Quick Question about K1 Visa

[Dani89 0]

Hello, I just wanted to ask a quick question in case someone might be able to help. My partner and I have applied for the K1 and are currently waiting for the NOA2. Well we have decided we would like to try settling in the UK, but still want to marry in America. If we got the K1 visa and married in the states, then applied for the appropriate UK visa and moved to England would anything be counted against us for not doing the Adjustment of Status? Do we need to notify anyone after we marry that we will not be doing the AOS?

We want to do everything correctly in case we ever decide to move back to the states for whatever reason. Thank you guys!

[lost_at_sea 995]

No, you wouldn't. By returning to the UK without starting AoS, you'd be deemed to have abandoned that (and of course your K1 expires as soon as you use it to enter the USA). There'd be no one to notify, either, since you won't have filed for AoS.

It should have no bearing on your UK visa situation, either.

You don't have to wait for the K1 to go to the US to get married, btw - you can marry on the VWP. You just can't have intent to marry and then do AoS to stay state-side on VWP.

Edited July 7, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Dani89 0]

That's great news, thank you

Yeah I've been toying with the idea of just getting married on the VWP the only downside is that if our UK spouse visa gets denied (for whatever reason), then he would not be able to come to the USA as my husband?? Or I suppose there is a separate visa for this?
I also don't know if us abandoning the K1 would be held against us if we should ever want to apply to stay in the USA IF the UK visa did not work out. hahaha I always try to think of plan B and C. Always paranoid I'll get something wrong even though I try and triple check the rules

This also might sound crazy but if we abandoned the K1 and he came over on VWP, wouldn't it show up at immigration? As sort of a "hey check this guy out just in case!"

[lost_at_sea 995]

That's great news, thank you

Yeah I've been toying with the idea of just getting married on the VWP the only downside is that if our UK spouse visa gets denied (for whatever reason), then he would not be able to come to the USA as my husband?? Or I suppose there is a separate visa for this?

I also don't know if us abandoning the K1 would be held against us if we should ever want to apply to stay in the USA IF the UK visa did not work out. hahaha I always try to think of plan B and C. Always paranoid I'll get something wrong even though I try and triple check the rules

This also might sound crazy but if we abandoned the K1 and he came over on VWP, wouldn't it show up at immigration? As sort of a "hey check this guy out just in case!"

Well, if you got married on VWP and your UK spouse visa got denied for some reason, and you decided you'd rather move to the US (this is true even if you do move to the UK and change your mind later) then you'd have to file the I-130 for CR-1 visa (or IR-1 if it's 2 years after you've married, process is identical, just different GC length gets given). So, you'd have options. You'd have to do the I-130 wait as you have with the I-129f, though, with him still living abroad.

I think what it sounds like you're asking is if you went on the K1, you'd like to immediately file for the UK spousal visa and see what happens, right (and carry on with AoS if that goes badly)? Well, have you read the UK spousal requirements?

Your new British partner, once you're married, is going to have to show he earns enough money in the UK to get your visa, or is going to have to have lots of savings. Proving he has a good UK job might be tricky if you're going to go make plans to move for the K1... you know? I'd have a good read of the UK spousal visa requirements and check you'll be able to meet them and then start thinking of the pros and cons of each option: http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/partners-families/citizens-settled/spouse-cp/

If you want to get married on VWP, cancelling your I-129f petition isn't going to be held against you. Plans change, priorities alter, that's fine. We cancelled our I-129f and got married (and so have other people on here) and it's been OK so far!

Edited July 7, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Dani89 0]

Thank you very much for the help. It's reassuring to know there are options!

Yeah I've been looking into the Spouse visa a lot! I'm actually signing onto a UK forum to ask a couple questions about the spouse visa lol.
We have both been traveling for about a year and a half so that is why we both haven't been settled down anywhere. I also used to live in the UK on student visas before we traveled which is kind of why we want to try and settle here. I have job opportunities and friends etc. I have moved so much in the states that nowhere feels like home!

Right now we are in the UK. I'm here as a visitor for 6 months. My partner is searching for a job that will pay atleast £18,600 that is the requirement for the spouse visa. When applying for the spouse visa we would be staying with his mom in her house to start off. This is where it gets tricky. She lives in a council house on her own, but it is a 3 bedroom house with plenty of room. So far I have discovered that her living in a council house is fine because she pays rent and council tax. She is thinking about getting working tax benefits though which could be a problem for us being able to stay with her. but I'm really not sure. So we may or may not need to find our own place a bit sooner than we had hoped.

I have someone that will give me a job as soon as I get a visa allowing me to work, but I don't think they take that into account with the spouse visa. Not for the initial application from outside the UK anyway. So if he cannot find a job that earns enough we can always say well we tried but looks like it will be america for a while.
aahhh, doesn't immigration suck sometimes! Whatever we end up doing, I will be so RELIEVED when it's all over. Really cannot wait for the day.

oh and by the way I see you are currently waiting on approval from your interview? Good luck with everything!!

[lost_at_sea 995]

oh and by the way I see you are currently waiting on approval from your interview? Good luck with everything!!

