Love is a beautiful thing and people search far and wide to find true love. If you found true love in the U.S. and you are looking for the right way to legally immigrate to the U.S. to marry and live with your newly found love, you have come to the right place.

In order to travel to the U.S. for the purpose of marriage, you have to go through the K-1 visa route.

In this article, we will be giving you a step by step guide on how you can successfully apply for your k-1 visa. If you need any of our services, kindly get in touch with us and one of our expert consultants willl be happy to assist you.

What is a K-1 Visa?

K-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows a foreign national that is engaged to a U.S. citizen to enter the United States to marry his or her U.S. citizen fiancé.  The wedding has to take place within 90 days of the foreign national fiancé arrival to the United States.

A United States citizen fiancé files a Petition for his or her Foreign Fiancé, Form I-129F, at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that serves the area where he or she lives. After the USCIS approves the petition, the U.S. citizen fiancé can instruct his or her foreign citizen fiancé to proceed with the K-1 visa application.

The foreign national citizen fiancé and the U.S. citizen sponsor must be lawfully free to get married as at the time the U.S. citizen fiancé files the petition at the USCIS. Also the foreign citizen fiancé and the U.S. citizen fiancé must have met in person within the last two years.

You can also read our post on: USA Student Visa

But in the case where the United States citizen fiancé is facing an extreme hardship and does not have enough financial resources to visit his or her foreign citizen fiancé, there can be an exception in such a situation.

Although K-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a foreign national to travel to the U.S. to marry his or her U.S. citizen fiancé, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services classifies it as an immigrant visa since they issue it for immigration purposes. Therefore, the foreign citizen fiancé must meet some immigration requirements to obtain a K-1 visa.

What is K-2 Visa?

As a foreign national, If plan entering the United States to marry your U.S. citizen fiancé and you have kids that would be traveling with you, your k-1 visa would not be covering them. Your kids would have to apply for a separate visa known as K-2 visa. This visa category grants the children of K-1 visa holder the right to travel to the U.S. along with their parent.

It’s crucial to note that you must apply for a K-2 visa for each child you have. For example, if you have 3 children, you must apply for K-2 visa separately for each of your children. The Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé covers your children, so you do not need a separate petition for them.

However, your United States citizen fiancé must include the names of your children traveling with you on the petition. The Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé has a section to  add the names of the Alien Fiancé’s children.

Requirements for getting a K-1 Visa

As a foreign national fiancé seeking to enter the U.S. to marry your U.S. citizen fiancé, you must meet the following requirements to successfully obtain approval for your K-1 visa.

• DS-160 Form, Online Nonimmigration Visa Application: You must completely fill this form and print the confirmation page. Bring the confirmation page to your K-1 appointment. If you have kids that would be traveling with you, you also have to completely fill the DS-160 form for each of them for their K-2 visa application.

• Valid International Passport: You need to have an international passport with the validity period of at least six months beyond your intended period of entry into the U.S.

• Birth Certificate: You need to have a birth certificate, the consulate officer that will interview you will request for it so it is important you have it. If you do not have a birth certificate, all you have to do is go to the authorized government agency in your home country that is in charge of issuing birth certificates and request for one, charges may apply.

• Divorce or Death Certificate: If you previously married but divorced, you need a certificate of divorce to prove that you are legally free to marry your U.S. citizen fiancé

• • Also, if you have previously married and your spouse has passed on, then you must provide the death certificate of your deceased spouse to prove that you are single and lawfully free to marry your U.S. citizen fiancé.

• Proof of Relationship: You have to prove to the visa officer that your relationship with your U.S. citizen fiancé is authentic and you can do that by presenting photos of you and your fiancé together, letter from family members or friends confirming the authenticity of the relationship, communication records like social media messages and recorded voice calls, photos with family and friends, joint bank account if you and your U.S. citizen fiancé have one.

• Passport Photographs: You must have two 2×2 inches passport photographs that meets the U.S. visa photo requirement.

• Police Report: You have to provide a police report from the Police Department in your home country and any other country you have lived in for 6 months or more since reaching the age of 16. If you have children traveling to the U.S. with you, you also have to get their police reports if they are 16 years old or older.

• Medical Examination: This is an important requirement that applicants have to meet to get a K-1 visa. Every K-1 visa applicant must undergo a medical examination regardless of age, so it is very important to undergo a medical examination before your K-1 visa appointment.

• • The United States consulate where you will be applying for your K-1 visa will give you all the information you need to know about performing a health examination and also information about authorized panel physicians that should carry out the examination.

• • Vaccination (Optional): Although vaccinations are generally optional when applying for a K-1 visa, it is highly recommended that you get vaccinated while applying for your K-1 visa and same applies to your children that will be travelling with you.

• • • After you travel to the U.S. and marry your U.S. citizen fiancé, USICS will require you to get vaccinated when you want to adjust your status to a Lawful Permanent Resident.

