If you have a K1 visa that's been approved, what happens next? For individuals who have been
approved for a K1 visa, and I want to provide a little bit more clarity on that because I know
a lot of people on our Facebook group and our YouTube channel have some confusion about what
actually happens next. The I-129F application, that petition that you file with immigration,
that's what you're sending immigration to show you have a real relationship. When that petition
is approved, that's immigration saying, "Yes, we see that you have a real relationship and we're
approving your petition. " That's not actually the visa though. The K1 visa is issued at the
interview. Once you have your approved I-129F petition, then the National Visa Center will
send you a notification with your case number for the US embassy or consulate where your case
will be processed and where you will have your interview. You'll have to take some other
steps in that process to have the interview scheduled and we discuss that in other separate
videos. But I want to focus on, fast forward, you've had your interview, you'll receive
a visa. The actual K1 fiancé visa in your passport and with that visa, there will be an
expiration date on that visa. You need to enter the United States well before that expires
because it's only a one-time entry visa and you have to enter before then. Then you have to get
married within 90 days and then file for a green card application. A lot of people in
our Facebook group, the confusion is that "I have my K1 fiancé visa.
It's been issued. What do I do next?" There's a lot of people who are confusing the steps
in the K1 visa process with the steps in the CR1 spouse visa process. A lot of people have
been asking, "Do I need to be able to pay my visa fee to enter the United States?" That doesn't happen
on a K1 fiancé visa. You pay a fee before your appointment to have your interview scheduled
but there isn't an additional fee to pay when before entering the United States.
Once you arrive in the United States, you have to marry within 90 days as I mentioned.
You also need to file as soon as possible after getting married, preferably before your
visa expires, you have to file another application for your green card. What we do
here at our office for our clients is when we know that the visa has been approved, we work with our
clients to find out when will you be coming to the US and when will you be getting married.
And we start preparing the green card application right away so that way right after the marriage,
we can update the application with the marriage certificate and get it sent out right away
for the green card application and the work permit because you definitely want to do that before your
visa expires so you're not here without documents. You're not accumulating something
called unlawful presence. Those are the main things that happen after you receive
your K1 fiancé visa approval. You will enter the United States, you'll get married within 90 days
and you'll file your green card application with the work form application as soon as
possible. Something else I wanted to clarify. There's a rumor or there's some confusion
that people think that once their fiancé enters the United States on a K1 visa that they
have to leave before the visa expires. Don't do that because it's a one-time entry.
You don't want to leave and then not be able to complete the process. You'd have to start over.
If you have a K1 fiancé visa, get married in 90 days and file your green card
application and if you need help with your application, we'd be
happy to assist you and you can schedule an appointment to talk to our attorneys.
Hopefully that gives you some clarity about what happens next after that fiancé visa approval