Please sombody help with a K1 visa issue, URGENT!!!!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi everybody,

I put my self in a situation thats very confusing. In November 2008, I filed for Fiance visa. In December 2008, i got an Islamic marriage in UAE in their court and its registered. after the Visa was approved and the interview appointment was set on May 31st 2009, I found out after talking to an immigration advisor that i have to withdraw my K1 visa and start K3 visa with I130 which takes alot of time to complete processing. Is there a possible way of fixing the situation without hiding the fact that I got married and get married again in US and without withdrawing the K1 visa? Did any one have a similar situation? Please advice as soon as possible.

I dont have much time to act and the interview is in alittle over a month due. i was thinking of just hiding the fact that we got married and show engagement evidence and hide the marriage evidence, but i am not really sure if they have a way to know if we are married and whats the chance that they would know and what would the consequences be? or just be honest to them at the day of the interview and tell them that we got married for religious reasons since she cannot move to US with me unless shes married first. and state that she s still single in the forms. I hate to take risk and things gets even worse later on.

i appreciate everybody's input.

There was a similar case in the news last year. The wife was from Japan and the Husband lived in Hawaii. They applied for K1, but got married before she came to the U.S. on the K1. When the fraudulent use of the K1 was discovered, she was deported and is now banned from ever coming back to the U.S. because of the material misrepresentation and fraudulent use of the K1 visa at the POE.

That's sad...I think so people don't even realize what they are doing.

How is it sad? Someone gets married which cancels the visa petition, then LIES about it rather than do the right thing and file for the correct visa. It is a malicious act of fraud, unless they forgot they got married. True they may have not known it would cancel the visa, but the only way they had a lifetime ban imposed was by "material misrepresentation" which is lying about something material to the visa. They KNEW what they were doing when they lied about it.

One getting married can be a mistake. Oops, didn't know it cancelled our visa. OK, no harm, no foul. LIVE with your decision and file for the correct visa. YES you have to wait longer...your decision. If you were uninformed, you made an uninformed decision. Live with it. But when they find their error and deliberately lie because they cannot live with their first decision, it is another conscious decision and they need to deal with that also. When someone continually and chronically shoots themselves in the foot, it is not "sad".

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Crazy question....can you get the marriage annulled in time for the interview??? Because then legally it never happened. Its probably too late but might be worth a try?

This would be ideal, or even if you can get divorced in time for the interview.

That way, when you submitted the petition and have the interview, you both will be free and not married.

Unique idea but wrong. The moment they said "I do" the K-1 was null and void. Getting an annulment or divorce would simply make you eligible to file another I-129f. If either of the parties becomes ineligible during the process, the petition/visa would be cancelled. You cannot continue the processing of a visa which you are not eligible for. Again, doing this and going to the interview with this would be fraud.

Here is the simple truth. This couple made a conscious decision to get married to comply with some religious belief which they felt more important than the rules regarding the K-1 visa. OK, no problem. Live with your decision. If it is a matter of virtue, you could have slept on the sofa until you were married, if it is a matter of appeasing the family, fine. Whatever. You made your decision, now the consequences of that are a longer wait time to be together, should be a small price to pay (plus the loss of your $455 filing fee, but hey, it's only money) They will not expedite the case because you filed for the wrong petition, or because of your decisions.

I admire you following your religious/family beliefs.

An annulment would work because as far as any government entity is concerned they would never have been married in the first place...but they've been married quite a while now and I dont know the UAE laws on marriage. The K1/CR forms never ask about annulments etc. Its like getting a criminal record wiped clean by turning 18 (or 21 whatever).

Edited April 28, 2009 by lancer1655

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Crazy question....can you get the marriage annulled in time for the interview??? Because then legally it never happened. Its probably too late but might be worth a try?

This would be ideal, or even if you can get divorced in time for the interview.

That way, when you submitted the petition and have the interview, you both will be free and not married.

Unique idea but wrong. The moment they said "I do" the K-1 was null and void. Getting an annulment or divorce would simply make you eligible to file another I-129f. If either of the parties becomes ineligible during the process, the petition/visa would be cancelled. You cannot continue the processing of a visa which you are not eligible for. Again, doing this and going to the interview with this would be fraud.

Here is the simple truth. This couple made a conscious decision to get married to comply with some religious belief which they felt more important than the rules regarding the K-1 visa. OK, no problem. Live with your decision. If it is a matter of virtue, you could have slept on the sofa until you were married, if it is a matter of appeasing the family, fine. Whatever. You made your decision, now the consequences of that are a longer wait time to be together, should be a small price to pay (plus the loss of your $455 filing fee, but hey, it's only money) They will not expedite the case because you filed for the wrong petition, or because of your decisions.

I admire you following your religious/family beliefs.

