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Green Cards for Fiances

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How does a K1 fiance visa holder adjust their status?

Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our office here in St. Louis, Missouri. We had a question in one of the comments on one of our YouTube videos where someone was asking, Hey, my fiance just came on a K1 visa, fiance visa. So that means that the US citizen has filed an I129F for their fiance because only US citizens can file for their fiances. Green card holders cannot file for fiances. But a US citizen has filed an I129F USCIS has approved it. The DS160 was approved. The embassy issued the visa and the fiance is now here in the United States. What happens to that fiance? How does he or she adjust their status? Well, they would file a form, I45, which is the application to adjust status.

They would also file for a work card by filing an I765 and a travel card, that's the I131. The US citizen is going to have to submit an I864, which is the affidavit of support. And then you're going to have to submit a bunch of documentary evidence to show that the couple did get married. So the main requirements, when you come on a K1 are that you get married within 90 days, and then you file for adjustment. So once you're here, you have those 90 days to get married. And right now with some local offices being closed for marriage licenses because of the coronavirus, that can be a little bit tricky, but you have to be creative. So you want to get married in those first 90 days. That's a violation of your visa, if you don't. And once you get married, then you can apply for adjustment. And so then it's just going to be a regular, straightforward adjustment case.

You're going to get receipt notices back for all the forms that you file. You're going to get a fingerprint notice and the fiance is going to go downtown or go to the local field office and get fingerprinted and then they're going to have an interview eventually. So you're going to want to bring a bunch of evidence that you're married, and you're going to want to have evidence from the time that you got married until the time of the interview. You want to show updated evidence, show that you're still living together. And then if it gets approved, the fiance should get a green card. At that point, most likely you'll have been married less than two years, so you'll get a conditional green card. And then that case is over. So your fiance will get their green card in the mail.

And one thing about conditional green cards that a lot of people don't understand is once you have a conditional green card, you have the same rights and privileges as any lawful permanent resident. The only thing is at the end of two years, you're going to have to get those conditions removed by filing an IS751, petition for removal of conditions. So that's the gist of it. It's pretty straight forward. Getting them here right now is the hardest part and getting the adjustment part, assuming USCIS says operating properly should be relatively straight forward, but you do need to prove up the marriage.

If you have questions about a K1, give us a call at 314-961-8200. You can email us at [email protected]. Be sure to join us in our Facebook group, which is called Immigrant Home. And if you like this video, we ask that you please share it out on social so that you can spread the word. And make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube channel and whenever we make new videos, you'll get updates. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

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