Applying for Spouse Visa after getting married on ESTA (Merged threads)

[ellrond 1]

My fiance (UK citizen) and I (US citizen) live together outside of the US and are considering getting married online, which would be registered in Utah. We would like to get married online for convenience purposes, and have no intent to move to the US. We are planning to visit my family in the US shortly after the online marriage, and I'm wondering if this could cause any issues. Would my then husband still be able to enter the US to visit on an ESTA visa waiver? He currently has ESTA approval from a previous visit to the US last year. 

 

We have no plans to move to the US in the foreseeable future, but I'm wanting to make sure that an online marriage registered in Utah wouldn't cause us issues with short visits to the US on an ESTA visa waiver, and longer term, the possibility of applying for spouse visa in the future if we ever wanted to move to the US. 

[Boiler 45,715]

I can think of no reason why it would.

[OldUser 6,922]

This won't be different to you marrying in person, then spouse trying entering US on Esta.

[Pinkrlion 2,724]

If you currently live together why are you doing Utah Marriage 

[OldUser 6,922]

3 hours ago, Pinkrlion said:

If you currently live together why are you doing Utah Marriage 

Agreed, I have the same question. 

[Lemonslice 4,911]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Agreed, I have the same question. 

Some countries will not allow the marriage of foreigners, unless they are present on a marriage visa.  Without knowing where @ellrond and their partner are living, hard to know.  

[apnzz 264]

6 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

Some countries will not allow the marriage of foreigners, unless they are present on a marriage visa.  Without knowing where @ellrond and their partner are living, hard to know.  

That's true, but in the circumstance that being a thing, there is the option for them to marry in the UK. Since the OP mentioned the partner is a UK citizen, they could just go home to the UK and marry.

 

Just thought to mention anyway

[Lemonslice 4,911]

14 minutes ago, apnzz said:

That's true, but in the circumstance that being a thing, there is the option for them to marry in the UK. Since the OP mentioned the partner is a UK citizen, they could just go home to the UK and marry.

 

Just thought to mention anyway

I thought a special visa was needed to marry in the UK, but maybe I am mistaken.  They might also be a same-sex couple in a country were it is not allowed.  Too little details to know.  

[SalishSea 17,952]

3 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

I thought a special visa was needed to marry in the UK, but maybe I am mistaken.  They might also be a same-sex couple in a country were it is not allowed.  Too little details to know.  

It is true, there is now a special marriage visa for the UK.   Did not used to be the case.

[ellrond 1]

18 hours ago, Pinkrlion said:

If you currently live together why are you doing Utah Marriage 

We live in a 3rd country where we are both residents and the requirements for us to get married here involve a lot of hoops that we don't want to jump through. We want to get married with as little hassle, paperwork, travel as possible. We've been together 10 years and we're not worried about a big ceremony, party, etc. We just want to be married to each other and this seems like the easiest way to make that happen. I just want to make sure we're not jeopardizing anything in terms of our ability to visit the US or potentially pursue a visa for him to live there in the future if we wanted to.  

[ellrond 1]

6 hours ago, apnzz said:

That's true, but in the circumstance that being a thing, there is the option for them to marry in the UK. Since the OP mentioned the partner is a UK citizen, they could just go home to the UK and marry.

 

Just thought to mention anyway

Thanks. We are trying to avoid having to travel in order to get married. We live in a 3rd country where we are both residents and the requirements for us to get married here involve a lot of hoops that we don't want to jump through. We want to get married with as little hassle, paperwork, travel as possible. We've been together 10 years and we're not worried about a big ceremony, party, etc. We just want to be married to each other and this seems like the easiest way to make that happen. I just want to make sure we're not jeopardizing anything in terms of our ability to visit the US or potentially pursue a visa for him to live there in the future if we wanted to.  

[ellrond 1]

19 hours ago, OldUser said:

This won't be different to you marrying in person, then spouse trying entering US on Esta.

In this case, they should be able to enter the US on ESTA without issues after we are married, right? We had also been considering getting married in Gibraltar, and if we were marrying outside the US and then traveling there after we were married, I wouldn't be concerned. 

I guess my concern is that I know you can't travel to the US on an ESTA with the intent to get married on the trip. Since the online wedding option is only available through the state of Utah, he would essentially be getting married in the US without the "right" type of visa, even though he wouldn't actually be present in the US. It seems like uncharted territory.

[Daphne . 1,888]

24 minutes ago, ellrond said:

In this case, they should be able to enter the US on ESTA without issues after we are married, right?

I guess my concern is that I know you can't travel to the US on an ESTA with the intent to get married on the trip. Since the online wedding option is only available through the state of Utah, he would essentially be getting married in the US without the "right" type of visa, even though he wouldn't actually be present in the US. It seems like uncharted territory.

There is no rule that you can’t enter the US with the intent to get married, plenty of people do this (and so did I). It is the part where people have the intent to just stay (adjust status) that is the issue. 
 

But to answer your question: as long as you both keep strong ties to the UK, there shouldn’t really be any issues visiting on an Esta. 

[carmel34 3,639]

1 hour ago, ellrond said:

I just want to make sure we're not jeopardizing anything in terms of our ability to visit the US

All entries to the US on ESTA are at the discretion of CBP.  You should be ok for a short tourism trip based on the limited information you have shared.  The person on ESTA should take evidence of property owned, leased, job, legal status, etc. in your country of residence if he is asked for it.  Always be completely honest when questioned.  Ultimately CBP will decide.

Edited November 24 by carmel34

[ellrond 1]

I'm a US citizen and live abroad with my spouse who is a UK citizen. We got married in the US while he was there on an ESTA visa waiver, and then returned to where we live outside of the US. We are now considering a move to the US and applying for a CR-1 Spouse Visa for him. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this, and if we should expect any issues with the visa being approved since we were married in the US while he was on an ESTA visa.