fatbrit

You're not going to find a workable plan by randomly grasping at the large selection. More reading (try the wiki), more researching, more studying and less asking questions would be my advice for the present.

S Folinsky

Perhaps I am paranoid -- but the tone of this thread scares me -- OP has come right out and stated what his goal is.

Much more likely than not, OP is on the up and up. But we don't know who he is. Even if he is on the up and up, the postings here are quite public.

jeffreyhy

No. As Ian told you, once you are married there is no K1 visa for you. You will apply for an immigrant visa.

Regards, JEff

smulvain

so if I went there and we got married I could then just apply for a K3 or a CR1 visa? Your right the wiki was very helpful. Thank you all for your patience

meauxna

You are mixing up a lot of terms which is making it impossible to answer your questions the way you ask them.

You can come to the US on the VWP and get married. You may not stay in the US afterward for any more than the 90 day admission.

After you are married, your wife may petition you for a visa. When the petition is approved, you may apply for a visa. Visas are issued outside the US.

While you are waiting for your petition to be approved, you may VISIT the US on the VWP. You are not allowed to live in the US, that is, spend the majority of your time here, until you have your visa. See above paragraph.

The visa you would eventually apply for is called an Immigrant Visa. The K-3 is not any faster or more useful for you and most people do not petition + apply for that visa, they stick with the IV.

All of this is going to take 8-12 months from today before you will be moving here. There really is no legal way around this.

That is about the basics of it. Please reply back in a way that indicates you understand the steps.

-US citizen spouse petitions for you (you have to be married first)
-Petition gets approved. You apply for a visa.
-When you have the visa, THEN you can move to the US.

smulvain

sorry this is all very confusing. Thank you very much for your help and everyone has been very support and patient.

so if we got married she would be able to petition for me to get an immigrant visa and in this time I could visit her for 90days at a time so long as I spent more time out side of the US than in it.

After speaking to my girlfriend she has said she would rather we got married in a few months she will petition for the spouses visa K1 for me. I can visit her on the VWP until the petition is completed then I would be able to stay there?

Is that all correct?

Its pretty scary as if we didnt get something organised we would have to split up after over 2 years.

meauxna

Right now.. STOP with K-1= spouse.. lol.. the K-1 FIANCE visa is for unmarried people.

If you want to pursue the K-1 Fiance Visa the steps are:

-US Fiance petitions for you. When the petition is approved, you may apply for a K-1 visa.

-When the visa is issued, you move to the US. You MUST marry within 90 days of arrival and apply for Permanent Residence (green card).


Yes, with either visa, you must file more paperwork about 2 years in. This was enacted to cut down on people getting married just so they could move to the US.

There isn't a boyfriend/girlfriend visa, so if you can't get an employment visa independant of the woman, and you aren't really ready to marry (some info per your other thread) then you should do a long distance relationship until you're serious. Lots of us have been in similar siutations. You shouldn't marry just to be together right now IMO.

smulvain

Sorry I see why thats confusing. Thank you for persevering

I think we are going to try and do the K1 fiance route. Do you think this is a sensible way of going ahead with this? Should she do this as soon as possible?

I could spend as much time as possible in us on VWP while the petition is processed. Im not sure if this the best way of doing this?

I didnt think I was ready to but the girl is AWESOME and the more Ive thought about it the more I want to do it!

meauxna

IMO you should STOP with that, too. Thinking that way is a pretty surefire way to get yourself turned back and the border and create complications. This is a long-game, and you have to look at the big picture.

You may not live in the US until you get your visa. I tried to make that clear.
It doesn't mean you can't see each other, but it's not as simple as you put it. There are also many millions of threads on the topic and once you learn some more, I'm sure you'll work out a sensible plan.

Sounds to me like the girl is the one you need to convince.

1slreborn

There seems to be lots of misinformation here.

Firstly, you can enter the US to get married on the Visa Waiver completely legally and then file for adjustment of status.

Immediate relatives of US citizens (not perm residents) are the only category who can adjust status from VWP within the USA. Filing should take place within 90 days(ie VWP time) to avoid being classed as overstaying. There's a lot of debate about late adjustment filing under VWP at the moment. The 'Visa Lawyer Blog' is a good place to keep up with this debate.

Yes, you have to convince the US border guards you're entering for pleasure and yes there is a chance they'll turn you back if they don't believe you.

Once your spouse files you can concurrently file for the right to work whilst the application is working through.

One caveat, your spouse must be able to sign an Affidavit of Support which guarantees she can meet 125% of the poverty level, currently around $18,500 so you won't become dependant on the State.

There is an excellent book from Nolo called 'Fiance and Marriage Visas' you can buy for around 20 quid in unprotected PDF format at nolo.com. Stick it on your e-reader and get clued up.

Congrats and good luck with your marriage.

smulvain

$18500 as in earnings or actual savings?

meauxna

Jeebus can't I get a break here today?

It is illegal to enter the US as a tourist with the intention to immigrate. That is what you are describing.

Like it or not, that is the ethos we stick to on this forum. It's been discussed broadly from sources far more current than an old NOLO book here for over 10 years.

If you want to mess with people's lives, go do it somewhere else please.
I am not going to debate this. You can research this forum for all the points against your argument.

This discussion is closed. smulvain you can start a more specific question thread when you are ready. I suggest you do some of the same research mentioned above if you want the answers.