Visa Validity - Timeline

[weisser83 0]

Hi all,

We are in the process of booking an airplane ticket for my fiance to come to the US. We were approved for the visa in February 2008 and are now preparing for him to come here.

His visa says valid until 6 Sept 2008. It also says petition valid until 16 June 2008. If we buy a ticket for him to come now, can he still enter the US on or before September 6 and will he have 90 days after that entry to return or marry?

I asked this same question in March but now some travel agencies are telling him the 90 days were included in that timeline and he will have to return or marry and file documents by September 6.

Does anyone know for sure the answer to this question? I'm hoping for some reassurance! Thank you.

[john_and_marlene 162]

Hi all,

We are in the process of booking an airplane ticket for my fiance to come to the US. We were approved for the visa in February 2008 and are now preparing for him to come here.

His visa says valid until 6 Sept 2008. It also says petition valid until 16 June 2008. If we buy a ticket for him to come now, can he still enter the US on or before September 6 and will he have 90 days after that entry to return or marry?

I asked this same question in March but now some travel agencies are telling him the 90 days were included in that timeline and he will have to return or marry and file documents by September 6.

Does anyone know for sure the answer to this question? I'm hoping for some reassurance! Thank you.

He has until September 6 to enter the U.S. and will be given 90 days on the I-94 from the date of entry. The 90 days is not included in the days the visa is valid.

[LizC 0]

Hi all,

We are in the process of booking an airplane ticket for my fiance to come to the US. We were approved for the visa in February 2008 and are now preparing for him to come here.

His visa says valid until 6 Sept 2008. It also says petition valid until 16 June 2008. If we buy a ticket for him to come now, can he still enter the US on or before September 6 and will he have 90 days after that entry to return or marry?

I asked this same question in March but now some travel agencies are telling him the 90 days were included in that timeline and he will have to return or marry and file documents by September 6.

Does anyone know for sure the answer to this question? I'm hoping for some reassurance! Thank you.

He has until September 6 to enter the U.S. and will be given 90 days on the I-94 from the date of entry. The 90 days is not included in the days the visa is valid.

My fiance and I actually ran into a major problem with the "petition valid to" info. His K-1 visa was valid until November but the petition expiration date was 6/4. Technically we should have been fine as the petition valid until information only means that he had to receive his visa before that date (more or less). However, the folks at JFK were not aware of that detail and saw "petition valid until 6/4" when he entered on 6/8. They didn't allow him to enter on the visa and he ended up having a delayed inspection in Boston 10 days later and had no status until then. It also didn't help that he entered on a Sunday, when the folks at JFK couldn't call the embassy in Buenos Aires.

The moral of the story? Call or email your consulate and say that your visa says the petition has expired and you want to be sure there aren't going to have any problems as you go through immigrations.

As yes - Upon entering on the K-1 visa, you will have 90 days to get married. That includes if you enter on 9/5 itself. (although I wouldn't suggest that).

Hope that helps

[weisser83 0]

Thank you for your responses. I'm going to call the consulate first thing in the morning.

Is there anything in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) or any other Department of State published document that we might be able to reference if he's detained at the Port of Entry? I searched the FAM a bit but wasn't able to make much sense of it.

Thanks again. Visa Journey has been our lifeline throughout this whole process. We appreciate this community so much!