Want to live in the US but have wedding in UK

[bebop 0]

Hi just wondering if anyone can help me work out what the quickest / easiest method of going about getting a US visa would be in my situation:

My fiancee and I want to get married in the UK (Im a UK citizen, she is a US citizen). We then want to live together in the US - I would quit my job and look to start working in the US as soon as possible.

As far as I can tell unless we want to get married in the US (K1 visa) then I will have a long old wait on my hands? Is there any way I can get married, move over and not work while waiting for a marriage visa that would let me work?

Sorry if I haven't been clear - basically just trying to work out how long my soon to be wife and I would have to spend apart before we could live together if we get married in the UK rather than the US.

Thanks for any help.

[Inky 1,111]

Nope, there is no fast way.

You want to marry outside of the USA so you will need to marry then file for CR-1 visa which would take about a year. You cant marry and then move to the USA and wait for a visa. You have to wait in your country but you can visit while the process is going on. With the CR-1 you will get a stamp on your passport that you can use to work with until you get the green card in the mail. That is the faster rout to working when you arrive. K-1 has to wait quite a while before they can work and have to marry inside the USA and file AOS after marriage.

[bebop 0]

Yeah kind of what I suspected - so either K1 if we want to be together from the point of marriage onwards but we don't get a nice UK wedding, or CR1 which means I don't get to live with my wife for a year.

Can I visit her on a tourist visa for 6 months while awaiting the CR1 to process? I'm guessing no.

Not ideal either way it seems.

[Meg and Nigel 21]

Unfortunately, you will have a long wait apart either way. Your options are to get married in the UK, then she goes home and you file the CR1 and wait in the UK for that to get approved (6 months+), then move to the US and start working or you can get engaged, file for K1, wait in the UK for approval (6 months+), get married in US, file for work permit (approval in 2-3 months).

This might be crazy. It is an idea, but I have done no research on it at all. Maybe someone else knows more. Maybe if you want to sped less time apart, you could try to get her residency in the UK (I have heard it is faster to get one there than here). Then you could get married there and she could be with you while you file. You could file DCF so you would get your visa faster and be able to work when you get to the US and you wouldn't have such a long wait apart. But maybe it isn't possible for her to come there, or maybe it would take her just as long to get a visa for the UK.

You can get married, file for CR1, come to US on VWP as a visitor for 3 months, and return to UK to wait out the rest of the process. It lets you be with her at least part of the time. That is what we did. You should keep in mind that this might not work. There is always a risk that when you turn up at immigration to visit your wife he BPO could deny you entry. That would suck. A lot of people do visit successfully though. Nigel came twice.

Hope some of that helps.

[bebop 0]

Thanks for the input - however she would not want to leave the US to become a permanent UK resident because of her job which is too good to give up.

I dont mind waiting before we get married, but I really dont want to be married and then wait 6 months+ to live with her. Waiting a few months before I could look for work wouldn't bother me either as I have decent savings. I'm guessing that a US wedding is my only option?

[YuAndDan 153]

CR-1 is the preferable visa, and since you want a UK wedding anyway, the do the CR-1.

K-1 may give you a visa is a slightly shorter time, perhaps a month or so, when factoring in the paperwork at NVC.

Compare:

K-1 (FEES ~$1800)

K-1 cannot take a job until getting EAD or Green-card, this can take MONTHS after arrival

K-1 cannot get a DL until they have EAD or Green-card, can use foreign DL in most states though.

K-1 becomes land locked and cannot travel out of the USA until having green-card or AP doc, which can take MONTHS to get.

CR-1 (FEES ~$900)

CR-1 gets green-card the moment they arrive in the USA so can take a job immediately

CR-1 gets green-card so can apply for a DL

CR-1 gets green-card so can immediately travel, conceivable the next day, passport is stamped I-551 which allows work and travel

Essentially K-1 visa holder will be unable to work for at least 4-6 months after arrival.

IF work shortly after arrival is desired, then the better visa is CR-1, (marry first, then apply for visa) CR-1 spouse visa costs less and gets green-card upon arrival to the USA, also with much improved processing, for most consulates CR-1 tends to take perhaps 1 - 1.5 months longer to get than a K-1.

