Need your help with making the least risky chioce

[G&A 1]

Hi all,

I am engaged to a lovely lady from Canada. We both visit each other on a regular basis. I have been reading this forum and now i am at a point where i have to make a decision that I have to live with for a long time. Need some immigration advice as to what option below is the most appropriate (very low risk tolerance here when it comes to immigration law and visas)

Key fact: We are planning on a BIG religious ceremony in Canada in Oct. We will be married in the eyes of the church but it will not be legal in Canada since no license will be issued. Though, we are calling it a wedding as printed on our invitations.

a Apply for a K1 Visa. Have the religious ceremony as planned. Fiancée gets her visa stamped. She moves the US. Get legally married within 90 days and file for AOS. I like this the best from a time aspect but concerned about the fact that the religious ceremony may cause complications

b Same as a but tone down the religious ceremony to just a reception and skip the church part Parents will hate this option but seems less risky than a. but maybe some risk still with the fact t hat 500 people will be there and she is wearing a beautiful white wedding dress, pictures, video and all that good stuff

c Postpone ceremony till after K1 is approved and after we are legally married in the US and the Parole has been approved. Seems no risk here but could be a major problem at this point since we have spent a lot of money into this religious ceremony. Also a major heart breaker. And many guest booked their tickets

d Same as a but write an explanation in the petition explaining our intentions to have the religious ceremony in Oct. All our cards are open. Worst case is RFE will tell us what to do and might have to fall back to the K3 process and would have wasted a few month. The good thing here is that if we are approved, here is no misrepresentation of our intentions and might make her life better during the interview or at the POE. One member posted this and it worked well for him/her

e Take a trip to Canada, get married there and then come back to the US and file for K3 The K3 takes a bit longer and with the new bona fide rule, not sure how i can provide material proof considering i will be married for a few days (except for the marriage cert and some pictures). Basically more paperwork and risk of things going wrong

f Get married when she visits the US for the weekend under the VWP (visitor) in a few weeks time. She flies back the Monday after which i start the K3 filing process. Same as e but i guess more risky [potential visa fraud issue / intention]. On the bright side, now we do not have to deal with the Canadian system to get a marriage certificate which might add some delays to the whole process

Sorry for the long post.

PS I read the FAQs and the guides before posting

[Otto 83]

I vote "C"

[pushbrk 12,883]

I vote "C"

Pick the one you like. They are all fine. It's only visa fraud if she stays and tries to adjust status. The bonafide relationship requirements you see in the new I-130 instructions are for use when filing to adjust status. They understand that a new marriage won't have proof of ongoing relationship and let you prove that to the Consular Officer at interview.

The one caution with your non legal wedding would be that it needs to be treated by you, in the visa process, as if it never happened. Don't mention it. Don't show pictures of it or allude to it in any way (like referring to her as your wife or you as her husband) until after she enters on a legal K1 visa. There is absolutely nothing wrong with holding a non legal ceremony before the visa is issued but mentioning it can raise big red flags. They may want you to prove you are NOT married or worse. If it comes up, be very clear about it and be ready to give evidence it was not a legal marriage.

Actually getting married and filing for spouse visa is not risky at all.

[Dan J 277]

You can go ahead with a, if your not going to give the consulate officers too much information. But if you want the lowest amount of risk with the fastest turnaround, I would lean toward e. Just get married legally to begin the K-3 process, then having your real wedding in October.

[S & J 0]

We did f. Fraud only occurs if the spouse stays and then tries to adjust status. But just an FYI I didn't know when I went to visit the US that we were getting married - my husband had everything organized and surprised me so that we could elope. If she has a job/school to go back to there shouldn't be a problem at the border.

f Get married when she visits the US for the weekend under the VWP (visitor) in a few weeks time. She flies back the Monday after which i start the K3 filing process. Same as e but i guess more risky [potential visa fraud issue / intention]. On the bright side, now we do not have to deal with the Canadian system to get a marriage certificate which might add some delays to the whole process

[msu17 0]

Considering your low risk tolerance I would say e or f Good luck!!!

Edited May 10, 2007 by msu17

[TimsDaisy 0]

that was a really long post!

if you've already paid for and planned a religious, NON-LEGAL ceremony, do it. if you aren't legally married, you aren't legally married.

but if you are really concerned and you were already going to bifurcate the legal marriage and the ceremony and you're really scared about bad things happening if you go with the non legal ceremony and the K1 visa, why not fly to canada now, get legally married, come home and continue with life as usual, file the K3 because you're legally married, and let that all process as it will.

then you'll get your october wedding. you'll be married and be applying for a spouse visa and you won't fall pray to the scare-squad here that will convince you that you oops! somehow might *accidently* end up legally married. (which won't happen, but if you are too jumpy then go with what you are comfortable with.

okay - so i got wordy too, but in sum:

1.) go get legally married now.

2.) file K3 now.

