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2. Fiancé(e) Visas [K-1]
This is often the most common of visa classifications - called simply K-1 - for foreign-born people coming to the United States to marry US citizens and reside here.
PETITION
Your American fiancé(e) must file a petition - Form I-129F, Petition for Relative or Fiancé(e) - with the Regional Service Center of the Immigration and Naturalization Service [USCIS] local to your American fiancé(e)'s residence in the US. This petition must be filed in the US. The approved petition will be forwarded by USCIS to the United States consular office in the UK where you will apply for your visa. This petition is valid for a period of four months from the date of USCIS action, and may be revalidated by the consular officer in the UK. Your American fiancé(e) can download the Petition for Relative or Fiancé(e) application. This form, like all forms, contain instructions on how to fill them out.
APPLYING FOR A FIANCÉ(E) VISA
Upon receipt of an approved petition, the American consular officer will notify you and include a packet of necessary forms and instructions to apply for a "K" visa. Since a fiancé(e) visa applicant is an intending immigrant [whether you choose to take naturalisation or not], you must meet most of the documentary requirements of an immigrant visa applicant. The packet contains the various documents which must be presented at the visa interview at the US embassy - in the UK. These include: passport, police clearances, medical examination results, etc. The packet includes documents requesting biographic data [Form G-325] which must have been completed, signed and forwarded to the US embassy prior to your interview.
PORT OF ENTRY IN THE U.S.
Following a successful interview at the US embassy in the UK, you'll receive a K-1 visa, permanently attached inside your passport. At the port of entry [JFK or Newark airport for the tri-state area], your passport will be stamped, along with the stapled-in I-94 Departure record [this is filled out on the flight over]. Your wedding must take place within 90 days of admission into the US.
Following your wedding, you must apply to the USCIS for conditional permanent residence status [ie: Green Card application - I-485, see above]. After two years, you must then apply to the USCIS for removal of the conditional status within 90 days of the end date on your Green Card.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Family Members
If you have children and wish to bring them with you, they have 'K-2' nonimmigrant visa status from you [the applicant] so long as the children are named in the petition. A separate petition is not required if the children accompany or follow you within a year of the issue date of the K-1 visa.
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3. Family-Based Permanent Residence
Categories:
Petitions based on family relationships and are divided into the following categories:
1st PREFERENCE: UNMARRIED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF US CITIZENS;
2nd PREFERENCE: SPOUSES, SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENTS;
3rd PREFERENCE: MARRIED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF US CITIZEN;
4th PREFERENCE: BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF US CITIZENS.
Note, there is no preference category for spouses or unmarried minor children of US citizens, because there's no limit placed on the immigration of spouses or unmarried minor children of US citizens.
Immigrant visas are always immediately available to them, however, they too must be admissible to the US before a permanent resident visa can be issued. The actual request for permanent resident status for an alien in one of the preference categories above is made on Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. The current fee to USCIS for this filing is $190.
Eligibility:
The Immigration Act of 1990 significantly changed certain aspects of family sponsored immigration in the United States. Generally speaking, it increased the total number of visas available for some categories of close family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. This chapter will briefly discuss the various categories of family sponsored petitions for permanent residence, the I-130 Petition, and the evidence that is required to accompany the petition.
A US citizen can file a petition on behalf of:
- a husband, wife, or child under the age of 21;
- an unmarried child over the age of 21;
- a married child of any age;
- a brother or sister if the U.S. citizen is at least 21 years old;
- a parent if the US citizen is at least 21 years.
To prove that the petitioner is a US citizen, your spouse must submit a certified copy of his/her birth certificate, an original Certificate of Naturalization, a Certificate of Citizenship, or a valid US passport.
A lawful permanent resident can file a petition on behalf of:
- a husband or wife; an unmarried child.
To prove a petitioner is a lawful permanent resident, you must submit your valid alien registration card (Green Card).
Next page: Employment Visas - what you should know!
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