See the immigration process for your cross-border love
The bible teaches us Love is PATIENT and love is Kind, and that it rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13). But it leaves out one very important detail, LOVE IS EXPENSIVE…
Most recently I started tracking patterns of how many calls and questions I get about marriage with someone who lives abroad. Most (about 90%) are deterred by the costly expense involved in the immigration process to bring your fiancé or new spouse to the United States. More and more Americans are looking for love outside the US thanks to technology making it easy to communicate with anyone.
Fiancé Visas (K1 visas), is a one-time entry for an immigrant to come to the USA to marry a US Citizen (or legal resident). You have 90 days from the day you enter to marry each other. In order to be successful in getting this visa you must show a bonafide relationship with the US citizen.
Bonafide! Fancy world for genuine and truthful. So, do love emails and long facetime chats count for this? NOPE!
There must be physical contact between the two of you at least twice! Yep, that means 2 expensive trips for the US Citizen to see their sweetheart. Travel and sometimes hotel.
Then you pay the visa fees.
Then you pay your sweethearts plane ticket.
Oh ya, then you pay for rings and a marriage ceremony all within 90 days!
Wait here’s the best part… you are married yes! Now you have about 3-9 months to get all your other applications together to “adjust status” and receive a legal residency card for your new spouse. That means more application fees, and medical exam fee. Meanwhile your spouse does not have permission to work, YET! Yes, there is an option to apply for a work permit, but this normally is processed and received a few months before your adjustment of status is scheduled for an interview. So the short answer is no, your spouse can’t work immediately and help with these costs.
From start to finish on average a US citizen spends between $10,000 - $20,000 to fall in love with an immigrant. (this doesn’t include legal fees by the way). Processing times average 18-months to 3 years to finalize.
But wait there is more! Love is eternal remember?
Your immigrant spouse will receive a conditional legal residency. That means it expires in 2 years. Yes, you need to reapply in 2 years and once again prove your marriage continues to be BONAFIDE. A lot of good reasons our government does this in case the happy couple does not work out. After you reapply, the new approved legal residency will be valid for 10 years, which at that point is not dependent on marriage for the immigrant to stay and renew later on in life. (so they can divorce you after this point is what I am saying).
Are you a US Citizen in love with an immigrant and have more questions about the process? Book a consultation at the link in the header!
