dave4j

I am an American citizen planning to marry a British citizen. Our wedding will be in the UK. Immediately after our honeymoon, we will live in the United States.

I am confused as to what kind of visa is needed for my fiancee.

--Fiancee visa. Appears to not be applicable because we will marry in the UK rather than the USA.

--Immigrant visas and K visas. These apparently cannot be applied for until after the wedding takes place.

US immigration reply not at all helpful. They basically say that my new wife will not be able to go with me to the US until her immigration visa is received and it cannot even be applied for until after the wedding and will then take 6 mos to 1 year to receive. Not acceptable.

Any suggestions???


Many thanks for the help,

Khadija

File your I-130 petition at the appropriate service center here in the States immediately after your wedding and, immediately after you receive your receipt (called a Notice of Action), use it to file the I-129F K3 petition. Those are all processed through the Missouri Service Center. With a little luck, you'll be done in six month - possibly less.

Patty Khadijah

cindyabs

Prepare to accept the unacceptable.
You have three choices-bring her here on a fiancee visa, get married here and then get the marriage blessed in the UK. Get married in the UK stay there long enough to file a DCF through the Consulate,. Or lastly get married wherever and do the 130-K3 route. As you can see by my timeline and others the K3s are being approved mainly in two months or less. However, yes if you do the K3 bit she has to stay in the UK.

Dekka's Angel

I like this. Mind if I use it in my sig?

cindyabs

Sure, no copyright,

Andy Platt

"dave4j" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am an American citizen planning to marry a British citizen. Our
    > wedding will be in the UK. Immediately after our honeymoon, we will
    > live in the United States.



    > US immigration reply not at all helpful. They basically say that my new
    > wife will not be able to go with me to the US until her immigration visa
    > is received and it cannot even be applied for until after the wedding
    > and will then take 6 mos to 1 year to receive. Not acceptable.

Then you must move to the UK instead and then she can apply through the
consulate some time later. The US->UK immigration process is rather easier
than the other way around. You could get a visa to go there and marry her
which will give you leave to remain and then the consulate in London will
accept a direct petition from you for her there. It will still take a few
months though.

The only other option I can think of would be if she is in a position where
she could get sponsored by a US company on an H-1B (or L-1 if it was the
company she already worked for) and come to the US that way. Those visas are
dual-intent so she could do that even though she plans to live here for
good.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

dave4j

Can we have two legal weddings -- one in the UK that US immigration folks will not know about, then one in the US to satisfy the US immigration folks? That way she could come to the US on a fiancee visa, but we would actually already be married in the UK.

Any expert opinions on this?

cindyabs

There's a paperwork trail involved wherever you get married..........I suggested the blessing in the UK so that the folks there could attend. THAT is the one you could do pulling all the stops out, just do the easy greasy one here, ie with a jp etc. Someday soon my husband and I plan on getting our marriage blessed in the UK so that his mother, sister etc could attend.

Andy Platt

"dave4j" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Can we have two legal weddings -- one in the UK that US immigration
    > folks will not know about, then one in the US to satisfy the US
    > immigration folks? That way she could come to the US on a fiancee visa,
    > but we would actually already be married in the UK.

Kind of. You can't get married twice but you can have as many ceremonies as
you like and you can decide which is the "proper" one. One word of advice is
to not mention this to the INS if you choose the K-1 route - some people
have been put in administrative limbo because they referred to another
wedding - which wasn't actually a wedding at all!

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

Mrtravel

dave4j wrote:
    > I am an American citizen planning to marry a British citizen. Our
    > wedding will be in the UK. Immediately after our honeymoon, we will
    > live in the United States.
    >
    > I am confused as to what kind of visa is needed for my fiancee.
    >
    > --Fiancee visa. Appears to not be applicable because we will marry in
    > the UK rather than the USA.
    >
    > --Immigrant visas and K visas. These apparently cannot be applied for
    > until after the wedding takes place.
    >
    > US immigration reply not at all helpful. They basically say that my new
    > wife will not be able to go with me to the US until her immigration visa
    > is received and it cannot even be applied for until after the wedding
    > and will then take 6 mos to 1 year to receive. Not acceptable.

It might not be acceptable for you, but that is the law.

Mrtravel

dave4j wrote:
    > Can we have two legal weddings -- one in the UK that US immigration
    > folks will not know about, then one in the US to satisfy the US
    > immigration folks? That way she could come to the US on a fiancee visa,
    > but we would actually already be married in the UK.
    >
    > Any expert opinions on this?

Even non experts can tell you this would be fraud.

Mrtravel

Andy Platt wrote:
    > "dave4j" wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >
    >>Can we have two legal weddings -- one in the UK that US immigration
    >>folks will not know about, then one in the US to satisfy the US
    >>immigration folks? That way she could come to the US on a fiancee visa,
    >>but we would actually already be married in the UK.
    >
    >
    > Kind of. You can't get married twice but you can have as many ceremonies as
    > you like and you can decide which is the "proper" one.

The first legal marriage is the one that counts. So, if you are already
married then you can't enter the US on a fiance visa.

Andy Platt

Yes, I didn't word that too well. What I meant was that you could decide
which ceremony (including the wedding) you wanted to consider your big day,
anniversary, etc. That might be different from the legal wedding day but so
long as you keep it straight in your head when talking to the INS it would
be OK. Personally I would take all of them and have multiple anniversaries.

And yes, of course, if you want to go the K-1 route, the cermony in the UK
must not be a legal wedding.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

"mrtravel" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Andy Platt wrote:
    > > "dave4j" wrote in message
    > > news:[email protected]...
    > >
    > >>Can we have two legal weddings -- one in the UK that US immigration
    > >>folks will not know about, then one in the US to satisfy the US
    > >>immigration folks? That way she could come to the US on a fiancee visa,
    > >>but we would actually already be married in the UK.
    > >
    > >
    > > Kind of. You can't get married twice but you can have as many ceremonies
as
    > > you like and you can decide which is the "proper" one.
    > The first legal marriage is the one that counts. So, if you are already
    > married then you can't enter the US on a fiance visa.

Patrick

Once you get married your married, you can have it blessed but getting married again is redundant (and I can't say whether it is illegal to marry someone you are already married to!).

Heres a suggestion, apply for a K1 (Fiance visa), do so you have it in time for your wedding in the UK, get married in the UK then enter the US on the Fiance visa. You can then AOS straight away as you will be married. I have no idea what the legal issues are do doing this but it seems like a way around the problem.

The only alternatives are for you to live in the UK until she gets a visa or be apart. There seems to be no middle ground. She can't even enter on VW or tourist visa as this would be visa fraud.

Someone in the know might be able to fill you in on the K1 visa idea.

Patrick

hoosier wannabe

my understanding is that if you apply for a K1 you WOULD NOT be able to marry in any other country THEN the US. So i guess you could come to the UK, have a blessing/ceremony but NOT get married........ then bring your bride to be back to the US and get married!

Depending on where you live, the K1 visa can be VERY quick!

Shaun