How To Get Your Foreign Spouse A K3 Visa

A k3 marriage visa allows a legal United States citizen’s spouse to live in the United States while the spouse is awaiting approval of a green card application or to complete their own immigration process. If a k3 marriage visa is approved, the spouse of a U.S. citizen can legally enter and live in the U.S. under a nonimmigrant visa category.

The k3 marriage visa process is generally straight forward, but it can seem to be a daunting task. While it can be completed without needing to pay for the services of an immigration attorney, before you decide to apply it might be a good idea to at least speak with an immigration attorney to understand the pitfalls. Some attorneys will offer you a free consultation where others may charge you. Either way, it could mean the difference of a smooth application process versus a bumpy one.

Eligibility for the k3 nonimmigrant visa is summarized into two brief points. The applying, noncitizen spouse must be married to a US citizen and that spouse must have filed the Petition for Alien Relative, otherwise known as form I-130. The children of the noncitizen spouse are eligible for the k4 visa if the child is unmarried, under the age of 21 and of course is the child of the spouse applying for the k3 visa.

There can be special circumstances of the term “marriage” above, specifically as it relates to a common law marriage. Applicants for a k3 visa may be eligible with a common law marriage, so long as the laws of the country where the common law marriage “took place” are recognizing the couple’s common-law status. If either spouse has been divorced, then they should be prepared to clearly show documentation of their former marriage being legally terminated where the marriage took place.

The application process starts with the spouse, who is a US Citizen, whereby they file form I-130 with the USCIS. The Notice of Action form, form I-797, will be sent to US citizen indicating that the USCIS has in fact received the I-130 form.

Next, the citizen will need to file the form I-129F, or the Petition for Alien Fiance, for the spouse and children. Make sure all is in order and return the I-129F with the I-797 form and any other requested documentation.

These documents will all be processed through the National Visa Center. If the couple was married in the US, then the approved petition is sent to the US consulate or embassy in the country of the spouse’s nationality. However, if the spouse applying for the k3 visa is from a country where the US has no consulates or embassies, then it is sent to the country which issues visa for that country.

The k3 visa is not the k1 visa. You will notice things like “fiance” on the k3 visa form, assume this is “spouse”. The k1 visa is a bit different in that the two parties are not in fact married. They are in fact fiances with the intention of getting married. The things to be knowledgeable of is once the fiance visa, or k1 visa has been approved, the fiance can only enter the country once and the marriage must take place within 90 days of their arrival. Further the applying fiance, or non-citizen, cannot leave the country without filing additional request forms for travel. Finally, since the fiance is an immigrant they must meet all the requirements of a person wishing to apply for an immigrant visa.

If the rather convoluted process of bringing a spouse, fiancee or child over to the U.S. is far too challenging or time-consuming for the U.S. citizen attempting to unite his or her family, the spouse can utilize the resources of an immigration lawyer or immigration service. These agencies employ attorneys that sub-specialize in various fields of immigration law including the immigration visa process and help navigate people through the green card application process. With the help of an attorney, U.S. citizens reunite with their loved ones quickly and legally.

William Kolemann has written many articles on immigration over the years with particular interest in the k3 marriage visa procedure and finding a k3 visa lawyer.

Published by: William Kolemann on October 28th, 2009 | Filed under Immigration Law



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