this, is that getting married or entering into a civil union is more advantageous for ME, the US citizen, because I can receive the generous university health insurance through my partner.