Canadian fiancee's visa interview cancelled; wedding already planned

[dpx 2]

Hi all,

 

Part-time lurker, first-time poster here. I'm a US citizen who successfully petitioned for my Canadian fiancee through the K1 visa process. We started the process last August. We were just at the final step with a consulate interview in Canada already scheduled (for today!), when they emailed her last week and cancelled it, as is now happening with a lot of US consulates abroad.

 

Based on researching wait times for the K1 process, including checking the official travel.state.gov website throughout the process, we planned our wedding for mid May of this year. It seemed we picked well but couldn't predict a global pandemic, obviously. 

 

My question is, do we have any recourse aside from rescheduling the wedding for later this year? We have done all the right things, and we are wary of setting off any bells if we end up getting married anyway before her new interview date. Is CR-1 a good option if we marry and she goes back to Canada? Or would you say just wait it out a bit for now? We have discussed potentially getting married in September, and we're hoping this pandemic is well over by then. On a personal note, both my sister and I work in healthcare (pretty front-line). We are all praying that this passes soon for all of us affected in any way.

 

Much love!

[payxibka 10,045]

What recourse do you want?  

 

Should have been more than a part time lurker as it is the overwhelming opinion on this site to not make plans of any kind until Visa is in hand.

 

Is she currently in the USA?  

 

CR1 is always a post marriage option 

[dpx 2]

Thank you for your reply. No she's not in the US now unfortunately.

 

We had our reasons to plan our wedding when we did, including stringent church requirements, so no judgments please. Three months after approval is not any time to plan any wedding, and we put the religious ceremony above the civil one in terms of gravity and importance in our life. Every case is personal.

Edited March 25, 2020 by dpx

[payxibka 10,045]

No judgements but three months?  She has approx. 6 months to travel post visa issuance plus 90 days after arrival.   More like nearly 9 months was potentially available.

 

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by payxibka

[SalishSea 17,464]

11 hours ago, dpx said:

Hi all,

 

Part-time lurker, first-time poster here. I'm a US citizen who successfully petitioned for my Canadian fiancee through the K1 visa process. We started the process last August. We were just at the final step with a consulate interview in Canada already scheduled (for today!), when they emailed her last week and cancelled it, as is now happening with a lot of US consulates abroad.

 

Based on researching wait times for the K1 process, including checking the official travel.state.gov website throughout the process, we planned our wedding for mid May of this year. It seemed we picked well but couldn't predict a global pandemic, obviously. 

 

My question is, do we have any recourse aside from rescheduling the wedding for later this year? We have done all the right things, and we are wary of setting off any bells if we end up getting married anyway before her new interview date. Is CR-1 a good option if we marry and she goes back to Canada? Or would you say just wait it out a bit for now? We have discussed potentially getting married in September, and we're hoping this pandemic is well over by then. On a personal note, both my sister and I work in healthcare (pretty front-line). We are all praying that this passes soon for all of us affected in any way.

 

Much love!

Even without the current pandemic, the K-1 really doesn't lend itself to wedding plans.  The timelines are just too uncertain.  

 

If she is admitted to the US on a visitor visa for the wedding, she will then have to return to Canada and wait out an even longer process from the start of a CR-1 petition.  

 

Waiting is just part of the deal, no way around that.  Montreal is notorious for interview backups also.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Jorgedig

[SalishSea 17,464]

11 hours ago, dpx said:

We had our reasons to plan our wedding when we did, including stringent church requirements, so no judgments please. Three months after approval is not any time to plan any wedding, and we put the religious ceremony above the civil one in terms of gravity and importance in our life. Every case is personal.

No judgement - but it seems you chose the wrong visa for the type of wedding you want.  Yes, every case is personal, but when US immigration is involved, one is less free to plan.

[arken 4,197]

Your fiancé would be lucky if she gets interviewed by May in the current environment, so yes holding off on wedding plans is the best course.

Edited March 26, 2020 by arken

[Lil bear 4,064]

Rule #1. Until the visa is in the passport and in your hand, never ever ever make plans you can’t afford to change 

Rule #2. See Rule #1

[dpx 2]

Thank you all.

