Fiance/Marriage Visa
AF-IX
(LGKAOS)Whiteman AFBRegistered User regular
(LGKAOS)Whiteman AFBRegistered User regular
Met my wonderful Japanese girl while stationed in Okinawa and we're planning to tie the knot.
I'm now currently stationed in the U.S. but had some questions with regards to the K-1 fiance visa process AND/OR the K-3 spouse visa.
For those that have gone through the process, my question(s) are:
- Is the K-3 process significantly faster?
- If I travel to Japan and marry her there, how long does the K-3 process take once I file? (obviously submitting & bringing back proper marriage certificates),
- K-1 gives us 90 days to marry upon arrival to U.S.; how long will she be allowed to stay in the U.S. while we file for the Green Card?
I understand that regardless of which process I take (K1/3)...we'll still need to file & process a I-30 for permanent residency (Green Card).
Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanks!
I'm now currently stationed in the U.S. but had some questions with regards to the K-1 fiance visa process AND/OR the K-3 spouse visa.
For those that have gone through the process, my question(s) are:
- Is the K-3 process significantly faster?
- If I travel to Japan and marry her there, how long does the K-3 process take once I file? (obviously submitting & bringing back proper marriage certificates),
- K-1 gives us 90 days to marry upon arrival to U.S.; how long will she be allowed to stay in the U.S. while we file for the Green Card?
I understand that regardless of which process I take (K1/3)...we'll still need to file & process a I-30 for permanent residency (Green Card).
Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanks!
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First of all, I highly recommend joining up at visajourney.com; they're very helpful there (and have some very knowledgeable posters).
To answer your questions:
1. Not any more. Actually, the K-3 visa is largely defunct now as the CR-1 is just as quick these days. The main benefit to the K-3/CR-1 over the K-1 visa is you don't have to adjust status after entering the US and marrying. It means your wife is able to work sooner, and it's also less costly overall (adjustment of status is over $1,000, which can be hard to pull together once she's in the US and unable to work!).
2. This really varies case-by-case and country-by-country, but looking at some recent user stats from Japan, it seems as if average wait is about 7-8 months.
3. Technically after the 90 days your wife is out of status, but as long as she remains in the US you can pretty much adjust status at any time - some people have done so 1-2 years down the line. Overstay is 'forgiven' as long as the criteria of the K-1 (marry within 90 days) has been met. The downside is that between entering the country and having your work authorization/advance parole approved (typically approved within 60 or so days of filing for Adjustment of Status), your wife will be unable to work/leave the country.
I did the K-1 visa, but with all of the above considerations, if you can bear to be apart immediately after marrying, I'd choose the K-3/CR-1 route.
The plus side is that Japan is considered a very 'easy' country; interviews are apparently pretty painless and they don't demand the same crazy amount of information other countries' consulates do!
We did the K-1 Visa option and it worked well for us. By the letter of the law, once you receive the K-1 Visa, you have 180 days (6 months) to use it, and then you must get married within 90 days (3 months) of using it. That's basically 9 months available for planning your wedding and any other side things. For the large majority of people, 9 months is plenty of time to setup a wedding. Like Janson said, a downside is that in between arrival in country using the K-1 Visa, and having your authorization, it will be difficult for your wife to leave the country (actually leaving is easy, it's coming back in that's the pain.)
Also, I would wholeheartedly recommend this website: Visa Journey
In particular, look at this page Guides and Flowcharts for help with the paperwork.
My wife and I followed all that to a T, and didn't have a single issue with the paperwork. The website is also a fantastic place to ask questions (I had a few) and they're rather helpful.
Good luck with your fiance and marriage!
This includes family emergencies - so, for example, if one of her parents dies, sorry, she can't attend the funeral. This might also be something to consider. Many people have found this out the hard way.
Truth be told, we'd marry right away...one of those by-the-book court weddings so it's legal & done with.
Eventually down the road we'll save for, plan, and have a big ass wedding with cake and guests, etc.