CR-1 does not take much longer to get than a K-1

[Inky 1,111]

You could do the K-1 and have a civil wedding/justice of the peace wedding. Then when you have your green card you can travel back and have a wedding ceremony /vow renewal with all the fancy todos and family in UK?

[Meg and Nigel 21]

Many would say the CR1 is smarter. I don't disagree, but we hated the idea of being married but living apart for so long. It just meant more to us to wait first and then get to be together once we are married. I think it is an emotional decision with no practical advantage. Weigh that against how much you want the UK wedding. You could always have a small ceremony here in the US if you go the K1 route and then go throw a big party in the UK a few months later once you have AP.

[bebop 0]

Many would say the CR1 is smarter. I don't disagree, but we hated the idea of being married but living apart for so long. It just meant more to us to wait first and then get to be together once we are married. I think it is an emotional decision with no practical advantage. Weigh that against how much you want the UK wedding. You could always have a small ceremony here in the US if you go the K1 route and then go throw a big party in the UK a few months later once you have AP.

Yeah that's one possibility we are thinking of. Neither of us really like having a fake wedding a few months after being legally married but it might be the only solution.

[Penguin_ie 5,995]

You could do the K-1 and have a civil wedding/justice of the peace wedding. Then when you have your green card you can travel back and have a wedding ceremony /vow renewal with all the fancy todos and family in UK?

This may be your best option. Remember you cannot just get married in the UK, you'll need a visa for that too, even if not staying.

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

This may be your best option. Remember you cannot just get married in the UK, you'll need a visa for that too, even if not staying.

Really? I would never have thought that....is it a special visa for marriage purpose?

[Penguin_ie 5,995]

Really? I would never have thought that....is it a special visa for marriage purpose?

Yes (about the only circumstance where the UK is more awkward than the US!)- you will be seeking a Marriage Visitor Visa, usually valid for a stay of 6 months. I believe it is quite easy to get, but it will take a little time and money:

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/visitandtransit/vistortransitvisa13

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

Wow, I'm glad we didn't attempt to get married there, I probably would have never known. We're actually lucky to have been married here. We didn't have a clue about immigration and visas for the US as we were planning on me moving to the UK as soon as I could. Glyn flew into Philadelphia using VWP and when immigration asked why he was here, he said to get married. They of course asked for his K-1 which he didn't have as he was staying for 2 weeks only. He somehow managed to convince them that he wasn't staying AND made his connecting flight to New Hampshire.

[utopia2004 2]

Thanks for the input - however she would not want to leave the US to become a permanent UK resident because of her job which is too good to give up.

I dont mind waiting before we get married, but I really dont want to be married and then wait 6 months+ to live with her. Waiting a few months before I could look for work wouldn't bother me either as I have decent savings. I'm guessing that a US wedding is my only option?

By the sounds of it the K1 visa sounds the best option for you. How important is a UK wedding? Her family is in the US, your int he UK, so either way you are going to miss out on inviting people.

I did the the cr1, but i had to come back for school anyway, so we did it so some of the wait we will have to wait anyway. Its sucks to leave after you get married though!

The k1 is more expensive than the cr1 though.

[Samay 0]

I am in the same boat. I am a US citizen (but i was living and working in Bermuda then), wife's a British national. I obtained marriage visas from the British Embassy in April 2010, flew to UK to live in the local council district for 9 days, and gave my notice to get married. Next is to wait for a minimum of 15 days before i can sign the papers (and I was not required to remain in the country so returned back to Bermuda to continue working due to shortage of vacation days). Flew back to UK in august 2010 and completed the civil ceremony and I returned back to Bermuda end of August.

I tried initiating the application in Bermuda and was told im not allowed to, and could not get an answer on where to file in the US. So finally quit my job in Bermuda and returned back to US (fortunately had a job lined up in US by then)and then filed her CR1 in Jan 2011. You can see the rest in my timeline. Unfortunately we still have the wedding per the religious customs to be done, which is scheduled for july this year, so she's still living in the UK and we decided to wait out the time required to complete the process. Allows us means and time to gather fund for the "big fat Indian Wedding".

Really hoping that she has her visa's by end of July and can travel back to the US with me after the religious ceremonies and planned honeymoon.