legal question about marriage and such

[Semidevil]

I went online to do some research, so I found out that if I want to marry and bring my gf here(she is not from america), she will need to apply for fiance visa. ok, we know that. Ofcourse, with that, there are rules and wait period and stuff like that.


now, she also wants to have a wedding at her home-country too. So if I go to her country, do her version of the celebration, and later then come here to america to get married, is that a problem? What I'm saying is that, since there are so many rules and regulations to getting married and living in america, are there such rules if I do a wedding in S. Korea?

I know that I still need to do it in america, but I meant if we wanted to do it in korea too.

also,what does this requirement mean: "You must have met your fianc?(e)?who is a U.S. citizen?in person, within the past two years"

does that mean we have to know eachotr for atleast 2 years before applying?
why do they say withen 2 years? we cannot know more then 2 years??? confused

 

[Antisocial Virge]

I came into the US on a fiance Visa. DO NOT GET MARRIED IN ANOTHER COUNTRY AND TRY AND COME IN ON A FIANCE VISA. If you do that she is no longer a fiance is she? Girl tried that at the boarder crossing I came in on the day before I did. "Sorry, can't come in. 6 months of paperwork gone bye bye"
The two years thing is that you must have met her in person within the last two years. Stops mail order brides to an extent.

Good luck. It took me about a year+ to do all the work before hitting the US and 5 years after entering to get unconditional permenant resident, and I'm from Canada.

 

[Semidevil]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge
I came into the US on a fiance Visa. DO NOT GET MARRIED IN ANOTHER COUNTRY AND TRY AND COME IN ON A FIANCE VISA. If you do that she is no longer a fiance is she? Girl tried that at the boarder crossing I came in on the day before I did. "Sorry, can't come in. 6 months of paperwork gone bye bye"
The two years thing is that you must have met her in person within the last two years. Stops mail order brides to an extent.

Good luck. It took me about a year+ to do all the work before hitting the US and 5 years after entering to get unconditional permenant resident, and I'm from Canada.

I"m actually not too clear. So If we get married over there and try to come here, what type of visa do I get for her? The reason is that she wants to have it in her country, to have the traditional style ceremony.

Will this actually make everything worse?? like, what happens?

 

[CPA]

My sister did the same thing with a Brazilian she ended up marrying here in the US. I can't remember exactly why, but she could not marry in Brazil first. I'll try to find out exactly why.

As for the 2 year rule, that means that if she met him 3 years ago, then she no longer is eligible to apply for a fiance visa, I believe.

 

[PKPunk]

I thought you could have the ceremony anywhere you want. You just need to legal apply for marriage in the US. I know a few people who married Indian citizens in India and then went to the US embassy and asked for a marriage visa then came here and just filed for a marriage certificate. As far as I knew it didn't matter where you have your wedding ceremony as long as you file for a marriage certificate here in the US. I don't know if the rules have changed

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: PKPunk
I thought you could have the ceremony anywhere you want. You just need to legal apply for marriage in the US. I know a few people who married Indian citizens in India and then went to the US embassy and asked for a marriage visa then came here and just filed for a marriage certificate. As far as I knew it didn't matter where you have your wedding ceremony as long as you file for a marriage certificate here in the US. I don't know if the rules have changed

You asked and answered your own question. There are two different visas. One is a K1 visa where you bring in your fiance and the other is where you petition to bring in a spouse.

Here is a page that might answer some questions.
http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1faq.htm
Its not that hard of a process but if your having a problem at this point I figure you should get yourself some professional help.

 

[Frenchie]

As was stated, get her here on a fiancee visa and then get married here. Once youve done that, apply for her to get here green card. Once that is done, you can apply for advance parole for permission to return to her country to have the ceremony performed over there as well.

If you get married there and then apply for a fiancee visa, the visa will be denied. You will have to apply for her to get her green card, and she will have to wait in her country for 1-3 years before being able to come to the US.

As for the two year requirement, the BCIS (fromerly the INS) requires thatyou be a valid engaged couple. There is a presumption that if you have not seen your fiancee in the last two years, then you are not a valid engaged couple.

Frenchie.
And, yes, I am an immigration attorney.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: CPA
As for the 2 year rule, that means that if she met him 3 years ago, then she no longer is eligible to apply for a fiance visa, I believe.

I don't think that's what it means. I think it means that you have to have had face to face contact with your fiance within the past two years. No mail-order-brides that you've never met in person.

 

[Frenchie]

Bryophyte: Your interpretation is correct.

 

[Semidevil]

Originally posted by: Frenchie
As was stated, get her here on a fiancee visa and then get married here. Once youve done that, apply for her to get here green card. Once that is done, you can apply for advance parole for permission to return to her country to have the ceremony performed over there as well.

If you get married there and then apply for a fiancee visa, the visa will be denied. You will have to apply for her to get her green card, and she will have to wait in her country for 1-3 years before being able to come to the US.

As for the two year requirement, the BCIS (fromerly the INS) requires thatyou be a valid engaged couple. There is a presumption that if you have not seen your fiancee in the last two years, then you are not a valid engaged couple.

Frenchie.
And, yes, I am an immigration attorney.

ok, so basically, I am not allowed to get married there, for it will defeat the purpose of a "fiance" Visa.

I have a kind of stupid question about marriage here. When someone does their ceremony, does it automatically mean that they are legally married? Or maybe to put it in a less stupid way, do you have to apply for marriage to have a ceremony? Because my gf really wants to have her ceremony, and I was wondering if it is an absolute must that we get married in the U.S, AND then do it in her country...or maybe, have ceremony there, and get paperwork done here....

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally posted by: Semidevil
I went online to do some research, so I found out that if I want to marry and bring my gf here(she is not from america), she will need to apply for fiance visa. ok, we know that. Ofcourse, with that, there are rules and wait period and stuff like that.


now, she also wants to have a wedding at her home-country too. So if I go to her country, do her version of the celebration, and later then come here to america to get married, is that a problem? What I'm saying is that, since there are so many rules and regulations to getting married and living in america, are there such rules if I do a wedding in S. Korea?

I know that I still need to do it in america, but I meant if we wanted to do it in korea too.

also,what does this requirement mean: "You must have met your fianc?(e)?who is a U.S. citizen?in person, within the past two years"

does that mean we have to know eachotr for atleast 2 years before applying?
why do they say withen 2 years? we cannot know more then 2 years??? confused

CALL AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER.

There is a reason that lawyers go to law school for years, and attends hours of Continuing Legal Education classes.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: Semidevil
I have a kind of stupid question about marriage here. When someone does their ceremony, does it automatically mean that they are legally married? Or maybe to put it in a less stupid way, do you have to apply for marriage to have a ceremony? Because my gf really wants to have her ceremony, and I was wondering if it is an absolute must that we get married in the U.S, AND then do it in her country...or maybe, have ceremony there, and get paperwork done here....

You are not legally married until the papers have been filed with the county or whatever jurisdiction you must file with. You can have any ceremony you want, if you haven't applied for and filed afterwards the correct paperwork, you're not married. (This is ignoring the whole issue of commonlaw marriage that doesn't really apply to you I think.) This is in the US. Where your girl comes from, that might not be the case. If they're like here, you could do a non-legally-binding ceremony of sorts over there, then do it legally here later I think. You don't really need much of a ceremony here, just a couple of witnesses and a judge.