Using an ESTA/Tourist visa to marry

[William&Emily 36]

Hi all,

Myself and my partner were going to file a K1 visa later this year as we want to marry and for me to live in the USA.

We recently found that some people go to USA on a tourist visa, marry and then apply for adjustment of status.

How likely is the above to actually go through and be approved? I think it sounds a bit "too easy" after seeing how long the K1 visa takes and the paperwork and checks etc I'd be concerned about doing the above and then not being approved and never being able to apply again?

Any info or experience you have would be amazing.

Thank you

[Lucy&Jason 807]

2 minutes ago, William&Emily said:

Hi all,

Myself and my partner were going to file a K1 visa later this year as we want to marry and for me to live in the USA.

We recently found that some people go to USA on a tourist visa, marry and then apply for adjustment of status.

How likely is the above to actually go through and be approved? I think it sounds a bit "too easy" after seeing how long the K1 visa takes and the paperwork and checks etc I'd be concerned about doing the above and then not being approved and never being able to apply again?

Any info or experience you have would be amazing.

Thank you

Oh no no no.. you can’t use tourist visa to marry.. Tourist visa is different from K1 visa. If you wish to use K1(Fiancé/é Visa) from the word itself you shouldn’t be married til you get approved and come to the US and marry with in 90days. 

 

Moreover, a tourist is a tourist. You go there for a recreation and go back home.

 

If you will get married using tourist visa, that will certainly going to be a big pain in the neck for you in the future. 

 

Goodluck...

[William&Emily 36]

2 minutes ago, Lucy&Jason said:

Oh no no no.. you can’t use tourist visa to marry.. Tourist visa is different from K1 visa. If you wish to use K1(Fiancé/é Visa) from the word itself you shouldn’t be married til you get approved and come to the US and marry with in 90days. 

 

Moreover, a tourist is a tourist. You go there for a recreation and go back home.

 

If you will get married using tourist visa, that will certainly going to be a big pain in the neck for you in the future. 

 

Goodluck...

Yeah that's what I thought too. However we had seen online that some people had done the whole going on a tourist and then adjusting.
I thought it sounded too "easy" and I didn't wanna do anything that would jeopardize us in the future.

[Lucy&Jason 807]

Just now, William&Emily said:

Yeah that's what I thought too. However we had seen online that some people had done the whole going on a tourist and then adjusting.
I thought it sounded too "easy" and I didn't wanna do anything that would jeopardize us in the future.

Don’t follow them. You are right you should not compromise your immigration process for an easy way out. If you wish to file you K1, there are a lot of guides and instructions that you can obtain from here. From start to finish.. 

 

Best of Everything....

[Soup Dragon 104]

23 minutes ago, William&Emily said:

Hi all,

Myself and my partner were going to file a K1 visa later this year as we want to marry and for me to live in the USA.

We recently found that some people go to USA on a tourist visa, marry and then apply for adjustment of status.

How likely is the above to actually go through and be approved? I think it sounds a bit "too easy" after seeing how long the K1 visa takes and the paperwork and checks etc I'd be concerned about doing the above and then not being approved and never being able to apply again?

Any info or experience you have would be amazing.

Thank you

You CAN get married on a tourist visa as long as you do not overstay and you return home after the wedding.  People do destination weddings all the time.  What you CANNOT do is enter the US on a tourist visa with the intention of marrying, staying and adjusting status.  That is immigration fraud.     

[William&Emily 36]

12 minutes ago, Lucy&Jason said:

Don’t follow them. You are right you should not compromise your immigration process for an easy way out. If you wish to file you K1, there are a lot of guides and instructions that you can obtain from here. From start to finish.. 

 

Best of Everything....

Yeah I already have a ton of research for k1 I'm a little maybe over prepared.

Thanks for the advice!

2 minutes ago, Sunflower18 said:

You CAN get married on a tourist visa as long as you do not overstay and you return home after the wedding.  People do destination weddings all the time.  What you CANNOT do is enter the US on a tourist visa with the intention of marrying, staying and adjusting status.  That is immigration fraud.     

That's what I thought too!
Thank you for the advice

[Wuozopo 4,293]

2 hours ago, William&Emily said:

Hi all,

Myself and my partner were going to file a K1 visa later this year as we want to marry and for me to live in the USA.

We recently found that some people go to USA on a tourist visa, marry and then apply for adjustment of status.

How likely is the above to actually go through and be approved? I think it sounds a bit "too easy" after seeing how long the K1 visa takes and the paperwork and checks etc I'd be concerned about doing the above and then not being approved and never being able to apply again?

Any info or experience you have would be amazing.

Thank you

 

You're in the wrong forum, a place to talk about getting a tourist visa. You don't need a tourist visa because you can visit the US on visa VWP by filling out ESTA. 

 

The forum for adjustment of status from a VWP, tourist or work visa  is http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-amp-tourist-visas/

or where they chat about their progress experiences here http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/138-adjustment-of-status-case-filing-and-progress-reports/

People are successful adjusting from an entry on VWP and the ones I've read describe the interview as no different from people who came on a K1. The subject of how they entered did not come up. But entry on visa waiver means you have signed off on your right to appeal anything about your stay. So if something goes wrong  and your AOS is denied, you leave. You don't get to stay and appeal. Then you would start over with a spouse visa petition.  