[Boiler 44,855]

I would check the rules allowing visitors from Canada to the US, I thought visiting for basically a destination wedding is not currently allowed?

[geowrian 22,337]

13 hours ago, dpx said:

We had our reasons to plan our wedding when we did, including stringent church requirements, so no judgments please. Three months after approval is not any time to plan any wedding, and we put the religious ceremony above the civil one in terms of gravity and importance in our life. Every case is personal.

Understood. You chose the path you did against the golden rule and accepted the risks of it not going to plan. Unfortunately, your bet did not pay off.

As noted, you actually had close to 9 months to marry: 6 months of visa validity + 90 days of K-1 status. The amrriage only needs to be a legal marriage. A religious ceremony can come later if necessary.

 

You can marry (in either country or a 3rd country) and start over with a CR-1 if you really want. I don't believe it is possible to do in the US or Canada right now due to travel restrictions, and flying to a 3rd country is not advised right now by the DOS. IMO, waiting out the K-1 seems the most logical step forward. Plan the wedding after the visa is in hand.

Edited March 26, 2020 by geowrian

[Orangesapples 1,954]

Did you you know plan a wedding with a lot of guests? Even if she were to get her visa now, I don't think a wedding in May will be possible unfortunately. I'm sorry, and thank you for helping save lives! 

[dpx 2]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Understood. You chose the path you did against the golden rule and accepted the risks of it not going to plan. Unfortunately, your bet did not pay off.

As noted, you actually had close to 9 months to marry: 6 months of visa validity + 90 days of K-1 status. The amrriage only needs to be a legal marriage. A religious ceremony can come later if necessary.

 

You can marry (in either country or a 3rd country) and start over with a CR-1 if you really want. I don't believe it is possible to do in the US or Canada right now due to travel restrictions, and flying to a 3rd country is not advised right now by the DOS. IMO, waiting out the K-1 seems the most logical step forward. Plan the wedding after the visa is in hand.

You're right, we did take a risk, and even though this was a very rare thing to happen when we pursued this, here we are. We're making the best of it though, and focusing on ourselves more and being there for each other as well. I will take the 9 months total into consideration next time. I thought initial approval was closer to four months but I'm obviously mistaken. We had wanted to move forward soon after the approval any way.

 

12 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

Did you you know plan a wedding with a lot of guests? Even if she were to get her visa now, I don't think a wedding in May will be possible unfortunately. I'm sorry, and thank you for helping save lives! 

Our wedding is a small wedding, thankfully. We already gave all guests a heads-up a few days ago, with a final decision to come in about a week. They've been understanding.

 

You're welcome and thank you for the kind comment.

Edited March 26, 2020 by dpx

[African Zealot 1,454]

Government couldn’t care less about your wedding plans especially in these times.

 

Good luck.

[BandQ 12]

I feel that everyone is being way too harsh on you in this thread. It seems like everyone is too busy ripping on you about what you should or should not have done to actually answer your question. Whats done is done and the fact that you managed to get everything planed so well in those 90 days to begin with is impressive despite the risks. No one could have predicted a pandemic and no one should blame you for it too.

 

So to answer your question in the most polite way possible, there no recourse given the situation. Immigration only cares that you are getting married within the 90 days of entry. Luckly though, they dont have to enter right away. I think it's 6 months from the visa being issued that they have to enter the US plus another 90 days to to submit for AOS. That is after you already have to wait for a new interview. Considering that most of the wedding was planned to begine with its possible to be able to reschedule everything at a more predictable date after the visa is issued.

 

Be aware though, the longer your fiancee takes to enter the country, the more likely immigration may ask you about it during your followup interview. Personally, I would have a courthouse wedding asap to lock things in since luck doesn't seem to be on our side. That gives you guys more time to plan the wedding ceremony better. If a courthouse wedding doesnt seem to float your boat, you could try to have an elopement style wedding with just the 2 of you and a witness. Me and my fiencee were thinking of doing that on this beautiful mountain side north of us, then having a actual ceremony for our 1 year.