My fiance is uk citizen, im US citizen. which path should we take

[master4g 0]

OK, heres the deal.

I am an US citizen. My fiance is a UK citizen. We are getting married in August in London, and our plan is that she will come back to US with me after we get married.

Should we start a fiance visa (K1 i think) now or should we do the K3 once we get married. Which will be the quickest way? Usually, british citizens arent required to have a visa to visit the US for 3 months or something, so she will be able to come back with me while its processing and return to UK for the interview right?

Please inform me of what the best way would be and wheather she will be able to come here under the tourist thing while this is giong on(becuase she is UK citizen)

thanks a bunch in advance

-sorry about double post, my browser is weird

Edited April 17, 2007 by master4g

[Otto 83]

OK, heres the deal.

I am an US citizen. My fiance is a UK citizen. We are getting married in August in London, and our plan is that she will come back to US with me after we get married.

Should we start a fiance visa (K1 i think) now or should we do the K3 once we get married. Which will be the quickest way? Usually, british citizens arent required to have a visa to visit the US for 3 months or something, so she will be able to come back with me while its processing and return to UK for the interview right?

Please inform me of what the best way would be and wheather she will be able to come here under the tourist thing while this is giong on(becuase she is UK citizen)

thanks a bunch in advance

-sorry about double post, my browser is weird

It all depends on your time schedule...have you checked the What Visa Do We Need? section?

[master4g 0]

OK, heres the deal.

I am an US citizen. My fiance is a UK citizen. We are getting married in August in London, and our plan is that she will come back to US with me after we get married.

Should we start a fiance visa (K1 i think) now or should we do the K3 once we get married. Which will be the quickest way? Usually, british citizens arent required to have a visa to visit the US for 3 months or something, so she will be able to come back with me while its processing and return to UK for the interview right?

Please inform me of what the best way would be and wheather she will be able to come here under the tourist thing while this is giong on(becuase she is UK citizen)

thanks a bunch in advance

-sorry about double post, my browser is weird

It all depends on your time schedule...have you checked the What Visa Do We Need? section?

im not sure what u mean by time schedule. we will be gtting maried regardless in august. so should we do the K3 after marriage or pretend like the marriage never took place and once she is in the states, we do the K1 visa...

[Muuuuah 0]

You will need to do the K3 if you are getting married in the UK.

[TimsDaisy 0]

If you're married, you cannot get a fiance visa. You cannot apply for a K3 spousal visa until you are married. So if you are set on having a legal marriage take place in England in August, then between now and then, you have ample time to educate yourself, but not much to do, paperwork wise.

There no "pretending" with the United States Federal Government. If you would like, you can apply for the fiance visa now, have a ceremonial, NON LEGAL wedding in the UK (ie: don't sign a thing, but do the fancy dress, etc etc, yadda yadda).

A UK citizen in good standing (most UK citizens) can enter the US under the Visa Waiver Program - which allows the UK-er to stay here for 90 days. Then the Brit either files for an extention or goes home. Or there is the B2 tourist visa option which allows, normally, up to a 180 day stay.

But realistically, you can't just get on a plane and expect to come make a life here permanently after marriage without taking steps toward SOME kind of paperwork first.

A smart thing to do at this point is to take a week , read all the guides and FAQ and timelines here at VJ. Go read as much info you can at both travel.state.gov and - importantly - www.uscis.gov.

Then, once you understand the options available to you, compile more detailed questions that you haven't been able to answer on your own, and ask us.

best of luck!

[Otto 83]

If you want to really know whats best: Do it the right way - lying/pretending a wedding didn't happen and coming here on the tourist 'thing' could come back to haunt you in ways you won't find humor in.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Have you considered getting a CR1 visa instead of a K3? It takes a bit longer though, but allows you to go in having done all the immigrant visa nonsense in London instead of adjusting status over there. You can work straight away, which is also a bonus.

