honeymoon destinations?

[jennybeni 0]

Just wondering where fellow K-1 filers are planning/have gone on your honeymoons since we can't leave and re-enter the country right away. Does anyone know if going to the U.S. Virgin Islands would be considered leaving and re-entering the U.S.?

Also, how complicated is it to get advance parole?

Thanks!

[jundp 191]

Hi and good luck with your wedding planning Here is a quote from the Visa FAQ, which is very helpful. Reading the guides and the FAQs answered most of my questions when I was just starting out.

5.12)...Is it okay for us to go to the US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico on our honeymoon without Advance Parole?

A...Maybe not a wise thing to do. Even though these islands are US territories or possessions, you may have to deal with Immigration and Customs to get back to the United States. You might have trouble getting back home if you encounter an insane USCIS (INS) inspector, plus, there are too many opportunities to "technically" leave US jurisdiction (by visiting the adjacent islands, for example). Best to take the honeymoon somewhere in the 50 States, where there is plenty to see and do.

A..Let me make it as clear as it was explained to me and which the regulation bears out: So long as the K-1'er does not depart ("depart" is also defined in the reg.) the US after making a legal entry s/he can travel to any other location which includes the USVI, PR, Guam, Hawaii, and Alaska.

The inspector I spoke to gave clear examples. (My alien fiancée) can enter the US and we can fly directly from the mainland to the USVI. We can go wherever we want on the islands so long as we don't "touch" ground or water not under US jurisdiction. When we leave she shows her K-1 and I-94 to immigration (which shows she legally entered the US) and off we fly directly to the mainland. However, if while we are there (USVI) we decided to take a trip to the British islands then she would be denied re-entry. I know I used "directly" in this example but we could fly "outbound" mainland-PR-USVI and "inbound" USVI-PR-mainland without fear because in this case she never "departs" the US.

Inspectors (both mainland and USVI) told me that this is not an unusual occurrence. They see K-1'ers all the time.

http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1k2visa-enter.html#5.12

We were planning a church wedding in Germany before the legal wedding here and were going to honeymoon in Europe. Our plans have changed and we've postponed the church wedding for a year. Since we don't want to wait a year to honeymoon, we're going to Hawaii instead. Neither of us have been there and we've found some wonderful deals.

We also looked at Key West, Florida (and I think a couple of other VJers are doing Key West...LisaD I think and another couple if I'm not mistaken) and San Francisco. In the end we picked Hawaii because from Seattle flights are crazy cheap and we wanted private, quiet and tropical.

Hope this helps.