Should the 90 days time limit to get married extended to 365 days?

[Mikkel 0]

Look at this thread.

OP is concerned about securing a visitor visa for her fiancé so they can spend time together and make sure they'll be as compatible in person as they are long-distance. Traveling to Pakistan is dangerous for her, and his chances of getting a US tourist visa are slim.

What's the advice she's mainly being given? "Just do a K-1 and see how it goes".

Without making any judgment calls on her particular case, which is certainly complicated, and which strikes me as much more serious than "I kinda like this person, let's see how it goes", if more people went this route, especially with the added incentive of an extended "getting to know you" period, I believe the number applications would increase dramatically, with an inevitable increase in processing times as a result. If the fiancé visa de facto becomes a "boyfriend/girlfriend" tourist visa, many more people will opt for it.

I can't agree with you here. The process for obtaining a K-1 visa being as extensive, exhausting and relatively expensive as it is, I really don't see how any significant number of people would use a 180-day K-1 visa as a "boyfriend/girlfriend" visa, rather than simply visiting multiple times on 90-day B-2 or VWP visits. Particularly considering the added scrutiny of having a previously "failed" K-1, should the couple eventually wish to marry and settle in the U.S.

In the time that it takes to obtain a K-1 visa these days, a "boyfriend/girlfriend" could enjoy two 90 day stays, incurring fewer fees, and much, much less scrutiny with B-2 or VWP than would be the case with a 180-day K1.

We're both speculating, though.

[Ricardo_C 4]

I can't agree with you here. The process for obtaining a K-1 visa being as extensive, exhausting and relatively expensive as it is, I really don't see how any significant number of people would use a 180-day K-1 visa as a "boyfriend/girlfriend" visa, rather than simply visiting multiple times on 90-day B-2 or VWP visits. Particularly considering the added scrutiny of having a previously "failed" K-1, should the couple eventually wish to marry and settle in the U.S.

In the time that it takes to obtain a K-1 visa these days, a "boyfriend/girlfriend" could enjoy two 90 day stays, incurring fewer fees, and much, much less scrutiny with B-2 or VWP than would be the case with a 180-day K1.

We're both speculating, though.

I suggested that already, and was told it was unrealistic to expect people to travel. What if they can't get time off?? What if they can't afford it??

No situation is perfect. Extending the K-1 deadline won't fix things, and may very well complicate them.

Edited January 10, 2010 by Ricardo_C

[toma1 10]

I suggested that already, and was told it was unrealistic to expect people to travel. What if they can't get time off?? What if they can't afford it??

Actually, if I am not mistaken, you proposed the opposite. That the USC visit the beneficiary abroad.

I think one thing that is being assumed here (because we are talking about immigration to the US and not emigration from the US) is that the USC is making the majority of the income and (because of that) the USC is the one that cannot leave his/her job for an extended holiday.

Not being able to afford it would still apply, of course.

[Ricardo_C 4]

You're right, I misread Mikkel's post.