• Proof of Funds: You must get your bank account statement for the last six months, as it helps prove to the visa officer that you are financially capable to take care of yourself during your stay in the U.S. and you won’t become a financial burden to the United States government.

• • If your U.S. citizen fiancé is supporting you financially, he or she has to fill the Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support and send to you because the visa officer may request for it during your appointment at the U.S. embassy. Your U.S. citizen fiancé must meet the 100% income Federal Poverty Guideline requirement to be able to support you financially during your stay in the U.S.

• Payment of Fees: You must pay all the required fees during your K-1 visa application. Below you will find the breakdown of all the fees that you must pay and the amount you must pay for each of the fees.

K-1 Visa Application Process

Below we have outlined the steps to follow to successfully apply for a K-1 visa. Here at Schmick Travel we have experienced consultants that can handle the whole application process for you. If you want us to handle your application for you, kindly contact us and one of our travel consultants would be happy to assist you.

• Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé: The first step of a K-1 visa application process is for a U.S. citizen fiancé to file a Petition for an alien fiancé at the USCIS that serves the area he or she lives. Your U.S. citizen fiancé can’t file this petition at the USCIS office outside the U.S.

• • After the petition is approved, USCIS sends it to the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center assigns a case number to the approved petition and then forwards the petition to the U.S. consulate in your home country.

• Complete the DS-160 Form: National Visa Center will mail your U.S. citizen fiancé a letter when it sends your case number to the U.S. consulate in your home country. At this point, your U.S. citizen fiancé will have to give you instruction to go ahead with the visa application.

• • You have to fill and complete the DS-160 Form and print the confirmation page. If you have children that would be traveling with you to the United States, you have to fill and complete a separate DS-160 Form for each of them.

• Pay the Visa Application Fee: After completing the DS-160 form for you and your kids and printing the confirmation page, the next step would be to pay for the K-1 visa fee for you and K-2 visa fee for your children that will be travelling with you. Make sure you print the receipts for the fees you will pay.

• Schedule a Visa Appointment: After paying the visa fees, schedule a visa appointment with the U.S embassy in your home country.

• Prepare your documents: While you await your visa appointment, prepare all required and supporting documents. Make sure you don’t include any forged documents as it can lead to visa denial and a visa ban from entering the U.S.

• Attend your Visa Interview: This is the final step of the K-1 visa application process. Dress smartly and responsibly when you go for your visa interview. You do not need to prove that you have strong ties with your home country unlike other non-immigrant visa application, since the intent of K-1 visa is for immigration purpose.

• • The major challenge with a K-1 visa application is convincing the consulate officer that your relationship with your U.S. citizen fiancé is genuine and you plan getting married within 90 days upon your arrival to the United States.

Cost implication for getting a K-1 Visa

Below you will find the cost implication of applying for a K-1 visa. The prices may change in the future but we will always update this article to carry the updated prices.

• Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé Fee: The cost for filing a Petition for Alien Fiancé at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is 675 USD.

• DS-160 Form for K-1, K-2 Fee: The cost for K visa is 265 USD.

• Medical Examination Fee: The cost for medical examination for a K visa is within the range of 160 to 380 USD, depending on the age of the K-1 and K-2 visa applicants and the Healthcare provider.

• Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Resident or Adjust Status: The fee to adjust status to Lawful Permanent Resident after marriage with a U.S. citizen fiancé is 1,440 USD.

• Processing with Schmick Travel: If you want us to handle your K-1 application process for you, we charge a fee of 400 USD.

Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Resident

After you arrive in the U.S. and marry your U.S. citizen fiancé, you must apply for adjustment of status with USCIS to become a Lawful Permanent Resident. To do this you have to use the Form I-485 which cost 1,440 USD.

If you travelled to the U.S. with children, you must apply for adjustment of status separately for each of your K-2 visa children. Under the U.S. immigration law, Immigration and National Act (INA), your children must be unmarried in order for you to be able to apply for adjustment of status for them.

You need to get vaccinated and prove that your marriage to your U.S. citizen spouse is genuine before you can successfully adjust your status to a Lawful Permanent Resident (Green Card). The processing time for the adjustment of status is around 6 to 12 months.

However, this timeframe varies, as it is heavily dependent on the number of applications at the USCIS office processing your application, so sometimes it can take longer (up to 24 months).

You must prove that you are financially capable of taking care of yourself during your period of stay in the U.S. for USCIS to approve your application for adjustment of status.

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If your U.S. spouse is giving you financial support during your stay in the U.S., he or she has to fill and complete Form I-864, Affidavit of Support to prove that he or she has the financial capacity to support you financially during your stay in the U.S. without depending on the U.S. government.

Your U.S. citizen spouse must meet the 125% income of the Federal Poverty Guideline requirement to be able to complete the Form I-864.

We will be covering adjustment of status in details in subsequent articles. Kindly reach out to us if you need any of our services.