K-1 visa

A K-1 visa is a United States nonimmigrant visa benefiting fiancés and fiancées of US citizen petitioners.

Benefits of the K-1 Fiance Visa

1. The K-1 fiance visa generally has a shorter waiting period compared to marriage-based immigration visa petitions
2. You can apply for a work permit by filing Form I-765 and engage in employment
3. Your children can accompany you to the U.S. on the K-2 dependent visa as long as they are named in the fiance visa petition

Requirements for the K-1 Visa

You are eligible for the K-1 fiance visa if:

1. You and your fiance are legally eligible to marry under the laws of your country as well as the laws of the U.S.
2. You will marry the petitioning U.S. citizen within 90 days of entering the U.S.
3. You intend to enter the U.S. solely to marry the U.S. citizen
4. You have met the U.S. citizen within the last two years before filing for the K-1 fiance visa. However, this requirement can be waived only if meeting your fiance in person would violate long-established customs, or would create extreme hardship for you

Applying for the K-1 Visa

A. Filing the K-1 Petition

Your U.S. citizen fiance must file the K-1 fiance visa petition on your behalf with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) along with the following forms and documents:

1. USCIS Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiance (If you have unmarried children who are under 21, they are eligible to accompany you, but only if they are listed on this form)
2. Evidence of U.S. citizenship - Evidence can include original U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport, Certificate of Naturalization, or Certificate of Citizenship
3. Two Form G-325A Biographic Data Sheets (one for you and one for your fiance)
4. One color photo of you and one of your fiance taken within 30 days of filing
5. Copies of any divorce decrees, death certificates, or annulment decrees if either you or your fiance have been previously married
6. Proof of permission to marry if you or your fiance are subject to any age restrictions

B. Applying for the K-1 Visa at an American Consulate

Once the USCIS approves of the petition, it forwards it to the American Consulate where you will be applying for the K-1 visa. The petition is valid for a period of four months from the date of USCIS action, and may be revalidated by the consular officer.

The consular officer will notify you when the approved petition is received and provide you the necessary forms and instructions to apply for a K-1 visa. You may have to submit the following documents as a part of your K-1 fiance visa application at the American Consulate:

1. Valid passport
2. Copy of your birth certificate
3. Copies of any divorce decrees, death certificates, or annulment decrees if either of you have been previously married
4. Police certificate from all places where you have lived since age 16
5. Medical examination
6. Evidence that your fiance will support you
7. Evidence of valid relationship with your fiance
8. Two photographs 1 and 1/2 inches square (37x37mm), showing full face, against a light background

Duration of Stay

You must marry the U.S. citizen within 90 days of entering the U.S. Once the marriage has taken place in the U.S., you must apply to adjust your status to permanent resident.

Note: You would initially receive a two-year conditional residence and would have to file additional paperwork later for removal of conditions on your residence.


Children

Your unmarried, minor children derive K-2 nonimmigrant visa status from you as long as the children are named in the K-1 US fiance visa petition. A separate petition is not required if the children accompany or follow you within one year from the date of issuance of the K-1 visa. Thereafter, a separate immigrant visa petition is required. They may also be eligible to take up employment during their stay in the U.S.


 

• 1Citizenship Questions
• 2F-1 visa
• 3H-1B visa
• 4K-1 visa
  • 4.1About K-1 visa
  • 4.2Discussion forum
  • 4.3External links
• 5K-3 visa
• 6Labor certification
• 7Tourist Visa
• 8US Citizenship

[top]About K-1 visa

The Application is made by the petitioner in the US on a USCIS form I-129F filed by mail at a USCIS Service Center. The Applicant must provide detailed information and supporting documentation to establish that both parties are legally free to marry, have met each other within the last two years, intend to marry, do not have disqualifying criminal histories (so-called crimes of moral turpitude), and proof of identity and citizenship. Recent changes to the Law also limit the number of petitions a Petitioner can make, and the Petitioner must not have a criminal history of sexual or partner abuse. Other recent changes in the Law also severely limit the role of "marriage agencies" in the introductions, and any involvement must be disclosed.

If approved (six months is about normal, though this varies based on processing time, and to a degree the relevant embassy), the Application materials will all be forwarded to the National Passport Center for processing. Then the whole paper file wrapper is sent to the US embassy or consulate in the jurisdiction in which the fiancé(e) resides abroad. The Embassy will contact the fiancé(e) and schedule an interview date. In the meantime, the fiancé(e) has to have a medical examination at an approved clinic, to screen for certain infectious diseases like HIV, Tuberculosis and Syphilis. The Embassy staff will question the fiancé(e) and ask for additional documents, to determine the authenticity of the relationship (amongst other things, that it is not an attempt to skirt 'the proper channels' of US immigration law), though the preliminary questioning in this regard is fairly straightforward and brief. If the interview goes well, the visa is granted immediately, but the fiancé(e)'s passport may need to be kept for a few days for processing. The fiancé(e) then has six months to enter the US, and 90 days after that to marry the Petitioner. The fiancé(e) cannot marry any other person, and must return if not married to the Petitioner. If the fiancé(e) has children, and they were properly identified in the original petition, then they will be issued K-2 visas. Such K-2 visas depend on the parent's K-1 visa.