And...if you've been in the UK long enough (anyone recall what the new rule on length of residency is -- is it still 2 years?) you can do Direct Consular Filing through the Embassy which is even faster than filing through one of the US Service Centres for a CR1. Or so I am told -- I'm doing DCF right now and it seems to take ages, but that's just because I want to go home NOW!!!

Just a word of advice, echoing everybody else -- do not hide anything from the USCIS, the Embassy or Uncle Sam in general. They will find out sooner or later, and immigration fraud, especially in the current political climate, is not something you want to get done for. The penalties are real and severe.

Good luck -- do some research now and get your ducks in a row before August, read the guides and visit the USCIS website. This is a fantastic site, a real treasure trove and you'll get info and support here you wouldn't get anywhere else!

[MargotDarko 0]

Have you considered getting a CR1 visa instead of a K3? It takes a bit longer though, but allows you to go in having done all the immigrant visa nonsense in London instead of adjusting status over there. You can work straight away, which is also a bonus.

And...if you've been in the UK long enough (anyone recall what the new rule on length of residency is -- is it still 2 years?) you can do Direct Consular Filing through the Embassy which is even faster than filing through one of the US Service Centres for a CR1. Or so I am told -- I'm doing DCF right now and it seems to take ages, but that's just because I want to go home NOW!!!

Just a word of advice, echoing everybody else -- do not hide anything from the USCIS, the Embassy or Uncle Sam in general. They will find out sooner or later, and immigration fraud, especially in the current political climate, is not something you want to get done for. The penalties are real and severe.

Good luck -- do some research now and get your ducks in a row before August, read the guides and visit the USCIS website. This is a fantastic site, a real treasure trove and you'll get info and support here you wouldn't get anywhere else!

Yep, I was going to the ask the same thing about how long the OP has been in the UK - assuming they're in the UK. The official rule for direct filing (it's not DCF though since there's a USCIS office in London) is 2 years resident in the UK, but many people are finding that their petition is accepted if they've been in the UK for 11 months or more. I was in the UK for 19 mos when I sent in my petition, and they're currently processing it.

[MargotDarko 0]

OK, heres the deal.

I am an US citizen. My fiance is a UK citizen. We are getting married in August in London, and our plan is that she will come back to US with me after we get married.

Should we start a fiance visa (K1 i think) now or should we do the K3 once we get married. Which will be the quickest way? Usually, british citizens arent required to have a visa to visit the US for 3 months or something, so she will be able to come back with me while its processing and return to UK for the interview right?

Please inform me of what the best way would be and wheather she will be able to come here under the tourist thing while this is giong on(becuase she is UK citizen)

thanks a bunch in advance

-sorry about double post, my browser is weird

Hello! Are you currently living in the UK? If so, how long have you been in UK and on what kind of visa? If by August you'll have been in the UK on a non-tourist visa (such a student or finance visa) for 11 months or more, you should file the 1-130 with the USCIS office in London. That goes quickly (usually 6 months if there aren't any snags) and will result in a CR-1 visa for your wife, which has some great advantages. At her first point of entry to the US with the CR-1 (she has 6 months to enter after receiving the visa), she'll receive a temp stamp in her passport which will serve as her greencard until the real greencard comes in the mail. All you'll have to do after that is removal of conditions about two years down the line.

If you're currently in the US, an option would be having her visit you and do a court wedding in the states and then you can start an 1-130 right away. In the UK, you would do a non-legal ceremony (also negates the need for a UK fiance visa). It's perfectly fine for her to enter the states, marry you and then leave. She would need proof of ties to the UK - such a mortage/lease and letter from her employer or a uni if she's a student.

OK, heres the deal.

I am an US citizen. My fiance is a UK citizen. We are getting married in August in London, and our plan is that she will come back to US with me after we get married.

Should we start a fiance visa (K1 i think) now or should we do the K3 once we get married. Which will be the quickest way? Usually, british citizens arent required to have a visa to visit the US for 3 months or something, so she will be able to come back with me while its processing and return to UK for the interview right?

