Do you have to propose before filing for K1 Fiance Visa?

[JimRaynor 3]

Do you have to propose to your girlfriend and have an engagement ring on her finger before filing for the K1 Fiance Visa? Or can you do this after she arrives in your country during the 90 days of stay?

[Kevin&Kanyanat 172]

You have to have the intent to marry within 90 days of the fiancé arriving in the states.   You include a letter of intent professing your intent.  If you did propose prior to and had photos and whatnot that would be a great addition. 

[JimRaynor 3]

Thanks for the response. We have plenty of photos together + promise rings. When writing out my letter of intent, should I write on there that I intend to propose to her during the 90 days?

Edited February 22, 2017 by JimRaynor

[KazuriSana 324]

Huh? How do you know you will marry if neither of you has proposed?

[JimRaynor 3]

We discussed marriage and plan to marry, I just haven't officially proposed to her yet. Just wanted to see if this would cause any issues throughout the K1 Fiance Visa process.

Edited February 22, 2017 by JimRaynor

[p-ana 933]

No formal proposal is needed, but obviously both should intend to get married within the 90 days of the foreign partner arrival

[geowrian 22,338]

As others noted, no formal proposal is necessary. No engagement ring is necessary at all. That said, you do need to provide evidence that you plan to marry within the 90 days in the US. Usually the signed letters of intent to marry are enough for the CO.

[Roel 7,193]

Both you and your girlfriend have to sing the intent to marry anyway. Fiancee visa is not for proposing. Is for getting married within the 90 days of fiancee arrival to the US.

[b6543 25]

Actually it depends to large extent on the country where fiance is based and will interview. Many consular officers in certain countries look specifically for engagement, engagement parties and rings ...to ensure it is a real relationship to marry. 

 

ANd we see that you did not post info about your country...

 

Quote

 

 

[kaysee 17]

No formal proposal is necessary. However you do need signed statements/letter of intent to marry within 90 days from you and your beneficiary. Also front loading your petition will help your case a lot 

[Rick & Apple 233]

14 hours ago, JimRaynor said:

Do you have to propose to your girlfriend and have an engagement ring on her finger before filing for the K1 Fiance Visa? Or can you do this after she arrives in your country during the 90 days of stay?

 

As the previous posters said, no formal proposal is necessary. Both of you will need to sign a letter of intent to marry within 90 days of her arriving in the U.S.

 

Here is a sample letter:

 

Fiancé Letter of Intent

 

 

First, middle initial and LAST NAME

12345 Snow Camp Drive

Anytown, State 55555 USA

 

USCIS
P.O. Box 660151
Dallas, TX 75266

 

Friday, July 27, 2012

 

Dear Sir or Madam:

 

I, first, middle and LAST NAME (petitioner's name inserted here) do hereby state that I am legally able and willing to marry first, middle and LAST NAME (beneficiary's name inserted here) and intend to do so within 90 days of her/his arrival into the US using the K-1 visa.

 

 

Yours truly,

 

 

 

 

 

First, middle initial and last name

[Ryan_Chialien 15]

You have to have the intent to marry.  You don't have to acually propose.  I refused to propose not in person.  We planned our wedding a head of time and I proposed and gave her the engagement right at night when she arrived in the US.  We got married a couple days afterwards.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

16 hours ago, JimRaynor said:

Do you have to propose to your girlfriend and have an engagement ring on her finger before filing for the K1 Fiance Visa? Or can you do this after she arrives in your country during the 90 days of stay?

This is a fiancé visa, so you need to be engaged.  It's not so you can ask once she gets here.  What if she says no?  You just wasted  a lot of time and the money spent on it.  In order to be engaged, one of you will need to propose marriage.  But it doesn't have to be on one knee asking "Will you marry me?"

 

But if you have discussed marriage, and you both agreed to get married, then you have proposed marriage.  The words propose just means "to bring up an idea for consideration or discussion".  So you are engaged.  That's all that is required.  Ring is not required.

 

And if you have already agreed to marry, why would you want to officially propose later on?  What would be the point?

Edited February 23, 2017 by Eric-Pris

[ali1632 10]

If your hope is to surprise her with a proposal after she arrives, I don't see how that could happen. Others have answered that you need to have the intent to marry but more specifically, BOTH of you need to prove intent. She will need to participate in the application process, and write and sign a letter that she is already planning to marry you during the 90 day K-1 visa. She will have to interview and state truthfully that you already are engaged and already plan to get married, before the visa is granted. I don't think whether you have physically given her a ring or not necessarily proves or disproves that - I don't have a ring yet myself - but I understand that some countries (consulates) are much more interested in those details because they see a higher rate of fraudulent cases. 

 

This doesn't mean you can't wait to make a more formal, in-person gesture of proposal when she arrives, but you both have to be on the same page that "this is definitely happening," no questions un-answered, before you start your application - so I do not think it is a good idea to include the fact that you plan to "propose" when she gets here because you are supposed to have settled that question before applying. Again, SHE also has to write a letter of intent to support the claim that you are already engaged, and that needs to have a live signature and be included in your I-129f application package. Hope this helps!

[Ryan_Chialien 15]

You don't have to plan out your wedding before submitting your K1.  It's actually quite difficult to do it since the K1 takes so long to process and there are so many possible time losses along the way especially at the embassy stage where scheduling the interview can be really frustrating in itself.  We made travel plans for my wife from Taiwain to the US several weeks after her scheduled interview date thinking we'd be safe timing wise and she got her visa 2 days before travelling.  You have a 90 day window following a 5-7 month wait to finally get the visa which makes wedding planning really difficult especially if you want to have any number of people at it.  When you get to the Embassy interview stage you can send along any wedding plans you have at that point as proof of your intent to marry.  You don't need them with the initial K1 application where you just need to include letters stating you intend to marry each other.