No wedding photos

[noraliz73 243]

My fiancé is coming here soon and I really can't wait to marry him.  As far as his family and friends are concerned, we are already married I'm our religion.  I live in a different state from my parents and older children and their state has a three day waiting period.  Not only will it be inconvenient to get married in their state, I am not interested in having a wedding.  If I invited anyone here, I'd have to pay for flights, hotels, etc and we can't afford any of that.  I don't think they are interested.  I want to go to a romantic inn, just the two of us and spend time hiking and seeing nature that they don't have in Egypt.  Then, we will go to visit my family and take them out and have fun.  My fiancé says immigration will deny him a green card if we don't have wedding pictures with family.  Is this true?  I don't want all the headache of a wedding.  That is not special or romantic to me.

[EandH0904 1,184]

A lot of people have courthouse weddings without family. I don't think that's important in itself but I do think it shows more legitimacy if you have some pictures with your family and especially your children.  

 

If he's coming over to marry you will he then go back to Egypt and do a CR1? Don't forget it's visa fraud to come over with the intention of staying here. 

[noraliz73 243]

No.  We will have a K1 visa and he will stay.

[-Trinity- 513]

You don't need to have a big wedding. When we got married it was just our kids, his mom , grandmother and three of his friends. We had lunch together and a cake afterwards. Afterwards we went to a nice hotel at the beach  for a couple days. Simple....and the kids loved it.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Beachlover

[EandH0904 1,184]

6 minutes ago, noraliz73 said:

No.  We will have a K1 visa and he will stay.

If he's coming over on a k1 you should be good to go! Good luck! You might want to consider inviting your family to the courthouse for your wedding then just do a lunch or something after. If they decide not to travel it's then their choice, not yours 🙂

[noraliz73 243]

I really wish people would come to Pennsylvania to a wedding.  It's annoying that if I want someone to attend something, I have to drive to Massachusetts to get the marriage license, deal with the waiting period and try to make arrangements in a state where I don't live.  I really want to avoid all of that.  If I have to go through all the driving, orchestrating and headache, I feel that a time that should be special and happy for us will just be an ordeal.  All to get some photos.  Maybe if we go to see them a day or two after and have a cake and a party...

[-Trinity- 513]

Has he met your parents and kids yet?

[noraliz73 243]

No.  But I have met his family.  I met his family 29 years ago actually when we were classmates.  And, of course, this year.  He video-chats with my youngest son who will be staying with us.  He messages my other two children, who are adults living in another state.  We all talk on the phone too when I am with them.

[-Trinity- 513]

Ok, just a piece of advice; I think meeting them will be more important than wether you have wedding pictures or not.  Maybe you can have some friends and your youngest son on the wedding ceremony, have someone take pictures. When you visit your family again take some pictures with your husband. Maybe it's different for people adjusting from K1, but when we had our interview they didn't ask for any pictures. We brought them with us though in case they were asking for it..

 

Good luck and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

The "wedding with family" tends to be more important for the CR-1 spousal visa than for AOS.

That being said, I'd recommend taking pics anyways, even if it is one in front of the courthouse just the two of you, and one with the judge and your two witnesses- you will treasure the memory later and you will have something to show to the interviewer.    Then you can take family pics when he meets them, even if it's not at the legal wedding.

[noraliz73 243]

Thank you.  I really am looking forward to doing something special, just the two of us.  Then, we will drive to see my family and have a good time with them spontaneously and not trying to make a wedding day go smoothly in another state.  I will invite them to the mountain inn where we want to get married and offer to pay for everything for them for a few days, but I don't think they would drive here for that.  I hope so.  I am willing to plan something nearby.

[Cathi 5,784]

23 hours ago, noraliz73 said:

My fiancé is coming here soon and I really can't wait to marry him.  As far as his family and friends are concerned, we are already married I'm our religion.  I live in a different state from my parents and older children and their state has a three day waiting period.  Not only will it be inconvenient to get married in their state, I am not interested in having a wedding.  If I invited anyone here, I'd have to pay for flights, hotels, etc and we can't afford any of that.  I don't think they are interested.  I want to go to a romantic inn, just the two of us and spend time hiking and seeing nature that they don't have in Egypt.  Then, we will go to visit my family and take them out and have fun.  My fiancé says immigration will deny him a green card if we don't have wedding pictures with family.  Is this true?  I don't want all the headache of a wedding.  That is not special or romantic to me.

Did you say you're already married according to Islam? If that's the case your "fiance" is already your husband and he is NOT eligible for a k-1. Once you sign the marriage contract you're legally married. Period. End of story. There is no gray area.

[noraliz73 243]

If you have never written a marriage contract in any government signed by any religious or government official, you are not considered married for legal purposes.  The only binding marriages in Egypt are those performed by the Ministry of Justice in Cairo.  Declaring marriage intentions and having it acceptable to friends and family does not provide legal marriage in either country.  I can't ever live with him and he can't ever live with me.  We can be alone together without it being a sin, but only until my tourist visa expires.  The Ministry of Justice refused to marry us, so we are not validly married and need to do so or never be together.

[noraliz73 243]

We were refused because of the wording on my divorce decree and do not have any written documents that confer the right of marriage on either one of us.  The Sheikh said, of course we're married in the eyes of God, but we can't have a wedding or get any paperwork because they did not believe my divorce was really final. So, I was unable to file for a spousal visa because he is not my spouse.

[f f 725]

23 hours ago, noraliz73 said:

As far as his family and friends are concerned, we are already married I'm our religion

you are too married for a k1 but not married enough for a cr1. which date are you going to use for your anniversary? if that is even a question you have to think of you are in gray area where neither visa will work for you and you need to get fully marriedand apply for a cr1.

 

when did your divorce become final and you week able to marry? also when did you submit the i129f?

Edited August 20, 2017 by f f