How to Take your Fiancé(e) to the United States

My Fiancee Visa Road-map to become Mrs. Edmiston 

How to Take your Fiancé(e)  to the United States 

If your are a US Citizen and your Fiancé(e) is living abroad and you wanted to bring her/him to the US to get married and live here, this is the fastest way that you can bring her/ him to the US. 

File for a Fiancé(e) Petition. As of this writing, processing time from filing to approval is 4-6 weeks. If you continue with the whole process full time, your Fiancé(e)will be in the US in less than 6 months. Actually you can finish the processing in 3 months if there will be no problem in the Medical Examination and all her/ his legal papers are easily available. Considering our  timeline of approvals, I can finish everything and have my Visa in 3 months or less! Yes, it can be that fast. 

Eligibility Requirements

If you petition for a fiancé(e) visa, you must show that:

• You (the petitioner) is a U.S. citizen.

• You intend to marry within 90 days of your fiancé(e) entering the United States. 

• You and your fiancé(e) are both free to marry and any previous marriages must have been legally terminated by divorce, death, or annulment.

• You met each other, in person, at least once within 2 years of filing your petition. There are two exceptions that require a waiver. 

        1. If the requirement to meet would violate strict and long-established customs of your                or your fiancé(e)’s foreign culture or social practice.
        2. If you prove that the requirement to meet would result in extreme hardship to you.

Here are the steps that you need to do in order: 

1. File Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e). 

The link above will take you to the USCIS website where you can find the form I-129F and instructions to accomplish the form.  This is not the VISA yet, this is just the petition for your Fiancé(e), when approved your Fiancé(e) will apply for the K1 (Fiancé(e) Visa) in her local country. 

If your fiancé(e) has a child (under 21 and unmarried), a K-2 nonimmigrant visa may be available to him or her. Be sure to include the names of your fiancé(e)’s children on your Form I-129F petition.

My I-129F process and all the documents attached can be found here. These were what we did and we received our approval within 14 days from Receipt of our application. 

2. Your Fiancé(e) will file for a K1 Visa (Fiancé(e) Visa) on her local country

Fiancé(e) (K-1/K-2) Nonimmigrant Visas. The K1 visa is a visa for a fiancé(e) of a U.S. citizen who will travel to the United States to marry  within 90 days and take up indefinite residence after marriage. K2 visas are for the Minor Children of the K1 Visa holder. 

The K visa does not automatically grant U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident (LPR) status to the beneficiaries. Those who qualify for K visas will be able to join their partners in the United States as a non-immigrant, without the potentially long period of separation during the petition process. Once married, they will need to adjust their immigration status in the United States to become lawful permanent residents.  

My K1 Visa Interview experience can be found here.  

Ref: 
http://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/fiancee-visa/fiancee-visas
http://manila.usembassy.gov/marriage-to-a-us-citizen2.html