Getting married on a visitor visa

[mclarenfan316]

Hi All,

I recently got engaged and my fiancee lives in a different country. I am trying to find out the fastest process to get her here. I beleive my options are
1- Tourist visa
2- Fiancee visa
3-Student visa

I read that there is a risk if you come on a visit visa and then later on apply for an adjustment of status. Do you suggest that I take that risk or should I go with the Fiancee visa option? it seems like it will take the longest.

Is a student visa an option?
Thanks a lot for looking into this

[peace999]

You have not mentioned it but I assume you are a US citizen.

Both visitor visa and student visa require an intent to return home.
With a US citizen fiancee in US, it will be hard for her to prove that.
so she is not likely to get those.

So, fiancee visa (K1) is one option. yes, it takes long ;about a year.

what is her country ?
Can't you get married in her home country so you will file an immigrant petition
straightaway, instead of going for fiancee visa and then adjusting her status in US,
which will increase the costs and take longer.

[mclarenfan316]

You have not mentioned it but I assume you are a US citizen.

Both visitor visa and student visa require an intent to return home.
With a US citizen fiancee in US, it will be hard for her to prove that.
so she is not likely to get those.

So, fiancee visa (K1) is one option. yes, it takes long ;about a year.

what is her country ?
Can't you get married in her home country so you will file an immigrant petition
straightaway, instead of going for fiancee visa and then adjusting her status in US,
which will increase the costs and take longer.

Hi! Thanks a lot for your reply. Yes, I am a US citizen. She lives in Saudi and has an India visa with an Iqama( I guess work that would be the work permit). I can go there and get married. Is that the fastest way for her to come here? how long does it usually take?

Just curious- How will USCIS know her fiance is a US citizen if she applies for a visit visa.
Thanks again for helping me out

[peace999]

there is a question on the form that asks about immediate relatives in US. That includes fiance/fiancee.

you could get her here faster on a work visa but that will require looking for an employer and to see if she is eligible.

Also, time-wise for her to come to US will be the same for K1 as well as an immigrant visa. Only that with K1, you have to file AOS after getting married in US
it adds more time and cost to the whole process. With immigrant visa it is one shot but again the downside is you will have to travel to saudi to get married.

I think it takes about 10-12 months for an immigrant visa. For timelines for each country , Please check personal message.

[mclarenfan316]

Thanks a lot! Can you please mention the name of the thread.

A year seems so long. Do you think she should apply for a visit visa and we can try to adjust the status or you think that's too risky?

How long does an employer visa take/cost? I will look into this option as well

Thanks a lot for your help.

[peace999]

check "notifications" on the upper right side of this forum. and look inside that for a message.

It will be hard for her to get a visitor visa in the first place as she will have to mention you as a fiance in the form ( should not omit that as that can have
grave consequences).
Even if she gets it by convincing the officer that she will return home after the visit, adjusting will not be advisable as entering as a visitor and
later adjusting to green card will be visa fraud. People do it but in your case you are already engaged so a premeditated intent will be obvious at the
green card interview.

K1 or immigrant visa are the straight routes to follow even if they take some time. You can also look at K3 visa which is a visa to
let the spouse enter US while her immigrant visa is pending ( after marriage in saudi , after you file an immigrant petition, she can apply for a K3.
It is not simple and read more about it on travel.state.gov)

[mclarenfan316]

check "notifications" on the upper right side of this forum. and look inside that for a message.

It will be hard for her to get a visitor visa in the first place as she will have to mention you as a fiance in the form ( should not omit that as that can have
grave consequences).
Even if she gets it by convincing the officer that she will return home after the visit, adjusting will not be advisable as entering as a visitor and
later adjusting to green card will be visa fraud. People do it but in your case you are already engaged so a premeditated intent will be obvious at the
green card interview.