Thanks for the links too; reading up on this IR-1/CR-1 visa and liking what I'm seeing.
Seems it cuts straight to the point without needing to apply for other status' (employment, adjustment etc).
It looks like the easiest/fastest route is to travel to Japan, marry there, and do the I-30 for the CR-1 road to residence.
We've been apart for about 8 months now since I left Japan, being apart after the marriage won't be a problem.
Back in 2008 (when I did the K-1 visa) this wasn't the case; the K-1 visa was considerably faster. Having said that, it still took 8 months for my visa to be approved. I could've been more on the ball with sending the paperwork to the embassy; others who filed at the same time as me received their approvals in 6-7 months.
We submitted his K-1 application at the end of January this year and it was approved at the end of March. He had his consulate interview in late May & got the visa issued at that point. He moved to Seattle in mid June. We got married right away but didn't file for adjustment of status until September. He got his work authorization card in early November, and we go in for his green card application appointment this Wednesday.
Total cost to bring my husband to the US via K-1 has been at least $3,000 since January; application fees, certified copies of documents, sooo many trips to Kinko's for copies, about 15 passport photos of each of us, medical exams, postage, and travel to the consulate office in Vancouver all add up!
EDIT: In addition to VisaJourney, I would suggest looking at ImmiHelp. I would often trade off between both sites to fill in the gaps when I had questions.
-If you need to call the line to discuss something about your paperwork, try to get someone who can work on a case-by-case basis. Don't try to discuss anything with the first run idiots. I mean very literally, I knew more information regarding what they were asking for than they did. Talk to someone who works on specific cases.
-Once you are both here and married, keep a file of all your documentation, things that show a 'legitimate' marriage. We were just recently asked to provide evidence of a 'good faith/bona fide' marriage including information like joint bank accounts, photographs of us at family events, copies of tax returns and the like. It was a pain in the ass because I had to write out a huge letter explaining why we didn't have the specific information they were asking for which had to do with a lot of the financial information.
-Any statements or testimonials from friends, it's a good idea to make sure they're notarized if you can get them that way. It's not specifically asked, but the government just tends to look a little more kindly on notarized paperwork.
Good luck, good times, and hopefully it all works out for the best!
also, keep evidence of any trips you take together, too. hotel receipts, itineraries, souvenirs even. that stuff helps. everyone's right about the photos, too.
keep in mind that this whole thing is really a three step process: 1) you file a petition (I-129F or I-130) to have USCIS approve her for a visa number, and then 2) once USCIS approves, she will have to take that approval to a US Embassy or Consulate and apply for a visa which will allow her to 3) apply for entry to the US at a port of entry (like a land border crossing OR an international airport). it's the same for the K-1, the K-3, or the IR/CR-1 I-130. and yes, even after she gets the visa stamp in her passport, she will technically still have to ask for permission to enter the U.S. based on that visa.
*sigh*
USCIS processing times are here: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do
I-129F petitions (Form I-129F) are adjudicated out of the USCIS Texas Service Center, and they're currently quoting a 5 month processing time for either K-1s or K-3s. I-130s are adjudicated at the USCIS service center for your US geographical area; there are four service centers, and with the exception of Nebraska, they're all also quoting 5 months processing. not sure what Nebraska's problem is, because they're only now processing I-130s they received in September 2010. after the petition is approved, your fiancee will then do what's called Consular Processing to set up a visa appointment at the embassy or consulate. that part takes around a month or so, iirc.
i would think the K-1 would take a little less time, but not too much compared to the K-3. processing times also change depending on USCIS's backlog. i'm guessing around the holidays they get a bit more family-related stuff, so that increases the processing time. the stuff about the cost to adjust status in the U.S. for a K-1 beneficiary is spot on, though. it may be less costly to go the K-3 or IR/CR I-130, and probably a lot less hassle.
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Very comforting to know that it won't take as long as I thought (over 1 year) just to get her here.
