K3 Visa and marrying in a foreign country - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

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K3 Visa and marrying in a foreign country
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Posted by: goforit

I was thinking of getting married in her country when the time comes, but then after seeing all the paperwork involved thought better of it. Did anyone here get married in a neutral country where it was very easy (like Barbados) and then simply applied for the K3 visa when they got home?

If not, do any of you know someone who did? On the BritishExpatriots site there is a thread dealing with this issue but I thought I would ask here first since I am not a British expatriate.

Posted by: AkMike

We got married in Ukraine. Filing for the CR-1 visa was fairly easy at the embassy in Kiev. But now I understand that they have dropped the CR-1 and now only do the K-3.
It will take a bit more time that route.
I doubt that the place of the marriage makes any difference but based on her nationality and where you have your service center.

Posted by: freebird

From what I have heard the INS can still be pretty picky. If you have to tell them that none of your friends and family has met the girl or gone to the wedding, it can "red flag" your app.

Posted by: AkMike

It'd probably be best to do it where she has her friends and family there to share her special day. The K-3 and a K-1 seem to take about the same time, depending on your service center.

Posted by: goforit

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

It'd probably be best to do it where she has her friends and family there to share her special day. The K-3 and a K-1 seem to take about the same time, depending on your service center.

I understand the logic of marrying in her country, especially if the family has a lot of influence and might be leery of some man taking their daughter away on the promise of marriage.

What most concerns me is that a lot of these countries seem to have a daunting amount of paperwork for foreigners wanting to marry in their country. That would seem to wipe out any real advantage from that standpoint. I don't know about all of the FSU but some countries are now requiring that foreign spouses become legal residents before they can marry!

So my question is this, if you marry where it is easy to do so, and both you and your fiance can get there (for example it is easy to marry in the US but many foreigners can't get here without gov't approval), does the US recognize marriages from places like Barbados, etc., that only require a 24 hour residency before marriage or otherwise make it very simple to tie the knot with almost no paperwork?

Posted by: AkMike

Marriage is recognised everywhere if it's done anywhere. I've never heard of any being disallowed.
Which countrys are requireing everyone to become a resident in order to marry? That's a new one on me.
FWIW the paperwork required in Ukraine and most of the FSU is no big deal. The biggest problem was the 30 day waiting peroid( cooling off peroid). But a 'gift' ($100) to the right person speeded it up to what I wanted. No big deal