Can my fiancé visit me in the United States during the immigration process?

Here is another common question I get: Can my fiancé visit me in the US during the immigration process? Sometimes, the answer is yes, they can. Today I'm going to share with you some information about how to make that happen and the most common scenarios that we see.

How visas for fiancés work

Let's say you are engaged to someone who does not live in the United States, i.e., a foreign national. Typically, they will have to wait overseas to get their fiancé visa, which is called the K-1 visa, before they can come into the United States. But as you know, that process can take several months or even more than a year.

And I'm sure you miss each other during that time and you want to see each other. So sometimes my clients are able to bring their fiancé over for a nice visit and then they have to go back home for the interview. Let me share with you how this works.

If they have an advantage

First, I look to see if the fiancé overseas already has a visitor’s visa in their passport. A visitor’s visa is a B1/B2 visa. Sometimes, if they are from a European country that allows it, they will have a visa waiver program eligibility called ESTA. With that, they can come into the US for a visit, and then they need to go back home when their visit is complete. Now here's what we talk about before they make the trip. We talk about how they need to go back home, and also the questions that they’re going to be asked at the airport.

So, when they get to the airport, they may be asked, what is the purpose of your trip. You need to be honest. You are coming for a short visit. You are visiting the person you’re visiting. It could be your fiancé, a business contact, or who knows what. And then you need to say, I understand that I need to go back home because I'm going to have a visa interview in my home country. So, you definitely need to let the CBP, customs, and border protection officers know at the airport the purpose of your trip and also that you understand you need to go home.

What to do if you don't have that advantage?

Now, what about those foreign nationals who don't already have the visa in their passport and maybe they are not eligible for ESTA? That gets a little trickier.

They can apply for a visitor visa at their local US embassy and I tell people the chance of getting a visa as a visitor is about 50-50. And so, with that 50-50 chance, they are welcome to try. They need to be absolutely truthful on their application, disclose that they are engaged to a US citizen, and when they go to their interview, they have to be sure that the officer understands that they know they have to go home.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, just let us know.