London7

Hi all

I am marrying my US boyfriend in spring of next year.

Question: I plan to apply for the Fiancee visa, must your marriage take place in the USA? we wanted to get married in England.

Thanks guys!

Songbird

AFAIK
If you are entering the US on a K-1 (fiancee visa ) then yes you will have to get married in the USA (within 90 days of entry) . If you want to get married in the UK then you need to do it the other way round and then seek entry to the US on a spousal visa.

Bluegrass Lass

A K1 Fiance visa is for the foreign fiance to come to the US to get married, and remain in the US. This will not be available to you if you marry in England. If you want to marry in England, your US boyfriend will need a visa to marry you in the UK. Then your new husband will have to file for a spousal visa for you to move to the US with him (assuming that's the plan). Currently, a spousal visa is taking around 8-10 months (or longer) for approval.

If you marry in the US, then your US boyfriend will file the I-129f form with USCIS here in the US. After approval of the I-129f, paperwork is sent to the National Visa Center (NVC), and then on to the US Embassy in London. You will attend a medical and visa interview, and then you will be approved (pending medical and visa approvals). From filing the I-129f to the K1 approval is also around 8-10 months. Once you enter the US on your K1 visa, you only have 90 days to get married to your b/f.

Ask yourself these main questions:

1) Where do we want to be married? Is this negotiable at all depending on the answers to the next 2 questions?
2) Do you want to be separated after marriage? As opposed to being separated while engaged?
3) Ultimately, where do the 2 of you want to live? US or UK?

After answering these, you will be narrow down the visa(s) to apply for.

meauxna

In addition to the listed choices, you can start paperwork now for a US Fiance (K-1) visa. You get the visa, move to the US and have your civil marriage in the US. You start your application to stay in the US and when you receive your travel document, the two of you go to England for a fancy celebration/your choice.

If you marry in the spring of next year, in the UK, you won't be able to start your immigration paperwork until the wedding is complete, and you won't be moving to the US for another 8-10 months after that.

London7

ok. If we did choose England...can I live with him post marraige in the US whilst paperwork being completed????

London7

forgive the questions....so, as I live here in BC i think the K1 is best for us, so lets assume, I get married in the USA, how long after that can i leave the country for the English wedding????

London7

God, I am confused..............

I live in BC, so we definetly want to stay here on the west coast in Seattle. So assuming I get married in Seattle, after the 90 day K1, when can I leave the country for the English wedding???

Why does my boyfriend needa visa to be married in England???? Do you know which visa he would need if so???

Thanks!

Bluegrass Lass

By 'BC' do you mean British Columbia? If so, it sounds like you're a Canadian cit, and not from the UK? Most of us on here assume that if you want to marry in England, one member of the couple is from/living in the UK.

A US citizen needs a visa to marry a UK citizen in the UK. If neither of you are UK cits, then I'm not sure what visa is required (if any). If you go to the British Embassy website, they might have the info on there. The address used to be www.britainusa.gov, but I think that changed recently.

If you want to use the K1 fiance visa, you must have a legal marriage in the US within 90 days of entering on the K1. After you marry, you then to file paperwork to begin your Adjustment of Status (AOS) to become a Permanent Resident and allow you to legally live in the US. Part of the paperwork for AOS is a travel document that will allow you travel outside the US while your AOS is pending. From what I undertand, it usually takes about 60 days for approval of the document. You CANNOT leave the US until you have this document in your hand. Otherwise, your AOS is considered abandoned and your now husband will have to file for a spousal visa to allow you back into the US (which takes approx 8-10 months currently). So it's very important to not leave w/out that document regardless of your wedding plans.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

The only problem with processing with the Fiance visa and then getting married is that you have thereby voided the Fiance visa and will have to start over again with an I-130. It is your choice as to whether or not you want to do it that way.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

With exceptions that don't appear to apply to you -- no.

meauxna

Hi, you've been a member at BE since 2005 but none of us on this forum know your history, citizenship, relationship etc.

Perhaps if you start over with some more detail?

Reams have been written here explaining the details of the various visas.. you came in and said you wanted to apply for a fiancee visa. I thought you had some of this part down.. take a look in the wiki for the basic explanations.

Bluegrass Lass

Simple answer: No.

You can visit him, but you cannot live here without having been approved for a spousal visa first. You would need to show evidence that you have ties to your home country showing you don't plan on immigrating at the time of your visit. And it is completely up to the Immigration Officer at the Port of Entry to allow you entry or not.

Songbird

From what I can gather, she is a UK citizen currently living in BC, awaiting her Canadian citizenship and now planning marriage to her US boyfriend, upon which she will presumably then undergo her US aos ( or not??) Now that's a complicated path, how that works esp re: the pending Canadian citizenship I have no idea ! LoL

meauxna

Yes, adding it all up I can gather the same, but I think she'd get better answers, and it's certainly better netiquette, to explain her circumstances herself. It's clearly affecting the answers she gets.

The only effect Canadian citz would have is that she may then visit the US for 6 months per year visa free vs the Brits' 90 days VWP.

She may not simply marry and AOS; don't add that into the confusion!

Songbird

hahaha! trust me i wasn't going ANYWHERE near that! ( I meant her considered path of a K-1 )

and yes you're right it would be better for the OP to state her history etc herself then we can all be on the same page. Right now I'm not even sure if I'm reading the right book!