If you met the love of your life, it is often a time of celebration. However, if your partner is not a United States citizen, the process of becoming a family may not be as easy as you were hoping it to be. In truth, there are numerous hurdles that you will have to get through before you can start building your life as a married couple in the U.S.
To help clear up some of this uncertainty, we have created the following blog post. In it, we will go over everything you need to know about the K-1 visa and the best path forward for you and your significant other.
What Exactly is a K-1 Visa?
A K-1 visa, also referred to as the fiancé visa, allows a U.S. citizen’s engaged immigrant partner to enter the United States as long as the couple gets married no more than 90 days later. Once they are married, the immigrant spouse can apply for permanent residence or a green card based on their marriage.
What Happens When You Do Not Get Married Within 90 days
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), if you do not get married within 90 days, the immigrant fiancé and any children brought to the United States will not be able to adjust their status. Instead, they will have to return to their home country. If they do not leave and instead stay in the United States for more than six months after their K-1 visa has expired without getting married, they can be banned from entering the United States again for up to ten years.
However, if the couple gets married, but not within 90 days, they will need to file a Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative to establish a valid relationship between the partners.
What Do You Need to Do Once You Are Married
If everything goes according to plan and the marriage takes place within the required 90 days, the citizen spouse will be able to file Form I-485, Adjustment of Status, on behalf of their immigrant spouse. In addition, the immigrant spouse can also request a work permit and travel documents while their green card is pending.
Overview of The K-1 Visa Process
In order to apply for the K-1 visa, the U.S citizen will have to have met their immigrant partner in person within the past two years. This in-person meeting has to have occurred before they petition for them to come into the United States. After this requirement has been established, the U.S. citizen or the petitioner will need to file Form I-129F, Petition for Fiancé(e), with USCIS and provide proof that they are a U.S. citizen, such as by submitting a copy of their birth certificate or passport. The petitioner will also need to provide evidence of their relationship and their intention of getting married. All of these documents, when taken together, will be used to establish the presence of a bona fide relationship.
Once submitted, this application will usually take around five to seven months to process. However, processing times will also depend on whether USCIS needs any additional documents from the petitioner.
Once USCIS approves the application, the next step is for the forms to be forwarded to the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC), who will send the I-129F application to the fiancé’s home country so that they can take the steps there to file for the K-1 visa.
Typically, about two weeks after receiving the case, the U.S. embassy or the consulate will dispatch a letter with instructions and a schedule for the immigrant to coordinate so that they can obtain their medical exam and schedule a visa interview.
The Income Requirements — What You Need to Prove
To get the K-1 visa approved, there are specific income requirements that also need to be met. These requirements will be established with the submission of certain forms, including Form I-134, Affidavit of Support, which must be submitted in the early stages of the K-1 visa process. For these income requirements to be satisfied and the Form I-134 to be approved, the petitioning fiancé must prove that they make enough money to support their immigrant partner.
The Interview Process
Another important aspect of obtaining the K-1 visa is the interview. Once the interview has been scheduled, it is critical that every effort is made to attend this meeting. However, it is also important to note that only the immigrant fiancé is allowed to be there.
The consular officer performing this interview will often decide whether the immigrant fiancé will be granted the K-1 visa based on how the interview goes and all the other supporting documents submitted.
Typically, the documents that are needed to be taken to the scheduled interview include:
- Birth Certificate
- Non-expired Passport
- Medical Exam
- Any certificates of a previous spouse’s death or divorce paper
- Two United States passport-style photographs
- Documents showing financial support
- Documents proving the relationship
- Form DS-160
- Visa fees
Filing a K-1 Visa? Get the Legal Help You Need Today
If you are looking to bring your partner from another country to the United States, it is important that you not only understand the regulations that dictate this process but are also able to provide the necessary evidence needed to prove your relationship. Fortunately, when you work with an experienced K-1 visa lawyer, you do not have to take on this complicated legal process on your own. Instead, these attorneys are ready to provide you the legal help you need so that you can bring your partner to the United States and start living the life you have always wanted.
That is why do not wait any longer. Contact the law firm of Stephenson, Chávarri & Dawson, L.L.C. today or call our office at 504-523-6496 to get the answers you want and the help you require.
