Courthouse wedding?

[mogiftney 144]

So, I’m not sure if I have accurate info regarding this, but I’ve read some info on K1 visas regarding courthouse weddings but the info I found was slightly outdated, so I want to know if anybody has any input on this.

 

I read online that often times with the K1 visa, couples will wait a year or a good few months to have a big expensive ceremony due to all of the logistics and planning and traveling family members from different countries and finances that go into the visa process which is super unreliable timeframe wise, and have JUST a courthouse wedding instead within the 90 day period.

 

So my question is... could we do this? Would just a courthouse wedding within the 90 day window suffice for the time being, and then we could do a bigger ceremony once the stress from getting my fiancée into the states is over?

 

I know they want lots of proof of wedding plans and such, I just wonder if you could explain that you want to do just a courthouse wedding instead for the time being because it’s hard to plan around the K1 process? I mean, they know it’s difficult, right?

 

Thanks for your time

Edited August 7, 2019 by mogiftney

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

I'm certain the majority of K1 filers go for a courthouse ceremony and skip the big wedding completely. 

 

They DO NOT ask for proof of wedding plans at any point during the process -though in certain countries they consider them as proof of bona fide relationship-.

 

For the K1 stage they want to know you've met your partner in person, you're free to marry and your'e willing to do so once you move to the US.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Allaboutwaiting

[mogiftney 144]

8 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

I'm certain the majority of K1 filers go for a courthouse ceremony and skip the big wedding completely. 

 

They DO NOT ask for proof of wedding plans at any point during the process -though in certain countries they consider them as proof of bona fide relationship-.

 

For the K1 stage they want to know you've met your partner in person, you're free to marry and your'e willing to do so once you move to the US.

Oh I must have been mistaken then, I read that some people were including wedding plans in their petitions or showing them to CO’s at their interviews. We’re a US and UK couple. I don’t know if London wants to see wedding plans as evidence of a bona fide relationship?

 

Thanks for the response!

[GetOutside 164]

There is no text book meaning that the “only” or “correct” way of getting married is to have a traditional ceremony with guests. That’s silly. A courthouse wedding within the 90 days upon arrival into America is good enough. 

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

26 minutes ago, mogiftney said:

So my question is... could we do this?

Yes. In fact I believe the majority of K-1 people do that, due to the uncertainty of exactly when the visa is being issued which make it almost impossible to plan such a big event as a wedding. This is one of myths about K-1. No, you do NOT have to have a wedding. They only care of you get legally married. Big difference. 

 

Btw, the other popular myth out there is if you have a child together, that makes your story more believable. No, it doesn’t. Having child just means you have sexual intercourse. It doesn’t say much about the relationship. God, there are people who sent pictures of themselves having sex in...

32 minutes ago, mogiftney said:

I know they want lots of proof of wedding plans and such, I just wonder if you could explain that you want to do just a courthouse wedding instead for the time being because it’s hard to plan around the K1 process?

No they don’t. As mentioned, they do not care if you have a big wedding, small wedding, no wedding, 20 guests or 2000 guests, or whether you spent your honeymoon at the Ritz- Carlton in Dubai or at the local Motel 6. What they really want is proof of a valid bona fide relationship. That means you have joint insurance, joint checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, joint ownership on houses, lands, mobile homes, boats, cars, jet skis, see-doos, joint leases, cell phone accounts, filing taxes as married, proof of cohabitation, water bills, electric bills, ..... the list go on and on. 

[mogiftney 144]

33 minutes ago, USS_Voyager said:

Yes. In fact I believe the majority of K-1 people do that, due to the uncertainty of exactly when the visa is being issued which make it almost impossible to plan such a big event as a wedding. This is one of myths about K-1. No, you do NOT have to have a wedding. They only care of you get legally married. Big difference. 

 

Btw, the other popular myth out there is if you have a child together, that makes your story more believable. No, it doesn’t. Having child just means you have sexual intercourse. It doesn’t say much about the relationship. God, there are people who sent pictures of themselves having sex in...

