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GF wants to come to US to get married, but not stay. Proof of returning home? K-1 Visa?

cdavis0614

Newbie
Jan 14, 2019
6
0
Good morning,

My girlfriend and I met online a few years back and our relationship kindled into something special and we are now making plans to get married. I live in the US and she lives in Canada. Our goal is for me to live there. We've decided that an Outland Sponsorship would be best because I can keep working and building up my savings to move to her (she owns her own home in BC).

We want to get married in the states. I've been looking into how the logistics of that work and have come up with some different answers on the subject of travel visa's for marriage.

She has no intention whatsoever to stay in the USA, or attempt to immigrate, etc. She just wants to come over to marry.

Does she need a special visa for this? Several forums say she needs a K-1 but also include information on getting a green card, which she doesn't want/need. Other forums are saying she doesn't need a K-1 but needs proof that she will be returning home.

If it's the latter, what suffices as proof of returning home? How does the process of crossing the boarder to get married work?

Thank you in advance.
 

PrincessCRV

Star Member
Jun 26, 2018
106
38
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
Mississauga
App. Filed.......
07-05-2018
AOR Received.
15-06-2018
Med's Request
20-06-2018
Med's Done....
10-07-2018
Passport Req..
21-08-2018
VISA ISSUED...
29-08-2018
Good morning,

My girlfriend and I met online a few years back and our relationship kindled into something special and we are now making plans to get married. I live in the US and she lives in Canada. Our goal is for me to live there. We've decided that an Outland Sponsorship would be best because I can keep working and building up my savings to move to her (she owns her own home in BC).

We want to get married in the states. I've been looking into how the logistics of that work and have come up with some different answers on the subject of travel visa's for marriage.

She has no intention whatsoever to stay in the USA, or attempt to immigrate, etc. She just wants to come over to marry.

Does she need a special visa for this? Several forums say she needs a K-1 but also include information on getting a green card, which she doesn't want/need. Other forums are saying she doesn't need a K-1 but needs proof that she will be returning home.

If it's the latter, what suffices as proof of returning home? How does the process of crossing the boarder to get married work?

Thank you in advance.
If she doesn't plan to stay, you do not need a K-1 visa. That is an immigrant visa. She should come over as a visitor (no visa necessary if she is a Canadian citizen). Once you get married and she returns home, she can apply for your PR. She should not announce her intentions at the border to get married or she may be denied. As always, she would need to show ties to Canada if asked. But her owning a home, having a job to return to, and a return ticket would be enough unless she makes them suspicious that she won't return home.
 

Jazzercise

Hero Member
Sep 25, 2018
252
99
Canada
Category........
FAM
App. Filed.......
26-10-2018
AOR Received.
10-11-2018
Med's Request
07-01-2019
Med's Done....
17-01-2019
If she doesn't plan to stay, you do not need a K-1 visa. That is an immigrant visa. She should come over as a visitor (no visa necessary if she is a Canadian citizen). Once you get married and she returns home, she can apply for your PR. She should not announce her intentions at the border to get married or she may be denied. As always, she would need to show ties to Canada if asked. But her owning a home, having a job to return to, and a return ticket would be enough unless she makes them suspicious that she won't return home.
This is spot on. No visa necessary; no need to declare she is entering to marry. Assuming she's traveling with a Canadian passport, she won't get very much scrutiny. She can likely get away with stating she's playing tourist and/or visiting family/friends in Place X for Y amount of time. They'll probably ask her what she does for a living and where she lives (they're looking for city and province), which she can easily answer since, well, she's not quitting her job and moving.

In case you haven't, make sure you look up all the requirements for obtaining a marriage license where you plan to marry. After you wed, you and your spouse can begin putting together your outland application.