I need to discuss with her what route we're going to take:
(A) I travel to Japan, quick marriage there, file for K-3/CR-1, I return alone...she evemtually comes too
(B) File for K-1, eventually she comes here, small wedding w/my family present to watch, file for all sorts of other stuff (adjustment, etc) afterwards.
From reading the stuff on the VisaJourney and PA forums...I think I'd rather go for option (A) but gotta see what she thinks.
As for "proof" of the relationship. I do photography and we have thousands of dated pictures of us together. Not just pictures, but letters between us we wrote while I was deployed, etc.
Is this something that's easy to do on your own, or should I lawyer up through an immigration lawyer-services and have them handle?
No lawyer it is.
From the Visa Journey guides, for the I-130:
As you can see, photos and letters are not specifically listed in the list. It's something worth bearing in mind!
(For what it's worth, my husband and I submitted only four photographs and no affadavits for the entire visa process; we had plenty of primary evidence, and we were approved at both the initial petition stage, for adjustment of status and for removal of conditions with zero problems).
I also agree a lawyer is not necessary if your case is straight-forward, which it definitely appears to be!
We ended up sending in a credit card statement that has both our names, a copy of our tax return from the previous year showing we filed jointly, and an affidavit from a friend (maybe a couple of other things?) So there are always options.
That being said, it's going to be a couple of years before your I-751 so don't worry about that yet!
All I submitted were Photos, Skype logs and plane stubs. I had no issues. It went so well infact that they skipped our interview process and granted the Visa with no questions.
I'm guessing you haven't gone through removal of conditions yet? That's often when the co-mingling of assets/finances is a 'must'.
is that what i'm going to have to look forward to doing when my ecco and I get married? I better start educating myself now. and to do it for two countries? ugh.
He's a new zealand citizen, I'm an american citizen. But we'd probably only be ever going to the states to visit family, so maybe I don't have to do this? Might as well get onto that visajourney thing and check it out.
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New Zealand is one of the Visa Waiver countries, so if you're just coming to the U.S. for short visits, you're probably fine without doing this process.
actually, it wouldn't make sense for your SO to apply for a green card, because he would have to maintain residence in the US for significant amounts of time to keep the card!
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Well, my wife did have to go to an very brief questions session in the U.S. embassy in Okinawa. But we were not asked to go to the interview round where they questioned both of us. I'm not entirely sure what the removal of conditions is, but she got her Visa over a year ago without the assets/finances aspect.
In our case, the lack of commingled finances was not an issue. Perhaps they were really impressed by our 80 page long Skype log, who knows why they never brought it up.
The US citizen spouse/fiance is never required to attend the embassy interview, so many US citizens never have to sit through an interview. Stokes interviews, where the couple is separated and interviewed separately, are VERY rare and only conducted at Adjustment of Status or Removal of Conditions.
Depending on how long you have been married when granted the visa, your spouse will either obtain a 2 year (conditional) greencard or a 10 year greencard. People with 2 year greencards have to go through Removal of Conditions and this is when 2 years' worth of evidence of co-mingling of finances/assets is required. All K-1 people go through removal of conditions, but not all K-3 people do.
I imagine requirements for the I-130 are relaxed as not many people going through the spousal visa process will have had time to co-mingle finances/assets. However, if the OP CAN get his wife on his insurance, that will only help his case.
As I said, fortunately they are very rare and only used in the case where fraud is already suspected. I'm not sure my husband could answer 50 such questions accurately. Heck, I couldn't even tell the interviewer what I had for lunch yesterday! :P
I actually had an Adjustment of Status interview (roughly 50% of K-1 applicants do) and it was pretty awesome, actually. It went something like this:
Interviewer: Hello, hey, do you guys mind waiting a moment? There's a man who works here who wants to see you.
Us: Sure!
Interviewer disappears from room, returns 5 mins later with another government employee.
Employee: As soon as I saw your last name I had to meet you! My last name is the same as yours, and in all my time working for the government, I've never come across with someone with your last name! Who are your relatives?
