Clarification request on K3 Spuse Visa application

[invisameltdown 0]

Hi,

I am a brit, living in England.

I am going to propose to my girlfriend, who is a US citizen aged 16, when I visit her later this year. I have asked her parent's consent, and they have granted it.

I will be travelling under the VWP to visit her, as I don't know whether she will accept, and I still have a lot of things in England I need to close up even If she does.

I am trying to ascertain whether, If we got married (I hope she says yes >,>) in the US, and I returned here to England at the end of my stay, I could then apply for a K3 visa once she has submitted an I-130.

What I am having trouble understanding is this:

At the following link... http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...pes_2993.html... it states that:

"The embassy or consulate where you, the spouse of an American citizen, will apply for a K-3 visa must be in the country where your marriage took place. "

However, at this link... http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/iv/kapply.html ..it is stated that:

"If you married in the United States, the Embassy or Consulate in your last place of residence before traveling to the U.S. will process your application."

Am I correct in thinking that this means I would need to submit a K-3 application to the US Embassy in London once my spouse(fingers crossed) has received a conformation of receipt of I-130 from USCIS?

Or, do I need to submit a K-3 application to an office in the US and wait for them to forward it onto the US Embassy in London?

I hope I am not just being stupid and missing something obvious. I am trying to do this on my own as I cannot afford a lawyer to help me. But the myriad of information and different visa types out there is very unweildy.

I really love her and I think she will say yes. She gets very upset that we are apart so much. Though I know it could take several months, I'm trying to do my best so that we can be together as soon as possible, but it is melting my brain and causing me a great deal of worry that I might mess something up or go for the wrong type of visa.

Please help.

Thanks.

[pushbrk 12,822]

Hi,

I am a brit, living in England.

I am going to propose to my girlfriend, who is a US citizen aged 16, when I visit her later this year. I have asked her parent's consent, and they have granted it.

I will be travelling under the VWP to visit her, as I don't know whether she will accept, and I still have a lot of things in England I need to close up even If she does.

I am trying to ascertain whether, If we got married (I hope she says yes >,>) in the US, and I returned here to England at the end of my stay, I could then apply for a K3 visa once she has submitted an I-130.

What I am having trouble understanding is this:

At the following link... http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...pes_2993.html... it states that:

"The embassy or consulate where you, the spouse of an American citizen, will apply for a K-3 visa must be in the country where your marriage took place. "

However, at this link... http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/iv/kapply.html ..it is stated that:

"If you married in the United States, the Embassy or Consulate in your last place of residence before traveling to the U.S. will process your application."

Am I correct in thinking that this means I would need to submit a K-3 application to the US Embassy in London once my spouse(fingers crossed) has received a conformation of receipt of I-130 from USCIS?

Or, do I need to submit a K-3 application to an office in the US and wait for them to forward it onto the US Embassy in London?

I hope I am not just being stupid and missing something obvious. I am trying to do this on my own as I cannot afford a lawyer to help me. But the myriad of information and different visa types out there is very unweildy.

I really love her and I think she will say yes. She gets very upset that we are apart so much. Though I know it could take several months, I'm trying to do my best so that we can be together as soon as possible, but it is melting my brain and causing me a great deal of worry that I might mess something up or go for the wrong type of visa.

Please help.

Thanks.

Marriage in the US triggers the exception to the rule. You'll apply for a visa in London but for a K3 visa, there's more to the process than submitting an I-130. See the "Guides" for the step by step. You'll also want to verify that a juvenile US Citizen can have a spouse visa petition approved.

[invisameltdown 0]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate such a fast reply.

Marriage in the US triggers the exception to the rule. You'll apply for a visa in London but for a K3 visa, there's more to the process than submitting an I-130. See the "Guides" for the step by step. You'll also want to verify that a juvenile US Citizen can have a spouse visa petition approved.

[crs 0]

You understood right, but you dont really ever "file" a K3 application, and your fiance wont just receive a "receipt" of the I-130. She petitions for you through I-130 and I-129F, and, when those are approved (which will take a while... 3-6 months as of today), the embassy in London will contact you in order to interview you for a K-3 visa (or a CR-1/Ir-1, even the I-130 petition is approved before the I-129F). You might want to look at these guides, they are really helpful:

Guide for K-3 application

or

Guide CR-1/IR-1 application

The K-3 appears to be faster, the CR-1/IR-1 allows you to get a green card right away when you get to the US. Note that when you file for a K-3, youre also needed to file a I-130. So if that gets approved first, you might want to pursue the CR-1/IR-1 road.

I know there is a billion things you will be reading as you learn more about these processes.... but it is all worth it.

you might also want to consider NOT to get married right away and have your fiance just petition for a K-1 visa through the I-129F application... it is probably the fastest option although you guys would have to wait a few more months in order to get married. But since youre planning to get married in the US anyway, you might want to consider it too. here is the guide:

Guide for a K-1 visa

If you're not sure and I have confused you even more , you might wanna look here for a comparison between the possibilities you guys will have:

Compare your options!!