3.) let K3 marinate and work its way through the system

4.) go do your big, already at least partially paid for wedding in october.

5.) keep going with the k3 process.

make sense?

[JVKn'CVO 11]

I vote E or F

Good luck!

[Caladan 19]

You know what, TimsDaisy, most of us are pretty clear that they won't end up accidentally legally married in this case. We're worried about them having to prove that they're unmarried due to a slip-up at the interview or POE or when it comes time to adjust status.

To the OP: if you get married, say, and file for a spousal visa the next day, you won't look particularly fraudulent. It's the whole relationship that makes your marriage legit, not whether you've been married for years before filing.

I think either a) or f) is your best option. I'd lean towards f), since the difference is only a couple of months and the religious ceremony seems to be pretty important to both of you.

[Jeremy + Kristy 0]

You know what, TimsDaisy, most of us are pretty clear that they won't end up accidentally legally married in this case. We're worried about them having to prove that they're unmarried due to a slip-up at the interview or POE or when it comes time to adjust status.

To the OP: if you get married, say, and file for a spousal visa the next day, you won't look particularly fraudulent. It's the whole relationship that makes your marriage legit, not whether you've been married for years before filing.

I think either a) or f) is your best option. I'd lean towards f), since the difference is only a couple of months and the religious ceremony seems to be pretty important to both of you.

Another vote from me for either a) or f) If you want your fiancee living with you in the States as soon as possible. It seems that the K3s and K1s end up taking about the same amount of time to process, anyway, unless your fiancee is on the west coast or praries and will be dealing with the Vancouver instead of Montreal consulate. Least "risk" would be f), and probably quicker to get married at a JoP in the States, three days in most states, I think.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are, except our "wedding" is in September in the States. If I could do it over, we'd probably go with f). Our biggest determining factor at that point, is which way would we be living together the quickest after being married, though. However, also at that time, I didn't know about the wait for the consulate portion of the process, and actually delayed sending my petition off, so she wouldn't be stuck in Canada and not be able to visit me without using her K1. Man, was I wrong.

Whichever way you go, congratulations, good luck, and godspeed!

Jeremy

[TimsDaisy 0]

You know what, TimsDaisy, most of us are pretty clear that they won't end up accidentally legally married in this case. We're worried about them having to prove that they're unmarried due to a slip-up at the interview or POE or when it comes time to adjust status.

To the OP: if you get married, say, and file for a spousal visa the next day, you won't look particularly fraudulent. It's the whole relationship that makes your marriage legit, not whether you've been married for years before filing.

I think either a) or f) is your best option. I'd lean towards f), since the difference is only a couple of months and the religious ceremony seems to be pretty important to both of you.

Great, Caladan - did I post the information for your benefit? I thought it was for the OP who sounded a bit panicked in the original post. Isn't a lot of time on VJ spent trying to talk people off cliffs?

The point of the thread ISN'T to get into the same argument about "proving a negative" or whatever the panicking types here get so worried about when it comes to weddings vs. marriage. And more to the point, the bulk of my post was offering a scenario that the OP didn't seem to contemplate which might satisfy ALL of the couple's concerns (money, time spent planning, time apart and in process, legal requirements, etc).

[Ephesus 0]

Since religion seems like a big part of your life (and subsequent marriage), I would recommend you stick to the plan, get married, then file for the K-3. You can visit in-between. And, if you follow the guides, ask questions when you have a grey area, you should do fine in this application, no matter which way you go.

I hope your life is a successful one and congratulations on meeting your fiancé.

[G&A 1]

Thank you all for your thoughts and input. Here is a short summary of the feedback we got so far (my interpretation which might not be 100% accurate):

• Karin und Otto: Option c (Postpone ceremony till after K1 is approved)
  
• pushbrk: Good feedback but no specific preference
  
• Dan + Gemvita: Option e (Get married in Canada and start K-3). Also, Option a (K1 with religious ceremony) is ok but carries some risk.
  
• S & J: Option f (Gert married in the US while a visitor and file K-3)
  
• msu17: Option f
  
• TimsDaisy: Option e (Get married in Canada and start K-3). Also, Option a (K1 with religious ceremony) is ok if not too risk averse.
  
• JVKn'CVO: Option e or option f
  
• Caladan: Option f
  
• Jeremy + Kristy: Option f. Also, Option a is ok but carries some risk.
  
• Ephesus: I think he meant option e or option f
  Thanks for all who contributed so far.
  

[no name 1]

The big question is:

Do you want to get married then live apart?

I didn't, so we did K1, not K3.

[Alex+R 0]

The big question is:

Do you want to get married then live apart?

I didn't, so we did K1, not K3.

But if that's not you, and you're ok with living apart after a civil ceremony, then I would take one of the K3 routes. As others have said, you really don't want to slip up in an interview. Good luck to you!

BTW, I really appreciate that you read the guides, and it sounds like you really did your own research. WTG; this is how VJ members can best help, IMO.