Hello all,
I am currently living and working in Japan and met my current boyfriend, from the U.K. Both of our contracts are ending next summer and we will have to go back to our respective home countries but we want to stay together and eventually move to the U.S.
From what I’ve gathered, our options are quite limited. We could either get married in Japan before leaving and I could file for a CR-1 visa once I go home (which presents its own set of problems since none of my foreign income counts toward the income requirement), or we could get engaged and I could file for the K-1 visa.
The CR-1 visa’s main perk for us is that he could start working right away once he arrives and wouldn’t need to wait several months for the adjustment of status post-wedding. But to me, I feel like there are a lot of drawbacks. We would be skipping an engagement, we really don’t have a lot of money for a ring because we need to save as much as we can for the visa process. Then on top of that, we wouldn’t be able to have a wedding until he is in the US with me, but we would already be married so it might not feel like a wedding if its 2 years later…
With the K-1, we could save for the engagement ring and wedding and it would give us more time to do things traditionally, but the biggest drawback is he couldn’t work until his change of status and it’s up in the air how long this takes.
I’m really caught on what to do, I want to be with him as quickly as possible but either way it’s going to take a year or longer. I don’t want to miss out on an engagement or wedding. I feel like the K-1 visa probably makes the most sense for us given all of this, but he is most concerned about having nothing to do and not being able to work for months on end while waiting for his green card.
For people in similar situations, did you forego the engagement and wedding and have a party later? Did you decide to do a small engagement and small wedding? I know at the end of the day the most important thing is being together but I don’t know anyone else around me in this same situation to ask for advice.
