J-1 visa fell through; Need help with options please!

[ecurtis0401 0]

Hi, y'all. This is my first post on VJ although I have been reading the guides and forums for at least a year or two!

I'm hoping some of you who are familiar with the visa process can help me out with a path forward.

First, the background:

- I met my fiance at work about five years ago. We both work for the same company (at the time we were doing the same job), but he works for our UK office and I work for our Houston office. We started dating about 4 years ago, and for the last three years, he has been on some form of international assignment for our company (never in the US).

- We got engaged a little over a year ago and, of course, I came straight here for options. However, since he was under contract on the international assignments, we felt the K-1 visa was a little too tricky wrt timelines (he would not have been able to end the assignment, move back to England, then to Texas, then us get married, in 90 days and still have any hope of keeping a job at our company).

- Then we started looking at eloping and filing for the IR-1 visa while he was completing his most recent assignment. However, I got scared off from that plan because I've seen some forum topics here that suggest that a person entering into the States with the specific goal of marrying a citizen is seen as fraud.

- Long story long, we approached our company and asked if it was possible for him to be transferred to this office (after all, our hope was that he'd continue to work for our company from this location after the wedding). They said sure! Hooray! Problems are solved! Plans were made to do a J-1 visa (our company is very big and multi-national and transfers people a lot) after he ended his current overseas assignment (which ended about three weeks ago).

- Today we learned that the J-1 visa has been rejected by the company's upper management. Except! We've already got the wedding date, venue, photographer, invitations, blah blah blah, all set for November. So now, my friends, we are in a bit of a pickle, as my grandmother would say.

My question(s) is this: what is the best path forward with the IR-1 visa at this point? Our wedding is set for November. Originally I considered that we could hie ourselves down to the Courthouse, get legally married, start the IR-1 process and then have him fly in to Houston to visit for our "real" (i.e. spiritual, family-filled) wedding in November. But I'm not sure if it's even possible for him to visit while an IR-1 visa is in the works (particularly since, as he's been on international assignment for three years, he has very little financial ties back to England, though I'm sure he can get some in the next six months)? I also don't know if it would still be considered defrauding the government if we have another, non-legal ceremony, during the visa process (and of course there is always the danger that he'll be turned away at customs and I'll be a sad, lonely, left-at-the-fake-alter sort of bride, the kind they write bad poetry about). He would of course leave the country afterwards - we are not about breaking the law.

Any advice, tips, guidance, etc you have, please lay it on me. Thanks.

[Darnell 8,478]

seek an L-1 visa, this go-round.

[JohnR! 5,495]

- Then we started looking at eloping and filing for the IR-1 visa while he was completing his most recent assignment. However, I got scared off from that plan because I've seen some forum topics here that suggest that a person entering into the States with the specific goal of marrying a citizen is seen as fraud.

Any advice, tips, guidance, etc you have, please lay it on me. Thanks.

If you are certain you want to get married, you can do so while he is here, even if he enters the US on a VWP or B visa. That is not considered fraud. If he were to enter the US on a VWP or B, to get married, and stay and AOS stateside, that would be considered fraud.

If the two of you are positive on getting married, go ahead and do so. He will have to return home after you get married and wait for his visa to be processed before he can enter the US to stay. In the meantime he can come visit.

I hope this helps. Congrats and good luck!

Edited June 6, 2013 by Gegel

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Since your other half is from UK, he could travel to US using VWP while IR-1 visa is in process.

[lost_at_sea 995]

- Today we learned that the J-1 visa has been rejected by the company's upper management. Except! We've already got the wedding date, venue, photographer, invitations, blah blah blah, all set for November. So now, my friends, we are in a bit of a pickle, as my grandmother would say.

