Hi, everyone. I am Attorney Megan Pastrana of Immigration for Couples and I'm here for our
weekly live immigration attorney chat. I've been receiving questions recently about whether or
not a K-2 can enter the United States after the K-1. For those of you who might just be starting
out on your immigration journey, these letters and numbers might not mean a whole lot to you
but basically the K1 is the fiancé visa and part of the fiancé visa process is that
you can actually bring your children as well as long as they are under 21 years of age.
Children would receive a visa that's called a K2 visa. There have been a lot more interviews
being scheduled across the world for fiancé visas. We have been seeing an uptick in interviews. I know
the process is long but we are seeing things moving forward and so I think that's why we're
receiving this question now more frequently; whether or not the child
who receives the K2 visa, do they have to travel to the United States at the same time with the
principal applicant, with the fiancé who will be getting married upon entry to the United States.
The short answer is no, K2 visa applicants don't have to enter the United States at exactly
the same time. In general, almost all of the time, though usually the fiancé would be entering at
the same time with the children, with the K2 applicant, but there might be a reason
or there might be a circumstance in which there's something that has to be completed
abroad or another reason that the child can't enter at the same time. That is allowed,
for them to enter at a later time. You will want to make sure though that you have the
child enter before they turn 21. That's just one thing that I definitely want to make sure is clear.
Another thing that I want to make sure is clear is that you'll want the K2
applicant to make sure they're entering the United States before their visa expires. I would
like to break that down just a little bit to make sure that's clear because while a
K2 visa holder can enter the United States after the K1, it is really important to make sure
that that that K2 applicant is not going to be turning 21. The nice thing about the fiancé
visa is that children, I know that probably when you have a child that is 19 or 20
they're not considered a child anymore but with the fiancé visa, they consider them a child and
they allow K2 applicants up to the age of 21 to be on the application. But the important thing is
is that visa has to be issued before the individual turns 21.
The other thing is they have to enter the united states before they turn 21. If a K2
applicant is going to be entering after, be sure to make sure they enter the United States before
that age, before turning 21. You'll also want to check the visa for
the K1 visa and the K2 visa that's in the passport will have an expiration date.
Be very very sure to make sure that the K1 and the K2 are entering the
United States before that expiration date. I hope that that helps answer that
that question that was proposed in the Facebook group about travel and timing if they
were able to come after so you. They are able to come after, just be sure to be aware of those
two important pieces: the age and making sure you enter before the visa expires.