Marriage question in USA before applying for CR-1

[Adeezl 3]

My fiance is from Japan, I am American. We are 35/36. She has an ESTA visa, and is coming back here in December for the 3rd time. We would like to get married here this time, and then she would return back to Japan after 15 days. I am curious what type of paperwork would she need from Japan to get married here in December? We plan on applying for a CR-1 next Spring after we get married. If this is in the wrong section, feel free to direct me. This is my first post. I did some reading but ultimately just hoped someone with experience could help me out real quick. Thanks for your time.

[LilyJ 1,258]

All my husband needed was his passport, but I would check with your local county

[Crazy Cat 41,770]

1 hour ago, Adeezl said:

My fiance is from Japan, I am American. We are 35/36. She has an ESTA visa, and is coming back here in December for the 3rd time. We would like to get married here this time, and then she would return back to Japan after 15 days. I am curious what type of paperwork would she need from Japan to get married here in December? We plan on applying for a CR-1 next Spring after we get married. If this is in the wrong section, feel free to direct me. This is my first post. I did some reading but ultimately just hoped someone with experience could help me out real quick. Thanks for your time.

I see nothing wrong with your plan.  Many people do that.  To get married here, she probably only needs her passport, but as noted above by @LilyJ, check your county requirements.  The CR-1 has several benefits imo.  Upon entry into the US, a CR-1 visa holder immediately becomes a legal resident with work authorization, and the ability to immediately exit the country if needed.....good luck.......

Edited October 8, 2019 by missileman

[Adeezl 3]

1 hour ago, LilyJ said:

All my husband needed was his passport, but I would check with your local county

 

34 minutes ago, missileman said:

I see nothing wrong with your plan.  Many people do that.  To get married here, she probably only needs her passport, but as noted above by @LilyJ, check your county requirements.  The CR-1 has several benefits imo.  Upon entry into the US, a CR-1 visa holder immediately becomes a legal resident with work authorization, and the ability to immediately exit the country if needed.....good luck.......

Thanks guys, yes I agree. I'm not sure why many people do a K-1. She just can't visit here while the CR-1 is pending of course, but I can go there. I will check for sure. We are using rapidvisa for the process as well. I feel like it's definitely worth the money for how important it is. I know Japan is a lot emigration country although I doubt that matters. She is fluent and teaches English, Japanese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese. 

 

I appreciate the comments

[Crazy Cat 41,770]

30 minutes ago, Adeezl said:

She just can't visit here while the CR-1 is pending of course,

Yes, she can visit........She just needs to be prepared to convince the CBP officer that she will return to her country at the end of her visit.  Many people visit their spouses in the US during the CR-1 process.

 

NOTE:  Every visit is at the discretion of the CBP officer.

Edited October 8, 2019 by missileman

[Adeezl 3]

6 minutes ago, missileman said:

Yes, she can visit........She just needs to be prepared to convince the CBP officer that she will return to her country at the end of her visit.  Many people visit their spouses in the US during the CR-1 process.

 

NOTE:  Every visit is at the discretion of the CBP officer.

Really, I was not aware. I didn't think she could enter the USA while the process was pending. Thanks for the heads up. Customs and Border Protection officer eh.. so just one person gets to decide her entrance depending on how they feel that day? Interesting. I guess i'll have to read more into it. Cheers.

[LilyJ 1,258]

11 minutes ago, Adeezl said:

Really, I was not aware. I didn't think she could enter the USA while the process was pending. Thanks for the heads up. Customs and Border Protection officer eh.. so just one person gets to decide her entrance depending on how they feel that day? Interesting. I guess i'll have to read more into it. Cheers.

She can absolutely visit. My husband is doing so right now. All he had for ties to his country though were a return flight (which they didn’t even look at) so they took him to secondary. They still let him in, though, after a lot of waiting and little questioning

[Yannary 70]

We did exactly what you're planning on doing. They didn't even ask for my husband's passport for the wedding. We got married in Maryland. He's visited in the US 4 times on esta since we started the CR1 process with no issues. 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

15 hours ago, Adeezl said:

 

Thanks guys, yes I agree. I'm not sure why many people do a K-1. She just can't visit here while the CR-1 is pending of course, but I can go there. I will check for sure. We are using rapidvisa for the process as well. I feel like it's definitely worth the money for how important it is. I know Japan is a lot emigration country although I doubt that matters. She is fluent and teaches English, Japanese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese. 

