bobmitch

My US citizen girlfriend and I are planning to marry at some stage in
the near future.

At the moment, she is visiting me in the UK, and can be here for
another 4 months.

We plan on being in the USA for 4 weeks around June/July.

Can I travel under the visa-waiver, given that I have no immigration
intent (and will have documentation with me to prove this), and marry
her there?

Also, will the 3-4 week period of our stay give enough time for us to
apply for an appointment at the UK consulate in chicago, and get her
spouse visa to return with me?

Failing this, we may just go to the US and apply for a Fiance visa -
but the same question applies, will the 4 week period offer enough
time to get an appointment to apply in person, then get the visa?

We have no firm plans at the moment, but would appreciate any input -
specifically about the turnaround time at the UK consulate between
applying for an appointment date, and when the date is given. (We
are aware that doing it all by mail should take around 14 days on
average, but doing it in person should be same-day, as long as we can
get the appointment in good time.)

Rgds,
mitch

-Jules

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:45:37 -0800, bobmitch wrote:
> My US citizen girlfriend and I are planning to marry at some stage in
> the near future.

I think the only official ways of doing it are:

1) Marry outside the US, then file a petition for the relevant K-class
visa so that you can legally move to the US to be with your wife.

2) Apply for a K1 visa so that you can come to the US for the purposes
of getting married (and then staying).

Option 2 takes around 6 months from the point of application to the
interview. Option 1 supposedly takes a little longer than that. Whether
you'll be able to visit the US under the VWP during this period is
unclear; views seem split around 50/50 (although it's certainly
*possible* as people have done it, but maybe they just happened to get
an immigration official at Port of Entry who was in a particularly
good mood)

You *can* be in the US when the K-class visa application is submitted. I'm
not sure if thay saves you any time apart though, as maybe the officials
just sit on it until you're out of the US (i.e. it's still 6 months or so
from the point when you're no longer in the country). I've been unable to
find an answer on that one...

Some immigration lawyers claim they can get you around the process - I'm
kind of wary of that though as I assume it's way more risky and you could
simply get thrown out of the country and any marriage annulled. If that
isn't the case everyone would be doing it rather than having to wait for
months...

> We have no firm plans at the moment, but would appreciate any input -
> specifically about the turnaround time at the UK consulate between
> applying for an appointment date, and when the date is given.

Applying in the UK probably takes a little longer, as I think the info
will still have to travel to the US for processing first before getting
bounced back to the UK for more processing prior to interview.

Quite why the 6 months (or thereabouts) backlog exists on the US side I
don't know; I think it's been that way for a few years, so you'd think
they'd just hire more people for a while to clear it...

Good luck

cheers

Jules
(in pretty much the same situation!)

bobmitch

On Feb 9, 2:56 pm, Jules <[email protected]>
wrote:
> On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:45:37 -0800,bobmitchwrote:
> > My US citizen girlfriend and I are planning to marry at some stage in
> > the near future.
>
> I think the only official ways of doing it are:
>
> 1) Marry outside the US, then file a petition for the relevant K-class
> visa so that you can legally move to the US to be with your wife.
>
> 2) Apply for a K1 visa so that you can come to the US for the purposes
> of getting married (and then staying).
>
> Option 2 takes around 6 months from the point of application to the
> interview. Option 1 supposedly takes a little longer than that. Whether
> you'll be able to visit the US under the VWP during this period is
> unclear; views seem split around 50/50 (although it's certainly
> *possible* as people have done it, but maybe they just happened to get
> an immigration official at Port of Entry who was in a particularly
> good mood)
>
> You *can* be in the US when the K-class visa application is submitted. I'm
> not sure if thay saves you any time apart though, as maybe the officials
> just sit on it until you're out of the US (i.e. it's still 6 months or so
> from the point when you're no longer in the country). I've been unable to
> find an answer on that one...
>
> Some immigration lawyers claim they can get you around the process - I'm
> kind of wary of that though as I assume it's way more risky and you could
> simply get thrown out of the country and any marriage annulled. If that
> isn't the case everyone would be doing it rather than having to wait for
> months...
>
> > We have no firm plans at the moment, but would appreciate any input -
> > specifically about the turnaround time at the UK consulate between
> > applying for an appointment date, and when the date is given.
>
> Applying in the UK probably takes a little longer, as I think the info
> will still have to travel to the US for processing first before getting
> bounced back to the UK for more processing prior to interview.
>
> Quite why the 6 months (or thereabouts) backlog exists on the US side I
> don't know; I think it's been that way for a few years, so you'd think
> they'd just hire more people for a while to clear it...
>
> Good luck
>
> cheers
>
> Jules
> (in pretty much the same situation!)

Thanks for the reply Jules....
One thing, I (we) have no plans to settle in the USA, I am settled
here in the UK and she wishes to join me here.
We simply would like to be married in the US, then apply for her UK
spouse visa while we are both there, then return together.
I know it used to be the case that couples could turn up at the UK
consulate and be seen same day, and leave visa in hand.
Now you either do it by mail (10 working day turnaround - which would
be cutting it fine for our return travel plans) or arrange an
appointment online.
It's the time between applying and the date offered I was wondering
about.

Rgds,,
mitch

daisy

Check out http://www.uk-yakee.com

It's a site for Americans moving to the UK. They have all the info you need.

scrubbedexpat099

If you look on the Consulate web site for London you will see that marrying and leaving is specifically stated as being OK use of VWP.

Seebs

uk-yankee.com is the site.

For visa information check britainusa.com. If you have all the documents required then it should be a painless process.

dan_alford

This is how my American Wife and I got married in 2001. I came over on the VWP. You don't have to declare anything to the US immigration official about your intent. As with anything, don't volounteer more information that they request! In any case the documents that you have for your wife to be to get her UK visa (proof of income, proof of abode, etc) should be more than enough if you get questioned thoroughly about your intent to marry whilst in the States. Also if you have the UK consulate appointment set up in advance then this is further proof of your intent to leave the USA after you marry.

I would forget about the fiance visa as it takes a long processing time. If you really want to get married then getting your wife the easier UK visa is the best approach. If you then decide you want to live in the USA at some point you can file the US spousal visa whilst in the UK. The fact that you got married on the VWP should not affect their visa decision ( unless you overstayed).



Hope this helps