K1 for people in the US military

[joyandherb 0]

I am trying to help our son and his fiancee with the K1 process. He is with the US Army and as we all know, a soldier doesn't just get to say "bye bye, i'm leaving to go to Thailand to visit a lady i am in a relationship with"... (they met in 2004 in Thailand and have been friends since that time. About 9 mo ago, the relationship became a romantic tone.)

In the process of applying for the K1 visa, a couple must show they have met in person during the past 2 years. Since our son has been in the US Army since May 2008 and deployed since July 2011, there has been no opportunity to visit her in Thailand.

The question: does anyone know of a way to get a waiver for that "rule" about a personal meeting within 2 years of applying?

Has anyone in the military done a K1 who can help us out?

[canadian_wife 1,818]

8 years ago? USCIS isn't going to waive not seeing each other for 8 years. Did she try for a toursit visa? Did they try to meet in a 3rd country? He has leave right? Did he try to visit during his leave?

Good luck

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I am trying to help our son and his fiancee with the K1 process. He is with the US Army and as we all know, a soldier doesn't just get to say "bye bye, i'm leaving to go to Thailand to visit a lady i am in a relationship with"... (they met in 2004 in Thailand and have been friends since that time. About 9 mo ago, the relationship became a romantic tone.)

In the process of applying for the K1 visa, a couple must show they have met in person during the past 2 years. Since our son has been in the US Army since May 2008 and deployed since July 2011, there has been no opportunity to visit her in Thailand.

The question: does anyone know of a way to get a waiver for that "rule" about a personal meeting within 2 years of applying?

Has anyone in the military done a K1 who can help us out?

There are two grounds for getting a waiver.

The first is if there is a strong cultural or religious prohibition against the bride and groom meeting before the wedding. This is very rarely approved as there are only a handful of cultures in the world that have this prohibition, and none of those cultures are in Thailand.

The second is if it would pose an extreme hardship on the US citizen to meet the requirement. This is approved more often than the cultural prohibition waiver, but it's still rarely approved. Basically, you have to prove that it's physically impossible for the US citizen to travel to meet his/her fiancee EVER, and that you've exhausted all possibilities for the foreign fiancee to travel to the US or a third country to meet the US citizen petitioner. An example of a scenario that might work is a petitioner who lives in an iron lung, and a beneficiary who has been denied a tourist visa 10 times.

The view of USCIS is going to be that your son is not incapable of traveling to Thailand to visit his fiancee because he's done it before, and if he's not in a position to be able to do it again then he's not ready to get married. A K1 visa requires that they marry in the United States within 90 days of her arrival. How is he going to meet that requirement if he's deployed?

Have him finish his deployment. When he returns to the US and can take some leave then he should make a trip to Thailand, have some fun and take a lot of pictures. He can file the petition when he gets back.

[L+T 71]

Yes, it would be difficult to get military hardship especially since they did not see each other in the prior 2 years before joining.

On the other hand, it will cost $340 and 5-6 months to wait if you like try. But I would think money better spent to make visit when he has chance again. After this if he is still military, he could request expedite process to speed up the petition.

Thank your son for his service!! And best luck.