GOOD LUCK

[invisameltdown 0]

What you wrote makes sense, for once I am not confused. Thank you

[pushbrk 12,822]

What you wrote makes sense, for once I am not confused. Thank you

All of this is moot unless you can verify USCIS will accept and approve a family based visa petition from a juvenile.

[lucyrich 20]

Yep, there's some terminology issues here. Here's a really really brief bare outline of the process, leaving out many details, just trying to get the terms right.

The US Citizen files a petition (not an application). The petition for an immigrant visa is an I-130, for a K visa, it's an I-129F. A prerequisite for filing a K-3 I-129F is that the USC must have filed an I-130. USC gets a receipt of filing after a short time, a week or two. Then the petition sits on a shelf waiting to be processed for several months. Maybe six months later, the petition finally reaches the desk of someone who can do something with it, and it gets approved (or denied, or RFE'd, whatever). When the petition is approved, it's forwarded to the NVC, which then forwards it to a consulate.

When the approved petition package is received at a consulate, the consulate may do some processing there and schedule an interview. At that point, the alien finally gets to apply for a visa, by submitting the visa application and going to the interview. The visa application for a K visa is the DS-156K, and the visa application for an immigrant visa is a DS-230.

The US Citizen, USC, and petitioner are all various names for one person.

The alien, beneficiary, and applicant are all various names for the other person, who is not a US Citizen.

So yes, you do apply for the visa by filling out a visa application, submitting it, and going to the consulate, but you can only do that after the approved petition is received by the consulate.

[invisameltdown 0]

What you wrote makes sense, for once I am not confused. Thank you

All of this is moot unless you can verify USCIS will accept and approve a family based visa petition from a juvenile.

Point taken. I've just tried contacting USCIS but to no avail. Will keep on trying to find this information out...

[Reba 2]

I do believe the US citizen half has to be 18 years in order to submitt the petition to sponsor a spouse.

[pushbrk 12,822]

I do believe the US citizen half has to be 18 years in order to submitt the petition to sponsor a spouse.

I think you're right but the OP needs to know for sure from source with authority. Calling the USCIS customer service line is not the place to get the answer though. We don't call it the misinformation line for nothing.

[rin and john 71]

No minimum age for petitioner on the I-130 for spouse. However, must be 18 to file I-864.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...91.html#Minimum

[pushbrk 12,822]

No minimum age for petitioner on the I-130 for spouse. However, must be 18 to file I-864.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...91.html#Minimum

That's definitive enough for me. What it boils down to is the CR1 visa is out of the question. They'll need to take the K3 route and wait until the USC petitioner is 18 to file to adjust status. I expect they would file a separate EAD, so the foreign spouse could begin working about three months after entry.

Who is going to support this family for three or four months while waiting for EAD?

[lucyrich 20]

No minimum age for petitioner on the I-130 for spouse. However, must be 18 to file I-864.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...91.html#Minimum

That's definitive enough for me. What it boils down to is the CR1 visa is out of the question. They'll need to take the K3 route and wait until the USC petitioner is 18 to file to adjust status.

But what makes you sure the I-134 doesn't also have the same restriction? In my quick search, I wasn't able to find definitive info either way, but there's a general rule in US law that someone under 18 usually can't sign a financial contract. That's probably why the I-864 has the restriction, and it might be that the I-134 is similar.

[pushbrk 12,822]

No minimum age for petitioner on the I-130 for spouse. However, must be 18 to file I-864.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...91.html#Minimum

That's definitive enough for me. What it boils down to is the CR1 visa is out of the question. They'll need to take the K3 route and wait until the USC petitioner is 18 to file to adjust status.

But what makes you sure the I-134 doesn't also have the same restriction? In my quick search, I wasn't able to find definitive info either way, but there's a general rule in US law that someone under 18 usually can't sign a financial contract. That's probably why the I-864 has the restriction, and it might be that the I-134 is similar.

The I-134 is not recognized as a binding contract and isn't even a required form. There are many ways including custom drawn affidavits (Check the difference in the definition of "affidavit" and "contract".) to demonstrate to a Consular officer the intending immigrant won't become a public charge. For CR1, IR1 or AOS though, the I-864 is required.

[invisameltdown 0]

No minimum age for petitioner on the I-130 for spouse. However, must be 18 to file I-864.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...91.html#Minimum

That's definitive enough for me. What it boils down to is the CR1 visa is out of the question. They'll need to take the K3 route and wait until the USC petitioner is 18 to file to adjust status.

But what makes you sure the I-134 doesn't also have the same restriction? In my quick search, I wasn't able to find definitive info either way, but there's a general rule in US law that someone under 18 usually can't sign a financial contract. That's probably why the I-864 has the restriction, and it might be that the I-134 is similar.

Any idea whether I-134/I-864 could be provided by my spouse's mother, as the one who would, in reality, be supporting us until I gained EAD and got a job?