Applying from China Live with Fiancee

[China_Love85 0]

I am a US citizen living and working in China. I currently live with my Chinese fiancee in Shanghai and am hoping to move back to the US and take her with me and get married in the US. I am just starting the I-129F process from here in China to get her a K-1 visa. During the Spring Festival break, I went back to visit home and her application for a tourist visa was denied. We were hoping that she could not come back and meet my family, check out where we'd live etc. I would love to give her the opportunity to do these things before we get married and she likes the idea of a Western wedding outdoors in nature. My home state is in the Pacific Northwest and has a lot of beautiful scenery that would offer a lot of wonderful natural scenery with which to get married. My only concern is that when we get to the visa interview, the consular officer may be suspicious of why I do not marry her in China as I live here and have been living here for about 2 years now. Given all the reasons stated above and the fact that from everything I have read, the K-1 visa can be one of the easier and most efficient ones to get, does anyone with experience or knowledge feel that we have ample justification for a consular officer for getting married in the US instead of in China? Has anybody encountered this situation before and how did it work out? Any advice? Thanks for your time!

[ConOfficer 167]

I've never asked someone why they elected to file a K1 rather than marry and do the CR1. It's perfectly rationale to pursue a K1 and unless there is something peculiar about Chinese marriage culture I'm not familiar with (are you expected to get married in your ancestral village or something?) your decision to go the K1 route is just not relevant to determining whether the relationship is legit. 

 

You seem to be overthinking. 

 

[China_Love85 0]

Thanks ConOfficer. From your response it sounds like you are a or were an immigration officer?

[dmatosin 0]

From what I understand if you marry in China, then you need to go the K3 route. You cannot be married and do a Fiance K1 visa. Getting Married would actually be a detriment. 

 

K3 seems to take 1 year and K1 takes 6 months for processing. If you are China that for a year or more then maybe K3 is a better way for you to go.