When you live in Texas and plan to marry someone who is not a U.S. citizen, the first step in the process involves getting a fiancé visa for your loved one. The fiancé visa gives you and your fiancé an opportunity to wed and live together on American soil, provided your situation meets certain terms and you marry within a particular timeline.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a K-1 nonimmigrant visa is what your fiancé needs to travel to the United States to marry you.
Who is eligible for a fiancé visa
You need to be a legal U.S. citizen and an adult to seek a fiancé visa for your loved one. You and your betrothed may not already be in marriages, and you also need to confirm that you met in person at least one time within the two years before you made your request for a visa.
However, you may be able to avoid the “meet in person” requirement if meeting face-to-face would have violated long-established cultural or social customs you or your fiancé practice. You may also be able to avoid meeting in person if doing so would cause you “extreme hardship.”
When you have to marry under the terms of a fiancé visa
Once your fiancé arrives on U.S. soil, the two of you must wed within 90 days. Otherwise, the fiancé visa expires, and there is no real way to extend it. Failing to marry, but having your fiancé remain in the United States, anyway, may result in USCIS deporting your fiancé for good.
If the person you plan to marry has minor children, you may be able to secure K-2 immigrant visas that would allow those children to move to the United States, too.
