A question we have been receiving a lot is whether a K1 visa is an immigrant visa
or a non-immigrant visa. I haven't had a lot of people that have given me context about why they
are asking this question. I've just seen on the Facebook group and YouTube channel people asking,
"Is the K1 visa an immigrant or a non-immigrant visa?" My perception of why this question is being asked
is probably because if you're going through the K1 fiancé visa process, you are probably wondering
based on what phase you're in, how your case will be treated. If it's treated like an
immigrant visa or a non-immigrant visa. There's all kinds of memos that are released about especially
during COVID about how cases are prioritized and then with the COVID vaccine. Also the
general logistics of the steps in the process that I think is causing people to ask this question
if it's an immigrant visa or non-immigrant visa. But before I answer that question,
I'd really like to break down exactly what a non-immigrant visa is and what an immigrant
visa is to have you have some context before I explain exactly what the K1 fiancé visa is.
An immigrant visa is issued to someone who has an intention to come here to live
permanently in the United States, i.e coming here to be a lawful permanent resident.
Your intention is to come to the United States to have the United States be your home.
That's an immigrant visa also abbreviated IV. A non-immigrant visa is issued to someone who
is coming to the United States on a temporary basis for a short-term reason that could be
a student visa, a tourist visa, an employment-based visa, for medical treatment. But the idea is
that a non-immigrant visa is someone who does not have immigrant intent.
The immigrant visa is someone who has immigrant intent to come to the United States to live
and the non-immigrant visa is someone who doesn't have an immigrant intent to come here and live,
rather you have the objective of coming here to live for a temporary or rather you have
the objective to come here temporarily for a limited purpose. Basically, the K1 fiancé visa
legally, if you go to the USCIS website, the K1 fiancé visa is categorized as a non-immigrant visa.
I know that's kind of confusing because if you have a K1 fiancé visa, the idea
is that you're coming here to get married and to live happily ever after with your fiancé and
once married, your spouse. But the K1 fiancé visa is classified as a non-immigrant visa primarily
because the objective of the K1 fiancé visa is that you're coming with that limited
purpose during a 90-day window to get married. The unique part about the fiancé visa is that
immigration understands that once you get married, you would file for your green card and live here
but it is classified as a non-immigrant visa for that reason. Another reason that immigration
classifies it as a non-immigrant visa is because of the process in which a person goes through
for the fiancé visa. It's very similar to someone who's applying for a tourist
visa or other temporary non-immigrant visas. What I mean by that to be clear
is that there's a part in the process where you're filing an online application called a
DS-160 and this form called an I-134, like an affidavit of support.
It's kind of a unique aspect to the K1 fiancé visa that differs from immigrant visas.
However, with that being said, even though it's technically considered a non-immigrant
visa on the USCIS website, it's also considered an immigrant visa by immigration. Yes, that's confusing
and yes, that is very common for immigration to have these conflicting responses
and these conflicting ideas. If you go to the Department of State website, you'll see that
the K1 fiancé visa is listed under the immigrant visa category. If you go to the CBP website it will
list it in one of the non-immigrant categories but then if you click on it, it'll take you to
the Department of State where it says immigrant visa. Again, it's really confusing. Immigration uses
that interchangeably though they will call it non-immigrant and immigrant visa but at the end
of the day, the categorization of it doesn't matter. As I mentioned, a lot
of people are asking because they're wondering how their visa will be treated in terms
of presidential proclamations regarding COVID. I think the other
main reason as I mentioned that people are asking this question is they want to know the process
for their application. Will I have to submit documents in the CEAC portal like spouse visas?
Will they schedule my interview or will I pick an interview date? I really think that's why
individuals are asking this question and that's why it's great to have an immigration attorney.
We eat, live, breathe, and sleep this especially here at Immigration for Couples in understanding
the nuances and how these terms are used interchangeably and how the process plays
out and if you're wanting to learn more about the fiancé visa process, on our website Immigration for
Couples, we have a free resource center and we have a free downloadable chart that goes
through the steps that are involved in the fiancé visa process. If you're asking this question,
is it an immigrant or non-immigrant visa because you're wondering the process,
our chart should give you some clarity and help you out on what that process is.
I hope that that helped give you a little bit of clarity even though it's still confusing.