99% Married with a pending K1 Visa: will they deny?

[Jabl2rom 54]

Yep you have dug a deep enough hole.

Having said that if you are not legally married unless they do some digging difficult to see where it would come up.

The thing is, in Africa they seem to do a bit of digging. A Nigerian guy a few days ago was denied a K1 visa because somehow the embassy found out about his wedding ceremony

[Culino 0]

The thing is, in Africa they seem to do a bit of digging. A Nigerian guy a few days ago was denied a K1 visa because somehow the embassy found out about his wedding ceremony

Interesting. But did this Nigerian friend legally get married as well? Or was it just for ceremonial purposes only?

I did find here on this site was this:

http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1k2visa-application.html#step 2

Which states:

"4.11)...My alien fiancee has been issued a K-1 visa. Can we get married abroad and then come back together to the US with the K-1?

A...No. The alien must NOT be married when s/he enters the US on a K-1 visa. Also, if using the K-1, the couple must marry in the US within 90 days of the alien entering on the K-1.

(FAQ Note: Some couples arrange to have a non legal ceremony prior to the fiance(e) leaving their home country, in order to satisfy the wishes of family, or to have a celebration if the family is unable to travel to the US for a wedding."

So (according to visajourney) a ceremony is OK, as long as it isn't legally recognized.

[Jabl2rom 54]

Interesting. But did this Nigerian friend legally get married as well? Or was it just for ceremonial purposes only?

I did find here on this site was this:

http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1k2visa-application.html#step 2

Which states:

"4.11)...My alien fiancee has been issued a K-1 visa. Can we get married abroad and then come back together to the US with the K-1?

A...No. The alien must NOT be married when s/he enters the US on a K-1 visa. Also, if using the K-1, the couple must marry in the US within 90 days of the alien entering on the K-1.

(FAQ Note: Some couples arrange to have a non legal ceremony prior to the fiance(e) leaving their home country, in order to satisfy the wishes of family, or to have a celebration if the family is unable to travel to the US for a wedding."

So (according to visajourney) a ceremony is OK, as long as it isn't legally recognized.

It was just a ceremony, not a legal wedding at all. It is not worth it. If you want to risk potentially having your visa denied and going through 16 months of the CR-1 marriage hell go ahead and have your ceremony

[raven52 233]

It seems that there is varying opinions on this.

I know one thing for sure, USCIS is the ultimate decider in this, as is this a "before entering the USA a marriage or not".,.,.,

Another thing you said that was mostly over looked was your statement, that you "INTENDED" to have a mock marriage ceremony in Morocco, WHICH is a terrible idea, as anything constituting anything that even resembles a marriage "will be considered as one".,.,.,license or not! DO NOT do any type of ceremony in that country! Have an engagement party, that is all, nothing more, it is the safest way to avoid trouble.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Hello friends.

I am in a problematic situation and need your help.

I am an American with a foreign fiancé in Morocco.We applied for the K1 fiance visa and just received our NOA2 in January 2015. So she will have the consulate interview very soon.

The problem is, last year, while our K1 visa was pending, we took steps to get married abroad in her country Morocco. We got almost all the paper work done with the exception of generating the marriage certificate and signing it.

So basically, I'm definitely in a lot of "the books", but technically not completely married. We never finished because of the lack of time. Hence, I'm 99% married.

I did some research on this site last night and discovered this was not a good idea. I learned the foreign fiance cannot be "married" when entering the US on a k1 fiance visa. Sounds obvious in hindsight.

Also, we were planning on having a wedding "ceremony" abroad in Morocco before she comes to the states with the K1 visa.

So my question is, will this be enough cause for denial? Like I said, there is no actual marriage certificate yet.

When she has the interview with the consulate, should she just be completely truthful and tell them the situation? I.e. that we realized mid way in the process that we were making a mistake, and decided to stop short of getting "legally" married, so that we would not void our k1 visa.

There doesn't seem to be much information out there for people in my situation. I'm hoping not to have to go the route of withdrawing the k1 visa and restarting with a spousal visa.

I am forever grateful to any advice anyone could give.

Thank you!

You should ask in your regional MENA forum and get feedback from people familiar with the legality of the paperwork.

I don't understand that you are "definitely in a lot of books " (therefore my suggestion of the MENA forum) but as I understand it, you applied

to get married but didn't follow through with signatures and a marriage certificate was not generated (because a legal marriage didn't take place).

How much legality the "other books carry" is the question.

