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If you are a U.S. citizen you can bring your non-citizen fiancé to the United States. If your fiancé plans on joining you in the U.S., it is important to know the following:
- Your fiancé cannot enter the U.S. on a visitor visa if his/her intention is to marry you and become a U.S. permanent resident. Entering on any visa other than a fiancé visa will be considered fraud by USCIS and can keep your fiancé from obtaining future immigration benefits
- After the fiancé petition is approved, your fiancé must apply for a visa at U.S. consulate in his/her home country before he/she will be allowed to enter the U.S.
- You must get married within 90 days after your foreign fiancé enters the U.S.
- If you do not get married within 90 days, your fiancé must leave the U.S. If he/she overstays, your fiancé will risk being deported.
- The petitioner must “establish to the satisfaction of the District Director” that the petitioner and the beneficiary have met in person within the two years immediately preceding the filing of the K nonimmigrant visa petition. 8 CFR Sec. 214.2(k)(2). However, this requirement may be waived by the District Director “as a matter of discretion” only if it can be established that:
- Compliance would result in extreme hardship to the petitioner; or
- That compliance would violate strict and long-established customs of the beneficiary’s foreign culture or social practice, as where marriages are traditionally arranged by the parents of the contracting parties and the bride and groom are prohibited from meeting subsequent to the arrangement and prior to the wedding day. 8 CFR Sec. 214.2(k)(2).
- Keep in mind that your fiancé will not automatically become a U.S. permanent once you are married. He/she will need to adjust his/her status to that of a permanent residence after you are officially married.
- Once your spouse’s adjustment of status application is approved, he/she will be considered a conditional permanent resident. It is very important to have these conditions removed later.
Removal of Conditions: You and your spouse will need to file another petition within 90 days of the two year anniversary of when your spouse’s green card was granted to have the conditions on his/her green card removed. This is a crucial part of the immigration process, and failure to file a petition for removal of conditions can have serious repercussions. |
