Marry a Mail Order Bride: K-1 Fiance Visa Over K-3 Spousal Visa - It"s Quicker and Safer
You are committed.
You have signed up for an International Marriage Agency (IMA).
You have corresponded with beautiful ladies from abroad.
A particular beauty has smitten you.
You have fallen in love and want to get married.
Now what? As you know, a wedding is a seminal moment in a woman's life.
Perhaps there is pressure to marry in her country, so she can do an ecstatic victory lap in front of friends and family.
This is the option Cory Cronin, author of the Ukrainian Bride Guide, chose: "...
and most women will tell you that they dreamed since they were young girls of what their wedding day would be like...
I really didn't care if my family was there are not.
But for Svetlana and her family...
I didn't want to cheat them out of that very special day so I let her know that if I married a Ukrainian girl that I would want to be married in [the] Ukraine...
There are people who will tell you that it's faster to be married in the US and go with a K-1 fiancé visa and others that will tell you the other way around...
I wanted to marry my wife in Ukraine out of love for her and respect for her family.
" What are the K-1 and K-3 visas exactly? If you marry your bride in the United States, you will use a K-1 visa for immigration purposes.
Marry her abroad and you will go with the K-3 spousal visa to get her into the country.
As Cronin suggests, there is considerable debate in the international marriage community on what option to go with.
We suggest the K-1 Fiancée Visa.
It is faster and it protects you in the long run.
According to Mike Krosky, owner of the IMA Cherry Blossoms, the K-1 visa is twice as fast and takes roughly 5-6 months.
The K-3 can take a year to 18 months.
With the K-1, "you interact nearly exclusively with the U.
S.
immigration system and U.
S.
immigration officials...
you avoid dealing with local foreign procedures of marriage in a foreign country in a foreign language," according to the IMA A Foreign Affair website authored by attorney Maria V.
Jones.
There is always the possibility that things could go wrong.
If you marry abroad and you bring your wife into the United States, you are still technically married in her home country if the marriage fails here.
With a K-1 visa, you and your fiancée legally have 90 days until you have to tie the knot.
There is room to work out problems.
If she hates the United States, she can return to her home country without the legal albatross of marriage hanging around her neck.
If you marry abroad, say the Philippines, and the marriage breaks up here, you still have to pursue an annulment in the Philippines.
This, according to Krosky, is costly (between $2,000-5,000) and lengthy (2-3 year process).
If you spend all that money and waste all that time, there is still no assurance, according to Krosky, that the annulment will be granted by Philippine authorities.
But what about granting your fiancée a big, celebratory moment as Cronin felt necessary? The easy answer is to "hold a non-binding, non-legal ceremony to express your feelings for each other which her family and friends could attend in her country," according to attorney Jones on A Foreign Affair website.
There are three examples of such a ceremony.
The first is a formal, engagement party where you announce your upcoming nuptials in front of friends and family in her country.
The second option is a religious ceremony.
For example, if you and/or your fiancée are Catholic, you could attend a ceremony in the church without signing legal, binding marriage papers.
The final option is a reception, a less formal version of the engagement party where you meet and greet your fiancée's friends and family in an intimate party.
With these three options, you still create a beautiful moment for your fiancée in front of her friends and family and still engage in an immigration process with the K-1 visa that is faster and offers you and your fiancée more protection.
You have signed up for an International Marriage Agency (IMA).
You have corresponded with beautiful ladies from abroad.
A particular beauty has smitten you.
You have fallen in love and want to get married.
Now what? As you know, a wedding is a seminal moment in a woman's life.
Perhaps there is pressure to marry in her country, so she can do an ecstatic victory lap in front of friends and family.
This is the option Cory Cronin, author of the Ukrainian Bride Guide, chose: "...
and most women will tell you that they dreamed since they were young girls of what their wedding day would be like...
I really didn't care if my family was there are not.
But for Svetlana and her family...
I didn't want to cheat them out of that very special day so I let her know that if I married a Ukrainian girl that I would want to be married in [the] Ukraine...
There are people who will tell you that it's faster to be married in the US and go with a K-1 fiancé visa and others that will tell you the other way around...
I wanted to marry my wife in Ukraine out of love for her and respect for her family.
" What are the K-1 and K-3 visas exactly? If you marry your bride in the United States, you will use a K-1 visa for immigration purposes.
Marry her abroad and you will go with the K-3 spousal visa to get her into the country.
As Cronin suggests, there is considerable debate in the international marriage community on what option to go with.
We suggest the K-1 Fiancée Visa.
It is faster and it protects you in the long run.
According to Mike Krosky, owner of the IMA Cherry Blossoms, the K-1 visa is twice as fast and takes roughly 5-6 months.
The K-3 can take a year to 18 months.
With the K-1, "you interact nearly exclusively with the U.
S.
immigration system and U.
S.
immigration officials...
you avoid dealing with local foreign procedures of marriage in a foreign country in a foreign language," according to the IMA A Foreign Affair website authored by attorney Maria V.
Jones.
There is always the possibility that things could go wrong.
If you marry abroad and you bring your wife into the United States, you are still technically married in her home country if the marriage fails here.
With a K-1 visa, you and your fiancée legally have 90 days until you have to tie the knot.
There is room to work out problems.
If she hates the United States, she can return to her home country without the legal albatross of marriage hanging around her neck.
If you marry abroad, say the Philippines, and the marriage breaks up here, you still have to pursue an annulment in the Philippines.
This, according to Krosky, is costly (between $2,000-5,000) and lengthy (2-3 year process).
If you spend all that money and waste all that time, there is still no assurance, according to Krosky, that the annulment will be granted by Philippine authorities.
But what about granting your fiancée a big, celebratory moment as Cronin felt necessary? The easy answer is to "hold a non-binding, non-legal ceremony to express your feelings for each other which her family and friends could attend in her country," according to attorney Jones on A Foreign Affair website.
There are three examples of such a ceremony.
The first is a formal, engagement party where you announce your upcoming nuptials in front of friends and family in her country.
The second option is a religious ceremony.
For example, if you and/or your fiancée are Catholic, you could attend a ceremony in the church without signing legal, binding marriage papers.
The final option is a reception, a less formal version of the engagement party where you meet and greet your fiancée's friends and family in an intimate party.
With these three options, you still create a beautiful moment for your fiancée in front of her friends and family and still engage in an immigration process with the K-1 visa that is faster and offers you and your fiancée more protection.
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