Unique situation??

[In Love Kiwi 0]

Hi, I am a New Zealander (Kiwi) living on board a private motor yacht which is based off the east coast of Florida. I have a B1B2 visa (Tourist/Business visa, lets me in 6 months at a time but cannot work for any US company). The boat is foreign flagged, this is how I am able to work based out of USA. (But travels Caribbean/Mediterranean so keeps me away from my beautiful new Florida fiancé.)

I understand I need to file for a K1 visa...

What if being on my B1B2 visa (me being legally in the country) we spontaneously decide to marry? Does that mean we would have to apply for something else? Would it just be an Adjustment of status? Or having to start a whole other process?

Maybe a little advice either way if anyone has some, we are recently engaged so just starting to really look into all this. The main thing is we are so in love we just want to be together ASAP!!

Kiwi

[Boiler 45,549]

ASAP in US Immigration terms is 7 or 8 months.

K1 would be the quickest, you can get going straight away.

How can anything be spontaneous and pre planned?

[payxibka 10,045]

Hi, I am a New Zealander (Kiwi) living on board a private motor yacht which is based off the east coast of Florida. I have a B1B2 visa (Tourist/Business visa, lets me in 6 months at a time but cannot work for any US company). The boat is foreign flagged, this is how I am able to work based out of USA. (But travels Caribbean/Mediterranean so keeps me away from my beautiful new Florida fiancé.)

I understand I need to file for a K1 visa...

What if being on my B1B2 visa (me being legally in the country) we spontaneously decide to marry? Does that mean we would have to apply for something else? Would it just be an Adjustment of status? Or having to start a whole other process?

Maybe a little advice either way if anyone has some, we are recently engaged so just starting to really look into all this. The main thing is we are so in love we just want to be together ASAP!!

Kiwi

K-1 will restrict your ability to depart and re-enter for a period of time so that may not be the best answer for you if you are going to continue to work on the yacht....

Hmmm... preplanned spontaneous marriage... interesting thought

The answer is yes you would apply for whole other something else as a spouse of a USC versus being a fiancee of a USC

Edited December 10, 2010 by payxibka

[Barbara J 115]

Hi, I am a New Zealander (Kiwi) living on board a private motor yacht which is based off the east coast of Florida. I have a B1B2 visa (Tourist/Business visa, lets me in 6 months at a time but cannot work for any US company). The boat is foreign flagged, this is how I am able to work based out of USA. (But travels Caribbean/Mediterranean so keeps me away from my beautiful new Florida fiancé.)

I understand I need to file for a K1 visa...

What if being on my B1B2 visa (me being legally in the country) we spontaneously decide to marry? Does that mean we would have to apply for something else? Would it just be an Adjustment of status? Or having to start a whole other process?

Maybe a little advice either way if anyone has some, we are recently engaged so just starting to really look into all this. The main thing is we are so in love we just want to be together ASAP!!

Kiwi

I agree with Boiler how can spontaneous and pre planned mean the same thing mmmm If you came here on B1.B2 visa with the intention of marriage then I don't like your chances of AOS. It would be declared fraud under those circumstances. You would go back to NZ and let your fiance start the 129f petition. If you can prove you met on one of your trips and you started a relationship then you can marry and start AOS. Someone more experienced in this will be able to clarify more. And you know what we are all in love with our partners and wanted and want to be together too but we all have to go through the legal process.

[Fandango 1,439]

I didn't read anything as being pre planned here. The way I'm interpreting it (and correct me if I'm wrong pls) is that the OP is already in the country, and they are talking about moving up the wedding?

Let me preface my advice with a HUGE disclaimer: recently, I've been corrected on these boards as the process for AOSing from VWP has changed so to speak wrt getting an NOA1 before the vwp stay runs out. This wasn't usually the case a while ago...so please independently verify any advice you receive. The advice should serve as a 'guide' only, so to speak..so that you can take responsibility for verifying the legality of whatever path you choose.

Saying that, you should be able to marry and as long as you file AOS well before your visa runs out, you should be ok. PROVIDING when you last entered the US, you had NO plans of adjusting status.

Now I don't necessarily know if that process from AOSing from VWP varies from a B1/2...again, caveat emptor...

Edited December 10, 2010 by Lisa C

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

When you came to the US on a B1/B2, you did not plan to get married in order to gain immigration benefits. Thus, if your boat is anchored on US shore, filing for AOS once you got married is the way to go.

[pushbrk 12,898]

When you came to the US on a B1/B2, you did not plan to get married in order to gain immigration benefits. Thus, if your boat is anchored on US shore, filing for AOS once you got married is the way to go.

I tend to agree with Bob on this but would need more detailed information to be confident in the AOS solution. Does or would the boat visit other countries between the marriage date and the completion of adjustment of status 3 to 5 months (maybe more) later? If not, then effectively the applicant would remain in the USA for the duration. On the other hand if the boat goes to other countries and returns to the USA there could be re-entry problems during the AOS process or a complication at the interview.

