Help! Many questions!
 

hello all,

Just to make life even more difficult I've gone and fallen in love with an American guy, and am planning a move out to the States (oh the stress!!) We plan on getting married but have NO idea about the immigration process.

I've read some other posts and people have been mentioning the K1 visa which I am assuming is the visa I need to enter the country in order to get married.

Now how do I go about applying for this visa? And roughly how long does it take? also with this visa do we have to have a date for the wedding? and if so is there any time limit to how quickly we have to get married once I have the visa, or can we take as long as we like?

We were hoping that I would be able to apply for the visa on the basis of him being my fiance and then once I have it for me to move over there and get married in our own time.

I basically would like to know if this visa has any time stipulations, and also do I have to apply for it here or can I do it there, and if we were to just get married on my next visit would it be a different process?

Any help with this will be gratfully recieved!

Thanks

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

Angel, here's the best place to start:

http://k1.exit.com

This page has a wealth of information on the process. You will want to look at the K-1 fiancee' visa info, or depending on where you live, you may want to look into the DCF process. To answer your main question, once you enter the US on the K-1 visa you have 90 days to get married. While getting married on your next visit here may be an option, it is a bit trickier legally from what I understand...just my 2 cents worth...Jerry

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

Being a Brit you can just hop on a plane to go "visit", get married, do an adjustment
of status, and forget this K visa crap. The only reason for doing the K visas and
130s is either your loved one cannot get a tourist visa to get married in the US or
you've already married overseas. Tell a lie or two and make your life easy.

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

frank h wrote:
    > Being a Brit you can just hop on a plane to go "visit", get married, do an
    > adjustment of status, and forget this K visa crap. The only reason for doing the
    > K visas and 130s is either your loved one cannot get a tourist visa to get married
    > in the US or you've already married overseas. Tell a lie or two and make your
    > life easy.

Even if this is done isn't the I-130 required to file AOS after marriage in the US?

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

frank h wrote:
    > Being a Brit you can just hop on a plane to go "visit", get married, do an
    > adjustment of status, and forget this K visa crap. The only reason for doing the
    > K visas and 130s is either your loved one cannot get a tourist visa to get married
    > in the US or you've already married overseas. Tell a lie or two and make your
    > life easy.

Until you get CAUGHT

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

I recommend the newsgroup FAQ on the K-1 visa.

http://www.txdirect.net/users/mike38/k1faq.htm

It is up to date and well maintained and very comprehensive and information.

I do not recommend Frank's suggetion of lying at the POE to enter the US to marry on under the VWP. While others have and will continue to enter under a tourist visa or the VWP program to marry and INS will adjust your status this way as proven by others, the lying will come back and bite you in the arse and the consequences are too great to a risk for your future together.

If you can make a clean entry without a lie being told and can wait out 30 days or so before getting married and don't want to bring anything you own with you than you can certainly make the choice to go that way.

The options are many. Learn them all and make an educated decision.

Rete

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

Just wanted to thank you all for your help, I've now checked out some web sites on the matter that have been really helpful

Thanks again!

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

Your US fiance needs to send fiancee petition (I-129 F ) to Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) having jurisdiction over the place of the petitioner's
residence in the United States. http://www.travel.state.gov/visa_services.html

The petition usually takes about 90-120 days, but sometimes it can be faster. Your
US fiance will get Notice of Action (NOA 1) which is receipt of petition, and then
NOA 2 which will be approval notice, and then US embassy in your country will contact
you to process K1 Visa.

This is our time line for K1 Visa :

Oct 2, 2001 Mailed I-129 F Oct 5, 2001 USPS website confirmed delivery to
INS. Nov 1, 2001 Received NOA 1 Dec 4, 2001 Received NOA 2 Dec 20, 2001
Received mail from US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia Jan 30, 2002 Interview for K1
Visa Jan 31, 2002 Got K1 Visa

Paul and Dewi


"Angel" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > hello all,
    > Just to make life even more difficult I've gone and fallen in love with an American
    > guy, and am planning a move out to the States (oh the stress!!) We plan on getting
    > married but have NO idea about the immigration process.
    > I've read some other posts and people have been mentioning the K1 visa which I am
    > assuming is the visa I need to enter the country in order to get married.
    > Now how do I go about applying for this visa? And roughly how long does it take?
    > also with this visa do we have to have a date for the wedding? and if so is there
    > any time limit to how quickly we have to get married once I have the visa, or can
    > we take as long as we like?
    > We were hoping that I would be able to apply for the visa on the basis of him being
    > my fiance and then once I have it for me to move over there and get married in our
    > own time.
    > I basically would like to know if this visa has any time stipulations, and also do
    > I have to apply for it here or can I do it there, and if we were to just get
    > married on my next visit would it be a different process?
    > Any help with this will be gratfully recieved!
    > Thanks
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Help! Many questions!
 

Frank, we need you on AAC. You can get there from China.

-Don H