K1 Visa Process Overview

You prepare a K1 visa application for submission to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"), which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The USCIS oversees immigration services, which includes processing K1 fiancée visas. Careful, professional analysis of your case and preparation of the K1 visa application is very important, as good preparation will greatly increase your chances for approval and decrease the length of time you will be waiting for approval. It will also make things easier and smoother at the consulate.

You wait for USCIS to process your petition. Depending on where you live in the U.S., this wait can be as short as 1 - 2 months or as long as 6 months or more at any given time (for more on this, see the page on K1 Processing Times on this web site). This part of the process often involves the longest wait. Again, careful, professional analysis and preparation of your case can help immensely; if there is a problem with your case, the USCIS will not usually tell you until they actually get around to processing your case, which could be many months after its submission. Any problems will, at a minimum, result in delay and can greatly lengthen processing time.

Upon approval of your application by USCIS, it is forwarded to the Department of State's National Visa Center ("NVC"). After completing initial processing, the NVC forwards the case on to the appropriate U.S. consulate, which then sends one or more sets of visa applications directly to your fiancée.
Your fiancée submits the visa applications to the Consulate. Although your fiancée may prepare these applications and submit them directly in order to save time, if you retain me I will either prepare the applications for them or review the applications before their submission. I will also prepare the other paperwork you will need to submit to the consulate to show your ability and willingness to support your fiancée.

Your fiancée waits for a visa interview. This usually only takes from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the U.S. Consulate and the size of their processing backlog. At some point prior to their interview, your fiancée will have to undergo a medical examination. The focus of the medical examination will be on identifying communicable diseases of public health significance, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc. If your fiancée has any such conditions, it may still be possible for them to obtain a waiver that would allow them to receive a K1 fiancée visa.

Your fiancée attends their visa interview. Your fiancée will be advised on the spot if they will be given a visa, and the actual visa will be issued shortly after that. If you have retained me and the consul has any questions or concerns, I will promptly deal with and/or address them.
Your fiancée travels to the U.S. within 6 months of receiving their K1 visa. You have 90 days from their arrival date to marry.

You marry your fiancée within 90 days, making them eligible to adjust their status to that of legal permanent resident. Ideally, the paperwork to make this happen is also submitted within 90 days of their arrival (if the paperwork is not submitted within the 90 days, your (now) spouse will begin accruing "unauthorized time" in the U.S. If this unauthorized time amounts to more than 180 days before the paperwork is submitted, your spouse will not be able to travel outside the U.S. prior to becoming a legal permanent resident without triggering a 3 or 10 year "travel bar," which would prevent their return to the U.S.). If you hire me in your K1 case, you will ordinarily have the option (although it is at my discretion) to hire me to prepare your fiancée’s adjustment of status application for them. If so, I will prepare the necessary paperwork for your spouse to adjust their status and become a legal permanent resident.

While your spouse is waiting to become a legal permanent resident, they can obtain authorization to work. Provided they do not have a travel bar issue, they can also obtain "advance parole," which gives them permission to travel outside the U.S. without being deemed to have abandoned their application for legal permanent residence. One-time preparation of the paperwork necessary to obtain permission to work and/or permission to travel is included in my fee for preparing an adjustment of status application.

Your spouse is scheduled by the USCIS for fingerprinting and an "adjustment of status" interview. Although I will not ordinarily attend the interview with you, if you hired me to prepare your adjustment of status application, I will let you know what to expect at the interview and go over what you will need to take with you. I can also help you locate an attorney in your area if for any reason you or I feel that you need representation at the interview. As of July 2006, the USCIS has been waiving the interview requirement in some adjustment of status cases. Applicants should nonetheless assume that an interview will be required.

Your spouse becomes a "conditional" legal permanent resident. You will have to file a joint petition to remove that condition within the 90 days prior to the end of the second full year that they have been a conditional permanent resident. If I represented you in your K1 visa case and prepared your fiancée’s adjustment of status package, you can retain me to prepare a petition to remove conditions for you when the time comes. While it is possible, in most cases the USCIS does not require a second interview in order to remove the conditions on your spouse's legal permanent residence -- especially if the joint petition to remove conditions has been prepared well.

After being a legal permanent resident for three years (time spent as a "conditional" legal permanent resident also counts towards this), your spouse will be eligible for naturalization and to become a U.S. citizen based on their marriage to you. Your spouse's application for naturalization can be filed at any time after 90 days before the end of their third year of permanent residence. If you hired me to represent you in your K1 visa case and to prepare your spouse's adjustment of status case, you can also retain me to prepare this paperwork for your spouse when the time comes.