No they don’t. As mentioned, they do not care if you have a big wedding, small wedding, no wedding, 20 guests or 2000 guests, or whether you spent your honeymoon at the Ritz- Carlton in Dubai or at the local Motel 6. What they really want is proof of a valid bona fide relationship. That means you have joint insurance, joint checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, joint ownership on houses, lands, mobile homes, boats, cars, jet skis, see-doos, joint leases, cell phone accounts, filing taxes as married, proof of cohabitation, water bills, electric bills, ..... the list go on and on. 

So, I’m assuming they don’t want proof of cohabitation when we are petitioning for the K1 visa, as it would be illegal for my fiancée to live with me in America without a visa? You’re speaking for later in the process, right? This may seem dumb, it probably is a dumb question, I just want to be sure, I learn new things about this process every day that seems silly so I figured I better ask. 

 

Thanks for the info, very helpful!

Edited August 7, 2019 by mogiftney

[Haydnator 274]

21 minutes ago, mogiftney said:

So, I’m assuming they don’t want proof of cohabitation when we are petitioning for the K1 visa, as it would be illegal for my fiancée to live with me in America without a visa? You’re speaking for later in the process, right? This may seem dumb, it probably is a dumb question, I just want to be sure, I learn new things about this process every day that seems silly so I figured I better ask. 

 

Thanks for the info, very helpful!

No cohabitation is required. All they want to know\ is if you have met the person within the last 2 years. So the proof you should show in the I-129f petition are photos of you together, boarding passes from you both, passport stamps, anything with both your names on it like tickets or hotel receipts. Proof of cohabitation is a plus of course, but not required. 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

1 hour ago, mogiftney said:

Oh I must have been mistaken then, I read that some people were including wedding plans in their petitions or showing them to CO’s at their interviews. We’re a US and UK couple. I don’t know if London wants to see wedding plans as evidence of a bona fide relationship?

 

Thanks for the response!

Couples that have lots of "red flags" or the ones where the beneficiary comes from a high fraud country, tend to "front load" their petitions: pack the file with everything they can find to overcome the doubts the officer might have regarding their relationship -pages and pages of chats, hundreds of pictures, receipts from vendors for the wedding, etc-. Also, the interviewing officers take into consideration, customs from the beneficiary's country, so if a HUGE wedding is customary, they might want to see proof. 

 

London is what would be considered an "easy" embassy and the UK, a low fraud country, so they expect the minimum: passport stamps, flight tickets and a few pictures, plus of course, the mandatory documents -letter of intent, police certificate, etc.-

[mogiftney 144]

51 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Couples that have lots of "red flags" or the ones where the beneficiary comes from a high fraud country, tend to "front load" their petitions: pack the file with everything they can find to overcome the doubts the officer might have regarding their relationship -pages and pages of chats, hundreds of pictures, receipts from vendors for the wedding, etc-. Also, the interviewing officers take into consideration, customs from the beneficiary's country, so if a HUGE wedding is customary, they might want to see proof. 

 

London is what would be considered an "easy" embassy and the UK, a low fraud country, so they expect the minimum: passport stamps, flight tickets and a few pictures, plus of course, the mandatory documents -letter of intent, police certificate, etc.-

Great info, thanks!

 

do you know what countries have customary big weddings? I would think maybe the UK? The average wedding in the UK costs 30,000 pounds. Do you know anyone who went through London and got married only at a courthouse?

 

not sure if this matters, but we aren’t a very traditional couple anyway. We are atheist lesbians... We didn’t get each other engagement rings. We want wedding rings, we don’t see much need for engagement rings. Seems like an unnecessary expense to us. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by mogiftney

[Nitas_man 3,100]

4 hours ago, mogiftney said:

So, I’m not sure if I have accurate info regarding this, but I’ve read some info on K1 visas regarding courthouse weddings but the info I found was slightly outdated, so I want to know if anybody has any input on this.

 

I read online that often times with the K1 visa, couples will wait a year or a good few months to have a big expensive ceremony due to all of the logistics and planning and traveling family members from different countries and finances that go into the visa process which is super unreliable timeframe wise, and have JUST a courthouse wedding instead within the 90 day period.

 

So my question is... could we do this? Would just a courthouse wedding within the 90 day window suffice for the time being, and then we could do a bigger ceremony once the stress from getting my fiancée into the states is over?

