Religious wedding

[Butterfly30 7]

I’m curious about something. 
Would a religious wedding ( so just married in the eyes of God and for the government we wouldn’t actually be husband and wife ) mess up with a K1 visa? 
Is it possible to get married just religiously without a marriage license and do the official wedding once the k1 is approved?

I don’t know how this things work, and despite we’re still gonna wait on the k1 before we get married, I wonder if we could have done things differently in the time we waited. 

[AndiB 677]

18 minutes ago, Benny20 said:

I’m curious about something. 
Would a religious wedding ( so just married in the eyes of God and for the government we wouldn’t actually be husband and wife ) mess up with a K1 visa? 
Is it possible to get married just religiously without a marriage license and do the official wedding once the k1 is approved?

I don’t know how this things work, and despite we’re still gonna wait on the k1 before we get married, I wonder if we could have done things differently in the time we waited. 

I've seen people lose their K1 as  the officer decided they were married based on pictures or knowledge of a ceremony taking place even though no legal papers had been filed. Technically (I think), you are allowed a ceremony if it is not considered legally binding by your country but it is hella risky as I think they're more likely to treat it as meaning you're married than not.

 

I don't know if it's because america is still quite a religious country and therefore for a lot of people being married in frnt of God is still married regardless of how the government feels or if it's because a lot of countries would count that as legally binding but either way....it's a big risk. 

[iwannaplay54 985]

This is an absolute and complete no.  Engagement ceremonies cause K1’s to get kicked back, we call it “too married for K1”.  You do this and you can expect to get married and start allllll over.

In 17 years here I’ve seen this happen many times.  Usually Muslim countries because the couple wants to skirt the religious law to be together and still enjoy the faster K1 process.  Our CO’s are full aware of the rules and laws that have to be navigated and they take the conservative approach and declare the couple “too married”.  

Dont do it.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by iwannaplay54

[Crazy Cat 41,761]

2 hours ago, Benny20 said:

so just married in the eyes of God and for the government we wouldn’t actually be husband and wife ) mess up with a K1 visa? 

It would disqualify you for a K-1.

[Butterfly30 7]

A religious wedding is not something legal tho. I mean for the law I wouldn’t be married. I feel like the two things don’t collide

[AndiB 677]

1 minute ago, Benny20 said:

A religious wedding is not something legal tho. I mean for the law I wouldn’t be married. I feel like the two things don’t collide

In many countries it is and USCIS may therefore just treat all as binding instead of investigating which are and aren't or maybe it's a general rule that a marriage is a marriage, legally filed or not. You may not see it as the same but USCIS does.

[AndiB 677]

As @iwannaplay54 pointed out people have been denied or had issues because of *engagement* ceremonies/parties that looked too much like a wedding. Obviously there'd be no legal or government filing for an engagement but USCIS still decided it looked too much like a wedding ceremony and considered the couple ineligible for K1.

[Butterfly30 7]

I don’t know, it sounds too risky to do. 
 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Benny20

[mytruelove18 608]

You read a lot of here in this forum, many cases people get deny just for simple engement ceremony and religious wedding, do not do it to be safe

[Crazy Cat 41,761]

1 hour ago, Butterfly30 said:

A religious wedding is not something legal tho. I mean for the law I wouldn’t be married. I feel like the two things don’t collide

Then, why even do it????  Your decision....Your risk..... YOUR CONSEQUENCES.   Just be prepared to be denied at the K-1 interview......then you would have to start over with a spousal visa. 

Being "too married for a K-1 and not married enough for a spousal visa"  is a real thing.

 

[Kanja 201]

5 hours ago, Butterfly30 said:

I’m curious about something. 
Would a religious wedding ( so just married in the eyes of God and for the government we wouldn’t actually be husband and wife ) mess up with a K1 visa? 
Is it possible to get married just religiously without a marriage license and do the official wedding once the k1 is approved?

I don’t know how this things work, and despite we’re still gonna wait on the k1 before we get married, I wonder if we could have done things differently in the time we waited. 

As many have said you can get denied for this.

 

Personally, we had a traditional wedding, showed pictures to the officer. We were approved. This was in 2010 though. In Sierra Leone it’s actually a bit odd to NOT have a traditional wedding/engagement but I do realize that was almost 15 years ago and things may have changed. Also, K1 is really not the superior visa anyways. Maybe just get married since you are considering the religious ceremony and petition for your partner to come here as your spouse. 

[Butterfly30 7]

30 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Then, why even do it????  Your decision....Your risk..... YOUR CONSEQUENCES.   Just be prepared to be denied at the K-1 interview......then you would have to start over with a spousal visa. 

Being "too married for a K-1 and not married enough for a spousal visa"  is a real thing.

 

I haven’t said I’m gonna do it. I was just asking if it was something possible. You don’t need to be so rude. 

[Crazy Cat 41,761]

5 minutes ago, Butterfly30 said:

I haven’t said I’m gonna do it. I was just asking if it was something possible. You don’t need to be so rude. 

You aren't the first to ask this question.  I am simply giving you FACTS! Don't confuse direct facts with rudeness.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Butterfly30 7]

31 minutes ago, Kanja said:

As many have said you can get denied for this.

 

Personally, we had a traditional wedding, showed pictures to the officer. We were approved. This was in 2010 though. In Sierra Leone it’s actually a bit odd to NOT have a traditional wedding/engagement but I do realize that was almost 15 years ago and things may have changed. Also, K1 is really not the superior visa anyways. Maybe just get married since you are considering the religious ceremony and petition for your partner to come here as your spouse. 

So if you go down this path you need to bring the pictures of the traditional wedding at the interview ? 
I never understood if I need to bring pictures at the interview to prove our relationship or if it’s enough when we filed the k1. 

1 minute ago, Crazy Cat said:

You aren't the first to ask this question.  I am simply giving you FACTS! Don't confuse direct facts with rudeness.  

It came across as rude. You can tell the facts without being rude .

[Kanja 201]

1 minute ago, Butterfly30 said:

So if you go down this path you need to bring the pictures of the traditional wedding at the interview ? 
I never understood if I need to bring pictures at the interview to prove our relationship or if it’s enough when we filed the k1. 

It came across as rude. You can tell the facts without being rude .

I think people are saying if you go down this path you should NOT bring these pictures, however- they could still find out. 
 

when I went through this process many years ago we did not know that it may be an issue. In our case, it was not an issue and we were issues the visa. 
 

have you ever thought of doing a spousal visa?