K-1 Fiancé/Fiancée Visa
If a foreigner is not married but has an American boyfriend/girlfriend and has the intention to get married, and want to live together in the United States, then the U.S. citizen can petition to obtain the temporary K-1 fiancé visa for the foreign fiancé. The process to obtain this visa is divided into 2 parts: The Petition and The Visa application.
The petition along with the appropriate fees can be filed using Form I-129F with the USCIS Service Center serving the area of residence of the U.S. citizen in the United States. This type of petition cannot be filed at a consulate, embassy, or U.S. immigration office abroad.
After the petition for the fiancé visa is approved by the USCIS, the petition is sent to the National Visa Center for processing, and then it is sent to the embassy or consulate where the fiancé(e) will apply for the K-1 visa.
There are several requirements and documents to submit when applying for the K-1 Visa, one of them is that both people must be single or divorced; an American citizen cannot file a petition for a person that is currently married, and the American citizen must be non-married at the time of the application. Any previous marriage must have ended through divorce, annulment, or death. Another requirement is that the couple must have met in person within the last two years before filing for the fiancé(e) visa, however, this requirement can be waived only if meeting your fiancé(e) in person would violate long-established customs, or if meeting in person would create extreme hardship for the American citizen.
Children of the Foreign National
If the foreign national has unmarried children under the age of 21, they might also be eligible to obtain a derivative K-2 visa to accompany the main K-1 visa holder. The American citizen petitioner must make sure to include the children’s names in the I-129F petition. The children may travel together with the K-1 parent/fiancé(e) or travel at a later time to join the parent within one year from the date of issuance of the K-1 visa to the parent.
Once you receive the K-1 Visa, you can enter and stay in the US for a short period of 90 days. If before the 90 days are finished you get married, then your spouse can file the petition from inside the U.S. for you to become a permanent resident, to adjust your status from a K1 visa to a green card. If you do not get married after 90 days of entering the U.S. then you must return to your country.
Conditional Green Card
If the couple decides to get married after obtaining the K-1 visa and adjust status to a permanent residence in the U.S., note that the USCIS will be issuing a conditional green card because the marriage is less than 2 years old. You and your husband or wife are required to file jointly to remove the conditions on your resident status using Form 1-751 (Joint Petition to Remove Conditional Basis of Alien’s Permanent Resident Status) during the 90-day period before having 2 years of having a conditional permanent resident status.
