Question about marriage to a Foreign National

[ctcarr821]

Hello,
I am a USC who is planning to marry a foreign national. He is here on a tourist visa until December. Do I need to file for an I-129F (fiancee visa) while he is still here? If we start the paperwork while he is still here does he need to return to his country? We are not planning to be married until the Fiancee visa has come through. I want everything to be legal. Any advice?

[ctcarr821]

Hello,
I am a USC who is planning to marry a foreign national. He is here on a tourist visa until December. Do I need to file for an I-129F (fiancee visa) while he is still here? If we start the paperwork while he is still here does he need to return to his country? We are not planning to be married until the Fiancee visa has come through. I want everything to be legal. Any advice?

[Pasha Patel]

See the topic " Marrying on visitor visa" by Feed Me Please...find it on this discussion board

[ctcarr821]

Hello Pasha,

I read the comments of Feed Me Please and I am still a bit confused. We met for the first time while he was on this tourist visa. We have just recently decided to get engaged. His family is in the US, he will have a job once he is able to work here. I was born a US citizen and am working here as well. This is not a case of fraud. This is case of me wanting to start my life. So, is it possible for us to file a I-129F while he is still in the country, or is there a different form I should look into? It seems I should just hire an attorney, but I wanted to get some advice of people who have been through this process. It is good to know that this support network exists.

If you plan to get married while he is here on visitor visa you don't need to apply for K1 Visa, otherwise he has to be in his country until its approved. What you can do get married and then change the status, its called Adjustment of Status. He is legal to stay when the adjustment is pending, but he needs Advance Parole if he wanted to travel outside US while the AOS pending.

If you want to get fiance visa, he have to return to his country and then you can file it. The waiting time is different depends on where you live. It might takes 6 - 12 months.

I'm not a lawyer, pls act accordingly. Good luck.

[sunny]

If you don't plan on getting married now, you can file the K1 visa. This is for fiance(e)s of US citizens. Depending on which state you are in, you would send this application to 1 of 4 service centers. You can get this visa started while he is here, just make sure you have all the relevant information/documents, etc. On the application, it should ask if he is currently in the country, and since he will be, I think the application asks for a copy of his I-94 (not sure tho). He will have to return to his home country eventually, to complete the process and go through an interview at the US Consulate there. I would recommend that he not overstay his current tourist visa as well.

If you want more info, search on the web for K1 visa information. Depending on which state you live in, it could take longer for the visa to be processed. Me2 is right stating it could take anywhere from 6-12 months (perhaps longer). I'm going through this process myself currently, so I've looked at tonnes of info I've found on the net, including several message boards.

Hope this helps!
Sunny

[Paddy]

why bother with the fiancee visa. Get married between now and december and apply for the green card. That way he won't have to leave the country.

[Feed Me Please]

Paddy, please expand on this a little more. Why marry between now and December and why would that guarantee that he/she would not have to return to their country if done during this time?

[Paddy]

If you are planning to get married anyway, you might as well do it while the alien is still legal. It doesn't really matter if you get married after his visa expires and apply for the green card then as all you will do is delay the things you both want and that is being together and him working. Why waste time, get married now and apply for the green card so that the process is started. You can always renew your vows at a later date like I did. I was forced into bringing my marriage forward to due the early birth of my children

[Feed Me Please]

Thanks so much, Paddy. Some people as I understand it, call this fraud or abusing the laws, but as I see it, we will be getting married either way except one way is faster than the other.

Am I looking at this in a wrong way?

[ctcarr821]

Hi Paddy,

I am the originator of the question and I just wanted to thank you and everyone else for helpful advice. I think we will plan on marrying while he is here and apply for an AOS.
Thank you!

[Feed Me Please]

Hi ctcarr821,

First of all, I want to wish you good luck and good wishes on whatever choice you make. Second of all, I was wondering if you do choose to go this way, could you please keep us informed on how things went for you? I am also in a similar situation, but honestly afraid to marry him while he was here on a visitors visa. If the BCIS just happen to consider it a fraud marriage, then where would we be? Separated again, but for an even longer time.

If you did get marry, how soon do you think it will be?

Again, best of luck to you and please keep us posted.

Take care!

[Paddy]

To CTCARR821 and Feed Me,
I think your attitude to the immigration minefield is right. From my experience so far, all the BCIS cares about is that the marriage is genuine and you follow their rules to the letter. So in this case getting the fiancee visa would be a waste of time and could jeopardise your future spouse's immigration. So please get married towards the end of the visa and apply for the green card so that both of you can be together and him working. If you still want to follow the K-1 visa route then that is your decision.....I don't know anything about the fiancee visa except that the alien spouse would have to leave the country which I suspect you don't want right???? Well good luck you guys

[Feed Me Please]

Thank you, Paddy, so much for sharing with us your experience and for your opinion. I understand completely in what you are trying to say in your post about wasting time. We have already been together and waiting for over three years now, I really don't care to wait another year just for the Service Center to finally decide they want to process our papers.

Thanks again, Paddy, and thanks for the good wishes! By the way, how long have you been married now?

[Paddy]

I've been married 3 years now but because I was only married 18 months before I was given my green card, I am now stuck in the mess of the I-751(removal of conditions on green card).I so desperately want to apply for my US citizenship next year when I become eligible but don't know how the backlog of the I-751 will delay it. Anyway don't worry about that now.......get married and apply now feed me.take care