mattandtina

We are a US/UK couple trying to decide whether to get married first before immigrating the UK citizen to America or......should we apply for the K-1 fiance visa first then get married?

Our ultimate goal is to be together as soon as possible!!!

Thanks

Hypertweeky

Hey there!!
The K1 goal is to get married once you get to the states (You have 90 day to do it)
The K3 is for those who are already married
http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1faq.htm hope that helps!
Good luck!!

mattandtina

Thanks for the reply..however, just to clarify, we know about the visas but were wondering which one would be faster in terms of processing times, etc. For instance, if we got married in the us would my UK fiance be here sooner than if we applied for the K-1?

Thanks again!

Hypertweeky

What state are you from?

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Its like watching the stock market -- past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

People can give you their past epxerience. You can take a look at what Service Centers are processing today. From that, extrapolate what you want.

Mtravelkay

Hypertweeky wrote:

    > Originally posted by mattandtina
    >
    >>We are a US/UK couple
    >
    > trying to decide whether to get married first before immigrating the UK
    > citizen to America or......should we apply for the K-1 fiance visa first
    > then get married?
    >
    >>Our ultimate goal is to be together as soon as
    >
    > possible!!!
    >
    >>Thanks
    >
    >
    > Hey there!!
    > The K1 goal is to get
    > married once you get to the states (You have 90 day to do it)
    > The K3 is
    > for those who are already married
    >

If they file I-130 in London, they won't need a K1. The immigrant would
enter on IR-1 and have green card status the day of arrival in the US.

jeffreyhy

m&t,

If you apply for a K1 visa you will get married in the US (assuming that you will follow through on the provisions of the visa when she arrives).

Regards, JEff

Rete

Wow Mr. F is the only one to get the question and the OP's followup correct.

They are NOT asking about the terms and conditions of the various K visas but on timelines.

To the OP:

You can read the timeline chart set up by the USCIS on their website and try to guesstimate which would be quicker for you. For example if you lived in the Vermont Service Center jurisdiction, the K-1 would be the best. If you lived in TSC or NSC then K-3 might win out.

Rete

jeffreyhy

Rete,

I understood the OPs question perfectly. My response was to the follow-up question that I quoted, "if we got married in the us would my UK fiance be here sooner than if we applied for the K-1?"

Applying for a K1 visa is the USCIS-approved method for marrying in the US. In that context, this question does not make sense - how is one going to marry in the US without applying for a K1 visa? (Except, perhaps, by going a route that many don't discuss, others debate heatedly, and the OP didn't mention.)

Regards, JEff

Hypertweeky

Yep that is the quickest way but the OP said "... For instance, if we got married in the us would my UK fiance be here sooner than if we applied for the K-1?".
So I gather they don't qualify for DCF that is why I gave her the info about K1's and K3's

sdmansour

my husband and i had the same dilemma. we called the embassy and asked their opinion. they told us that it would be quicker to marry in egypt and then file an i-130 in egypt rather than doing the k-1 or filing everything from the states. we took their advice and are very satisfied with it even though it seems like forever!

i think if you have the option to do dcf, it is the better way to go even if it is not the quickest because once your spouse gets to the usa then s/he can work almost immediately. this is good for both of you

after reading some of the threads in this forum, it can take several months for the permission to work to be completed/granted after arriving on a k-3 visa. cant really tell you about this issue after coming here on a k-1 visa.

all in all, i think the amount of extra time you may wait on a dcf is well worth it when you look at the complete immigration picture.

Tracy and Dave

My husband and I married in the US without first applying for a K1. We married here and then he went back off to his home in Canada and I filed the I-130 with Vermont and blah blah blah. In other words - the long way. But a way to get married in the US without needing a K1 first.

Caligirl4ever

Hi Matt & Tina,

What worked for me is that I left the US (me being the USC) and came to the UK on a visitor visa. I married my UK spouse in the UK. Flew back to my home State and went to the local British Embassy and purchased my UK marraige visa and flew back to the UK. After a few months I filed via DCF with the US Embassy in London to sponsor my hubby (UKC) to move back to California.

Both countries enforce that the citizen must be able to show proof that one can provide financial support for their spouse. If the USC can not meet the USA criteria to file DCF they have the option to elect a joint sponsor. I was fortunate to have enough assets in the US to provide for my hubby and he was lucky to receive a job transfer with the company he is currently working for.

The visa waiver program in the US is only for 90 days, in the UK it is for 6 months. Another question to ask yourselves, will the UKC need to work immediately if the decision is made to move to the US?

Good Luck to you both!

Warmly,
Cali

mattandtina

Thanks to all who gave advice.

As you may have gathered, we are very very new to this process. I am in California and my fiance is from UK. Work is NOT an issue for him at the moment, we are just trying to decide the best route to go so that we spend as little time apart as possible. We will definitely take all advice into consideration and continue to look on this forum for other bits of encouragement.

Good luck to all.

thing1

If "being together" is your ultimate goal and you aren't too worried about anything else then it would seem to me, personally speaking, that K-3 (spousal visa) is quicker than K-1 (fiancée visa). When we were going through the process, it seemed the K-3s were whizzing past us (K-1 via Nebraska). Also an advantage to K-3 is that it is a multi-entry visa, meaning you can go back and forth on it and tie up any loose ends in the UK.

I don't completely understand the K-3 process as we went the K-1 route. I have been trying to "get my head round it" as the Brits like to say and have been reading threads here and there to compare their K-3 expereince to our K-1.

Best of luck to you whichever route you choose to take!

Cheers!