K1 Visa Help

[Becki Louise 0]

Hey

 

 

My situation is possibly a little different.

I am a UK citizen living in Australia as a Permanent Resident and my partner is living in the US.

 

Basically, I am wanting to move to the US to get engaged and eventually married to my partner.

I understand that I cannot work even once the K1 is granted. Which in all honesty, is fine. We are looking to get the K1 visa and get married and once that's approved, move back to Australia so that I can obtain my Australian Citizenship as this has been a long term goal of mine.

So, our question is, can we do this? Can I get granted the K1 visa and then not worry initially about a work visa/green card, until we move back to the States?

 

Another question would be, would I be able to visit him long term (on an esta visa, for 3 months at a time), while we wait on the approval of the K1? He is financially able to support us while I do this and I would not be looking to seek any income from the States while there. It would just be so that we could live together during this time, obviously on constant temporary bases. 

 

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[SalishSea 17,801]

3 minutes ago, Becki Louise said:

Hey

 

 

My situation is possibly a little different.

I am a UK citizen living in Australia as a Permanent Resident and my partner is living in the US.

 

Basically, I am wanting to move to the US to get engaged and eventually married to my partner.

I understand that I cannot work even once the K1 is granted. Which in all honesty, is fine. We are looking to get the K1 visa and get married and once that's approved, move back to Australia so that I can obtain my Australian Citizenship as this has been a long term goal of mine.

So, our question is, can we do this? Can I get granted the K1 visa and then not worry initially about a work visa/green card, until we move back to the States?

 

Another question would be, would I be able to visit him long term (on an esta visa, for 3 months at a time), while we wait on the approval of the K1? He is financially able to support us while I do this and I would not be looking to seek any income from the States while there. It would just be so that we could live together during this time, obviously on constant temporary bases. 

 

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

What is the purpose of doing a K-1?   That doesn’t make sense, if you have no plans for a green card.

 

You can marry on an ESTA, and then return to Australia to live.

 

Green cards are for living in the US.

 

Also please note that you can’t work remotely in the US without work authorization, regardless of whether the income is “from the States” or not.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Jorgedig

[powerpuff 6,677]

2 hours ago, Becki Louise said:

So, our question is, can we do this? Can I get granted the K1 visa and then not worry initially about a work visa/green card, until we move back to the States?

I don’t understand this part, can you please clarify. 
 

Are you saying that you want to have the K1 approved (this would be at a US Consulate abroad), come to the US, marry your partner and then leave without applying for AOS?

 

If that’s the case, then I agree with @Jorgedig, it makes no sense to apply for K1 at all. If you leave the US after getting married and you do not apply AND wait for the AOS process to be finished, you cannot come back to live to the US on that basis. Your spouse will have to petition you for a spousal visa (CR1). K1 and CR1 are taking roughly the same time to be processed now (18-24 months).

 

You can just come on ESTA, get married and leave to go back to Australia. It achieves your intended purpose just the same

Edited March 15, 2023 by powerpuff

[Mike E 11,739]

4 hours ago, Becki Louise said:

So, our question is, can we do this? Can I get granted the K1 visa and then not worry initially about a work visa/green card, until we move back to the States?

Legally yes.

 

I am assuming that as a UK citizen that you are ESTA eligible. So, if you attempt this, the embassy might deny your K-1 visa because:

 

* You’ve no intent to adjust status

* You can use ESTA to marry in the U.S. 

 

Once your K-1 is denied, you will not be able to get ESTA. 
 

So your plan is high risk with zero reward. If you want to get a U.S. marriage certificate, do the Utah zoom marriage.

[CMJuilland 485]

 

5 hours ago, Becki Louise said:

Can I get granted the K1 visa and then not worry initially about a work visa/green card, until we move back to the States?

 

From your post, it is not entirely clear to me if you ever want to live in the U.S. If not, just get married and then see that your partner can move to Australia with you. Since per your post, you seem to be ESTA-eligible, I’d follow @Jorgedig’s and @Mike E’s advice and use that to visit and/or get married here in the States.  

If down the line you see a future where you and your partner actually live in the U.S., I would get married, either do long-distance for a while or have your partner move to Australia with you, get your Australian citizenship, and then have your partner petition you for a spousal visa once you think you’ll be getting ready to move. 

[Becki Louise 0]

13 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

What is the purpose of doing a K-1?   That doesn’t make sense, if you have no plans for a green card.

 

You can marry on an ESTA, and then return to Australia to live.

 

Green cards are for living in the US.

 

Also please note that you can’t work remotely in the US without work authorization, regardless of whether the income is “from the States” or not.

Thank you everyone. Stupidly we didn't even think about marrying on an ESTA visa. We've been doing long distance for several months and just don't want to have to do this anymore.

We will look into the ESTA visa route and take it from there. 

Thank you all again! 

[SalishSea 17,801]

7 hours ago, Becki Louise said:

Thank you everyone. Stupidly we didn't even think about marrying on an ESTA visa. We've been doing long distance for several months and just don't want to have to do this anymore.

We will look into the ESTA visa route and take it from there. 

Thank you all again! 

Just to clarify- you can absolutely marry whilst visiting on ESTA.  It confers no immigration benefit as such, and you will have to leave before the allotted 90 days.

 

If you come to think you might want to stay, it is illegal to enter with the intent to try to adjust status.  You would need to return home to wait out the visa process.

 

In any event, if you eventually do want to live in the US permanently, the CR-1 route is the way to go for a green card, by far.