Farhan

I am getting married in Oct in Pakistan. I am US Citizen and my
wife(to be) is Pakistanies Citizen. I am trying to find out which
will be easy and faster way to bring her here, Fiance or Wife visa?
And How long does these thing take? and anything that i should be
careful about?

Thanks for help.

Shannon

Hi, if you are marrying in Pakistan in October next year, your only option after the marriage is a K3 visa. Alternatively, you could petition for a K1 visa, marry in the US and then return to Pakistan (with advance parole, if granted) to hold a religious ceremony in Pakistan.

Here are some links regarding K3 visas from Pakistan. You may find more through a search of the newsgroup.

Regards
Shannon

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115799&highlight=pakist an+K3

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116218&highlight=pakist an+K3

Tom Butterworth

For a lot of asians K1 is not viable because women don't leave house without
marriage, K3 is the only option. Tom
"Shannon" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi, if you are marrying in Pakistan in October next year, your
    > only option after the marriage is a K3 visa. Alternatively, you
    > could petition for a K1 visa, marry in the US and then return to
    > Pakistan (with advance parole, if granted) to hold a religious
    > ceremony in Pakistan.
    > Here are some links regarding K3 visas from Pakistan. You may find more
    > through a search of the newsgroup.
    > Regards
    > Shannon
    > http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...115799&highli-
    > ght=pakistan+K3
    > http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...116218&highli-
    > ght=pakistan+K3
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Farhan

Shannon,

Thanks for the message. What if i apply for K1 visa, marry her in
Pakistan and get married here again in the court? will that be a bad
thing?

thanks,
Farhan

Shannon wrote in message news:...
    > Hi, if you are marrying in Pakistan in October next year, your
    > only option after the marriage is a K3 visa. Alternatively, you
    > could petition for a K1 visa, marry in the US and then return to
    > Pakistan (with advance parole, if granted) to hold a religious
    > ceremony in Pakistan.
    >
    > Here are some links regarding K3 visas from Pakistan. You may find more
    > through a search of the newsgroup.
    >
    > Regards
    > Shannon
    >
    > http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...115799&highli-
    > ght=pakistan+K3
    >
    > http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...116218&highli-
    > ght=pakistan+K3

Ronald Austin

Farhan,
If the marriage in Pakistan results in a legal marriage under Pakistani law,
entering on K-1 is visa fraud. The US recognizes legal marriages from other
countries.
Ron


"farhan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Shannon,
    > Thanks for the message. What if i apply for K1 visa, marry her in
    > Pakistan and get married here again in the court? will that be a bad
    > thing?
    > thanks,
    > Farhan
    > Shannon wrote in message
news:...
    > > Hi, if you are marrying in Pakistan in October next year, your
    > > only option after the marriage is a K3 visa. Alternatively, you
    > > could petition for a K1 visa, marry in the US and then return to
    > > Pakistan (with advance parole, if granted) to hold a religious
    > > ceremony in Pakistan.
    > >
    > > Here are some links regarding K3 visas from Pakistan. You may find more
    > > through a search of the newsgroup.
    > >
    > > Regards
    > > Shannon
    > >
    > > http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...115799&highli-
    > > ght=pakistan+K3
    > >
    > > http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...116218&highli-
    > > ght=pakistan+K3

jcapulet

Fahran,

The K-1 does not apply if you are already married in another country. K-1 visas are for fiance(e)s only, and requires that both you and your significant other are single and available to marry. If you marry out of the country you would have to go with the spousal visa. The purpose of the K-1 is to allow a fiance(e) in to the U.S. for the purpose of marrying, so you'd probably get in trouble if you tried the K-1 route after getting married already.

Juliet

Farhan

Thank you all for great feedback.

What if i get married on the phone next month and apply for K3 visa?
will that be ok? will k3 visa take 10+ months to process?

When i say get married on the phone, i mean that we can get married on
the phone by me being in US and my future wife in pakistan. Marriage
will be legal in Pakistan but i will meet my wife when i go to
Pakistan in Oct. will that be ok? will that be legal way to do it?

Thanks again for help!!!.

Mrtravel

farhan wrote:
    >
    > Thank you all for great feedback.
    >
    > What if i get married on the phone next month and apply for K3 visa?
    > will that be ok? will k3 visa take 10+ months to process?
    >
    > When i say get married on the phone, i mean that we can get married on
    > the phone by me being in US and my future wife in pakistan. Marriage
    > will be legal in Pakistan but i will meet my wife when i go to
    > Pakistan in Oct. will that be ok? will that be legal way to do it?

While the marriage may be legal in Pakistan, it may not be recognized by
INS.

From www.visalaw.com

Q - I would like to know if two people can get married by phone in
another country?

