Getting Married in other Country help??

[KevinB 0]

I am a newbie on here so please bare with me on some of my questions. My proposed spouse is from the Dominican Republic. We definitely want to marry one another, but I want to make sure what ever we do, we do it correctly so I can ultimately get her here with me to the USA (New York). I am a US Citizen and born in the USA. She is Dominican (woman), never married before and has a child. She's 23 yrs, and I'm 33 yrs. We met during my visits from the US to the Dominican Republic, as I am a professional baseball agent to contracts business in the DR. One of my baseball players introduced me to her. We have fallen in love, and I want her to live/marry with me here in New York. She wants to come over first and then after she gets here, we'll petition for her son to come (he's 6 yrs old). I heard that the wait for K-1 or K-3 Visas for the Dominican Republic can be 1 1/2 to 2 yrs (possibly longer....wow!). BUT I also have heard that there may be a 'loop hole', if my girlfriend and I were to marry in ANOTHER country (that she can travel to without a visa) and then apply for the K-3 (or K-1), but I think it's the K-3 then I heard that the approval process could be ~6 months! Is there any truth to this?? Do you know what countries we can marry in? Is there any risks to not get approved if we do this (e.g. the consul we expect fraud or something)??

She currently has an appointment with the Consul on Feb. 7th for a non-immigrant Visitor Visa - but we were thinking of canceling this appointment, as we are concerned that they will not approve the visitors visa to the USA because they will be afraid she will never return to the Dominican Republic, even though she owns a car, owns her own Beauty Salon and successful business, and has significant funds in her bank account + not to mention she has a son in the DR to come back to. The thought is that because she is so young (only 23) that the consul may not even want to look at her evidence (Car Title, Business Ownership Proof, Bank Account balance, etc)? Should we cancel this appointment, as I'm worried that if she does get denied, it will hurt our chances of filing a K-1 and/or K-3 as we know this is a much longer wait? Currently she has never in her life applied for a Visa so I want to make sure that when we do it, we do it correctly.

Thanks in advance!

[CutienPurg 0]

The K-3 would be adjudicated in the country where the marriage took place. If the marriage takes place in the US then the k-3 would be adjudicated in your fiances country. Your best approach would be to look at time lines from countries you think would be viable options for you to marry in.

As far as her child....you would apply for him at the same time.

Regarding her visitors visa is another matter. I have no idea how rigid the rules are with the embassy there but barring an extraordinary level of difficulty it would appear that your fiances ties to her country should seem strong enough to convince them she would return. That still is no guarantee that a visa will for sure be issued and I promise you that no one could make you that guarantee.

Read the guides, do your research................

Good Luck

[KevinB 0]

Thank you for the quick reply. I still have a critical question though. How do I find out what countries my girlfriend and I can marry in. I think I can travel anywhere, as I am a US Citizen, have a valid US Passport and have traveled to many countries on my passport that was issued in 1999 (Singapore, Mexico, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Belize, Canada, etc). My girfriend (Future wife) is from the Dominican Republic and currently lives there. She has never left her country (even on a vist) to another country before. She just got her passport in early january. Please advise best path

[payxibka 10,047]

Google?

[mendeleev 68]

Delta has a cool tool:

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations...ation/index.jsp

that works with Internet Explorer and with Mozilla Firefox (but not with Netscape 7.2) that lets you determine whether she needs to get a visa to go to a particular country. Check it out!

[eap620 0]

From what information you gave in regards to your fiance's ties to the DR, it seems to me that she has a good chance for the visitor's visa. They are never guaranteed and denied for some silly reasons at times but it's the cheapest and fastest way to go...so it might be worth a try. It really shouldn't affect any future filings you guys do if she is denied.

Have you considered DCF (Direct Consular Filing)? I don't know what the rules are for the DR but you should look them up. You two can get married in the DR and apply for the spousal visa directly with the US embassy in the DR. This is a much faster route but different countries have different guidelines. It is designed for married couples that live in the foreign country and want to move back to the US. I have friends that have done this in Belize as the rules are quite relaxed. Relaxed in the sense that you don't have to be technically "living" in the country for a specified time. You might just have to be there for a few weeks. But the process only takes on average a matter of months (1-4) compared to years in some cases.

Hope you find some good info. on what you are looking for. I wish you the best of luck!!!

Erin