K-1 Fiancé(e) Visa

 

The fiancé(e) K-1 nonimmigrant visa is for the foreign-citizen fiancé(e) of a United States (U.S.) citizen. The K-1 visa permits the foreign-citizen fiancé(e) to travel to the United States and marry his or her U.S. citizen sponsor within 90 days of arrival. The foreign-citizen will then apply for adjustment of status to a permanent resident (LPR) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

 

Eligibility Requirements

 

• Petitioner must be a U.S. citizen;

 

• A fiancé(e) visa requires the holder to marry a U.S. citizen within 90 days after arrival in the United States;

 

• Both the U.S. citizen and the K-1 visa applicant must have been legally free to marry at the time the petition was filed and must have remained so thereafter. Any previous marriages must have been legally terminated by divorce, death, or annulment. 

 

• The foreign-citizen fiancé(e) and U.S. citizen sponsor must have met in person within the past two years. USCIS may grant an exception to this requirement, based on extreme hardship for the U.S. citizen sponsor to personally meet the foreign-citizen fiancé(e), or, for example, if it is contrary in the U.S. citizen sponsor’s or foreign-citizen fiancé(e)’s culture for a man and woman to meet before marriage.

 

 

Eligible children of K-1 visa applicants receive K-2 visas.

 

 

 

K-3 Nonimmigrant Visa for a Spouse

 

Immigration law allows the alien spouse of a U.S. citizen and his or her minor children to be admitted to the United States as nonimmigrants while they are awaiting the adjudication of a Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. It also allows them to obtain employment authorization while they are waiting.

 

Eligibility

 

To be eligible for a K-3 nonimmigrant visa, an individual must:

 

• Be married to a U.S. citizen 

• Have a pending Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, filed by the U.S. citizen spouse on his or her behalf

 

A child may be eligible for a K-4 visa if he or she is unmarried, under 21, and is the child of a qualified K-3 nonimmigrant visa applicant.