Edited September 4, 2018 by Wuozopo

[MacUK 983]

5 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

 

You're in the wrong forum, a place to talk about getting a tourist visa. You don't need a tourist visa because you can visit the US on visa VWP by filling out ESTA. 

 

The forum for adjustment of status from a VWP, tourist or work visa  is http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-amp-tourist-visas/

or where they chat about their progress experiences here http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/138-adjustment-of-status-case-filing-and-progress-reports/

People are successful adjusting from an entry on VWP and the ones I've read describe the interview as no different from people who came on a K1. The subject of how they entered did not come up. But entry on visa waiver means you have signed off on your right to appeal anything about your stay. So if something goes wrong  and your AOS is denied, you leave. You don't get to stay and appeal. Then you would start over with a spouse visa petition.  

 

5 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

 

You're in the wrong forum, a place to talk about getting a tourist visa. You don't need a tourist visa because you can visit the US on visa VWP by filling out ESTA. 

 

The forum for adjustment of status from a VWP, tourist or work visa  is http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-amp-tourist-visas/

or where they chat about their progress experiences here http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/138-adjustment-of-status-case-filing-and-progress-reports/

People are successful adjusting from an entry on VWP and the ones I've read describe the interview as no different from people who came on a K1. The subject of how they entered did not come up. But entry on visa waiver means you have signed off on your right to appeal anything about your stay. So if something goes wrong  and your AOS is denied, you leave. You don't get to stay and appeal. Then you would start over with a spouse visa petition.  

Unfortunately though the OP presumably isn't in the U.S. right now so this is not an option and would be fraud.

[Boiler 45,520]

46 minutes ago, MacUK said:

 

Unfortunately though the OP presumably isn't in the U.S. right now so this is not an option and would be fraud.

And more importantly a breach of the VJ ToS.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

**** Mod note: J  does not advice, condone, assist with etc illegal immigration into the USA. This is not just illegal and visa (or ESTA) fraud, it can also lead to a lifetime ban from the USA for the foreigner. Do not do this.  The discussion of using ESTSA with the intent of immigrating to the USA stops here. ******

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

16 hours ago, William&Emily said:

Hi all,

Myself and my partner were going to file a K1 visa later this year as we want to marry and for me to live in the USA.

We recently found that some people go to USA on a tourist visa, marry and then apply for adjustment of status.

How likely is the above to actually go through and be approved? I think it sounds a bit "too easy" after seeing how long the K1 visa takes and the paperwork and checks etc I'd be concerned about doing the above and then not being approved and never being able to apply again?

Any info or experience you have would be amazing.

Thank you

That’s immigration fraud...coming on a tourist visa with the intent to marry. People that do that make the wait times longer for others who go through the immigration process LEGALLY , put themselves in an unethical/illegal situation and frankly screw the system for those of us that do the right thing. 

[JFH 12,190]

17 hours ago, William&Emily said:

Hi all,

Myself and my partner were going to file a K1 visa later this year as we want to marry and for me to live in the USA.

We recently found that some people go to USA on a tourist visa, marry and then apply for adjustment of status.

How likely is the above to actually go through and be approved? I think it sounds a bit "too easy" after seeing how long the K1 visa takes and the paperwork and checks etc I'd be concerned about doing the above and then not being approved and never being able to apply again?

Any info or experience you have would be amazing.

Thank you

Nothing wrong with getting married here whilst visiting. Plenty of people get married here who don't live here - Thomas Cook Weddings wouldn't be in existence if Brits couldn't come on the VWP to get married in Las Vegas and Disney World whilst on holiday. I got married here on a VWP visit. Arrived on a Tuesday, got the license on the Wednesday, married on the Saturday (our state has a three-day waiting period), returned to the U.K. the following Tuesday. The London embassy even states that this is perfectly acceptable. There is an "urban myth" floating among some users of this forum that if you want to get married in the USA you have to apply for a K-1 and that marrying as a visitor is somehow not permitted. 

 

Incidentally, if you've done a lot of research, I'm surprised you have opted for the K-1. It offers virtually no advantage over the CR-1 to VWP-eligible people. The processing time is pretty much the same now also. 

Edited September 5, 2018 by JFH

[mushroomspore 3,044]

You are free to get married as a tourist in the US. Many people do. Even foreign couples who have no plans to immigrate to the US but just wanna have a destination wedding here enter as tourists and tie the knot.

 

The requirement is that if you enter as a tourist intending to get married, you must return home and then file the proper visa to return permanently.

[Cathi 5,750]

You cannot enter the US with a tourist visa with the intent to marry and adjust status. It's illegal and will result in a permanent ban from the US.

[JoannaV 174]

And seriously... whilst fraud is immoral (I myself married on VWP, left the US, returned to the US, filed for CR-1 - so twice that I did NOT commit fraud) it is also INCREASINGLY easier to identify and thus penalize. Recently they have been cross-referencing fingerprints from the 1990s and de-naturalizing people who they discovered engaged in misrepresentation. I think in the future they *could* re-analyze the cases of people who AOS'd from tourist status to see if there was misrepresentation at the POE - new technology can make finding incriminating statements on the internet easier. I'm not saying this will happen, just that I think it will become *possible*.