Please inform me of what the best way would be and wheather she will be able to come here under the tourist thing while this is giong on(becuase she is UK citizen)

thanks a bunch in advance

-sorry about double post, my browser is weird

It all depends on your time schedule...have you checked the What Visa Do We Need? section?

im not sure what u mean by time schedule. we will be gtting maried regardless in august. so should we do the K3 after marriage or pretend like the marriage never took place and once she is in the states, we do the K1 visa...

I just noticed this comment - do not do this. It's illegal and could land you and your future wife in huge trouble.

[ajames79 0]

I'd do a lot more research before getting married regardless of the paperwork...

Unfortunatly it will take time regardless. Nothing involving any of the visas will be a cut and dry, easy peasy process. But once you get started it doesn't seem to take all that long...just some patience.

Like someone mentioned having a dressed wedding with out the legal paperwork would probably be okay but I'd be careful about pushing the limits. Pretending anything is a risk I wouldn't take. No one wants to be banned from entering the US....

Good luck.

Research Research. Research

Edited April 17, 2007 by ajames79

[Toledospod 0]

Was in a similar situation to the OP, except I'm the UK citizen and my wife was the US citizen. She was already living and working in the UK before we met and got married. We went the IR-1 route through the US embassy in London and it was pretty quick. Feel free to look at my timeline and ask me any questions if you are looking to do this! Would be happy to give you any advice I can!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Londonspod

[homesick_american 1]

Everybody here has given you excellent advice. Please take all of it into consideration.

[master4g 0]

I have not lived in he UK for over a month, for those who were asking.

so lemme repharse my question:

-so, my fiance and I are not married yet, and we will not be having a legal marriage.

heres what I want: not to be seperated from her after we marry (at least for not over 2 weeks). we already bought a plane ticket for her to come over in the same flight as me. it is for roughly 85 days. we went with the fact that usually UK citizans can freely come to the US without visa

so would u recommend: we wait until we get married in august, file for the K3 in london, have her come over with me in end of august and return to UK, and then come back, and repeat until things get approved...

or would u reccomend: (im not sure if this is the correct procedure): that we apply for K1 now (would we do it now? ) and then have our non-legal marriage in august and have her still come over to the US with me in the end of august until end of November, while the K1 is pending? -- would there be a benifit in this, just becasue we would be starting the process about 4 months before we would be able to start a K3. would she recieve her visa quicker?

thanks a lot. sorry if i seemed confused about many of these things

[Yodrak 7]

master4g,

My suggestions:

- learn the difference between a wedding and a marriage, and find out whether or not a wedding creates a marriage in the locale where you plan to have the wedding

- read the VJ Guides and Visa FAQ, and the appropriate 'How Do I' pages of the USCIS web site. You need to know more about visiting the USA and immigrating to the USA than "or something".

- the visa waiver program (and B2 tourist visas) are for people to visit the USA for a limited period of time, they are not for people to move to the USA in advance of obtaining the proper visa for moving to the USA.

Yodrak

OK, heres the deal.

I am an US citizen. My fiance is a UK citizen. We are getting married in August in London, and our plan is that she will come back to US with me after we get married.

Should we start a fiance visa (K1 i think) now or should we do the K3 once we get married. Which will be the quickest way? Usually, british citizens arent required to have a visa to visit the US for 3 months or something, so she will be able to come back with me while its processing and return to UK for the interview right?

Please inform me of what the best way would be and wheather she will be able to come here under the tourist thing while this is giong on(becuase she is UK citizen)

thanks a bunch in advance

-sorry about double post, my browser is weird

[Fandango 1,439]

You need to familiarize yourself with your options because you've got some suprises in store for you. Here's one bit of advice: visa first, everything else second I highly doubt she's going to be able to use that ticket for more than just a visit.

Edited April 17, 2007 by LisaD