Consequences of Marriage When Waiting For K-1 Fiance Visa

I filed a K-1 Fiance Visa for my fiancé in the Philippines a few months ago.  I visited her a couple of weeks ago and while I was there, on the spur of the moment, we decided to get married.  Can I proceed with the K-1 Fiance Visa?

 Unfortunately, because you got married your previous fiancée is no longer your fiancée .  She is now your wife.  As such, you no longer qualify to apply for a K-1 fiancee visa.

In order to bring her over to the United States you will need to file a I-130 petition.   The process should take about a 13 to 18 months to complete.  However, the time it takes to process these types of cases varies by country and it also changes due to the amount of cases filed and the amount of scrutiny USCIS gives to the cases.

The good news is that, if successful with the I-130 case, your wife will enter the United States with a green card.  As a result you will not need to do an adjustment of status case in order to obtain her green card, once she arrives in the United States.  This will save you from having to file a second immigration case for your wife in order for her to obtain a green card.  You will also save additional USCIS filing fees etc.

In addition, your wife will be able to work immediately.  With a fiance visa your wife would have to wait until she would be able to work.  The wait time would likely be 3-6 months from when you file your adjustment of status case so your wife can obtain her green card.

You should review your situation with an immigration attorney to see which option would be the best option for you.

For more information about the fiance visa process please read: “Top 10 Things You Should Know About the Fiance Visa Process”

Lawrence Gruner is a Sacramento based immigration lawyer whose office handles primarily fiance visa cases and marriage based green card cases.  His office would be happy to talk to you, free of charge, about all of your Immigration options.

If you have further questions please feel free to contact our office at 888-801-6558 for a free consultation.  We have clients in California, the United States and throughout the world.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this site is not legal advice but general information only. Laws can and do change. Additional laws can apply in your situation. Therefore, you should ALWAYS seek legal advice about your case. This article is only a basic introduction to this issue. Please talk to an attorney about your specific case.