HOLIDAY ENTRY ONCE VISA IS ISSUED

[coleypalazzo 0]

Hello - My fiance and I have just been accepted and issued the K1 fiance visa. My fiance lives in London and was told he needs to move to the US by Jan 18th and he will meet the deadline and move right after xmas. Next week, he was planning on coming to the US for a one week visit just to tie loose ends on this end. Will this be a problem? Can he use his ESTA in the meantime and then move over officially in Jan on his K1? Thanks

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

No, if he enters the US and has a K-1 visa in his passport, he'll have to enter on it, so he won't be able to leave until you two get married, file for AOS/EAD/AP and he receives AP (about 90 days after filing, assuming no RFEs).

The only occasional exception to this is Canadians crossing by land can sometimes convince CBP to let them in without activating the K-1, but even for them it may or may not work depending on the particular CBP officer.

AFAIK it never happens to anyone who flies in, though.

Edited October 7, 2016 by EM_Vandaveer

[coleypalazzo 0]

Just wanted to post my answer - My fiancé ended up coming over and never had a problem. He only arrived on the ESTA.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

That is extremely unusual, but congrats!

[Boiler 45,672]

i have seen people do it, no idea how common it is