paul_79

Hi,

My fiancee (USC) and I (UKC) currently live together in London. She has been here for nearly 3 years legally on a work permit. We want to live in the US rather than here and have been thinking of either the K1 Fiance route or DCF. I've tried to read pretty comprehensively on both and have found a wealth of information on this site.

We want the whole big wedding thing but at the same time want to move to the US as soon as we can and be able to plan our wedding from there in an ideal world. So a plan we're considering would be to have a ceremony only here or maybe in Italy, literally just the two of us, then have a 'proper' wedding in San Diego in a year or so after we arrive giving us plenty of time to plan it. It also kind of appeals to us as it means less money and paperwork, PR from Day One and the ability to work etc, although I wouldn't mind a few months of lazing around on the beach waiting for my EAD! I have a few questions on DCF and am hoping you guys can help:

1. Is there any minimum time we need to be married before we can file directly with US Embassy in London? I.e. can we marry and file a week later?

2. Would it be a problem that any wedding pics would just be us two? We live together so have copies of rental agreements, council tax bill, joint credit card, engagement ring receipt, holidays in Europe and trips back to the US together etc.

3. Does anybody know if we had a ceremony over here, can we still have another ceremony in California or would it be re-affirming vows, or some kind of blessing only?

Has anybody got any hints or tips they can give us? If there are any flaws in our potential plan please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

BritishGuy36

1) No minimum time after the marriage. As long as the USC has been living in the UK on an appropriate visa for 6 months or more, she can file via DCF immediately PROVIDING the visa she is in the UK on is one that's valid for residency/DCF purposes (I can't say from the info you give whether her visa is valid for that or not). The minimum time period is for UK residency, not marriage.

2) Just take whatever proof of the relationship there is, if you have stuff like bank accounts and bills in both names you will have no problems.

3) Obviously you can't get married twice, so the second "ceremony" would be something other than an actually marriage ceremony.

paul_79

Thanks for the response.

She originally came over for 6 months on the BUNAC scheme, and was then subsequently sponsored by her employer for a 5 year work permit so has legal residence here. Presumably that would be ok for DCF?

ian-mstm

I'm having a memory of something... something about where you get married having a bearing on whether or not you can DCF in a 3rd country (ie, get married in Italy, DCF in the UK). Maybe I'm not remembering this correctly, so I'm hoping someone will clear this up.


No.


Photos aren't required at all.


Actually, it is not illegal to have a 2nd wedding ceremony to remarry your own spouse.

HOWEVER: this only works if you DCF, because you'll need to be married first anyway to file. If you go the K-1 route, you must *not* have any sort of ceremony prior to your fiancee entering the US. We have seen disasterous results when people have tried this (ie a blessing ceremony that everyone knew wasn't legal, but immigration didn't care). That sort of thing throws a monkey wrench into the whole scenario.

Ian

fatbrit

Wasn't that a K3 oddity? Again unsure...but there's definitely this complication with one of them.

Noorah101

I believe you guys are thinking of the horrid K-3. With that visa, the K-3 interview had to take place in the country of marriage (not in the country of residence). I believe with DCF, it's fine to get married in a 3rd country and still DCF in your country of residence.

Rene

fatbrit

I believe you're right -- and because it's a K3 it therefore doesn't come up very much.

Noorah101

I wish that darn visa would just go away. LOL

fatbrit

Or even better, they issued it in 2 weeks so it was fit for the purpose for which it was intended! Dreamer, I know.

ian-mstm

I knew you'd be able to sort out my muddled mind! Many thanks for the clarification.

Ian

paul_79

Thanks for all the replies, so some digging around for me then to find out what kind of ceremony we could do in California.

We'd be treating this ourselves, rightly or wrongly, as an extension of our engagement. As long as we're actually married hopefully we shouldn't have too many problems at the embassy, we are in a genuine relationship and can prove it.

I've seen examples where the embassy has asked for signed, notorized letters from friends or family that the marriage is genuine. So I guess I've answered my own question, if we have enough proof we should be ok.

meauxna

Personally, the two wedding scenario is a lot more appealing to me. The immigration portion is *so* much easier/better if you can file DCF---landing as a PR makes a big difference.

1--no minimum married time
2--your other evidence listed is more powerful than photos; it shows you actually living as a couple.
3--I always thought it would be a ceremony only, not a legal recording of marriage. Your official marriage date & legal recording would be the UK date. But, I know one couple who married 4 times (so far!). They just like different ceremony types.