An annulment would work because as far as any government entity is concerned they would never have been married in the first place...but they've been married quite a while now and I dont know the UAE laws on marriage. The K1/CR forms never ask about annulments etc. Its like getting a criminal record wiped clean by turning 18 (or 21 whatever).

Not that it's feasible anyway, but I don't agree. You are applying a theory to the USCIS rules that isn't addressed.

If we take this theory to an extreme (to illustrate the point) I file an I-129f for girl #1 today. We are both single. I marry girl #2 tomorrow, say a girl next door. The petition is still valid? No. The next day I get an annullment from girl #2 and the petition springs back to life? So while the petition processes and until the interview I can marry as many women as I like as long as I get annullments and I am single the day of the interview?

The CR-1 may not ask about annullments but they petitioned a K-1 which requires you be eligible to be married. When? ONLY the day you file and the day of the interview? I don't think so. If someone can point out a case where this happened, I will stand corrected.

[Tygrys 143]

Thanks to everyone for your opinions, i now see no point in lying or hiding the truth from the embassy. I am quite convinced that i should withdraw the application and file K3 but my wife want to take the chance and try to go to the interview and tell them that we got relegious wedding but after we applied for fiance visa and we were only engaged at the time when we applied for the k1 visa and she will not lie about any fact.

In my opinion, that this will not work, i would think that they will reject the visa and tell her since we are married now we have to file for k3 visa and they will make her withdraw the K1 visa. but I am concerned about the worst case scenario, what the worse that could happen in the embassy, if she did the interview and never lied about any fact? is it just visa rejection? does it affect the K3 visa filing afterwards?

If you are honest about it, the visa will be denied and you can start over. There will be no "ban". The only point of this would be to pay the non-refundable visa fee of $131 and give you something to do on May 31st, if you can't think of anything else. They WILL deny the visa. It does not matter you were only engaged when you filed the petition, it is a petition, NOT a visa. Your visa has NOT been approved, your petition has been approved. She must be eligible for the visa when she applies for it at the interview. She is not, she is married and cannot be considered a "fiancee".

You can withdraw now and save yourself some trouble and $131.

Withdraw your K-1 and file for the CR-1. Period.

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

Crazy question....can you get the marriage annulled in time for the interview??? Because then legally it never happened. Its probably too late but might be worth a try?

This would be ideal, or even if you can get divorced in time for the interview.

That way, when you submitted the petition and have the interview, you both will be free and not married.

Unique idea but wrong. The moment they said "I do" the K-1 was null and void. Getting an annulment or divorce would simply make you eligible to file another I-129f. If either of the parties becomes ineligible during the process, the petition/visa would be cancelled. You cannot continue the processing of a visa which you are not eligible for. Again, doing this and going to the interview with this would be fraud.

Here is the simple truth. This couple made a conscious decision to get married to comply with some religious belief which they felt more important than the rules regarding the K-1 visa. OK, no problem. Live with your decision. If it is a matter of virtue, you could have slept on the sofa until you were married, if it is a matter of appeasing the family, fine. Whatever. You made your decision, now the consequences of that are a longer wait time to be together, should be a small price to pay (plus the loss of your $455 filing fee, but hey, it's only money) They will not expedite the case because you filed for the wrong petition, or because of your decisions.

I admire you following your religious/family beliefs.

An annulment would work because as far as any government entity is concerned they would never have been married in the first place...but they've been married quite a while now and I dont know the UAE laws on marriage. The K1/CR forms never ask about annulments etc. Its like getting a criminal record wiped clean by turning 18 (or 21 whatever).

Not that it's feasible anyway, but I don't agree. You are applying a theory to the USCIS rules that isn't addressed.

If we take this theory to an extreme (to illustrate the point) I file an I-129f for girl #1 today. We are both single. I marry girl #2 tomorrow, say a girl next door. The petition is still valid? No. The next day I get an annullment from girl #2 and the petition springs back to life? So while the petition processes and until the interview I can marry as many women as I like as long as I get annullments and I am single the day of the interview?

The CR-1 may not ask about annullments but they petitioned a K-1 which requires you be eligible to be married. When? ONLY the day you file and the day of the interview? I don't think so. If someone can point out a case where this happened, I will stand corrected.

ANd having an divorce runs against the filing requirements of including final divorce papers for ALL marriages and accounting for any name changes. Especially in a country with a high AP rate.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

An annulment would work because as far as any government entity is concerned they would never have been married in the first place...but they've been married quite a while now and I dont know the UAE laws on marriage. The K1/CR forms never ask about annulments etc. Its like getting a criminal record wiped clean by turning 18 (or 21 whatever).

