altair17n

I know it's a bit off-topic, but looking for help.

I'm a naturalized citizen of US, me and my fiancee applied for K-1 visa, and expecting to get it any moment now (according to my lawyer), we were planning to do a religious wedding in Russia (she is russian) and then come to US and do a formal ceremony and papers here under K-1.

My father is no lawyer, but pretty intelligent guy, and he claims that if we do religious wedding ceremony it will count as a legal marriage, thus K-1 would not be applicable and K-3 should be taken instead (which would take considerably more time).

I was browsing this web site and found and old thread:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165615
which kinda covers this topic, so I wanted to bring it back up:

- if a religious ceremony is performed in russia, will it count as a legal marriage from the US point of view. (in russia this ceremony is not a legal wedding, so it does not gives any benefits, or recognized by government, but it does involves church, white gown, relatives, "I swear in front of God to cherrish and love this person forever...", so pictures would look very much like those from "regular" US weddings)

- should I discuss this with my lawyer as a separate subject (as it will cost plenty of money then), or a brief question would be enough

so, if anyone is familiar, please share thoughts as this is very important,

thn, Nick

Ray

Why not do the civil marriage before the church bit ..
so you are legally married..which I believe is common

Just Jenney

Ray, if they do the civil marriage in Russia, then that negates the K-1 visa. They'd have to start over and get a CR-1 spousal visa instead.

Nick -- I think BE regular Meauxna said it best in this post to someone else in a similar situation:

"What you have to keep in mind is that USCIS doesn't keep track of all the traditional types of ceremonies out there, and in some countries, it takes very little by Western standards to be legally married. It's your job to not do anything that looks, sounds, smells or tastes like a 'wedding' or that would lead a border agent to believe you married when you are not."

~ Jenney

Noorah101

I support the idea that you should NOT do any kind of religious ceremony in Russia. If she is that close to getting the K-1 issued, just wait. When she comes to the USA, do the legal marriage here, then when she can travel back to Russia, go together and have a blessing type of ceremony for all the family and friends back home.

It's too tempting to do what you say and then at the intervew she excitedly pulls out pictures of your religious ceremony, all dressed up, guests in attendance, looking like a full wedding. It will take extra time and effort for the ConOff to make sure it is NOT a legal wedding.

My advice is not to do it.

Rene

Ray

The church service will probably negate the K-1 as well

ian-mstm

I agree, your father sounds like a pretty intelligent guy... and he's absolutely right - well, mostly. The religious ceremony will likely negate the work done on the K-1... but you do *not* want to do a K-3. If you get married in Russia (and there's nothing that says you can't or shouldn't do that) you should then simply pursue a CR-1 spouse visa. At this point in time, all you're out are the fees you've paid so far and some time.

You need to understand that even in the best of circumstances, immigration *is* a time-consuming process, and most folks don't want to be separated during the process... but in the grand scheme of things, a few months extra (okay... maybe 8 or 10) is nothing compared to the years the two of you will be together.

Ian

Rete

DO NOT DO IT. Does that shout out to you, if not it should. I know of one case of a lovely gentleman who was a forum member back in its inception years around 1999/2000 whose lovely fiancee from the Ukraine wanted the blessings ceremony in the catherdal with full pomp and circumstances for family and friends. They had it and it was not registered with the state and she entered the US on her K1 and they married. They filed for AOS in Boston and it took over 5 years for it to be adjudicated because when the DO found out about the first ceremony, she had to research that it was not legal.

altair17n

thnx for the replies guys,

sounds like we have found the answer, since everyone is voting for the "do-not-do-it-till-u're-married" choice.

I'll still ask my lawyer just to see how it looks from his tower, but I'm now more than sure that this is not the great idea I was originally thinking. Plus it can be done on 1 year anniversary (which is actually more common, like people got a shot of living together, and now they're actually ready to make life-long commitment).

Now... I just need to tell her that, and discuss options.

And a followup, ANY pictures that will look like it might be marriage-related will make whoever-it-is-that-makes-decisions very suspicious and can even deny green card?

ian-mstm

Yes - if you marry on a K1 and then apply to adjust status. It's not that they will deny the GC, it's that the K-1 will be invalid... and therefore there is no basis to adjust status. The result is the same though.

Ian

Noorah101

If you have a reception party where people dress up, that's fine. But not anything that looks like a wedding. No big white dress for the bride. No fancy tuxedo for the man. No flower girls or bridesmaids, or whatever tradition they have in Russia for weddings. A simple engagement party with the family around, sure. Those photos are useful. Wedding type photos will have to be researched, and will take time to do that. It will take time for the ConOff to figure out whether you are or are not legally married, and if she thinks you are, then she can deny the K-1 visa on the grounds that you are already married and thus ineligible.

And in Rete's example, that carried on through over to the USA and the green card process.

Noorah

crg

Hmmm... maybe he could have the ceremony, and the reception but when the priest asks if you take her to be your wife, you can just say "Pfffft! Absolutely Not!". Then he can just not kiss her, leave her at the alter, and head for the reception....