Getting Ceremonially Married while waiting for K1?

[Dashinka 24,372]

9 hours ago, JoshuaLndmd said:

@Redro We value the "ceremonial" wedding more than the paper/legal aspect which is why we would consider the ceremony (without the legal necessarily) to be our "real" wedding. Just to be clear we would want to do the paper/legal aspect upon approval of the K1 and a small ceremony with family on a set date that might potentially fall before the approval date.  But I understand that any record of a ceremony might affect our visa process.

If you believe the ceremonial wedding to be the real wedding, and do things like calling each other husband and wife, it is a fair bet that the consulate or USCIS will think the same.  Also, this actually lends credence to the suggestion @Redro made.  All you need for a spousal visa is a piece of paper, get that and start the spousal visa process, then after it is approved and your beneficiary spouse enters the US as a full green card holder/LPR, you can plan and go anywhere convenient for your entire family for the ceremony.

 

Good Luck! 

[garebear397 68]

Seems like you definitely have the answer to your question. Just commenting that we did basically did the reverse (also at that time K-1s were a faster than CR1) -- and it sounds similar that for us the ceremony was much more significant to us than the legal part. So we got engaged, filed, my then fiance got her visa and entered the country about 10 months later, we got legally married literally the day after she arrived, and then after she got her green card (or could have been AP, we just got the green card first) about 6 months later, we had a ceremony in her home country. 

 

I wouldn't say I would reccomend that now, since as people said the CR1 basically takes the same time (and then you don't have to worry about adjusting status after you enter the country) -- so if the legal part of the marriage is not as sigificant to you as the ceremony then just get legally married quickly, and file the CR1, and then just have a ceremony afterwards (in whatever country you want). 

Edited September 26, 2023 by garebear397

[Rocio0010 5,579]

9 hours ago, JoshuaLndmd said:

real" wedding

You yourself are calling it a real wedding, even though you wouldn’t sign any document. So why would the Department of State consider it differently? 
 

You’re risking an unnecessary denial. Just go to Colombia, get married, do the wedding, come back, file for a spousal visa. That way, you know for sure you’re on the right track. Plus, your spouse would be a resident as soon as they land into the US. You’d skip the fees and time of adjusting her status. 
 

Additionally, if she waits until the 2nd anniversary of your wedding, she’d get a 10 year card instead of a 2 year one. 

[TexasRafael 128]

14 hours ago, JoshuaLndmd said:

Hi all,

 

My fiancée (Colombia) and I (USA) are considering getting married ceremonially and setting a date in August, 2024. Has anyone tried this and will this affect our ongoing K1 visa petition? Should we consider doing this in the US on her tourist visa and then come back to Colombia while we wait for approval if we haven't received it by then or would it be better to simply do it in Colombia and finish the legal aspect in the US upon approval?

 

Thanks everyone!

Why risk it?  What is the upside to go through all that and then have your K 1 denied and have to start all over again.  just get married and apply for the spousal visa, which in the long term will be far cheaper than a K1 as after you get married in the US with the K1 you have the additional expense of adjusting status.   

[scholes18 43]

12 hours ago, SalishSea said:

Sounds like you have not done any  research at all.   Do you realize that the processing time just for the I-129F is currently 16.5 months?   If you go that route, you’re not getting married  until 2024 at the earliest.   
 

VisaJourney is FULL of people who have had engagement ceremonies/tribal/unofficial weddings and then were denied the K-1, and had to start over with a CR-1.   If it appears you’re “too married” for a K-1, it will be denied.   And the consulate doesn’t need to go looking for any sort of legal documentation.   They can outright deny you if it looks like you may have had a ceremony.
 

You should really have a thorough read of the immigration process.   Doing things wrong can cost time, money, and can cause denials.

16.5 months is more for the whole process end-to-end. The I-129F step is currently closer to 9-12 months. They've cut down significantly on the backlog since the start of the year. 

[SalishSea 17,744]

18 minutes ago, scholes18 said:

16.5 months is more for the whole process end-to-end. The I-129F step is currently closer to 9-12 months. They've cut down significantly on the backlog since the start of the year. 

16.5 months is the time for petition approval currently published on USCIS.gov.

[SalishSea 17,744]

12 hours ago, JoshuaLndmd said:

No need to get upset SalishSea, I appreciate your concern but I've done my fair share of reading. I was simply asking because I couldn't find any stories like you say VisaJourney is full of, please feel free to share links to some if you can find any, I couldn't myself.

 

Best

I am not upset.

 

I am not going to do the VJ search for you.  I've been here since 2015 and have seen many such denials.

 

I don't wish to provoke you - you do you.  Over and out.

[Sparkle Sparkle 914]

DONT DO IT, Its not worth it.

[AndiB 677]

16 hours ago, JoshuaLndmd said:

Hi all,

 

My fiancée (Colombia) and I (USA) are considering getting married ceremonially and setting a date in August, 2024. Has anyone tried this and will this affect our ongoing K1 visa petition? Should we consider doing this in the US on her tourist visa and then come back to Colombia while we wait for approval if we haven't received it by then or would it be better to simply do it in Colombia and finish the legal aspect in the US upon approval?

 

Thanks everyone!

I believe you have your answer which is don't risk it on a k1.

If you have a k1 processing, def not faster to do spousal so only benefit is if you prioritise gc/ being in status continuously over time. 

I just got my approval and theoretically could have visa in hand within 14months of filling. Yes the uscis website says 16.5 months but vast majority are getting approved at 11-13months right now with it speeding up a bit every month.

 

Good luck!

Edited September 26, 2023 by AndiB

[Kitaly 6]

The USCIS website hasn't updated their timelines for I-129F (Petition for an Alien Fiancé) in a WHILE. 

I've seen lots of people gets I-129F approved within 11-12 months then with NVC speeding up and some embassies quicker than others, Andi is right in saying that having visa in hand within 14 months is possible. 

 

But for the whole ceremonial wedding ? Yeah, don't do it. 

your immigration journey will take twice as long if you do it because you'll likely be denied and have to file for spousal instead. Why risk waiting twice for one visa? 

 

[powerpuff 6,603]

Topic moved Progress Reports section to Process & Procedures.

[Bh_sarah 942]

Don't want to add to the noise here but historic median times now say 13.9 months for I-129F this fiscal year. We are seeing this way more accurately than what the USCIS processing times say with many people getting approved in less than a year. Cases processed 6 months ago (the 80% of cases USCIS considers on the processing times page) indeed took 16 months or more.

 

On the matter of having a symbolic ceremony, be on the safe side and don't jeopardize your process. I really understand and agree that the ceremony is the "real" wedding to the couple and not the civil act of signing papers, but I would just not do anything to risk a long process like that.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Bh_sarah

[B_J 2,752]

Considering how important the ceremony is to you (and there's nothing wrong with that), I would recommend choosing one of two ways for you to move forward:

 

1.  Go the CR-1 route.  Have the big, celebratory wedding with family and friends.  Then, you start the CR-1 process and wait to be reunited.

2.  Go the K1 route.  Once your fiancee gets here, have a small wedding.  Once she is able to travel out of the country, go back to her country and have the big, celebratory wedding with family and friends.

 

Just my suggestions.

 

Good luck.

[JoshuaLndmd 1]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I appreciate everyone's input, this is really helpful. I think we got our answer.

 

Best of luck to everyone still in the process of filing!