Family law in the UAE is controlled by the Shariah courts, which rule according to Islamic law. There is no concept of annulment in Islamic law, though some Islamic countries allow it under certain circumstances, such as if the marriage cannot be consummated, or the bride is discovered not to be a virgin. I don't know if the UAE has provisions for annulment under any of these circumstances, but I doubt the OP would be able to prove a case after this much time. What's more, it could be a humiliation to both families. In fact, if he claimed she wasn't a virgin at the time of the marriage, and she wasn't previously married and then divorced, then she could be sentenced to death by stoning.

The only legal and honorable solution here is to withdraw the K1.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Addendum: In some Islamic countries, death by stoning is only if she was an adulteress. If she wasn't married when she lost her virginity then she'd be subject to public lashing.

In any case, this is NOT a viable route for the OP to pursue.

[Nandr2009 0]

Yeah the advice here is the sound advice. I had a somewhat similar situation happen to me.

Me and my wife filed for K-1 back in November. The months that followed we decided to marry over there so her family could take part of the wedding. The kicker was that an hour after the wedding, at the reception, I got a call from the states saying my NOA2 had arrived.... nedless to say, we both did a face-palm. But we were happy, we were married, and we loved each other and knew we would do whatever it takes to be together, so once I got back to the states, I refiled an I-130 for a CR-1/IR-1. Don't do a K-3, it will save you maybe 1 month, but will cost you more, and she won't have her GC right away like she will with the CR-1.

So yeah, I feel your pain.

[Ling Ling 22]

You've received some good advice... being that you took part in a religious ceremony, I find it hard to believe there would be any question about what the right thing to do is.

Do you really want to start your marriage entertaining lies? The right way is the always the fastest way in the long run.

A wise man on VJ has said many times that "marriage and immigration are 2 separate things and one should not affect the other".

That is, you shouldn't plan your marriage plans around immigration, or your immigration plans around marriage. Each couple has to take the path that is correct for them.

For some it will be immigration and then marriage, while for other it will be marriage first.

Your K-1 is no longer valid....now it's time to file an I-130 petition. As others have told you, the K-3 is usually the wrong choice, cost more, and are becoming more and more rare. The other option you have for expeditious immigration is if you have lived in her country (legally) for 6 months of the year, you might be able to do consular filing, which is much faster than filing an I-130, waiting for approval, and then going through NVC.

HOWEVER, if you look at some of the timelines, CR-1 visas are getting faster and faster.

Good Luck...and checkout the LingChe NVC Guide if you do go through NVC.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Crazy question....can you get the marriage annulled in time for the interview??? Because then legally it never happened. Its probably too late but might be worth a try?

This would be ideal, or even if you can get divorced in time for the interview.

That way, when you submitted the petition and have the interview, you both will be free and not married.

Unique idea but wrong. The moment they said "I do" the K-1 was null and void. Getting an annulment or divorce would simply make you eligible to file another I-129f. If either of the parties becomes ineligible during the process, the petition/visa would be cancelled. You cannot continue the processing of a visa which you are not eligible for. Again, doing this and going to the interview with this would be fraud.

Here is the simple truth. This couple made a conscious decision to get married to comply with some religious belief which they felt more important than the rules regarding the K-1 visa. OK, no problem. Live with your decision. If it is a matter of virtue, you could have slept on the sofa until you were married, if it is a matter of appeasing the family, fine. Whatever. You made your decision, now the consequences of that are a longer wait time to be together, should be a small price to pay (plus the loss of your $455 filing fee, but hey, it's only money) They will not expedite the case because you filed for the wrong petition, or because of your decisions.

I admire you following your religious/family beliefs.

An annulment would work because as far as any government entity is concerned they would never have been married in the first place...but they've been married quite a while now and I dont know the UAE laws on marriage. The K1/CR forms never ask about annulments etc. Its like getting a criminal record wiped clean by turning 18 (or 21 whatever).

Not that it's feasible anyway, but I don't agree. You are applying a theory to the USCIS rules that isn't addressed.

If we take this theory to an extreme (to illustrate the point) I file an I-129f for girl #1 today. We are both single. I marry girl #2 tomorrow, say a girl next door. The petition is still valid? No. The next day I get an annullment from girl #2 and the petition springs back to life? So while the petition processes and until the interview I can marry as many women as I like as long as I get annullments and I am single the day of the interview?

The CR-1 may not ask about annullments but they petitioned a K-1 which requires you be eligible to be married. When? ONLY the day you file and the day of the interview? I don't think so. If someone can point out a case where this happened, I will stand corrected.

Using your example...sure yep you could continue the K1 because the marriage to no. 2 never existed....and you hit nail on the head really, as long as you have NEVER been "legally" married before you cross the border the K1 is valid.

I figured there was no such thing as annulment in the UAE but it was worth a shot.