My question(s) is this: what is the best path forward with the IR-1 visa at this point? Our wedding is set for November. Originally I considered that we could hie ourselves down to the Courthouse, get legally married, start the IR-1 process and then have him fly in to Houston to visit for our "real" (i.e. spiritual, family-filled) wedding in November. But I'm not sure if it's even possible for him to visit while an IR-1 visa is in the works (particularly since, as he's been on international assignment for three years, he has very little financial ties back to England, though I'm sure he can get some in the next six months)? I also don't know if it would still be considered defrauding the government if we have another, non-legal ceremony, during the visa process (and of course there is always the danger that he'll be turned away at customs and I'll be a sad, lonely, left-at-the-fake-alter sort of bride, the kind they write bad poetry about). He would of course leave the country afterwards - we are not about breaking the law.

Any advice, tips, guidance, etc you have, please lay it on me. Thanks.

What a pain! I'm sorry to hear that, but I guess it is the inevitable lesson of never making expensive plans until your visa is in hand. But I feel your pain (my husband recently had an extension for his work placement blocked by his employer... another story).

I think your best course of action, if you want to keep the wedding date etc. is to go ahead with it. The caveat is going to have to be that the non-USC citizen needs to go home after. Then you file the I-130 petition for CR-1 visa (you won't be an IR-1 because you'll be married for less than 2 years at the time of filing, so you'll get a CR-1). This is the guide you'll be following: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

You're 100% allowed to get married in the USA. That's entirely legal. What's considered FRAUD is entering into the USA, getting married WITH the intent to adjust your status from tourist. You can have as many non-legal ceremonies as you like during the process, they'll only care about the legal marriage that you're filing the I-130 against.

On the way into the country, he will have to be able to show the immigration official that he has intent to return home etc (return ticket, ties home). Your other option here might be to move the wedding instead and have it in the UK.

If you want to delay the wedding, then you could do the K1 visa option instead: http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide

He can continue to visit the US while petitions and visas are pending, under normal tourist/VWP terms, but proving his ties back home to get through immigration will still stand.

Edited June 6, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi, y'all. This is my first post on VJ although I have been reading the guides and forums for at least a year or two!

I'm hoping some of you who are familiar with the visa process can help me out with a path forward.

I'd go with a visit soon on VWP. Go to the county clerks office and get a marriage license. Wait 3 days and then marry in a simple ceremony anywhere you like...in a park, your backyard, Galveston...nah, already too hot. Or the 3 days can be waived by a judge and they may have courthouse weddings available in a judges chambers. What side of town are you on?

Get your marriage recorded back where you got the license and a certified marriage certificate. Then file. He needs to not stay around for long periods or come back too often so not to jeopardize his November visit with "you've been here waaay too much." Then have your fake wedding as planned. But do speak to your minister to make sure he is okay doing a wedding without a license.

If you wait until November to marry on VWP, then you can't file until then. If you marry soon, a lot of your wait will be over by November. The CR1 spouse visa is much better than a fiancé visa.

All of this is legal by the way. I submit this FAQ from the US Embassy London. http://london.usembassy.gov/faq-imm-proc.html#iv036

Edited June 7, 2013 by Nich-Nick

[ecurtis0401 0]

I'd go with a visit soon on VWP. Go to the county clerks office and get a marriage license. Wait 3 days and then marry in a simple ceremony anywhere you like...in a park, your backyard, Galveston...nah, already too hot. Or the 3 days can be waived by a judge and they may have courthouse weddings available in a judges chambers. What side of town are you on?

Get your marriage recorded back where you got the license and a certified marriage certificate. Then file. He needs to not stay around for long periods or come back too often so not to jeopardize his November visit with "you've been here waaay too much." Then have your fake wedding as planned. But do speak to your minister to make sure he is okay doing a wedding without a license.

If you wait until November to marry on VWP, then you can't file until then. If you marry soon, a lot of your wait will be over by November. The CR1 spouse visa is much better than a fiancé visa.

All of this is legal by the way. I submit this FAQ from the US Embassy London. http://london.usembassy.gov/faq-imm-proc.html#iv036

Thank y'all SO MUCH for the answers. (and yeah, earlier poster, I meant L-1. Sorry, I was typing super-upset.)

Our minister is our uncle, so I think he'll be okay with it being more of a religious/commitment ceremony than a legal one. Y'all have put my mind to ease.

(Also, Nich-Nick, southwest side! And DEFINITELY too hot already for Galveston.)