After marrying, an "Adjustment of Status" (using a USCIS form I-485) must be filed that will convert the K1 fiancé(e) and K-2 children status to that of "Conditional Lawful Permanent Resident Status", e.g., a green card. It can take as long as a year after the filing of a correct I-485 to be invited to a local USCIS Office for an interview of the Petitioner, K-1 fiancé(e), and any K-2 children. The interviewer is essentially interested in ascertaining if the marriage is legitimate, and will ask questions a genuine couple should have no issue answering, for example, "Who normally does the grocery shopping?", "What night does the garbage go out?", "When was the last time your spouse took the day off work?". If the interview goes well, the I-551 "green card" will arrive in the mail in a few weeks - although post September 11, this time has been increased due to a backlog in CIA processing of background checks. If the Petitioner or the fiancé(e) does not attend the Interview, the fiancé(e) will lose legal status and must leave the US.

The Conditional Permanent Resident Card can be converted just before the two year anniversary of issuance to unconditional status by making another application and attending a second interview. Otherwise, the Conditional Permanent Resident Card will expire, and the applicant will be subject to exclusion from the United States. Again, the interviewer will be looking to see if this is a legitimate marriage, however, if the couple has split up and a history of spousal abuse can be documented to the USCIS, the fiancé(e) alone can apply for the unconditional status. In other words, the power of the Petitioner to coerce and intimidate the fiancé(e) is reduced and the fiancé(e) will be excused by the USCIS if it can be shown the separation or divorce was the fault of the Petitioner. This ties back in with not granting K1/K2 petitions to US citizens that have a history of violence or sex crimes. The foreign spouse may apply for US citizenship three years after the issuance of the Conditional Permanent Resident Card if married the whole time to the US Citizen, or otherwise five years after the issuance of the Conditional Permanent Resident Card.

The foreign spouse may obtain a social security number upon arrival in the US on a K-1 visa. A document called "Advance Parole for Travel" must be applied for to travel outside the US and return whilst the adjustment of status (I-485) is pending. A work authorization card (EAD) is occasionally issued at the port of entry (although more and more rarely, but can be obtained before the green card is in hand, the usual process being to apply in concert with the Adjustment of Status document.


Designed for ease of entry

The K-1 visa was introduced as a bureaucracy-reducing measure for US citizens desiring to marry foreigners. It allows the fiancé(e) to enter without first obtaining the green card, which can then be obtained while in the USA. It can still be cumbersome in that the same steps must still be performed (just without such a long wait in the foreign country). The validity of the relationship/marriage is potentially subject to immigration scrutiny at several different times - including when the original application for the K-1 visa is made, at the interview at the US Consulate abroad, and then later after marriage when it is time to file for Adjustment, and once again near the end of the 2-year waiting period. It has the advantage that it allows the foreign fiancé(e) to enter the US with the intention of marrying a US citizen within 90 days.

Visas fall roughly into two classifications, non-immigrant (for visitors, employees, and missionaries, for example), and immigrant (permanent visas for things like the visa lottery, families intending to move permanently to the USA, business investment, and new marriage partners). The K-1 visa is in a bit of a grey area: although it is officially called a nonimmigrant visa, applicants intend to apply for immigrant status after arriving in the USA.


Legal philosophy of visa

A US citizen may marry any foreigner under the law of their desire, with the fewest exceptions necessary. Human rights laws, international law, and US constitutional law together create the right of a US citizen to marry a fiancé(e) of their (mutual) choosing, no matter what the citizenship (national origin, race) of the fiancé(e). The legal philosophy behind the bureaucracy (forms, interviews, and proofs) of K1 visas (along with visas for spouses and their family members) is that the government can limit human and constitutional rights only if there is a compelling state interest, or, in other words, an overriding concern that affects the rights of other citizens. And the USA has established a large list of reasons: national security, controls against "subversives", crime, etc.

[top]Discussion forum

Latest threads from the forum K-1 Fiance and K-3 Spouse Visas

K-1 and K-2 nonimmigrant visas for fiance(e). K-3 and K-4 nonimmigrant visas for spouse.

 

[top]External links

Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fiance(e) (K-1)

US State Department guidance on immigration for spouses and fiancé(e)s of US citizens

US State Department guidance on the K-1 nonimmigrant visa

USCIS guidance on bringing a Fiancé to the United States

VisaJourney.com's K1 Process Flowchart

Sample K-1 Visa Timeline & USCIS/Department of State Notices




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