Thanks, yep, interview next! And that's actually one possible upside. If you two do move to the UK and stay a little while as a resident, you'll be able to DCF his US spouse visa back the other way if you change your mind. You can see how much faster that is compared to the regular filing path.

Although you can't count on immigration rules staying still - stuff changes.

It sounds like you have a good handle on the options at the moment, though. You should probably decide what you want most, country living wise. You've invested time and money into having him move state-side already so you probably don't want to just write that off!

Edited July 7, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Dani89 0]

Good luck at your interview! I'm sure you will do fine

I just have one more question I promise! How would we be able to marry in the US while he is a visitor? Wouldn't the registrar refuse us if he has no visa? Could we simply marry in a court? We were thinking just getting quickly married in a court room with a couple witnesses just to get the visa under way, then having a proper wedding for the family either once the visa has been sent off and we have time to kill, or in the future when we can breathe!

We've discussed it a lot and we really do want to try and stay in the UK. I kinda wish we had decided sooner, but nothing in life seems to be written in stone! As long as we work hard and do everything correctly it should all be okay.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Good luck at your interview! I'm sure you will do fine

I just have one more question I promise! How would we be able to marry in the US while he is a visitor? Wouldn't the registrar refuse us if he has no visa? Could we simply marry in a court? We were thinking just getting quickly married in a court room with a couple witnesses just to get the visa under way, then having a proper wedding for the family either once the visa has been sent off and we have time to kill, or in the future when we can breathe!

We've discussed it a lot and we really do want to try and stay in the UK. I kinda wish we had decided sooner, but nothing in life seems to be written in stone! As long as we work hard and do everything correctly it should all be okay.

Check with the court house you'd like to get married in - they should be able to tell you what you need in order to get your marriage licence (like, do you need to both be in the State/Town/Whatever for a certain number of days before? etc.). They might say he needs an SSN, but if you explain he's a darned foreigner, they should just say he needs his passport (but they'll likely still want your SSN etc.). I doubt they'll ask about his visa status, not that it should matter.

I had a quick google for Colorado, and got this general page: http://www.usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/colorado/

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hello, I just wanted to ask a quick question in case someone might be able to help. My partner and I have applied for the K1 and are currently waiting for the NOA2. Well we have decided we would like to try settling in the UK, but still want to marry in America. If we got the K1 visa and married in the states, then applied for the appropriate UK visa and moved to England would anything be counted against us for not doing the Adjustment of Status? Do we need to notify anyone after we marry that we will not be doing the AOS?

We want to do everything correctly in case we ever decide to move back to the states for whatever reason. Thank you guys!

Short and simple--

Skip the K1 if all you want to do is marry in the US. VWP is free and no wait, no medical, no forms.

If your UK plans fall through, there is a spouse visa, similar to the fiancé visa, but better.

And read this London embassy FAQ http://london.usembassy.gov/faq-imm-proc.html#iv036

You don't need to worry about a B2 as he is likely eligible for VWP.

[Dani89 0]

Thanks both of you! This has been a really great help. I wasn't sure before if it would be good to abandon the K1, but it really looks like we would be doing a lot of waiting around for nothing!

It's a pain that we paid the money to get this far, but oh well! From the looks of things we definitely aren't the only ones to have done this. I take it I would not need to contact anyone to say we are abandoning the K1?

[lost_at_sea 995]

Thanks both of you! This has been a really great help. I wasn't sure before if it would be good to abandon the K1, but it really looks like we would be doing a lot of waiting around for nothing!

It's a pain that we paid the money to get this far, but oh well! From the looks of things we definitely aren't the only ones to have done this. I take it I would not need to contact anyone to say we are abandoning the K1?

If you are 100% sure you want to abandon the K1 path before you get your NOA2, you should write to the USCIS service centre your case is at and have it properly withdrawn. It's just sending a letter, so it's worth doing to cleanly close that case off, so you can say that you did it by the books.

[Protocol417 161]

Is there any risk in traveling to the US as a "tourist" on a VWP with intention to marry? Both my fiance and I have been warned by customs on each of our trips back and forth that we can't marry while in the US or the UK.

I'm really interested to see how this progresses, though. My fiance and I are currently going through our K-1 process, but we only plan on living in the US for a while before returning to the UK. As I understand it, he (as the UKC) would have to have a job in the UK (making more than £18,600) for at least six months before we can even begin applying for me to move there. Also, it looks like the spouse can only join the UKC on a visa that is longer than six months (so tourist/visitor visas are out).

The UKBA website is a bit vague, though. Good news is that it seems they process visas way faster, with a 2-12 week turnaround. Wow.

Anyone have an insight into this, or know of a website like VJ but for UK visas? All I can find are webpages for attorneys.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Is there any risk in traveling to the US as a "tourist" on a VWP with intention to marry? Both my fiance and I have been warned by customs on each of our trips back and forth that we can't marry while in the US or the UK.

