Marriage to a US Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident
In the News: The Daily News, a major New York newspaper with 2.5 million daily readers, profiled Anna Valentini, Esq. and Susan Calvaruso of Valentini Law Offices, PLLC among immigration law experts who participated in the Daily News Citizenship Now! event from April 28, 2008 to May 2, 2008.
How Valentini Law Offices Can Benefit You: We understand that being together with your significant other is very important so we work very hard to get your K-1 fiancé visa approved as fast as possible. By routinely dealing with a delicate task of proving that the relationship is bona fide and staying tuned to the latest USCIS regulatory updates, we can reunite you with that special person in the United States within months. As a special benefit to our K-1 visa clients and their fiancées, we speak Spanish, Polish, Japanese, Russian, Ukrainian, German, French and Italian.
K-1 Visa
The K-1 is an immigrant visa available to alien fiancées of US citizens and the alien fiancées' children (who enter the US on K-2 visas). The sole purpose of the K-1 visa is to facilitate the marriage of an alien fiancée to a US citizen in the United States. K-1 visas are not available for the fiancées of lawful permanent residents (green card holders). Compared to other immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, K-1 visa processing times are fairly short.
The K-1 visa is only available for alien fiancées who are outside of the United States. K-1 visas are issued in the consulate of the fiancée’s country of nationality. In other words, the adjustment of status to K-1 is not allowed. K-1 visa holders are also prohibited from adjusting their K-1 status to any other immigrant or nonimmigrant status.
It is required that the alien fiancée and a US citizen have met at least once in person within the past two years before a K-1 petition can be filed on behalf of the alien fiancée. However, under certain compelling circumstances, this requirement may be waived.
A marriage between the United States citizen and an alien fiancée has to be entered into within 90 days of the alien fiancée's arrival into the United States. After the marriage takes place, the alien spouse and alien spouse’s children become eligible to apply for adjustment of status, employment authorization. The approval of an adjustment of status petition means that an alien spouse becomes a US conditional lawful permanent resident. In one year and nine months after an alien spouse becomes a conditional lawful permanent resident, the alien spouse can apply for removal of the condition.