Filing for K1 after nikah in Pakistan

[Adzy 0]

Yes, that's the go back to Pakistan and have a civil marriage part of my recommendation. Not sure you got the impact of what I meant though. You did something that would be illegal in the USA, in that you got married to two women at the same time. It's a crime called Bigamy. Whether and when you had a Nikah is still likely to be asked in the interview, with unpredictable consequences.

Does US recognize nikah as marriage? Thought a person had to be legally married here.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Married is married, If you are married in one country you don't suddenly become single by walking across a border into another country. Just like your US marriage didn't end because you left the country.

[HeatDeath 430]

My brother married a Muslim girl in Canada. They got a nikah and moved in together months before they went to City Hall and got a secular civil wedding certificate. He downplayed the significance of the nikah to our [whitebread Canadian middle class secular/atheist] parents, calling it "an engagement certificate", but he and I both know that in the eyes of her parents, they were fully married the instant that nikah was signed, and she would never have been comfortable [or even necessarily allowed] to move in with him otherwise.

A nikah issued in a non-shariah country is a religious artifact, of negligible interest to the secular government. A nikah issued in an officially Muslim country, under shariah, is every bit as official and binding as a secular civil-government-issued wedding certificate. The US consulate in Pakistan will take the local interpretation, considering it fully legally binding, and will be very concerned that you were still in a secular marriage at the time it was signed.

It goes without saying that lying about any of this to the US consulate WILL get caught, WILL get your visa application denied, and could even catch your new wife a lifetime ban [for material misrepresentation] on coming to the US, in which case I hope you're prepared to move to Pakistan.

In the worst case scenario, you might have to ceremonially dissolve the nikah and get one reissued with a wedding date set after the divorce is finalized. That might be a tough one for your new wife though. Tough situation, all around.

[Utha 10]

Hi - I had a Nikah ceremony in Dec last year in Pakistan. Currently I am going through divorce with my wife in the US. We had been separated for a little while, but just filed divorce last month. I have couple of questions:

1) Will it be smart to apply for K1 visa since its faster? Can the Embassy figure out that we already had nikah and deny k1?

2) Should i just go down the route of applying visa for spouse? What is a rough timeline?

Any help will be appreciated.

Faster is K1 but not of it suitable for you now i think since you still in divorce processing. One question; did you married in Pakistan by religious only or registered?

[Adzy 0]

Religous only

[Adzy 0]

They actually got nikah registered as well.

[HeatDeath 430]

Religous only

I hope I'm wrong, but that distinction may not exist in Pakistan, or any country that officially observes shariah. Even if that distinction is legally meaningful for marriages between non-Muslims, it may not be when a registered Muslim is involved.

Edited February 24, 2011 by HeatDeath

[Utha 10]

They actually got nikah registered as well.

How could u get married registered? What was the status that u tell them? Widower? Single? Divorce. Here in Indonesia, a foreigner who married Indonesian in registered, they have to able to show the paper from US Embassy that they are free to marry. If u single it is okay, buat if u Divorce then you have to show the Final Divorce Decree.

U can not file both K1 nor CR1 i think until u finish the Divorce in US. If u wanna file CR1 later, i believe the date of your marriage date should be after the Final Divorce Decree issued. So you can not use the current registered paper in Pakistan. You have to file a new one later.

[Myopia 93]

That will be an issue as immigration frowns on bigamy. It may even rank high enough on the no-no list to cause revocation of citizenship if you aren't US born.

Its not bigamy. Its polygny and the only thing that USCIS say is the first wife is the only wife allowed to get immigration benefits but they do understand that other countries allow and practice it. You just wont be able to practice it in the USA.

Edited February 24, 2011 by Myopia

[Myopia 93]

Married is married, If you are married in one country you don't suddenly become single by walking across a border into another country. Just like your US marriage didn't end because you left the country.

That's right and in an Islamic country where the man has more than one wife, both would be considered his legal wife. However if he crossed the border to the US or some other place where only one wife is allowed and plural marriage criminalised then he would not be married to his subsequent wife.

