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The immigration law firm of Holmes & Lolly has been obtaining K1 fiancee visas and only K visas since 1991. We currently have obtained over 1,000 k visas per year from more than 100 countries for American citizen clients in all 50 states as well as for Americans living overseas both in the military and as civilians.

Those who try to take shortcuts with immigration are asking for trouble. Most of the few unmarried ladies who manage to obtain a B-1/B-2 visitor visa to the U.S. from "an agent" have been arrested by USCIS (formerly the "INS" and "BCIS") officers at the airport when they entered the U.S. Often the fiancee does not even know how the agent fraudulently obtained the visitor visa for her. Those who get past airport screening have been investigated for fraud when the couple marries and she applies for her permanent resident "green card." Once caught, the fiancees (or foreign wives if they married) have been deported from the U.S. and some have been BARRED FROM ENTERING THE U.S. for 3 or 10 years.

The biggest reason is that if your fiancee enters the U.S. by any method other than a fiancee visa the USCIS has the right to require her to depart the U.S. When this occurs US immigration laws require you to file for a spousal visa. Your wife will probably not be allowed to visit you in the US while the marriage visa is pending, which will take time. If your fiancee has children who will be coming to the U.S. you will have to file separate visa petitions for each child, whereas with a fiancee visa the children under twenty-one-years of age can be included in the parent's fiancee visa petition.

Bottom line, the fiancee visa is the only proper method for her to use to enter the U.S. if you want to marry and have her be able to stay permanently in the U.S. with a work premit and without having to worry about being deported.

Fiancee K1 Visa Requirements

The K1 visa requirements are simple. You must be a USA citizen. Lawful permanent resident "green card" holders of the United States are not allowed to obtain fiancee visas. Both you and your fiancee must be free to marry. This means that if either of you has been married previously, you are either divorced, widowed or the marriage was annulled. You must have met your fiancee in person within the previous two years. If your fiancee lives in a developing country she cannot legally obtain a visitor visa to meet you in the U.S. This means that you must travel outside the US to meet your fiancee. Finally, there is a minimum income requirement for the fiancee visa petitioner.

You may have heard that 40% of the K1 visa petitions filed never result in a visa being issued. From what other immigration attorneys have told us, we believe this to be true. Notice that we used the words "not approved," and not the word "denied". This is because both the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS", formerly the "INS" - Immigration and Naturalization Service) and the U.S. Consulates rarely turn down a K1 visa petition or application request if the requirements mentioned above are met.

What happens instead is that the USCIS finds some technical error or omission in the paperwork submitted to them. Then, after several months they will send you a form letter telling you what you did wrong. Very often, when you submit the required correction, they will again wait several months and again return the visa forms to you with another cover-sheet informing you of a second minor error or omission.