Visiting US With K1 Visa in Passport But Not Activating It

[nancycakes 1]

Hi VJers! Previously, I have seen many posts regarding visiting the States with the K1 Visa in the passport. I'm going to share my story with all of you in hopes that it will help answer some of your questions.

A lot of people advised against it so I had deferred my interview from August until December (I had visits planned). However, I scheduled one final trip to the States and decided to take my chances at the airport. Yesterday, in Vancouver, the customs officer asked me what the purpose of my trip was and I said to visit my fiance. He asked for how long and what he does. Then he flipped through my passport and saw the K1 Visa. I told him that yes, I have the visa, but do not wish to activate it yet since I will only be here until Sunday. He told me to wait at the counter and then went into the interview room area to see what they would say. 5 minutes later, he came by and said that everything should be ok, but that they just wanted to ask me a few questions. I kept my cool (I was prepared that I might have to explain myself) and went into the big holding area. All the counters had people there and their situations sounded very complicated. I waited 30 min, then went up to ask a woman at the reception counter how long it would be until it was my turn. She said that cases are taken care of in order of priority and unfortunately, I arrived at their busiest time with lots of complicated cases. LOL She said it would be my turn soon. Then she went to the counter with officers, told a guy there about me and within 10 minutes, he called me up. He asked if I had my paperwork with me and I said, no, that I just wanted to visit the States and would be leaving on Sunday. He then asked why they sent me in to begin with and I told him that someone had told the customs officers that someone inside had questions for me. The guy said ok well I'm just going to stamp your passport and you can be on your way. I waited another 10 min and was escorted out.

In summary...you CAN visit with the K1 visa in your passport, but be prepared that you might have to explain yourself and give yourself ample time for questioning (or in my case, waiting to be questioned =P).

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask me! =)

[hikergirl 277]

Thanks for passing your experience on

Now we’ll be able to say “yes it’s possible”.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Thanks for passing your experience on

Now we’ll be able to say “yes it’s possible”.

a few others have done it in the past..... like many things, comes down to the POE officer

[VeeNDee 44]

Thanks so much for sharing your reply nancycakes, and also welcome back to the forum!! Glad it worked out for you I was thinking of trying that and debated not doing it in the end just to avoid the hassle. Thanks for being our guinea pig

Edited January 31, 2013 by VeeNDee

[Mk/Mk 0]

Thank you for posting that! I hope it is still possible to do that. I don't plan on using my k1 visa until October and still want to visit. I'm also canadian so hopefully that will help as we don't technically have visas to enter the US

[Mk/Mk 0]

I'm going tomorrow to try at a land border crossing...Anyone else try it again?

[Flames9_RN 358]

I'm going tomorrow to try at a land border crossing...Anyone else try it again?

Since I have been on VJ (2004) many have done it successfully! Of course only a small % of people are on VJ.

[Mk/Mk 0]

Thanks flames I crossed successfully and they didn't even bat an eye! So glad