To marry or not to marry..that is my question!

[pax 0]

She asked about how long I intended to stay when I arrived in May, and I told her "until 23rd August", and she asked "why did you stay longer" - I replied, briefly saying that we'd had no intentions upon entry, but that three weeks later, on June 22nd, he'd asked me to marry him - the London bombings had happened, and at that point, our plans for the K1/K3 went out-the-window after speaking to USCIS on the 'phone and being told that I could stay and adjust from here....so we did! She was prefectly happy with that, wrote it down and nodded.

Not wanting to quibble with you, Kezzie, as I agree that it seems pretty pointless for the OP and her sweetie to pursue a K-1, but that's from JayJay's post about her interview. It reads to me like she was asked, quite plainly, about her intentions on entry.

[meddykomp 0]

in the year that I have been reading this board and from talking to people who have done AOS from VWP/Tourist/Canadian entry I have never known anyone be asked about their intention on entry let alone be denied...

You only give up your right to appeal is you enter on a VWP not on a Tourist/canadian entry....

Kezzie

You must not have read JayJay's story, then.

It can, and does, happen that people are asked.

JayJay did however get her AOS approved and I believe that she would probably encourage the OP to go ahead and get married and adjust IF that is what they want to do. He brought only 1 suitcase. I took more than that on a weekend to Canada. They may ask him why he decided to get married and stay. He should simply be prepared to answer that question.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

Well we will not argue about who is right and who is wrong... the way I read it JayJay was asked why she stayed longer... JayJay then said that she had no intentions apon entry... she was not asked that question, she was only asked why she stayed longer....

so we will have to agree to disagree...

I hope the OP is not put off filing for AOS as they have no reason to be denied....

Kezzie

[David&Erin_Owens 0]

If your fiance entered the U.S. without intentions of marrying, and you both just decided to marry after he got here, then he can apply to adjust his status here in the U.S.

A few members here on VJ have done the same thing, so hopefully one of them will see your post and give you some more details.

You can check out "Kezzie" for her timeline..... the circumstances for her were the same as you are describing.

Good luck.

This is what my husband and I did. He came over from Ireland with his passport and right before he was due to leave we got married. That was back in 2003 and he JUST got his AOS last month. Now, I'll tell you, if we had it ALL to do over again, we would have done the fiance visa. We were so scared for 3 years that they were going to say we had committed visa fraud or whatever it is. WE knew we hadn't, but it was still scary. Plus, it seemed to take a lot longer for him to be able to work and everything than if we had done it the more traditional way. Also, David was not able to go home during the processing, because we were told by the Irish Embassy that since we had done it this way, advance parole was kinda risky. So, if you're an adventurous person, I say go for it, but if you don't like the feeling of what's going to come next, take your time and go the more traditional route. Good luck!

[silverbutterfly228 0]

Ok, I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place! My fiancé has been staying with me for almost a month now and plans on staying with me until around august after my baby is born (no unfortunately the baby is not his). We were looking into the K-1 fiance visa but I know if we do that he’ll have to go home for god knows how long and that’s really freaking me out. We were thinking of just getting married since he’s already down here but I’m wondering if that’s ok to do?? We were told it could look bad that he came down to visit with no visa status or visitor thing or anything he just came through with his passport. If that’s to risky I’ll suck it up and do the fiancé one, but I guess even if we were to get married now would he still have to go back to Canada for a long time or could we process everything from here??

Anyone who could give me advice on this would be awesome!! Thank you so much!

Why can she just apply for AOS when clearly there is intent to get married for the fact Sweetdefiance mentioned they are engaged already? How can you tell someone when you apply for AOS that there was no intent on marriage on POE when you are engaged already? I would see this could work for someone who's not engaged or meeting someone while you are in the usa. but that's not the case here. if they do get married and adjust status now wouldn't they than have to lie about being engaged already?

I agree with gsmaclean's post about filing for the k1 visa now and since he is Canadian and can stay there for 6 months. You will be well into the process already and wouldn't, hopefully, have to wait that much longer to be back together.

[SweetDefiance 0]

Ok, I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place! My fiancé has been staying with me for almost a month now and plans on staying with me until around august after my baby is born (no unfortunately the baby is not his). We were looking into the K-1 fiance visa but I know if we do that he’ll have to go home for god knows how long and that’s really freaking me out. We were thinking of just getting married since he’s already down here but I’m wondering if that’s ok to do?? We were told it could look bad that he came down to visit with no visa status or visitor thing or anything he just came through with his passport. If that’s to risky I’ll suck it up and do the fiancé one, but I guess even if we were to get married now would he still have to go back to Canada for a long time or could we process everything from here??

Anyone who could give me advice on this would be awesome!! Thank you so much!

Why can she just apply for AOS when clearly there is intent to get married for the fact Sweetdefiance mentioned they are engaged already? How can you tell someone when you apply for AOS that there was no intent on marriage on POE when you are engaged already? I would see this could work for someone who's not engaged or meeting someone while you are in the usa. but that's not the case here. if they do get married and adjust status now wouldn't they than have to lie about being engaged already?

