Help! K-1 Visa Taking too Long

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

They may not know she has a wedding dress in there, VWP people are often just waved through.

[Vickins 1]

Are they going to let her enter on the VWP with a wedding dress? Isnt there a huge risk she will get denied entry?

Hey Azsara

I've looked in this, I can still get married but if I show proof of my intent to leave within 90 days, like a return flight. I should be alright

[Azsara 110]

Hey Azsara

I've looked in this, I can still get married but if I show proof of my intent to leave within 90 days, like a return flight. I should be alright

Phew, hope for the best for you!

[Grant PDX 183]

If an expedite isn't ready, and the visa isn't approved, and all the arrangements are made and paid for and can't be changed, including family flights etc... One possibility would be to still have the party, but don't have a marriage ceremony. Cut cake, drink wine, dance, throw a bouquet... but don't marry. Then a few weeks later once the K-1 is received, do a justice of the peace wedding. You can certainly have a party on a VWP. Making the most of a bad situation, if the visa hasn't come through.

Good luck!

[duraaraa 203]

If an expedite isn't ready, and the visa isn't approved, and all the arrangements are made and paid for and can't be changed, including family flights etc... One possibility would be to still have the party, but don't have a marriage ceremony. Cut cake, drink wine, dance, throw a bouquet... but don't marry. Then a few weeks later once the K-1 is received, do a justice of the peace wedding. You can certainly have a party on a VWP. Making the most of a bad situation, if the visa hasn't come through.

Good luck!

Depending on how important it is for you to actually be married on your wedding, I agree with this. Just have a wedding, but... not a real one... or something along those lines. Obviously, this would prove horrible for the K-1 interview if the officer had any reason to suspect that you were actually married, so do be careful.

[CdnMom 2]

If an expedite isn't ready, and the visa isn't approved, and all the arrangements are made and paid for and can't be changed, including family flights etc... One possibility would be to still have the party, but don't have a marriage ceremony. Cut cake, drink wine, dance, throw a bouquet... but don't marry. Then a few weeks later once the K-1 is received, do a justice of the peace wedding. You can certainly have a party on a VWP. Making the most of a bad situation, if the visa hasn't come through.

Good luck!

I agree with most of this!! If your K-1 has not arrived in time, go ahead and YES, you can have your "religious" ceremony, but by any means don't make it legal. Do not apply for a marriage licence, do not sign any legal documentation whatsoever until you have your K-1 in hand and have activated it at a POE. Why risk having to wait any longer by having to then change your application??

Having a ceremony and celebration first is perfectly fine and will not compromise your K-1. How can I be so sure???

Because this is exactly what we did, after calling USCIS on 2 different occasions. My daughter's FIL to be (at the time) called and documented dates, times, names and badge numbers when he called asking if we could have a strictly religious ceremony before my daughter emigrated. He asked specifically if it would endanger her K-1. Both times, after consulting with someone else, the reps came back and said as long as no legal documentation was filed or signed, there wouldn't be a problem with doing this.

Soooo, that's exactly what we did. We had a beautiful ceremony and celebration, then my daughter emigrated, then went and applied for the marriage licence, picked it up 3 days later and had a civil ceremony. Went on their honeymoon, they came back, we filed her AOS, EAD and AP and waited........... everything's been approved and we're just going to wait now until ROC.

Seriously, don't risk having to start over again........ it's not worth it! Wishing you all the best!

Edited March 20, 2013 by CdnMom

[Cathi 5,740]

I agree with most of this!! If your K-1 has not arrived in time, go ahead and YES, you can have your "religious" ceremony, but by any means don't make it legal. Do not apply for a marriage licence, do not sign any legal documentation whatsoever until you have your K-1 in hand and have activated it at a POE. Why risk having to wait any longer by having to then change your application??

Having a ceremony and celebration first is perfectly fine and will not compromise your K-1. How can I be so sure???

Because this is exactly what we did, after calling USCIS on 2 different occasions. My daughter's FIL to be (at the time) called and documented dates, times, names and badge numbers when he called asking if we could have a strictly religious ceremony before my daughter emigrated. He asked specifically if it would endanger her K-1. Both times, after consulting with someone else, the reps came back and said as long as no legal documentation was filed or signed, there wouldn't be a problem with doing this.

Soooo, that's exactly what we did. We had a beautiful ceremony and celebration, then my daughter emigrated, then went and applied for the marriage licence, picked it up 3 days later and had a civil ceremony. Went on their honeymoon, they came back, we filed her AOS, EAD and AP and waited........... everything's been approved and we're just going to wait now until ROC.