[In Love Kiwi 0]

The yacht heads back to the US in February, then sits for a month or so before it becomes 'Mediterranean season'. I should be stamped in for 6 months when we arrive on my B1B2. If I'm with the boat on the B1B2, in which we are intending on departing to the Med, I have no intention to stay.

So if we married while I was there and filed for the AOS straight away, do I need to be staying in the country for that to come through? (As once I filed it, it would be a matter of a month or so before the boat departed for the Mediterranean.)

Thank you everyone for your replies and input, I really appreciate this and with experience look forward to being able to help others also!

Kiwi

[Fandango 1,439]

The yacht heads back to the US in February, then sits for a month or so before it becomes 'Mediterranean season'. I should be stamped in for 6 months when we arrive on my B1B2. If I'm with the boat on the B1B2, in which we are intending on departing to the Med, I have no intention to stay.

So if we married while I was there and filed for the AOS straight away, do I need to be staying in the country for that to come through? (As once I filed it, it would be a matter of a month or so before the boat departed for the Mediterranean.)

Thank you everyone for your replies and input, I really appreciate this and with experience look forward to being able to help others also!

Kiwi

Ok, you cannot AOS then. Two reasons: you are not already in the US with intent to marry and stay....you are only eligible for AOS if you were already here and decided spur of the moment to marry and adjust status. You cannot come in the POE with intent to do that.

Secondly, if you were eligible to do that, you'd have to sit tight in the US til you got your greencard....there's no leaving the country and then coming back.

You are free to marry, but not free to stay.... then your spouse would have to file CR1 spousal visa in order for you to enter and stay.

Good luck.

[Boiler 45,549]

You need AP to be able to leave and not abandon your Adjustment.

Arriving stating you are visiting and getting married next day might be suspicious. So you would need to leave a bit of time, and then get all the paperwork together and file, say a couple of months from that point before you get EAD and AP.

So you would not be going to the Med.

[pushbrk 12,898]

Ok, you cannot AOS then. Two reasons: you are not already in the US with intent to marry and stay....you are only eligible for AOS if you were already here and decided spur of the moment to marry and adjust status. You cannot come in the POE with intent to do that.

Secondly, if you were eligible to do that, you'd have to sit tight in the US til you got your greencard....there's no leaving the country and then coming back.

You are free to marry, but not free to stay.... then your spouse would have to file CR1 spousal visa in order for you to enter and stay.

Good luck.

Right, since you will be unable to remain in the USA for your AOS process, you can marry and leave for the Med when ready. You and your then wife follow the CR1 Guide. Unfortunately unless you have resident status in some other country, you'll need to arrange (several months down the line) to fly back to New Zealand for the medical and visa interview. Once you have the CR1 visa, you may enter the USA to activate your conditional resident status. You are then free to exit and enter the USA as needed.

Chances are you can visit as needed during the process. It's a frequent discussion here, so do some reading on doing so.

[Casprd 167]

preplanned spontaneous marriage

Is that the PC term for what we in the south call a Shotgun Wedding?

Sounds like your caught in between two situations. Either you enter the US, have a wedding and then wait while the AOS is completed or you get married, file for IR1/CR1 and can't re enter the country until this is completed.

Does US territorial waters count as entering the country? I would think it is similar to US airspace in that you haven't entered the country until you have gone through the POE.

[Boiler 45,549]

He can re enter the country as a visitor etc.

[In Love Kiwi 0]

Well I would totally quit the boat so I could stay in the USA with her to wait for an AOS. However then they probably put a lot of pressure on to prove we spontaneously got married as they may find it hard to believe...

OR - Maybe we apply for the K1, when I get back in Feb on B1B2 visa, I stay when the boat departs and hope the visa turns up before I have to leave USA (6 months from coming in on the boat). Then I would fly out and re-enter on the K1... Does this sound do-able?

P.S

Sorry I'm not sure what some of these abbreviations people are using- EAD, AP?

[pushbrk 12,898]

Well I would totally quit the boat so I could stay in the USA with her to wait for an AOS. However then they probably put a lot of pressure on to prove we spontaneously got married as they may find it hard to believe...

OR - Maybe we apply for the K1, when I get back in Feb on B1B2 visa, I stay when the boat departs and hope the visa turns up before I have to leave USA (6 months from coming in on the boat). Then I would fly out and re-enter on the K1... Does this sound do-able?

P.S

Sorry I'm not sure what some of these abbreviations people are using- EAD, AP?

EAD is work authorization and AP is advanced parole, a document that allows you to come and go as you wait for adjustment of status.

Visas are used to enter countries so must be obtained in some other country. Fiance or spouse visas for the USA must be obtained in either the applicant's country of residence or citizenship, so you'll be obtaining any visa in New Zealand, regardless of how much of the processing time you're able to stay in the USA.