Location of K3 visas

[stebbinsd 0]

I just read that a K3 visa has to be administered in the country where the wedding took place.

What, exactly, does that mean?

If I meet a foreigner, fall in love with her, and get married, before her tourist visa is up, which of the following happens:

The visa is handed out in the United States, and I can mail it to her, for her to come to the United States?

Does it get administered by her home embassy in the United States, and I have to go live with her?

Does it merely get administered in the (foreign) embassy of the country the marriage took place in, and we both have to go to that country (e.g. if we were a Canadian, and a Brit, getting married during our vacation in America, do we both have to go to the United States?)

What, exactly, does "being administered in the country where the wedding took place" mean?

[canadian_wife 1,822]

Typically the interview for the K-3 visa will be conducted in the country where the wedding took place.

However, the K-3 visa has been administrativly closed, you have some reading to do since K-3 is not a good option anymore. Read up on the Cr-1 visa

Good luck.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

The K3 is dead, the only spousal visa now is the CR-1/ IR-1 (it's the later if you have been married longer than 2 years). This visa will be administered interviewed where ever the foreign spouse is resident.

[pushbrk 12,881]

I just read that a K3 visa has to be administered in the country where the wedding took place.

What, exactly, does that mean?

If I meet a foreigner, fall in love with her, and get married, before her tourist visa is up, which of the following happens:

The visa is handed out in the United States, and I can mail it to her, for her to come to the United States?

Does it get administered by her home embassy in the United States, and I have to go live with her?

Does it merely get administered in the (foreign) embassy of the country the marriage took place in, and we both have to go to that country (e.g. if we were a Canadian, and a Brit, getting married during our vacation in America, do we both have to go to the United States?)

What, exactly, does "being administered in the country where the wedding took place" mean?

Clearly, you're just starting out. It's time to study the guides and learn about the processes. Nobody is going to force a US citizen to "go live with her". Where you live during the immigration process is your choice from among any legal options.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you met her in the USA during her current stay on a tourist visa. If that's the case, and she can arrange her affairs to remain in the USA for a few more months, she won't need a spouse or fiancee visa. You may simply marry and follow the Adjustment of Status guide here. Click on the word "Guides" at the top of any page on the site.

[lucyrich 20]

That provision only applies if the wedding took place outside the US. US Visas can ONLY be issued at a consular post of the US Department of State, and those only exist outside the US. If the wedding took place in the US, there is no statutory restriction on where the K-3 visa can be issued, so the K-3 visa can be issued at any consulate that will take the case -- typically in the country of the alien's residence and/or citizenship.

Does it merely get administered in the (foreign) embassy of the country the marriage took place in, and we both have to go to that country (e.g. if we were a Canadian, and a Brit, getting married during our vacation in America, do we both have to go to the United States?)

That doesn't make sense, because the K-3 visa is a visa for the United States, and in order to receive it, one of you must be a US Citizen. If you were a Canadian and Brit, neither of you could get a K-3. And nobody can ever get a K-3 while inside the US, anyway.

Hypothetically, if you were a US Citizen and a Canadian, and you got married on your vacation in Italy, then the Canadian would have to return to Italy in order to get a K-3 visa. If you were a US Citizen and Canadian, and got married in the US, then the K-3 would probably be issued in Canada.

But all of this is pretty much a moot point these days, because as others have pointed out, the K-3 visa is basically unavailable now. The IR-1/CR-1 visa has no such restriction saying that it must be issued in the country where the marriage took place.