I was married and engaged at the same time.. will it affect things?

[nagylyndsey 23]

I met my fiance while still married to my ex husband. I made two trips to see my fiance in person while still married and we became engaged during one of our meetings. So I was technically married and engaged at the same time. Me and my ex husband had been separated for quite some time (not legally, just living separate lives), when I met my fiance. I didn’t actively seek divorce until things got serious with my fiance, due to financial reasons. This is the way my life just played out, nothing was planned, and we don’t know how to explain this to the government to make things seem legit. To make things worse, my fiance was also denied entry to the US with the VWP back in January because they believed he had immigration intent when he mentioned me and our relationship to CBP officer.

Since engagement is just technically a promise to marry and not a legal binding, will it really affect things if the K1 application is sent now that I’m divorced and free to marry? Does it really matter when the engagement occurred?

[Georgia16 2,858]

Are you divorced and free to marry now? can see you wrote you are. No just have good evidence of meeting and all that.

How long have you been together?

Many relationships have started that way, many on vj too...

Edited April 13, 2016 by Georgia16

[nagylyndsey 23]

Yes, I'm legally free to marry now. Me and my fiance have been together in a relationship for about 6 months now. We've been engaged for about 2 months, my divorce was final last week.

[JFH 12,190]

Sounds similar to my story. I was still legally married when I met my current husband. Although we had been separated for some time.

Engaged is not a legal status. It's just a promise to marry. Like any other promise it can be broken. It's not legally enforceable. You can't force someone to marry you who has accepted your proposal (or whose proposal you have accepted). There is no legal process required to end an engagement, like there is to end a marriage. I don't even think we "got engaged". We gradually talked about the future and being together for a lifetime and talked about marriage. It was a natural progression, But there was no ring or proposal per se.

It doesn't matter when (or even if) an engagement occurred. What matters is you are legally free to marry.

[Georgia16 2,858]

Yes, I'm legally free to marry now. Me and my fiance have been together in a relationship for about 6 months now. We've been engaged for about 2 months, my divorce was final last week.

Okay thats fast but not impossible, love happens ... You can file your package remember to include a copy of your divorce degree. He was from a vwp country so hopefully one with easy embassy

Edited April 14, 2016 by Georgia16

[JFH 12,190]

I also want to comment on the timescale. Legally you can file now. But bear in mind you could be approved within 4 months and then have 6 months to use the visa and 90 days to get married. That's a maximum of about a year between now and wedding date. Maximum. Are you ready to marry so soon after divorce? Not a question you need to answer on here but one you need to think about in private. Only you will know the answer to that one.

[milimelo 4,477]

Check your state law on how soon after the divorce you can marry. There are members on VJ who were denied for not complying with their state's re-marriage rules.

I'd give it a few more months before filing anything just to be on the safe side.