Is there an advantage to marrying my foreign spouse in the US rather than outside the US?
Every year more and more Americans started seeking for a foreign spouse over the Internet. Mail order brides and email marriages are slowly taking over the American dating system. Statistics suggest that over 14,000 U.S. citizens find their foreign partners through email, and it seems that eighty percent of these email marriages last longer than the traditional American marriage.
While the advantage of such email marriages and mail order brides is that you can find the right girl of your choice, the difficulty lies in bringing your foreign spouse or fiance to the United States of America. You can choose any of the three marriage visas offered by the US Immigration Department, based on your suitability. These marriage visas include Immigrant Visa for a Spouse (IR1 or CR1), Nonimmigrant Visa for a Spouse (K-3), and Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fiance(e) (K-1). To file a petition for any of the three marriage visas, you should first decide whether you want to marry your foreign spouse in the USA or marry your foreign spouse outside the USA.
It is always suggested that you bring her into the country first and then marry your foreign spouse in the USA. If you marry your foreign spouse outside the USA, it will be difficult to bring your non-citizen spouse into the country on a tourist visa or other temporary visa. This is because when a non-citizen marries an American citizen, he/she has the intent of staying permanently in the U.S.A. On the other hand, if your foreign spouse applies for a tourist or temporary visa, it means that he/she is gonna stay only for a short duration. This conflict of interests, also known as dual intent, allows the Immigration officials to conclude that non-citizen is trying to commit marriage visa fraud. Once the officials decide that you and your spouse intend to commit marriage visa fraud, his/her petition will be rejected and you might face a serious penalty.
Another reason why you should not marry your foreign spouse outside the U.S.A is that the processing time required for the immigrant and K-3 marriage visas is very long. This is the main reason why couples intend to marry within the United States. One of the primary advantages of marrying your foreign spouse in the U.S.A is that you and your foreign spouse can benefit from the faster Adjustment of Status (AOS) process.
The other advantages of marrying your foreign spouse in the USA are
a The waiting time for a K-1 fiancAe visa is shorter than marriage-based immigration visa petitions.
a Your fiancAe can apply for a work permit by filing Form I-765 and is entitled for employment within the U.S.
a Children of your foreign fiancAe can come to the U.S. on the K-2 dependent visa as long as they are listed on the fiancAe visa petition.
USAMarriageVisas.com offers you expert advice on how to find a foreign spouse abroad and how to bring him/her into the U.S. without any trouble. USAMarriageVisas.com offers three e-books which deal with all the issues of email marriages and provides professional guidance in the visa application process. These e-books are a boon for all those who want to bring their foreign spouse into the country.