Seriously, don't risk having to start over again........ it's not worth it! Wishing you all the best!

The OP needs to be careful if they decide to do this. Even if it isn't made "legal" many times what looks like a wedding and smells like a wedding IS a wedding to USCIS. Many times we have seen people denied on these boards after having such ceremonies and parties, even if the marriage is not registered.

[CdnMom 2]

The OP needs to be careful if they decide to do this. Even if it isn't made "legal" many times what looks like a wedding and smells like a wedding IS a wedding to USCIS. Many times we have seen people denied on these boards after having such ceremonies and parties, even if the marriage is not registered.

Hmmmm....... I was unaware of this. I've been registered on this board and have made daily visits for over a year and creeping it for a good 6 months before that. I've not heard of anyone who's been denied for this reason.

I certainly would not want to put the OP's visa at risk,

but like I said...... in our case, we called USCIS 2 different times to be very sure before proceeding and got the exact same answer..... that her K-1 would NOT be compromised in any way, as long there was no legal paperwork applied for,signed or registered before entering the US on her K-1.

She POE'd no problem, received her EAD and AP within 2.5 months of them receiving her application and was just interviewed and was approved on the spot, in less than half an hour.

Just another point of view for the OP. It's certainly up to them because either way, it looks like they are going to go ahead with the "wedding". I was just offering up the option of what we did, all within the legal parameters

Edited March 20, 2013 by CdnMom

[mtcmk1 37]

If an expedite isn't ready, and the visa isn't approved, and all the arrangements are made and paid for and can't be changed, including family flights etc... One possibility would be to still have the party, but don't have a marriage ceremony. Cut cake, drink wine, dance, throw a bouquet... but don't marry. Then a few weeks later once the K-1 is received, do a justice of the peace wedding. You can certainly have a party on a VWP. Making the most of a bad situation, if the visa hasn't come through.

Good luck!

I agree ^^ It would just be the reception before the wedding! A nice engagement party! Good luck!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

A comment on expedite with USCIS-- if they are sending RFEs, it probably means approval is very soon...as soon as they review the response. A USCIS expedite doesn't mean the Dept of State/London Embaassy is going to expedite. Different government agency. So if they got NOA2 tomorrow, it would most probably be early June before getting a visa in London, even if you had all your ducks perfectly in a row. If you aren't super prepared with all the tips and tricks for London, then it could easily exceed 3 months after NOA2. And the petition hasn't been approved yet, so the clock can't even start on that part yet.

I wonder if all this pulling of the file to do the congressional reply, or if an expedite was requested, would actually slow down a petition that is on an adjudicators desk just waiting for the RFE response.

[NikLR 13,227]

Hey Azsara

I've looked in this, I can still get married but if I show proof of my intent to leave within 90 days, like a return flight. I should be alright

Sure you can come over and get married and then leave. But then you have to file for a spousal visa which means starting from scratch.

I highly highly highly suggest trying to get the expedite and also calling your wedding vendors and seeing if you can push the day.

[Maxheadspace 48]

Thank you for all your posts. Lesson learnt, never plan till you got the right paperwork. But sadly we have to learn the hard way. We are trying to keep positive and we've decided that we will risk to start this process all over again if last resort... go under the VWP.

Have your reception party now, wedding later. Or, have a church service now and official wedding with license later. That's risky, though, since even a church service without license could be considered a formal marriage in some jurisdictions.

[Grant PDX 183]

Some countries do scrutinize the "marriage party" more than others... I would anticipate that the embassy in the UK would not be overly concerned about a ceremony without a legal marriage. Other countries have different rules. I would think that the UK, like Canada and likely other similar countries, wouldn't put significant weight on a non-legal ceremony. Countries in asia or MENA countries likely look at it differently, given the nature of religious ceremonies in many of those places.

I think it's a real possibility for the OP, if the process timeline doesn't work out and if plans aren't easily changed. Be clear on all documentation, and the risk should be minimal.

[Jawaree 717]

Request expedite and back up with date changes pushed back for wedding to the attendees etc

[David & Kezia 25]

USCIS error is cause for expedite, for I-129F approvals -

so keep that in mind as yer talking with a USCIS Tier 2 Human, an ISO, today.

Go Get Em !

Yup, you should talk to someone higher up about this.

However, you really shouldn't have booked the wedding before she actually arrived or at least had the visa secure in her hand.