[EAbbas 213]

That's right and in an Islamic country where the man has more than one wife, both would be considered his legal wife. However if he crossed the border to the US or some other place where only one wife is allowed and plural marriage criminalised then he would not be married to his subsequent wife.

My divorce was final after two years of waiting and when I went to karachi to marry my husband I had to bring certified divorce decree saying my divorce was final before we could even entertain the idea of nikah... we went to the masjid and had to bring the papers with me..we did nikah we received teh papers that day and while i was there had them registered and got a certified english translation of the nikah nama.

now we are filing CR1 visa and waiting. I agree that this will be seen as an issue for you because you didnt wait on the final judgment for the divorce. If you were not a us citizen it may not be too much of an issue but if you are a US citizen then you know the laws of USA and that only one spouse is legal at a time until the final divorce whether its a quickie divorce and takes days to finalize or like mine takes two years from time of separation to final signature from judge.

I wish you the best.

[pushbrk 13,027]

Thanks .. yes have to figure something out for that. Attorney can't help in any way, can they?

An attorney can't change the facts, no. The way I see it, you're in a catch 22 situation. You're too married to the second wife to have a fiancee and you were "too married" to your first wife for the second wife to qualify as a spouse for a spouse visa. You can provide a marriage certificate from a later civil marriage, so you're "married enough" to qualify for a spouse visa. The Catch 22 is that even after you are "married enough" (subsequent civil marriage) she'll face the question of a NiKah at the interview. If she answers truthfully, (she really must do so) then they'll want to see the Nikah certificate, see the dates and know you married while still married.

The reason you're "too married for a fiancee visa is sort of obvious but I'm going to go out on a very short, strong limb here and presume this "marriage" between two Muslims in Pakistan has been consummated. Way too married in Pakistan.

Back to my first sentence. Playing fast and loose with the truth dooms you for immigration. Does your new wife know you were already and still married at the time of the Nikah? If she doesn't, you're double doomed.

Its not bigamy. Its polygny and the only thing that USCIS say is the first wife is the only wife allowed to get immigration benefits but they do understand that other countries allow and practice it. You just wont be able to practice it in the USA.

US laws consider this "Bigamy".

Edited February 24, 2011 by pushbrk

[Myopia 93]

US laws consider this "Bigamy".

Not to nit pick but the US does understand that there are marriages that are polgamous in nature carried outside the Unieted States that are legal in nature but they do not accept this type of marriage for Immigration purposes.

The second exception to the general rule that marriages are considered valid based on the laws of the jurisdiction where they occurred, is that marriages will not be recognized if they are “repugnant to the public policy of the domicile of the parties, in respect to polygamy, incest, or miscegenation, or otherwise contrary to its positive laws.”

As Levy points out, miscegenation is no longer an issue since state laws barring marriage between people of different races have been determined to be unconstitutional. Marriages involving polygamy or couples of the same sex, however, have been found to violate U.S. public policy, and as such have been declared invalid for the purpose of conferring immigration benefits.

The OP is not considered married under the criteria that the USCIS use for marriage regardless of where he married.

He will need to marry her again once his current legal marriage is dissolved.

Here is a decision from USCIS for someone who wanted to bring his spouse to the US based on the legality of marriage in the place that they married.

My link

The main thing to know is your marriage is not valid for immigration purposes.

[Adzy 0]

I appreciate all the replies regarding my post. Things are still a little confusing because of some contradicting statements.

I guess my best bet is to have civil marriage or nikah again and file for spousal visa after that. Do I have to be present in Pakistan for that or will US recognize over phone marriage?

Thanks

[HeatDeath 430]

USCIS will accept remote- or proxy marriages only if the couple have been physically present together after the marriage took place. A US marine [now deceased]'s family had all sorts of headaches trying to get a GC for his wife. They had been married by proxy but were never physically reunited before he was killed, rendering the marriage invalid by USCIS regs. It took a special act of congress to fix that for her, but that doesn't help anyone else in that situation.