How soon can you get married on a K1?

[Matt W 16]

How soon can you get married? Is it possible to get married during the first week?

 

My fiance is coming from Asia. Was thinking about flying from Asia to Hawaii and getting married there right away before we travel back to my home on the main land.

 

Once she has the visa in hand, what else do we need to actually get married? Do we have to wait for some certain paper work or something?

[geowrian 22,338]

Depending on state, you can go straight from the airport to the wedding chapel (same day). Vegas baby~

Other states have an x day wait between marriage license and wedding date.

Edited September 23, 2019 by geowrian

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

42 minutes ago, Matt W said:

How soon can you get married? Is it possible to get married during the first week?

 

My fiance is coming from Asia. Was thinking about flying from Asia to Hawaii and getting married there right away before we travel back to my home on the main land.

 

Once she has the visa in hand, what else do we need to actually get married? Do we have to wait for some certain paper work or something?

Check the requirement for getting married with your local government or wherever you want to get married. It's different state by state and sometimes county by county on the precedure how you want to do it. There is no time restriction. You can get married as soon as she steps out of the plane if local laws allow it. 

 

As others state, there is always Vegas. You can get married there anytime, anywhere, with anybody, with Elvis as your officiant. 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

2 hours ago, Matt W said:

How soon can you get married? Is it possible to get married during the first week?

As far as USCIS is concerned, you can marry as soon as you're legally in the US. How long it takes to get a marriage license (and whether you can walk into the agency that grants marriage licenses -- country clerk's offices here in CA -- and get married on the spot rather than making an appointment) will vary according to state law and the policies of individual offices. Again here in CA, we got our marriage license the day after Anastasia's POE (note: not in LA or SF proper) and married two days after that; some offices in CA allow walk-in civil weddings, some have long waiting times for civil weddings.

 

There's a poster here who's a licensed officiant and semi-seriously says he'll meet anyone willing to come to Vegas and have them married in an hour.

Edited September 23, 2019 by DaveAndAnastasia

[Pitaya 2,577]

4 hours ago, Matt W said:

How soon can you get married? Is it possible to get married during the first week?

 

My fiance is coming from Asia. Was thinking about flying from Asia to Hawaii and getting married there right away before we travel back to my home on the main land.

 

Once she has the visa in hand, what else do we need to actually get married? Do we have to wait for some certain paper work or something?

As others have said, the terms of the visa that you agreed to abide by is that you marry your alien fiance(e) pithing 90 days of arrival in the US. Often the limiting factor are the laws in the jurisdiction where you choose to get married, there are many differing requirements, some require SSN, some have waiting periods after purchasing the license. Additionally, think about the fact that some jurisdictions are slower than molasses in January in processing and certifying your license - making it difficult to start AOS, or other affairs, etc. Another thing to remember is to consider getting multiple certified copies of your marriage certificate. You never know when you need to produce one for examination or whatever.

 

For example, here in King County, Washington, there is a required 3-day waiting period after purchasing the license and being able to get married. My then-fiancee arrived on a Friday, we got married on the following Tuesday down at the King County Courthouse. About 10 days later, we ordered 10 copies of the marriage certificate @$3/copy, and received them in the mail promptly. YMMV.

 

Good luck on your immigration journey.

[Hank_ 9,174]

5 hours ago, Matt W said:

How soon can you get married? Is it possible to get married during the first week?

 

My fiance is coming from Asia. Was thinking about flying from Asia to Hawaii and getting married there right away before we travel back to my home on the main land.

 

Once she has the visa in hand, what else do we need to actually get married? Do we have to wait for some certain paper work or something?

Once you have visa in hand .. you will need to get the CFO sticker in the passport before your fiancee can even exit the Philippines.   After you clear POE you can then get married as quickly as you can get a marriage license.

 

You would need to look up the requirements for the state where you are planning to get married as to the time requirements for issuance of a marriage license.     Some states have zero wait time, some states even require blood tests.     We had zero wait time in Arizona.

 

I see your are still at USCIS petition process .. lots of time to do some reading on Hawaii or other states for a quick wedding.    

[carmel34 3,650]

https://health.hawaii.gov/vitalrecords/marriage-licenses/

[Ontarkie 14,373]

~~Moved to Moving Here and YOur New Life, from K1 P&P - as the topic is about getting married.~~

[AmeriKate 2]

I did my little google research, it looks like you don't need to wait to get married in Hawaii.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

On 9/23/2019 at 8:45 AM, Matt W said:

How soon can you get married? Is it possible to get married during the first week?

 

My fiance is coming from Asia. Was thinking about flying from Asia to Hawaii and getting married there right away before we travel back to my home on the main land.

 

Once she has the visa in hand, what else do we need to actually get married? Do we have to wait for some certain paper work or something?

Bad idea

 

The visa is one way, one entry.  Fly her to the mainland US.  Unless you wanna risk starting all over.

Edited September 26, 2019 by Nitas_man

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

4 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

The visa is one way, one entry.  Fly her to the mainland US.  Unless you wanna risk starting all over.

Why? They won't be leaving the US if they fly to Hawaii and then to a mainland US airport. Even in the extremely unlikely event their flight was diverted to a different airport, it would always be to a US airport.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

43 minutes ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

They won't be leaving the US if they fly to Hawaii 

Is that so?  LOL  

 

It’s never recommended for a K1 to enter then leave US airspace (for any reason) until AP is approved.

 

One unscheduled stop at any foreign port after initial entry hoses the visaholder.  Not worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

10 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

One unscheduled stop at any foreign port after initial entry hoses the visaholder.  Not worth it.

All the diversion options for flights from Hawaii to every mainland US airport are other US airports (even a flight going to San Diego would be diverted to an LA-area airport, not Tijuana). Lots of K-1 couples honeymoon in Hawaii.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

Lots of K-1 couples honeymoon in Hawaii.

 

Many K-1 couples pend their honeymoon (leaving the US) until AP is approved.

 

It is a choice.  

 

 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

Just now, Nitas_man said:

Many K-1 couples pend their honeymoon (leaving the US) until AP is approved.

But seriously, there's no risk there. It's more likely you'd be diverted outside the US flying to or from Detroit or El Paso or San Diego or Seattle (aka somewhere where there actually is a non-US airport nearby) than from Honolulu to the mainland US.

 

We flew over the Gulf of Mexico (which is to say international waters) and really close to Mexico on the way to Florida (to Tampa, connecting in New Orleans on the way there and San Antonio on the way back) for a wedding ceremony with my family. Would you consider that risky?