Love knows no bounds. After all, it is not unusual for an American citizen living in California to fall in love with someone from another country. Once the couple is engaged, the fiancé living abroad may want to marry their soon-to-be spouse in the United States. To do so, the fiancé living abroad will have to get a “Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fiancé” – also known as a “K-1” visa.
A K-1 visa allows the fiancé living abroad to come to the U.S. and marry their American-citizen partner within 90 days of entering the U.S. After that, the foreign citizen can apply to become a permanent resident of the U.S. If the foreign citizen has children, they can enter the U.S. by getting K-2 visas.
Generally, the fiancé who lives abroad and the U.S. citizen must have met each other in person within two years of applying for the K-1 visa, although there are exceptions for extreme hardship. Each partner must be legally free and able to marry according to U.S. law. If the person applying for a K-1 visa has committed certain crimes such as drug trafficking or has overstayed a previous visa, they may not be allowed to get a K-1 visa.
There are certain steps that must be followed to get a K-1 visa, so it is important that the U.S. citizen and their foreign-citizen fiancé understand what they need to do to get a K-1 visa. For this reason, many people who want a K-1 visa will seek legal help from an immigration attorney. This way, they can focus on their wedding and future as a married couple, while the attorney takes care of the legal details.