I'm really interested to see how this progresses, though. My fiance and I are currently going through our K-1 process, but we only plan on living in the US for a while before returning to the UK. As I understand it, he (as the UKC) would have to have a job in the UK (making more than £18,600) for at least six months before we can even begin applying for me to move there. Also, it looks like the spouse can only join the UKC on a visa that is longer than six months (so tourist/visitor visas are out).

The UKBA website is a bit vague, though. Good news is that it seems they process visas way faster, with a 2-12 week turnaround. Wow.

Anyone have an insight into this, or know of a website like VJ but for UK visas? All I can find are webpages for attorneys.

You can marry in the UK or the US as a tourist. The illegal bit (visa fraud) would be coming into either country with the intent to marry and then stay by adjusting your status (or applying for a visa if you were in the UK, since there's no AoS process). So you can marry either place, and then do the correct visa while continuing to live apart.

You're right on the UK earnings bit. They changed the rules last year so it got a lot more strict.

[Dani89 0]

Is there any risk in traveling to the US as a "tourist" on a VWP with intention to marry? Both my fiance and I have been warned by customs on each of our trips back and forth that we can't marry while in the US or the UK.

I'm really interested to see how this progresses, though. My fiance and I are currently going through our K-1 process, but we only plan on living in the US for a while before returning to the UK. As I understand it, he (as the UKC) would have to have a job in the UK (making more than £18,600) for at least six months before we can even begin applying for me to move there. Also, it looks like the spouse can only join the UKC on a visa that is longer than six months (so tourist/visitor visas are out).

The UKBA website is a bit vague, though. Good news is that it seems they process visas way faster, with a 2-12 week turnaround. Wow.

Anyone have an insight into this, or know of a website like VJ but for UK visas? All I can find are webpages for attorneys.

I know quite a lot about this visa for the UK. It's such a pain in the ###, but a really fast turnaround if you meet all the requirements. The financial requirement was taken to High Court just a couple days ago and suggested lowering the 18,600£ to £13,000. However they are appealing against this so I have no idea if any changes will be made. I think it's safe to say that they will drag their feet about it either way. The court declared the amount unjustified and I wholly agree with that.

I have just arrived in the UK with my partner on a tourist visa which will last me 6 months. It was a HUGE struggle getting in though. I wrote a separate post about that whole experience. The good thing is I got in. Now my partner is trying to find a job which will meet the £18,600 requirement, and so far he turned down a really cool job that was 16K. if only it were 13K like the court suggested!!!!

So that's where we're at. If he can find something fairly soon then I won't really have to wait that long after we marry in the states to apply. The 6 months worth of wages will practically be saved up by then. I'm currently continuing on with the K1 visa just to see what happens with him finding work. I've also got a couple accommodation questions regarding the UK spouse visa that I will go to an advice bureau to ask about as well before I make a final decision on abandoning the K1. If you have any questions about the UK visa though feel free to ask me! I might just know the answer.

[Protocol417 161]

I know quite a lot about this visa for the UK. It's such a pain in the ####, but a really fast turnaround if you meet all the requirements. The financial requirement was taken to High Court just a couple days ago and suggested lowering the 18,600£ to £13,000. However they are appealing against this so I have no idea if any changes will be made. I think it's safe to say that they will drag their feet about it either way. The court declared the amount unjustified and I wholly agree with that.

I have just arrived in the UK with my partner on a tourist visa which will last me 6 months. It was a HUGE struggle getting in though. I wrote a separate post about that whole experience. The good thing is I got in. Now my partner is trying to find a job which will meet the £18,600 requirement, and so far he turned down a really cool job that was 16K. if only it were 13K like the court suggested!!!!

So that's where we're at. If he can find something fairly soon then I won't really have to wait that long after we marry in the states to apply. The 6 months worth of wages will practically be saved up by then. I'm currently continuing on with the K1 visa just to see what happens with him finding work. I've also got a couple accommodation questions regarding the UK spouse visa that I will go to an advice bureau to ask about as well before I make a final decision on abandoning the K1. If you have any questions about the UK visa though feel free to ask me! I might just know the answer.

I agree it's too high, too. Something like 49% of the country don't make enough money to sponsor someone? Wow. It does sound like there is a giant outcry against this, so I'm hoping it does get lowered.

My SO got a temp position but was looking for something a bit better-paying to save up as much money as possible. I told him that if he gets a job over a certain amount then we're going to drop our K-1 and move there, because otherwise we risk having to wait a really long time for him to get a job that meets the requirements (and then actually working there for 6 months on top of it).

Addendum 2 is just the most confusing thing ever. There are so many sections which seem to imply that there are loopholes to the earnings/time employed requirements, but I don't think so. For example, it asks if your sponsor makes the amount required and the options are "yes" or "no", with "no" directing you to another section. Same thing with the time requirements. It asks if the sponsor has worked in the UK in the past 12 months, and if they've held their job for at least six months, with "no" directing you to questions asking about jobs outside the UK (if memory serves). One of the "no"s takes you to a section asking if you have 16K quid in cash savings. AHHHHHH! It's like a choose-your-own-adventure where you have to pay huge fees and wait three months to find out the ending