I agree with gsmaclean's post about filing for the k1 visa now and since he is Canadian and can stay there for 6 months. You will be well into the process already and wouldn't, hopefully, have to wait that much longer to be back together.

No we weren't engaged when he got here, we decided to get married while he was down here visiting. But its ok either way we've decided to do the fiance visa and not risk anything!

[aussiewench 9]

Ok, I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place! My fiancé has been staying with me for almost a month now and plans on staying with me until around august after my baby is born (no unfortunately the baby is not his). We were looking into the K-1 fiance visa but I know if we do that he’ll have to go home for god knows how long and that’s really freaking me out. We were thinking of just getting married since he’s already down here but I’m wondering if that’s ok to do?? We were told it could look bad that he came down to visit with no visa status or visitor thing or anything he just came through with his passport. If that’s to risky I’ll suck it up and do the fiancé one, but I guess even if we were to get married now would he still have to go back to Canada for a long time or could we process everything from here??

Anyone who could give me advice on this would be awesome!! Thank you so much!

Why can she just apply for AOS when clearly there is intent to get married for the fact Sweetdefiance mentioned they are engaged already? How can you tell someone when you apply for AOS that there was no intent on marriage on POE when you are engaged already? I would see this could work for someone who's not engaged or meeting someone while you are in the usa. but that's not the case here. if they do get married and adjust status now wouldn't they than have to lie about being engaged already?

I agree with gsmaclean's post about filing for the k1 visa now and since he is Canadian and can stay there for 6 months. You will be well into the process already and wouldn't, hopefully, have to wait that much longer to be back together.

It is not illegal to enter the US to marry...simple. People do it all the time. If there was no intent to immigrate and one can show that IF asked, one can stay and adjust status.

[silverbutterfly228 0]

No we weren't engaged when he got here, we decided to get married while he was down here visiting. But its ok either way we've decided to do the fiance visa and not risk anything!

sorry if i read something wrong than. I really think this is a wise decision to go with k1 route. I would so not chance messing it up. I would be worring every day that they would think we lied and it would mean a serious bar from the USA. I wish you the best of luck.

[David&Erin_Owens 0]

Ok, I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place! My fiancé has been staying with me for almost a month now and plans on staying with me until around august after my baby is born (no unfortunately the baby is not his). We were looking into the K-1 fiance visa but I know if we do that he’ll have to go home for god knows how long and that’s really freaking me out. We were thinking of just getting married since he’s already down here but I’m wondering if that’s ok to do?? We were told it could look bad that he came down to visit with no visa status or visitor thing or anything he just came through with his passport. If that’s to risky I’ll suck it up and do the fiancé one, but I guess even if we were to get married now would he still have to go back to Canada for a long time or could we process everything from here??

Anyone who could give me advice on this would be awesome!! Thank you so much!

Why can she just apply for AOS when clearly there is intent to get married for the fact Sweetdefiance mentioned they are engaged already? How can you tell someone when you apply for AOS that there was no intent on marriage on POE when you are engaged already? I would see this could work for someone who's not engaged or meeting someone while you are in the usa. but that's not the case here. if they do get married and adjust status now wouldn't they than have to lie about being engaged already?

I agree with gsmaclean's post about filing for the k1 visa now and since he is Canadian and can stay there for 6 months. You will be well into the process already and wouldn't, hopefully, have to wait that much longer to be back together.

My husband and I were engaged already when he came into the U.S. and we got married. However, we had no intention of marrying DURING that trip. It was COMPLETELY spur of the moment, and was put together in 3 days. When we had our interview the interviewer never once asked us if we had intended to get married when David entered the country. We also sent letters which talked about the fact that we were engaged, and engagement photos and things of that nature. So, INS KNEW we were engaged. We never had to lie about it at all. Thank God. It worked out for us, but it was nerve wracking, and I never give people the advice to do it the way we did. I happen to think that even though it took as long as it did, we were lucky.

-Erin

[aussiewench 9]

Adjusting status whilst in the US after marriage when it wasnt the intention on entering the US to immigrate, is just as LEGAL a way to immigrate as the K or CR visas.

[silverbutterfly228 0]

My husband and I were engaged already when he came into the U.S. and we got married. However, we had no intention of marrying DURING that trip. It was COMPLETELY spur of the moment, and was put together in 3 days. When we had our interview the interviewer never once asked us if we had intended to get married when David entered the country. We also sent letters which talked about the fact that we were engaged, and engagement photos and things of that nature. So, INS KNEW we were engaged. We never had to lie about it at all. Thank God. It worked out for us, but it was nerve wracking, and I never give people the advice to do it the way we did. I happen to think that even though it took as long as it did, we were lucky.

-Erin

wow I really didn't know you could do that. So even though I am engaged and planning on getting married sometime in the future, but I go there to visit my fiance and i get an idea while there and say 'hey let's getting married right now today' Than that's ok and i could adjust status? (It's completely hypothetical as i have already started k1.) Why wouldn't everyone that's engaged do it than?

[TracyTN 237]

Because the burden of proof is on the couple to prove that there was no intent to marry when the foreign fiance/e arrives in the States. Isn't a risk that lots of people are willing to take.