What Is a K-1 Visa?

Today I'm going to tell you the three steps of how to get your fiancé to the United States, and also get a green card. You should know that getting the K-1 fiancé visa is a three-step process that you will have to go through.

The First step: Filing the application

The first thing we look for is whether the petitioner in the US is a US citizen. You have to be a US citizen. You also cannot be married to anyone else. We first will file a petition with immigration called the I121F. With that petition, we'll show several things.

Number one, we need to show that both of you are not married to anyone else. Number two, for my clients I definitely require that they have met in person in the past two years, and we show documents to prove that. And the next thing we show is a relationship. We show how the couple is continuing to communicate. Maybe one fiancé is financially supporting the other fiancé.

Finally, the last thing I'd like to send immigration is a letter from both people that says they intend to get married when they are together in the United States. So that’s the petition. We package that up and send it off to immigration. With that, step one is done.

Step Two: Dealing with the embassy

When the case is approved, we're going to move to step number two. This step involves dealing with the embassy. And this is the time when the fiancé overseas, i.e., the foreign national, is going to have a visa interview. They will typically be asking for a K-1 visa.

However, before the interview, once again, we're going to put together a packet of materials and make sure that our foreign national is ready for the big day. The foreign national also has to go for a medical exam and they need to get some police certificates to show a record of good conduct in the places where they have lived. Finally, if they have any criminal issues or immigration issues, we also need to deal with those before the embassy appointment.

So, on the big day, they're going to go to the embassy, they’re going to have an interview with the counselor officer, and hopefully, their case is going to be approved. With that, step number two is done. They will receive a K-1 visa stamp actually in their passport.

Step Three: Marriage and green card

Once the K-1 visa is issued, the fiancé needs to come to the US right away. We don't want to wait around or take a lot of time before they arrive in the US. The visa is not indefinite and it will expire. For the last step, the K-1 fiancé comes to the United States, and within 90 days of arrival, they need to get married to you, the US citizen petitioner.

After they are married, we take the marriage certificate and put together our final packet. It's called the adjustment of status application. This means asking immigration for the green card. For this, we have to show immigration that yes, you did get married, and we also have to show how the K-1 fiancé qualifies for that green card. So, it's a standard green card application.

If we're very lucky, the US CIS will just approve the case and they will not call you for an interview. But in the past few years, we have seen more K-1 green card interviews happening at local field offices.

So that's the K-1 fiancé case. It's a three-step case, and by the end, you will have your fiancé here in the United States, you'll be married, and they will have received their green card. If you have further questions about this, I hope you'll reach out and contact me. I'll be happy to help.