K1 or immigrant visa are the straight routes to follow even if they take some time. You can also look at K3 visa which is a visa to
let the spouse enter US while her immigrant visa is pending ( after marriage in saudi , after you file an immigrant petition, she can apply for a K3.
It is not simple and read more about it on travel.state.gov)

Hi! Thanks so much for the reply. Ok, I will drop the visitor visa information. I forgot to mention one more thing. She has a residency vCard of UK. She has to enter the UK before Aug to renew it. Does that help us in anyway? should she renew it?

I willl check the message.
Thanks

[peace999]

US embassy London has a USCIS field office that accepts direct filing of immigrant petitions bypassing processing in US. that really shortens the processing time.
For that the US citizen and the beneficiary must be residents in UK. If both of you can do that, it may work in UK. Google 'I-130 filing US embassy london'

[mclarenfan316]

US embassy London has a USCIS field office that accepts direct filing of immigrant petitions bypassing processing in US. that really shortens the processing time.
For that the US citizen and the beneficiary must be residents in UK. If both of you can do that, it may work in UK. Google 'I-130 filing US embassy london'

How can I be a resident of the UK? I read the I-130 filing from UK and it says that Us citizens on a visitor visa should apply directly with the Chicago Lock box, so I don't think this option of filing from UK applies to me right? so there is no benefit in keeping her permanent resident card of UK. Please correct me if I am wrong.

So my best option seems to be a fiancee visa right?
Thanks so much for your help

[peace999]

after you get married to her, you could get a long term work visa or resident visa of UK as spouse of a UK resident.
You could plan your wedding in UK.

[mclarenfan316]

after you get married to her, you could get a long term work visa or resident visa of UK as spouse of a UK resident.
You could plan your wedding in UK.

Thanks a lot for the reply. I checked this link again http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html and it says I have to stay there for a minimum of 6 months before applying, so I guess this option is out as well.

Should I look into the K3 visa option or just go with a fiancee visa?

[peace999]

Ok. you won't have to travel with the fiancee visa option. So you can go with that.

For a K3 you will have to get married in her home country and then file two petitions;
I do not know much about it but it is complicated. You can go to travel.state.gov and there is a detailed description of K3 ,
also the other website I directed you to has K3 experiences, so you can look into that.

[mclarenfan316]

Ok. you won't have to travel with the fiancee visa option. So you can go with that.

For a K3 you will have to get married in her home country and then file two petitions;
I do not know much about it but it is complicated. You can go to travel.state.gov and there is a detailed description of K3 ,
also the other website I directed you to has K3 experiences, so you can look into that.

Thanks a bunch for all the help!!!

Prolly my last question- I will prolly travel there and get married to her and then file for a fiancee visa. Is this fine or will it cause a problem. The marriage will be done under the religious institute, so ofifically we won't be married, so applying for a finacee visa should be fine right? The reason why I dont want to go for immigration is cause it takes longer.

I will read the other website for K3 experiences tonight.

[peace999]

Firstly immigrant visa will take the same time as a fiancee visa. Secondly ,filing for a K1 after getting married even if only religiously is WRONG. Do not do that.
they will interview her for K1 and you guys will be in grave trouble if they find out.
I strongly recommend you read the saudi website for US embassy for US citizen marriages in Saudi. I am sure they recognize religious marriages.

The bottom line is if you are going to get married in saudi, simply file an I-130 after you return to US. And let it take its own course.

[mclarenfan316]

Firstly immigrant visa will take the same time as a fiancee visa. Secondly ,filing for a K1 after getting married even if only religiously is WRONG. Do not do that.
they will interview her for K1 and you guys will be in grave trouble if they find out.
I strongly recommend you read the saudi website for US embassy for US citizen marriages in Saudi. I am sure they recognize religious marriages.

The bottom line is if you are going to get married in saudi, simply file an I-130 after you return to US. And let it take its own course.

Thanks again. Are you sure that an immigration visa will take the same time as a spouse visa. I have been reading that it is 3-4 months faster. I read about the K3 visa on the other website and watched some videos on youtube. It doesn't look like a K3 will guarantee a faster process.

I didn't mention that my fiancee is my cousin and the state I live in doesn't allow you to get married to your cousin, so do I just pick the closest state that allows this and file from there? I would still use my current address right?