New York Fiancé Visa Guide
The New York fiancé visa guide was created by Empire Immigration Law, PLLC to help answer common questions you may have about the immigration process. Call our lawyers for a consultation.
Are you hoping to come to the United States and marry your fiancé? Our Buffalo, NY, fiancée visa lawyer can help you do this legally. Please call us right away to get some of your burning questions answered as soon as possible. This process is not immediate, but the sooner you get in touch with us the sooner you can be in the States with your loved one building your life together. Call right now to get started.
What Are Fiancé Visas?
A K-1 fiancé visa is going to be right for you if you do not live in the United States but are engaged to and plan to marry a United States citizen and want to come and live with them. You will be able to get married to your fiancé when they act as your U.S. citizen sponsor. The marriage has to happen within 90 days of you being in the United States. If you wish to bring your fiancé into this country and you are a United States citizen, we can help you fast track this visa to get you the results you need.
K1 Visa Application Process
Before you start the process of applying for a K-1 fiancé visa, the person living in the United States has to be able to meet certain requirements in order for them to file. The first, obviously, being that they have to be a citizen of the United States. You and your fiancé(e) must have met within the past two years and you have to have proof of your meeting. If there was an extreme circumstance or hardship, the requirement can be waived. It can also be waived due to religious reasons. You also have to be clear and free to marry them legally at the time the petition is filed and continue to be eligible. Basically, this means that you need to be unmarried or have legally terminated any other marriages and have the documentation to show the proof of that.
Furthermore, you both need to show that there is a serious intention to get married to each other within 90 days of the foreign fiancé(e) coming to the United States. And lastly you have to submit an affidavit of support if you are the U.S. citizen to show that you can support your fiancé(e) financially. Sometimes that will require a co-sponsor if you don’t meet the income requirements.
Step one of getting a fiancé visa is filing the petition for the foreign fiancé(e) by the citizen of the United States fiancé(e). The citizen of the United States is going to be known as the petitioner. The petition gets filed with the United States citizen and immigration services and it has to be sent to the right service center based on where you live in the country. This petition is known as the petition for alien fiancé, or form I-129F. You cannot file that form from abroad and it is only valid for four months after the USCIS has given it approval. If you need an extension for any reason, the US consular office may be able to grant to you one.
Once the petition is filed with the USCIS, you can expect the following things to happen:
First the application will go through the process of being accepted. If there are no issues with how it is filed, you will be given a receipt number and the petitioner will be notified that the application has been accepted.
The USCIS will go through a background check of the petitioner in order to take care of any issues that need to be looked at. If there are any issues with the information, they can request evidence in which the petitioner will share some more information the USCIS needs
Once that is all said and done, everything will be reviewed and a decision will be made. The petitioner will either receive an email or a letter of what the decision is.
Getting Approval
Once you file, there’s generally going to be anywhere from 4 to 6 months from the date of filing for it to be approved. When you have a Buffalo, NY, fiancé visa lawyer by your side handling your case, they can more often than not expedite your process by ensuring that there are no mistakes made on your forms or documents and everything is submitted the right way. If you have mistakes on your application, then there will likely be a delay of weeks or even months. If you’d like to receive your approval within 120 days, we hope you reach out to us right away. After your petition is approved, then your application gets sent to the consulate or US Embassy.
K-1 Visa Through Consulate or Embassy
As soon as your notification of your application is received by the consulate or the U.S. Embassy and gets approved by the USCIS, then a notice will be sent to the fiancé(e) living abroad along with the instructions that need to be followed for the process of a K-1 visa application. If you are the fiancé(e) living abroad, you will be given directions on how you can schedule your visa interview, as well as your medical examination.
You are going to have to schedule a medical examination that is performed by a physician who is authorized to do so. You will be told where and how to schedule this examination if you are the person living abroad and you will be given a list of names of doctors who can perform this medical examination. You don’t have to get vaccinations to apply for a K-1 visa but you are strongly encouraged to do that.
Here are some things that you are going to need for your K-1 visa interview:
- All relevant applications for visas which include nonimmigrant applications as well as nonimmigrant fiancée visa applications
- Your passport
- If you were married, a certificate of death of your former spouse or your divorce certificate to prove that the marriage is legally terminated
- The paperwork from your medical examination
- Proof of your financial situation that shows you can support yourself or an affidavit of support filed by your fiancé
- Some evidence of your and your partner’s relationship
- Two photos that are in the style of passport photos
Please get in touch with our Buffalo, NY, fiancée visa lawyers if you would like to learn more about the interview process.
How Long a K-1 Visa Can Take
When you go through the K-1 visa process with the U.S. Embassy or Consulate, you can expect the process to be anywhere between 60 to 120 days. The bigger question is how much time it will take for you to get your K-1 visa after your petition is received. This can vary based on where you live in the world and what your case circumstances are.
After your application for a K-1 visa is approved by the Consulate or U.S. Embassy, it could be several days before you receive your visa. You will have to wait six months from the date that your visa is issued if you want to travel to the United States. After you come to the states then you have 90 days to get married to your petitioner who would be the U.S. citizen which is your fiancé.
If you have children and you want to bring them with you, they can file for a K2 visa, which is a separate application with all separate fees. Your fiancé(e) is going to have to list them on their form I 129F. Your children can come with you to the United States within six months of their visa being issued. Call our Buffalo, NY fiancé visa lawyer for more information if you have questions.
Denied Visa?
When you file a K-1 visa application, you should know that they are heavily scrutinized and there are a litany of reasons why they might throw it out. Some of the more obvious reasons why they would throw out your visa application is because it’s not complete and it has a lack of information on it about your medical concerns or your criminal background. It also might not show that there is a legitimate relationship. They could also tell you that they need to verify the documentation; if it has not been done, they might throw your application out. Also if you don’t have the sufficient amount of financial documentation to show that you can financially support a foreign fiancé it can be thrown out, as well. Another reason why you might have your application thrown out is if a previous marriage has not been completely terminated. Please get in touch if you have any other questions.
Call a Buffalo, NY, Fiancé Visa Lawyer for Help
If you are looking for help with your fiancé visa application or your K-1 visa or any other immigration issues, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with our office right away. Our Buffalo, NY, fiancée visa lawyer is here to help you make this a smooth and successful process.
