Marriage and Fiance Visa Information

United States citizen have various options for bringing to the United States their foreign born fiancé or wife. A marriage visa or a fiancé visa is essentially a travel document which will allow the foreign wife or fiancé of an American citizen to travel to the United States for the purpose for either getting married or to become a legal permanent resident or citizen of the United States. In any event, a visa does not guarantee entrance to the United States and we’ll cover that in detail below. Let’s discuss the various forms of visas available to U.S. citizens.

Fiancé Visa

The K1 fiancé visa is a visa that will allow a foreign citizen fiancé to travel to the United States for the sole purpose of getting married to his/her American sponsor or fiancé. One of the requisites of the fiancé visa is that the couple must get married within 90 days of the fiancé traveling to the United States or the visa will expire and the foreign fiancé will have to leave the country.

In order to apply for a K1 visa the couple must have met at least once in the past two years and adequate documentation must be provided. One of the things you’ll have to do is prove that you are in a real and legitimate relationship if you plan on receiving a K1 fiancé visa. Another requirement of the K1 visa is that both parties be legally free and clear to be married. That means any previous marriages have to be legally terminated and you’ll have to provide proof as well either in the form of a divorce or death certificate.

In order to obtain a K1 visa the U.S. citizen will have to file form I-129F with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). You can download and find information on form I-129H here: Form I-129F. Form I-129F is also referred to as a Petition for Alien Fiancé and cannot be filed abroad.

Many K1 visa applicants choose to hire or consult with an attorney to aid them in the application process. While form I-129F is short, it does request a myriad of documents and information which must be returned exactly as requested. Any oversight or omission can lead to delays and unfortunately from I-129F will require meticulous attention for an error free submission.

Once you submit your Petition for Alien Fiancé to the USCIS it will go through several stages during processing. Some of those steps are application acceptance, initial review, request for evidence, response review and a decision. Once your application is processed and accepted, it will be forwarded to the National Visa Center for further processing where it will eventually be forwarded to the Embassy or Consulate local to your fiancé.

Marriage Visa

For U.S. citizens that would like to bring their legally wed spouses to the United States, the U.S. has established the IR1 visa and the CR1 visa. The type of visa you will apply/receive will depend on how long you and your spouse have been married. For couples that have been married fewer than two years, they will receive a CR1 visa; all others will receive an IR1 visa.

The form that must be filed with USCIS to apply for a marriage visa is form I-130 and you can download the form and find information on it here: Form I-130. Although form I-130 is only a few pages in length, the application does ask for a lot of information and documents and the instructions must be followed meticulously. As mentioned above, any omissions or errors can lead to untimely delays in the processing of your application. Some of the documentation that you may have to submit includes a Petition for Alien Relative, copy of U.S. citizens birth certificate, copy of marriage certificate, documentation that proves any previous marriages have been legally terminated and documents and proof supporting the legitimacy of your relationship with your spouse.

Applying for a Visa

Once the NVC receives your visa application for a visa, they will further process it and eventually forward it to the Embassy or Consulate that is closets to your fiancé. At that point he/ she will receive information on how to proceed with the visa application process. He/she will receive information on how/where to schedule a mandatory medical examination. You will also need to obtain the following records and bring them to your medical examination: immunization records, any prior chest x-rays, copies of your medical history records and your passport or identity card.

There will also be instruction on how and where to schedule a visa interview which is when it will be decided if the visa application will be approved or denied. Below are some of the documents you may be asked to provide ay your visa interview. Failure to bring all documents requested can result in delay or denial of your application.

• Birth certificate
• Police certificates
• Court and prison records
• Military records
• Photographs
• Marriage certificate (if applicable)
• Evidence of financial support
• Divorce or death certificates for any previous marriages

To receive or view specific information about interview guidelines related to the Consulate or Embassy nearest you, check out the following page at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3742.html

Once a visa is issued it is typically valid for six months from the date of issuance. The U.S. Department of State recommends that you do not make any plans to travel, to buy property or dispose it or to resign employment until a visa has been issued. You must arrive and apply for admission to the United States prior to your visa expiring. In the case of the K1 fiancé visa, you will need much more time since you will only have 90 days to get married from the date you enter the United States before the K1 visa expires.