 

I appreciate the comments

My wife and I used RapidVisa, in my opinion, they did not improve our petition, offered little to no "advice" and "value", they organized my work in a format I would have done had I used the suggestions from here. The one or two times I had actual questions for them I got very soft answers not useful information. They did not hinder the process but they did not help it at all. YMMV

[cculbertson81 43]

First off, welcome to the VJ community!

 

Your plan and the advice everyone has here is solid. You're looking to do it all by the book and I see no issues either.

 

Speaking as a fellow JP-US marriage with CR-1 status the visa process is relatively straightforward, especially if neither of you have been previously married. Japan is a very low-risk country when it comes to US immigration and things move very quickly once your case is complete at the NVC, but unfortunately that doesn't have any bearing on the wait times with USCIS and NVC. We filed our case by ourselves; the use of a service like RapidVisa or an immigration lawyer would have been a waste for us, though it is ultimately up to you to decide how confident you are in assembling the petition. I would also recommend consulting the All Japan Filers megathread as well for a little more targeted advice. My wife and I just completed the entire CR-1 process a few months ago so we'd be happy to answer any Japan-specific questions you might have as well.

 

Welcome again, don't forget to start your timeline, and good luck!

[Adeezl 3]

9 hours ago, Yannary said:

We did exactly what you're planning on doing. They didn't even ask for my husband's passport for the wedding. We got married in Maryland. He's visited in the US 4 times on esta since we started the CR1 process with no issues. 

Excellent, appreciated. I am glad to know this info. Thanks for the quick response. It should be a pretty easy transition.

 

8 hours ago, Randyandyuni said:

My wife and I used RapidVisa, in my opinion, they did not improve our petition, offered little to no "advice" and "value", they organized my work in a format I would have done had I used the suggestions from here. The one or two times I had actual questions for them I got very soft answers not useful information. They did not hinder the process but they did not help it at all. YMMV

Understood, YMMV indeed. I haven't started the process yet, so I appreciate the experience and info you've given on rapidvisa. There's not a lot they can do to make it go faster, besides set it up in an easy to read format, and make sure all the info is provided before filing with the FED. Most of the cost is for filling out the forms so we don't have to, and making sure there is nothing left out. The US government is notoriously slow on everything, especially immigration with the current admin. I will do further research as we have lots of time. Thanks for your assistance.

 

8 hours ago, cculbertson81 said:

First off, welcome to the VJ community!

 

Your plan and the advice everyone has here is solid. You're looking to do it all by the book and I see no issues either.

 

Speaking as a fellow JP-US marriage with CR-1 status the visa process is relatively straightforward, especially if neither of you have been previously married. Japan is a very low-risk country when it comes to US immigration and things move very quickly once your case is complete at the NVC, but unfortunately that doesn't have any bearing on the wait times with USCIS and NVC. We filed our case by ourselves; the use of a service like RapidVisa or an immigration lawyer would have been a waste for us, though it is ultimately up to you to decide how confident you are in assembling the petition. I would also recommend consulting the All Japan Filers megathread as well for a little more targeted advice. My wife and I just completed the entire CR-1 process a few months ago so we'd be happy to answer any Japan-specific questions you might have as well.

 

Welcome again, don't forget to start your timeline, and good luck!

Cool, thanks for the link to the JP specifically. I appreciate the willingness to help out since you went through the same process with the same country. I'll keep that in mind. Neither of us have been married before, no kids or criminal records. It should be an easy process for us. I would imagine that Japan may get slightly expedited after NVC because of relations, low-risk, and low emigration into the USA. Cheers

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Progress Reports to Off Topic; topic pertains to marriage procedures in a local jurisdiction.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,090]

On 10/7/2019 at 6:23 PM, Adeezl said:

Thanks guys, yes I agree. I'm not sure why many people do a K-1.

Way more people do CR-1/IR-1s than K-1s. Not sure how many people do marriage-based AOS from non-K-1 visas, but I suspect that's more common than K-1s, too (though unless you're doing an AOS from a visa that lets you work, it's got many of the same downsides as a K-1).

 

But people do them because

- K-1s are non-trivially faster to living together in the US most of the time

- they aren't comfortable living apart for an extended period while married, and it's not practical to live together in the petitioner's home country

- the petitioner cannot easily visit the US

- marrying in the petitioner's home country is difficult/impossible (yes, you can marry in a third country, but this often difficult to set up)

- traveling to the petitioner's home country is expensive/time consuming

- the petitioner does not intend to work outside the home in the short term (retired, pregnant or intends to be soon, has very young children,  just intends to be a housewife/husband, or other reasons)