 

I know they want lots of proof of wedding plans and such, I just wonder if you could explain that you want to do just a courthouse wedding instead for the time being because it’s hard to plan around the K1 process? I mean, they know it’s difficult, right?

 

Thanks for your time

I do not see proof of wedding plans on the I-129F evidence list. LOL that’s funny.  Please don’t perpetuate that rumor.  We’ll spend the next two years killing it in thread after thread.

 

Intent to marry is the only requirement and any legally recognized marriage ceremony is acceptable.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Nitas_man

[mogiftney 144]

6 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

I do not see proof of wedding plans on the I-129F evidence list. LOL that’s funny.  Please don’t perpetuate that rumor.  We’ll spend the next two years killing it in thread after thread.

 

Intent to marry is the only requirement and any legally recognized marriage ceremony is acceptable.

I didn’t perpetuate any rumors, I just asked a question based off of a rumor I heard so I DON’T perpetuate any rumors, lol!

[Nitas_man 3,100]

Just now, mogiftney said:

I didn’t perpetuate any rumors, I just asked a question based off of a rumor I heard so I DON’T perpetuate any rumors, lol!

Im teasing.

 

K1 weddings are almost impossible to schedule and plan.  Best to get the legal knot tied, file the AOS paperwork as quickly as possible then throw the party.

 

As to cohabitation?  More time spent together the better.  Ticket stubs/hotel receipts/passport stamps that demonstrate you travel to see and spend time with one another are hard relationship evidence.  

 

Bringing formal celebration photos to a K1 interview, especially if it gives an impression that some sort of wedding ceremony took place risks denial.  If you are married, you can’t qualify for a K1.  

 

 

[bowens44 214]

8 hours ago, mogiftney said:

So, I’m not sure if I have accurate info regarding this, but I’ve read some info on K1 visas regarding courthouse weddings but the info I found was slightly outdated, so I want to know if anybody has any input on this.

 

I read online that often times with the K1 visa, couples will wait a year or a good few months to have a big expensive ceremony due to all of the logistics and planning and traveling family members from different countries and finances that go into the visa process which is super unreliable timeframe wise, and have JUST a courthouse wedding instead within the 90 day period.

 

So my question is... could we do this? Would just a courthouse wedding within the 90 day window suffice for the time being, and then we could do a bigger ceremony once the stress from getting my fiancée into the states is over?

 

I know they want lots of proof of wedding plans and such, I just wonder if you could explain that you want to do just a courthouse wedding instead for the time being because it’s hard to plan around the K1 process? I mean, they know it’s difficult, right?

 

Thanks for your time

 

There is no need for anything other than a courthouse wedding. The only requirement is that you get married within 90 days.Yes saying that you intend to have a court house wedding is sufficient.

[Nicola and Jordan 668]

I’m from England and we didn’t want a big wedding anyway. We had a courthouse wedding with a few family and friends, we all turned up in jeans and jumpers ( it was Feb), did a mini ceremony then went to a diner (we are in NYC) and had cheap Prosecco and beers to cheers then later on we went for steaks and ended up in a dive bar and it was the best day ever! We didn’t exchange rings, we aren’t really into all that! 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Nicola and Jordan

[Christy&J 837]

9 hours ago, mogiftney said:

So, I’m not sure if I have accurate info regarding this, but I’ve read some info on K1 visas regarding courthouse weddings but the info I found was slightly outdated, so I want to know if anybody has any input on this.

 

I read online that often times with the K1 visa, couples will wait a year or a good few months to have a big expensive ceremony due to all of the logistics and planning and traveling family members from different countries and finances that go into the visa process which is super unreliable timeframe wise, and have JUST a courthouse wedding instead within the 90 day period.

 

So my question is... could we do this? Would just a courthouse wedding within the 90 day window suffice for the time being, and then we could do a bigger ceremony once the stress from getting my fiancée into the states is over?

 

I know they want lots of proof of wedding plans and such, I just wonder if you could explain that you want to do just a courthouse wedding instead for the time being because it’s hard to plan around the K1 process? I mean, they know it’s difficult, right?

 

Thanks for your time

The most important thing is make your marriage legal within 90days so K1 visa holder can move forward with AOS and remain legal in US.

so courthouse wedding is fine  

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Christy&J