Husband: Names relatives.
Employee: Oh, <grandfather's name>? Oh yes, I used to know him! *chats about family history for ten minutes*
Employee leaves.
Interviewer: So, uh, congrats you guys, you should get your greencard soon!
The reason was they kept getting jerked around my doctors that said they could do the physical, then needed to redo the physical, then finally couldn't do the physical, so all the doctor visits and waiting added a lot of time.
Also, the fiance visa is apparently between 500 and 1000 dollars more expensive in the long run, so just get married, even if it's a sham marriage like my friend's sorta was.
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uh, what? no. that's immigration fraud. i realize you're kind of kidding, but the Fed does NOT like it when you lie for immigration purposes. marriage fraud can result in a permanent bar from entering the US.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Well, there's a cultural aspect to this which isn't as fraudulent as you might think. In Japan, getting married is incredibly easy. Bear in mind, there might be different rules for soldiers, but the US citizen goes to the Embassy or Consulate and has a document stating they are not currently notarized checked (this doesn't require anything more than a day trip because there's no actual background check as far as I know - you are taken at your word and the document is stamped). Then, with that document and a form you fill out at the town hall you get married.
I think, at most, it entails 3 or 4 pieces of paperwork. After that, you are married, and as married as you can possibly be in the eyes of Japanese law. Any ceremonial proceedings are entirely optional and up to the couple - surely having them is probably better as far as the US government is concerned - but the marriage is in those papers.
Considering that the fiance visa is more expensive and time consuming, getting married, which is an incredibly simple process here, and going for the spousal visa is a much better choice.
The reason I called my friend's wedding a sham marriage was because initially he wanted to go to America and officially propose there if it was working out, with his "fiancee" having already gotten the fiancee visa before they came. However, she refused to work on that fiancee visa without actually being a fiancee, so next thing you know, he had bought a ring, proposed, but realized the marriage visa was a better choice and did that paperwork. Then by the time he actually left Japan he'd even had a big wedding party at a shrine.
But that was never the original intent, it was all set in motion by visa concerns. He didn't fraud anyone, and neither would this guy if he puts the paperwork in in Japan. He probably doesn't even need to go the full 9 for the wedding party and stuff, although it wouldn't be a bad choice if there's time and money.
My wedding was a blast.
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Ideally, if it were up to ME; I'd fly out to Japan, get married through the paperwork system, and start the process for a marriage visa.
That way, when it's finished and she arrives in the U.S., she'll be ready to hit the ground running and I can put her butt to work! (being humerous).
I still have to discuss this with her this weekend. Either way, we're super excited and ready to start this wacky journey together. We lived together for over a year while I was in Japan and we travelled together all over the U.S., met each others family, etc.
this problem often comes up with arranged marriages for folks from India or South Korea, for example. for a long while, the US wasn't even recognizing them as bona fide marriages for US immigration law purposes. even now, it's pretty damn tough.
the issue of same-sex marriage is another good example. such marriages are valid in a whole bunch of countries, but for the US on the federal level, you can't immigrate a same sex spouse on that basis.
all i'm saying is, be aware that US immigration doesn't always jive with marriages validated under other countries' laws.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
I'm in an international marriage, and while it can be a lot of fun, there are a few pitfalls to watch out for.
1. Make sure that the partner who is coming to live in the new country builds up a local support/network of friends.
2. Both be aware that sometimes a cultural/familial background difference will arise, but both partners may be unaware of the difference. Be prepared to talk things over calmly.
3. Proper communication is extra important.
Far too often, I've seen people get together, get married, move back home (normally the husband's home) and 6 months to 1 year later it end in divorce because the immigrating partner doesn't feel like they belong. It's really important to have a circle of friends/support/people they can talk to outside of their partner. Encourage the immigrant partner to make friends outside of their local ex-pat community as well.
That said, I wish both of you lots of luck. There's lots of upsides to an international relationship as well.