My fiancee had to leave before we could get married on K-1 visa

[SpyderRyder 0]

My fiancée arrived in the US on Nov. 29, 2015. We had planned to get married this month(January). She started feeling bad and returned to Brasil on Jan. 9 to resolve her medical issues. I started a new job and do not have insurance to help her. I am at a total loss as to what to do. I called the USCIS and the gentleman I spoke with read to me that if she left we would have to start the K-1 Visa process all over again. Is there any way that something can be done to get her back without doing everything all over again? Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks you

[YecaCruz 379]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but the USCIS gentleman was correct because the K-1 visa is a one-time-use visa. Once you enter the country on it, you stay here until you file an adjust of status or you stay here for the 90 days allotted per the visa conditions. In your case, she used that visa to come in Nov and by leaving it is now void and not able to be used again.

I'm sorry

[Kastrs 723]

In VERY rare cases, an embassy will reissue a K1 that has already been "used." This is not typically done, and would only happen in the event you can prove extreme need for her to have left, and that she will return to the US within the original 90 days. You can try to email the embassy to see if they will do this, but expect that you will need to either restart the K1 process, or go to Brazil, marry her and file a CR1.

[SpyderRyder 0]

Thank you for your responses. Is the CR-1 Visa a better route to go than the K-1 Visa? Someone had told me before that it takes longer to get a CR-1 than a K-1.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Takes roughly a year but the beneficiary has a green card on entry

[SpyderRyder 0]

So do you think it would be better to go with the CR-1 and not the K-1?

[Transborderwife 4,666]

It depends on what you want. You'll have to travel to get married obviously for a cr1

[SpyderRyder 0]

^{We definitely want to get married. Just not sure what route to take to get her here. I hate to be married and be apart for a year. Just really seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place.}

[Kastrs 723]

The benefit to the CR1 is the visa acts as a GC for a year upong PoE, so if she had some emergency and needed to travel anywhere she would be able to right away. Also, since she would be your spouse, there would be no difficulty adding her to your health insurance. In general CR1 visas do take longer, but they are less expensive and do not require additional paperwork right away. I will say I had a previous K1 application, and at that time decided if I ever had to do it again I would do a CR1, which is what I did with my husband. Also, things can and do change all the time, just because a K1 is generally faster processing now, does not mean it would be significantly faster say 3 months from now.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

The benefit to the CR1 is the visa acts as a GC for a year upong PoE, so if she had some emergency and needed to travel anywhere she would be able to right away. Also, since she would be your spouse, there would be no difficulty adding her to your health insurance. In general CR1 visas do take longer, but they are less expensive and do not require additional paperwork right away. I will say I had a previous K1 application, and at that time decided if I ever had to do it again I would do a CR1, which is what I did with my husband. Also, things can and do change all the time, just because a K1 is generally faster processing now, does not mean it would be significantly faster say 3 months from now.

A k1 will always likely be faster

[Kastrs 723]

A k1 will always likely be faster

Yes I agree in general they are faster, but you see my CR1 was completed in 9 months, when I applied for my K1 it took a year, so it isn't always the case that the K1 is faster, or significantly faster

[studioguitarist 5]

We have a similar situation. My fiancee had to return to Malaysia before we were able to marry because her brother developed cancer for the third time and the family always has depended on her to be the "go to" person for planning and decision making in this sort of thing. After treatment, he went into remission and we had to reapply with a new I-129F. I gave a detailed explanation along with copies of medical records as proof of the reason for the return and, happily, the remission of her brother's cancer. They approved the I-129 after a couple of months (as opposed to the usual long approval wait time). The wait for her interview has been the same as for the first K1 visa -- about five months. Her interview is in a couple of weeks.

If you do go the route of applying for a second I-129, I suggest (only based on my own experience...as I am no expert), that you provide good documentation in the form of medical records along with a clear explanation of what happened. There is some sort of limitation on requesting a K1 visa within two years of your last one, but that might only be if you are requesting one for a different person. I say "might" because I'm not sure. I wrote my letter explaining the circumstances in the form of a WAIVER REQUEST just because I wasn't sure and I wanted to cover all the bases. I said "form of WAIVER REQUEST" but it was not a form...it was just a letter I wrote explaining everything. I also included copies of her K1 visa with entry stamp, her Alien number, photos and other evidence of us while she was here in the USA.

Good luck!

[SpyderRyder 0]

Thank you all for your help in answering my question. I appreciate all your insights on this.

[yuna628 9,677]

Yes I agree in general they are faster, but you see my CR1 was completed in 9 months, when I applied for my K1 it took a year, so it isn't always the case that the K1 is faster, or significantly faster

K1 will always be significantly faster now because of the change that happened earlier last year. All newly filed K1 applications are going to the California Service Center, of which you can expect faster processing, unlike Texas which saw cases backlogged for up to or over a year. It is yet to be seen how long this change will last, but the change was done for this purpose.

[baron555 934]

My fiancée arrived in the US on Nov. 29, 2015. We had planned to get married this month(January). She started feeling bad and returned to Brasil on Jan. 9 to resolve her medical issues. I started a new job and do not have insurance to help her. I am at a total loss as to what to do. I called the USCIS and the gentleman I spoke with read to me that if she left we would have to start the K-1 Visa process all over again. Is there any way that something can be done to get her back without doing everything all over again? Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks you

Email the Embassy and explain the situation. Do it quick. Maybe, just maybe, they will reissue her a new K-1.

If not, then you have your choices.