Unofficial marriage + K1

[AllTogetherLovely 0]

Ok so here it goes again folks,

recently my fiancée and I married in Ukraine. In fact this marriage wasn't official. It was just a ceremony/ banquet with family and friends. However one year before the ceremony we did get a religious authority to document our marriage, and now I wonder should I mention any of this to the USCIS? Will this hamper or strengthen our process?

Thanks

[payxibka 10,045]

Ok so here it goes again folks,

recently my fiancée and I married in Ukraine. In fact this marriage wasn't official. It was just a ceremony/ banquet with family and friends. However one year before the ceremony we did get a religious authority to document our marriage, and now I wonder should I mention any of this to the USCIS? Will this hamper or strengthen our process?

Thanks

Unless your marriage was performed at ZAGS office your marriage is not legal in Ukraine.... With that said... it is probably best not to mention anything about a pseudo marriage as you do not want to give any wrong impressions to the uninformed. If they misunderstand your petition will be denied

[AllTogetherLovely 0]

Unless your marriage was performed at ZAGS office your marriage is not legal in Ukraine.... With that said... it is probably best not to mention anything about a pseudo marriage as you do not want to give any wrong impressions to the uninformed. If they misunderstand your petition will be denied

Yes, we weren't involved with the ZAGS. It seems its best not to mention it as to avoid an uphill battle. Thanks for your response!

[inloveVEN 46]

Unless your marriage was performed at ZAGS office your marriage is not legal in Ukraine.... With that said... it is probably best not to mention anything about a pseudo marriage as you do not want to give any wrong impressions to the uninformed. If they misunderstand your petition will be denied

I do agree!!

According to other vj's users, sometime it could be misinterpreted. Don't mention it

Edited December 10, 2010 by inloveVEN

[baron555 934]

Yes, we weren't involved with the ZAGS. It seems its best not to mention it as to avoid an uphill battle. Thanks for your response!

DO NOT mention anything. DON'T call each other husband and wife. Nada. If you do, your visa will probably be denied at the Embassy, you'll lose that money, and then need to do the ZAGS ceremony and reapply for a CR-1, wasting more time and money.

[Fandango 1,439]

Why do people complicate their process by these pseudo marriages? Not trying to be snarky, just really curious.

[Kristy S 13]

i've seen people denied because they had engagement ceremonies that the interviewers decided was 'marriage' ceremony, then denied them and told them to file for spouse visa, DEF do not mention in in any way

[Aztec&Taino 144]

Why do people complicate their process by these pseudo marriages? Not trying to be snarky, just really curious.

I, too, wonder about this. I mean, if people go through the trouble and expense of an elaborate "engagement" ceremony (or whatever they wish to call it) which could, in fact, suffice as a wedding ceremony, why not go official? Also, there is the advantage that with the CR1 the beneficiary will be able to work right away -a very important ability during these difficult financial times.

I chose the fiance visa route because I did not want to start my marriage being apart, but many people are okay with getting married and waiting for the CR1 to go through. But I do wonder about these big (and expensive) ceremonies that are not marriages though...

[corazónENparaguay 46]

Why do people complicate their process by these pseudo marriages? Not trying to be snarky, just really curious.

Family obligations.

Religious obligations.

Or because there is no one way of doing things.

[vancedan 5]

Why do people complicate their process by these pseudo marriages? Not trying to be snarky, just really curious.

Well, I know for us, we are talking with her parish priest and the simple reason is her family wants to attend her wedding, and can't come to the US. So, simply a religious ceremony there (we were quite clear to the priest that it CANNOT be a civil) and a civil blessing up here. Yes, we'll have to do a switcharoo of rings at POE when it comes to that, but it seems a lot more fair to both of our families.

[Fandango 1,439]

Well, I know for us, we are talking with her parish priest and the simple reason is her family wants to attend her wedding, and can't come to the US. So, simply a religious ceremony there (we were quite clear to the priest that it CANNOT be a civil) and a civil blessing up here. Yes, we'll have to do a switcharoo of rings at POE when it comes to that, but it seems a lot more fair to both of our families.

No, I get that...just seems odd to me that it's so widespread on here - when technically it CAN complicate your case...now you're in a position of withholding information from the consulate - and yes, even though nothing was 'official', it can be misconstrued and the risk associated with being denied over it.

Not to mention, it ust gets me nervous to read 'oh make sure you don't divulge THAT'.

If it's an engagement ceremony, then stop calling it a wedding. If you're not legally married, take off the bands...these things could trip you up at the interview stage. Sure, to you and me and everyone else, it's a huge distinction as far as 'not legal' but if you get an overzealous CO and your wife/fiancee/whatever slips up, you could be in for a bigger headache than you bargained for,

I can see the point of being fair to the families, but I'd suggest for anyone contemplating this, that it be done AFTER the visa is in hand. But that's just me.

[corazónENparaguay 46]

I can see the point of being fair to the families, but I'd suggest for anyone contemplating this, that it be done AFTER the visa is in hand. But that's just me.

To be safe, AFTER the visa is the safest for sure, but I think people make it more complicated than it has to be. It all depends on the consulate, right? I e-mailed ours to confirm if a religious wedding ceremony would be recognized...they said it would not, and they even went on to say we were free to have our ceremony before the K-1. This took one e-mail. Perhaps we're lucky for having such a flexible consulate, but I'd say contact your consulate first, it may be much easier than you think.

[rlogan 2,036]

We did one and it did not complicate in any way our application. There isn't any place to check on the application for "unofficial wedding ceremony". We didn't mention we were having premarital sex either. Why should we? It isn't a matter of hiding anything. It simply isn't relevant.

It sure went a long way towards justifying our living together in the Philippines before family and friends. They're pretty conservative.

It also allowed her family and friends to celebrate with us, without traveling to the USA to do it.

Insofar as why not going "official" - after researching things we felt that the fiance visa was both the fastest and most assured way of doing things. We read specific official warning from the U.S. government that said we should not assume that being married would assure her a visa. So we thought "oh, that's great - we get married and then potentially have a wife in a foreign country that can't enter."

I would have moved there if worse came to worst. But from what we read, the K-1 seemed like the fastest and least risky thing to do.

If someone had "reported" us for an unofficial marriage or having premarital sex - sheesh. Talk about retarded.