“I had consulted with numerous other immigration lawyers (locally and abroad) prior to meeting Cathy and after the initial consultation with Cathy I knew this was the lawyer that I had been searching for! Cathy answered all my initial questions in thorough detail and comprehensible manner. I chose Cathy and her associates as my sole immigration attorney for all my legal issues which may arise while going through the Fiancee Visa process and with any possible future issues after the process was completed. In my opinion Cathy’s firm went above and beyond my expectations from what I was expecting from an immigration lawyer. ”- Roy Josling and Hang Joslin
K1 Fiance Visa Overview
If your fiance is not a citizen of the United States and you plan to get married in the U.S., then you must file a K1 Visa petition with USCIS on behalf of your fiancé. After the petition is approved, your fiance must obtain a visa issued at a U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate abroad. The marriage must take place within 90 days after the 1st admission to the U.S.
If the green card marriage does NOT take place within 90 days or your loved one marries someone other than you (the U.S. citizen filing USCIS Form I-129F – Petition for Alien Fiancé), then he/she will be required to leave the United States. Until the marriage takes place, that person is considered a non-immigrant. A non-immigrant is a foreign national seeking to temporarily enter the United States for a specific purpose and may not obtain an extension of the 90-day original non-immigrant admission.
If your loved one intends to live and work permanently in the United States, you should apply for an adjustment of status for the green card after your marriage. Conditional permanent residency or conditional green cards, or otherwise referred to as the “two year green card” is granted when the marriage is less than two years old at the time of adjustment of status or time of the green card processing.
K1 Visa Step by Step Presentation
Below is a presentation that takes you through the K1 Fiance Visa application process step by step.
For more detailed information please contact us for a consultation.
Who is Eligible?
U.S. citizens who will be getting married to loved one in the United States may petition for a fiance(e) K-1 Visa. Both of you must be free to marry. This means that you are legally able to marry and any previous marriages have ended through divorce, annulment or death. You must have met each other in person within the last two years before filing for the I-129F Form for a Fiancé(e) Visa. This requirement can be waived only if meeting in person would violate long-established customs, or meeting would create extreme hardship for you. You a must marry within 90 days after the initial entry into the U.S.
You may also apply to bring any dependents that your fiance(e) may have who are unmarried and under 21years of age.
After arriving in the United States, you will be eligible to apply for a work permit or employment authorization document for your loved ones. The applicant may be able to work while the green card is pending and in any profession without requiring a work permit.
K1 Fiance Visa and the In Person Meeting Requirement
The INA requires K1 fiance visa applicants to have physically met their US citizen petitioner in person before the USCIS will grant the I-129F. This is simply one factor used to prove the bona fide or sincerity of the relationship between the fiancee visa applicant and the US citizen petitioner.
This in person meeting mandate flies in the face of modern time and technology where couples meet on dating websites, online chats, and social network sites. With the advent of online dating, couples utilize video chat and instant chat, and Skype calls wherein it’s genuinely plausible that couples fall in love and have a bona fide relationship. Saying that though, virtual meetings do not meet the US law that mandates that the couple are in physical presence of each other at least 1 time.
US law does allow for extenuating circumstances where an in person meeting may be waived. This waiver is permitted when it is established that a meeting would be an extreme hardship for the US citizen petitioner, or it is not permitted due to cultural or religious traditions. As long as the religious belief is recognized, or the cultural tradition is sincere, then USCIS will waive the meeting requirement.
For the extreme hardship method, this is a waiver that the US petitioner submit indicating that visa denial based on meeting the fiancee in person mandate would place extreme hardship to the US citizen petitioner. Extreme hardship to the petitioner exists where the petitioner may have an extenuating medical disability or circumstances that warrants a waiver of the meeting in person requirement.
Oftentimes, couples have met and can fulfill the 1 in person meeting requirement, but whether it is sufficient to create a genuine and caring relationship with the visa applicant will depend on the couple’s unique sets of facts. For instance, the consular officers may scrutinize extensively whether a couple who spent 1 day together would be able to establish a bona fide relationship as oppose to 1 month. The 1 day visit may also contradict the traditional notion of a relationship where there’s sincerity and genuine care and affection if the couple commenced their relationship 1-2 months prior to filing the Fiance Visa Application. Nonetheless, a 1 month long visit may also be scrutinized if there are other red flag issues such as a wide age gap or multiple filings for the same applicant.
The US consular officers can glean from the meeting(s) and the evidence submitted whether it rise to the level of of creating a sincere and bona fide relationship.
K1 Visa Consulate Interview
Questions asked by the officer is generally geared at determining whether the couple has a sincere or bona fide relationship. In generally practice,
the interviewing officer will review the documents that the American petitioner submitted to USCIS in the I-129F form, and any additional evidence submitted by the visa applicant. The officer conducts a due diligence in that he/she reviews the information in the file and ask the visa applicant questions to ascertain the sincerity of the relationship. Interviewees may feel intimidated in this situation as one would be if sitting across a complete stranger who asks you personal questions regarding your relationship with your loved one. Nonetheless, the officers are trained to scrutinize the applicant for any legal inadmissibility issue and whether the couple’s relationship is bona fide.
Prenuptial Agreements to Protect Your Separate Assets
Any temptation to lie to the consular officers is pointless as they are trained to detect those deceptive techniques used to obtain a visa. The penalty for lying to a consular officer could result in an outright denial of the visa application and possibly a bar on entry to the US for years to come. Thus, honesty is the best policy when it comes to answering sensitive questions at the interview.
How Can I Appeal a Denied K1 Visa
Generally, you may appeal within 33 days of receiving the denial by mail. The appeal must be filed with the office that made the original decision. After your appeal form and a required fee are processed, the appeal will be referred to the Administrative Appeals Unit (AAU) in Washington, DC.