John Galvin

Hi everyone, Here is my situation. I am Irish, living in Ireland, and my fiance is a
US citizen living in America. I am in college and will be finished my degree in May.
After which we want to get married and live in America. I am aware of the fiance
visa. I am not aware of how long it takes for one to be issued. Also, we have been
thinking of getting married outside of America e.g. Cancun in Mexico. Would this
change things? Would I still need a fiance visa to do this? Is there any chance I
could be denied entry if we got married in Mexico or somewhere else? Is there any way
I can prevent this if it possible? What is the best proof to have that we are not
doing this purely for immigration purposes. We have visited each other a few times,
have the plane tickets, hundreds of emails phone bills (a lot of them going into
the hundreds of dollars), we have plenty of photographs of us together. Anything
else? Are there any other options we are overlooking? what we want, is a very small
wedding, and then we want to be together in America where we can plan our proper
wedding together. As it is 3 months is not a long time to plan a wedding. I would
greatly appreciate any response. I have read through all the posts that my newsreader
allows me to read and can't find anything relevant which is why I am asking Thanks
in advance. Rgrds, John

Pedro Morales

It is fairly easy to illegally enter the United States. However, married or unmarried
you will have to apply for Lawful Entry, Permanent Residence, and a Work Permit. My
spouse entered the United States illegally in 1999. She stayed here for two years
before we got married. We had to pay a $1000 (US Dollars) amnesty fee, and several
other fees for the paperwork involved. The total came to just under $2500. If you get
married in Mexico, it will not make things go faster from my understanding. (I could
be wrong, though.) If you come from Mexico, it takes several months or even years to
be granted any type of visa. I do not know of a fiance visa. I will need to look for
more information.

Jb

John Galvin wrote:
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A US fiancee visa is to be used to marry in the US within 90 days of entry to the
US. If you marry outside the US you will not need a fiancee visa but you also
cannot enter the US permanently without some kind of visa (the visa waiver won't
work). Once you are married you cannot apply for the fiancee visa but must file the
I-130 instead.

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Not doing what for immigration purposes, getting married? I don't think this will be
a problem. The fiancee visa requires you to show proof that you have met one another
and, I think, a statement to the effect that you are both free to marry and want to
(not sure about the details).

Reading your post would have been easier if you had started a new paragraph every so
often. Accept the disclaimers and read these pages

http://k1.exit.com/disclaimer.html www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/visainfo/visainfo.htm

Also try posting this question to alt.visa.us.marriage-based. They discuss this sort
of thing all the time.

The options seem to be:

Your fiancee petitions for a fiancee visa for you, you enter the US and marry within
90 days then stay and adjust status, get EAD (employment authorisation).

You both marry in some third country and you return to Ireland. Your wife files an
I-130 for you. When it is granted you enter the US as a conditional permanent
resident (2 year green card) with the right to work. After two years less 90 days you
file to have conditions removed and get 10 year green card.

There may be other options and I haven't discussed the second wedding scenario.

joe