DO NOT have the planned ceremony but have an engagement party instead even though it says a religeous ceremony is ok in the VJ Q&A, it is too

risky.

It can be a huge undertaking to prove to the embassy that you are not married, I have seen enough Moroccan beneficiaries having to prove

they aren't married.

If you are considered married in Morocco with the steps you have already taken then you are also considerd married by the embassy.

[Cathi 5,742]

Question is though will this be seen as a marriage to the states?

Does not matter what technicalitys there are in Morocco because it is the states you are moving to.

You can try and be extremely honest with the CO and hope they believe you aren't married. Do not lie at all!

If you are denied on the basis that they believe you are married (and your situation has happened a lot and people are denied for this, some are denied for having pictures in wedding dresses when they just had the ceremony and not the legal wedding) then you can still just apply for the Cr1 spousal visa.

If they were legally married in Morocco, they are legally married here in the US. Marriage is different in a Muslim country, there is a marriage contract and once signed you are legally married.

Edited February 16, 2015 by mimolicious

[RoJ10 18]

If you're going to have a "wedding ceremony" but not actually legalizing it then you'll be fine. As long as there's no paper that is being signed to be legalized as stating that you're both officially husband and wife.

You can actually be honest to them that you had the ceremony but didn't really signed anything on a paper to legalized it. I guess there's nothing really to worry about.

[vlcrain 3]

It takes so long to get permission to marry in morocco!but since you did not sign the marriage contract you are not married, the co will probably ask why not marry in morocco, and ypur fiance can tell them that you wanted to but there was not enough time.

[HislittleSecret 21]

I don't believe you are married. Here in the U.S. if you don't submit the certificate papers they will not recognize your marriage after 30 days. Now, you two have not signed a certificate so I will say it's not binding. You can always ask a lawyer and get their opinion.

[Happytobe 164]

Without the contract signed, you are not married. When/if the CO asks, tell the truth that you ran out of time. They know it takes time there and some people run out of that. It may be beneficial that you were attempting the marriage, as it shows intent. It could bite you in the butt, too, but I think it is a good thing that an attempt was made.

For us, the contract was signed and we had a small party with family the next day. The contract being signed makes you married, without that, you are not. I say have your fiancé attend the interview, and always be truthful. The worst that can happen, is they tell you to complete the marriage in Morocco and file for the CR-1. Good luck!

[Golden Gate 530]

They will ask you about it. We started the process to get married there, but before I filed for fiance visa. I got the papers from the consulate, got the police report, etc in Rabat, then stopped there. Be prepared to answer to them.

[jxn 86]

I recall a thread about someone who was rejected for a visa because he said his fiancée and he had not yet married and instead only had celebrations, but the U.S. Embassy took cultural norms into account and considered the dowry he paid the fiancée's family to be constitutive of a marriage.

I agree with an earlier suggestion to post in the regional forums since this may not be as black and white as some are suggesting.

[CowBoE 429]

Hello friends.

I am in a problematic situation and need your help.

I am an American with a foreign fiancé in Morocco.We applied for the K1 fiance visa and just received our NOA2 in January 2015. So she will have the consulate interview very soon.

The problem is, last year, while our K1 visa was pending, we took steps to get married abroad in her country Morocco. We got almost all the paper work done with the exception of generating the marriage certificate and signing it.

So basically, I'm definitely in a lot of "the books", but technically not completely married. We never finished because of the lack of time. Hence, I'm 99% married.

I did some research on this site last night and discovered this was not a good idea. I learned the foreign fiance cannot be "married" when entering the US on a k1 fiance visa. Sounds obvious in hindsight.

Also, we were planning on having a wedding "ceremony" abroad in Morocco before she comes to the states with the K1 visa.

So my question is, will this be enough cause for denial? Like I said, there is no actual marriage certificate yet.

When she has the interview with the consulate, should she just be completely truthful and tell them the situation? I.e. that we realized mid way in the process that we were making a mistake, and decided to stop short of getting "legally" married, so that we would not void our k1 visa.

There doesn't seem to be much information out there for people in my situation. I'm hoping not to have to go the route of withdrawing the k1 visa and restarting with a spousal visa.

I am forever grateful to any advice anyone could give.

Thank you!

What do you mean "I'm definitely in a lot of the books"???

If you are not officially registered as married, then you are not married. Period.

I wouldn't confuse them by bringing this topic up to voluntarily.

The fact is you two aren't married, and that's good enough in my opinion.

