Is K-1 Visa a better path then marrying someone with a tourist visa?

[Bertrandcpa 0]

My girl friend has been in and out of the U.S. for several years on a tourist visa. If we marry while she is here on a tourist visa, does she need to go back to her country in accordance with the tourist visa requirements?

If we were to go the K-1 route, she would have to go back to her country and wait for it to be processed. We are afraid it could take up to a year and think it would be best to marry while she is here but what are the next steps?

[Boiler 45,855]

VJ has a forum for adjusting, most people go that way it seems.

[JDWright 30]

K1 route can take as little as 2 months in some cases or as long as a year or even longer in very rare and extreme cases, but the ball park average is about 6-7 months I believe.

Your girlfriend would have to leave the US if you married her on a tourist visa for processing in her home country, if the intent on entry was to get married and AOS. But a lot of persons marry on tourist visas and adjust without leaving the US, since it can be difficult to prove intent on arrival. That's my understanding of it.

[Penguin_ie 5,995]

Your girlfriend cannot use her tourist visa to enter the USA with the intent of marrying AND STAYING in the country; that would be visa fraud, as the tourist visa is for visiting only. You two can file for the K1, and she can continue to visit during the time it is being processed (as mentioned above, it is very fast right now). Alternatively, you two can marry in the USA, then file for a CR-1 spousal visa. Again, she'd need to go home at the end of her tourism visa stay, but she can keep visiting during the process; the CR-1 spousal visa path takes longer than a K1, but it is cheaper and once she gets it, she can work and travel right away.

[Penguin_ie 5,995]

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