Help...which do we choose?

[Lissahonee 0]

You have a lot of work ahead of you. From everything that was said I need to clarify some things. You and your fiance plan to live in America, right? But, you want to have a nice big wedding in England this fall. So, is it possible to have the big wedding in England that is mostly ceremonial and not legally binding? If you can answer yes, then the K-1 is for you. You can file for his K-1 and go through the approval process. The visa is valid for six months from date of issuance.

Then have your big ceremonial wedding in England. Use the K-1 to bring him to America, have a small legal civil wedding and file for adjustment of status (AOS). Then wait for completion of AOS before you plan any trips back to England.

If the marriage ceremony in England can not be ceremonial only without being legal, then you are probably looking at the K-3 application and the separation that is likely to occur after the marriage. You could go the other direction and do the K-1 with the marriage here first, but you are looking at a considerable delay to return to England after the marriage. He is not suppose to leave America without advanced parole (travel documents) or a green card. They take about the same amount of time to process.

Thanks for all the great info. I'm totally not into weddings at all...but he would like to have a religious wedding with his family and friends. I would prefer not to have two weddings...but if I have to, I'll suck it up.

We were hoping to be married in the fall and be together at Christmas..but I can see now that there is no way we can do that without two weddings. I was wondering if we had the legal civil marraige in the fall in England...could you still at least come and visit me for Christmas and New Year's - even though we are married? I would not file for the K-3 until after he went home in January. Would that be something that is doable? If not, we'll have to start talking about taking a different route - most likely two ceremonies.

[msu17 0]

Congrats on teh engagement! My fiance and I were in the same situation and we decided on the K-1 and having a party over there after. Doing the wedding officially in the UK and then coming here with the K-3 also means doing 2 visa's (one here and one there) ie. more money and time. That is a concern for us, dont know if it is for you. The cival ceremony isnt bad here though, just go to the courthouse. Dont need to do lots of planning! I hate planning so I totally understand...

[Lissahonee 0]

Congrats on teh engagement! My fiance and I were in the same situation and we decided on the K-1 and having a party over there after. Doing the wedding officially in the UK and then coming here with the K-3 also means doing 2 visa's (one here and one there) ie. more money and time. That is a concern for us, dont know if it is for you. The cival ceremony isnt bad here though, just go to the courthouse. Dont need to do lots of planning! I hate planning so I totally understand...

Thanks for the good wishes. Lucky for me, my fiance doesn't mind doing all the planning. I just have to show up...wherever with a dress! Seeing as he is willing to come live on this side of the pond, I thought it would be nice to get married over there with his family and friend around. But...we just might have to rework that thought. I'm willing to do whatever he wants at this point. I'm not fussed about a wedding at all...If it were up to me..it would be just the two of us exchanging vows someplace.