A - Depends. First, the marriage ceremony conducted via telephone would
need to be legal in the place it is performed. Second, the marriage will
actually need to be consummated by cohabitation between the parties
after the ceremony. The Immigration and Nationality Act defines "spouse"
in
a manner that excludes parties that are not physically in each other's
presence. So this would exclude telephone, proxy, radio, video and
similar
absentee marriages unless they have been consummated.

osaeed

Farhan,

I do not recommend your thought of marriage via telephone as it might cause troubles in future interviews. Also, I doubt you will be able to get a marriage certificate as it requires signatures from both parties (unless you are pursuing an Oral contract, which will only add to your complications downstream). I was in the exact same position, my experiences are detailed in the threads posted by Shannon.


My recommendation, make a quick trip to Pakistan and get married and gather all the paperwork required (birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc). Return and file for K3/I-130. My end to end processing for an immigrant visa took 8 months.

I still owe the group a full account of our Immigrant Visa experience in Islamabad, but things have been quite busy at work since I have returned. Hopefully in the next couple of days

omer

Steve

According to the instructions that accompany the affidavit of support,
there are basically 2 scenarios...

1. You are self employed
- it says that this will require a copy of last years income tax
return. It doesn't say if this return must be a copy from the IRS (with
IRS stamp) or what? Is this really all that is required if you are
self-employed? Do you also need a statement from bank officer?


2. Not self employed.

- it says you need a letter from your employer (doesn't say it must
be on company letterhead), and a statement from your back officer (on
bank stationary). But it DOES NOT say that if you are self employed
that you need any tax returns.

So, am I correct that a tax return is only required if you are self
employed? Does the tax return need to include W2's?

About the bank officer statement - can it be on plain paper or does it
need to be on letterhead paper? These things aren't clear on the back
of the I-134 form.

Thanks

Ronald Austin

Does the INS care as long as the wedding is legal in Pakistan, that it is
recognized there as a valid marriage?


"mrtravel" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > farhan wrote:
    > >
    > > Thank you all for great feedback.
    > >
    > > What if i get married on the phone next month and apply for K3 visa?
    > > will that be ok? will k3 visa take 10+ months to process?
    > >
    > > When i say get married on the phone, i mean that we can get married on
    > > the phone by me being in US and my future wife in pakistan. Marriage
    > > will be legal in Pakistan but i will meet my wife when i go to
    > > Pakistan in Oct. will that be ok? will that be legal way to do it?
    > While the marriage may be legal in Pakistan, it may not be recognized by
    > INS.
    > From www.visalaw.com
    > Q - I would like to know if two people can get married by phone in
    > another country?
    > A - Depends. First, the marriage ceremony conducted via telephone would
    > need to be legal in the place it is performed. Second, the marriage will
    > actually need to be consummated by cohabitation between the parties
    > after the ceremony. The Immigration and Nationality Act defines "spouse"
    > in
    > a manner that excludes parties that are not physically in each other's
    > presence. So this would exclude telephone, proxy, radio, video and
    > similar
    > absentee marriages unless they have been consummated.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

For your information, section 101(a)(35) of the Immigation & Nationality Act defines "spouse" "wife" and "husband" as NOT to include those where result of ceremonies where both were not "physically present in the presence of each other, unless the marriage shall have been consumated."

The application of this section can be tricky -- I've done it with clients and I can't say that its been easy -- definitely beyond the scope of an internet NG.

Mrtravel

Ronald Austin wrote:
    >
    > Does the INS care as long as the wedding is legal in Pakistan, that it is
    > recognized there as a valid marriage.

Not according to that interpretation of the INA

Mrtravel

Folinskyinla wrote:
    >
    > For your information, section 101(a)(35) of the Immigation & Nationality
    > Act defines "spouse" "wife" and "husband" as NOT to include those where
    > result of ceremonies where both were not "physically present in the
    > presence of each other, unless the marriage shall have been consumated."
    >
    > The application of this section can be tricky -- I've done it with
    > clients and I can't say that its been easy -- definitely beyond the
    > scope of an internet NG.

Are you indicating this is possible if they married over the phone, but
actually saw each other after the marriage and before filing the I-130?
OR Are you indicating they can file the I-130 after marrying on the
phone and NOT seeing each other?

Just Jenney

When you say "meet my wife in Pakistan in October" -- do you mean meeting her in person for the first time? Or do you mean "meet" in the generic sense, as in, "I'll meet you at the restaurant for dinner"??

If you haven't met her in person before, then that might change things for you. Meeting in person is a key element to the K-1 visa at least -- you have to have met in person within the past two years to be eligible for a K-1 visa. I do not know if this requirement holds true for spousal visas (I would assume so); however I *do* know there is a provision for K-1 visas regarding arranged marriages.

So -- have you met her in person before? If so, how long ago was it?

~ Jenney