If they bring it up by any chance during the interview, simply tell them,

your plan is to finish K1 visa and get married in US.

If they question further as to why did you attempt a marriage in Morocco

(though I don't know how they would know...or maybe this is what you mean

by "definitely in a lot of books"...then simply tell them that you had misunderstanding

initially on K1 visa and marriage, and that all that has completely changed

and that the only plan you have is to get married in US.

Be concise and precise without going into unnecessary explanation.

The key thing is you two aren't married, and that your only plan

is to get married in US after she arrives.

[Dualie 185]

If they don't ask, don't tell.

This is horrible advice. If it is discovered later on, there could be a lifetime ban imposed.

[Culino 0]

What do you mean "I'm definitely in a lot of the books"???

If you are not officially registered as married, then you are not married. Period.

I wouldn't confuse them by bringing this topic up to voluntarily.

The fact is you two aren't married, and that's good enough in my opinion.

If they bring it up by any chance during the interview, simply tell them,

your plan is to finish K1 visa and get married in US.

If they question further as to why did you attempt a marriage in Morocco

(though I don't know how they would know...or maybe this is what you mean

by "definitely in a lot of books"...then simply tell them that you had misunderstanding

initially on K1 visa and marriage, and that all that has completely changed

and that the only plan you have is to get married in US.

Be concise and precise without going into unnecessary explanation.

The key thing is you two aren't married, and that your only plan

is to get married in US after she arrives.

Thank you, this is great advice . This is exactly our plan.

Just to clarify what I meant when I said "I'm in a lot of the books": I meant that during our attempt to marry in Morocco, we had to go to a lot of government, city/state offices to file paper work in order to gain permission to have a "mixed marriage" i.e. A marriage between a foreign, non-Moroccan male, and a Moroccan female: In Morocco, it's very easy for two Moroccans to get married. But for a foreign male to get married to a Moroccan woman, they make it extremely difficult. They make the couple go through a whole complex system of bureaucracy just to get permission to have a mixed marriage.

One of those steps involves going to the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca and obtaining 2 notarized/signed documents: 1) an affidavit of nationality and 2) an "eligibility to marry". Once the couple gets the "Mixed Marriage Permission Certificate" from the court, the religious lawyer draws up the Marriage Contract to be signed in front of him and witnesses.

So where am I in this process? We are right up to the part before the issuing of the "Marriage Permission Certificate" by the court. We never had time to finish. So not only did we NEVER get a Marriage Contract drawn up, we also NEVER got the "Mixed Marriage Permission Certificate" issued. (Maybe 99% was an exaggeration).

However, as mentioned, I did go to the U.S. Consulate to obtain papers to start the marriage process. So I'm assuming they would see that in their system easily somehow. This is an example of what I mean when I say "We're in a lot of the books" .

I recall a thread about someone who was rejected for a visa because he said his fiancée and he had not yet married and instead only had celebrations, but the U.S. Embassy took cultural norms into account and considered the dowry he paid the fiancée's family to be constitutive of a marriage.

I agree with an earlier suggestion to post in the regional forums since this may not be as black and white as some are suggesting.

The responses to my post have been pretty much split down the middle 50/50 as to whether or not it looks like the Consulate will say yes or no. I understand that the consulate can be hawkish, that's a good thing I think. But I happen to think the truth is on our side - we are not married! Even if the embassy does take "cultural norms" into account, culturally, even by Moroccan norms, we are not married! In Morocco you need the Marriage contract, and you need it signed in front of a religious lawyer!

Without the contract signed, you are not married. When/if the CO asks, tell the truth that you ran out of time. They know it takes time there and some people run out of that. It may be beneficial that you were attempting the marriage, as it shows intent. It could bite you in the butt, too, but I think it is a good thing that an attempt was made.

For us, the contract was signed and we had a small party with family the next day. The contract being signed makes you married, without that, you are not. I say have your fiancé attend the interview, and always be truthful. The worst that can happen, is they tell you to complete the marriage in Morocco and file for the CR-1. Good luck!

We cannot change the past. I happen to think the truth is on our side, and whether that is good enough for them or not, that's all up to destiny now. Thank you for your help!

They will ask you about it. We started the process to get married there, but before I filed for fiance visa. I got the papers from the consulate, got the police report, etc in Rabat, then stopped there. Be prepared to answer to them.

Thanks for the input. So your situation was similar to mine. Fun time running around Rabat and Casablanca for the papers, huh? So you know the deal then . Anyhow, this makes me feel a bit better. Thanks for the reply.