If you get a B2 Visa to visit USA, and then get engaged/married, what is your next step?

[Anonymous]

So I am going to see my boyfriend very soon. He wants me to move with him and live there with him (which I want to do because I want to be with him). However the process is very long and difficult. We are very serious about each other, and he has spoken about marrying me. If I was to go there, and he decides to marry me while I am there, what is my next step? Would I have to return to my home country, then apply for a k2 visa? Or will I be able to go to the American embassy there (if that is where I am meant to report to?), and let them know of the marriage? Would they require me to go back to my home country, and then come back? Or would they allow me to stay? Please help, I need a better understanding of this.

[MTC29]

You are currently on a "B" visa, which is a tourist visa. You can get engaged or married, but you are still required to leave the USA when your tourist visa expires. What you need is a K-1 Visa, which is an immigrant visa issued to the fiancé or fiancée of a United States citizen to which allow her/him to enter the United States for the purpose of marriage and living permanently in the USA.

The K-1 application must be filled out by your boyfriend and submitted by him here in the USA. If the petition is approved it is then sent to the National Visa Center of the State Department, which in turn forwards it to the Embassy or Consulate nearest the foreign fiancé (e) YOU. The Embassy or Consulate will notify you that a petition has been received and schedule a medical exam with the panel physician and schedule an appointment for a visa interview at the Embassy. You will also be informed as to the required documentation to bring to the interview.

This interview must be done in your home for country. If you are from (say) the UK, there is little or no information about you available to authorities in the United States. If everything goes well, and your boyfriend pays the $2K in fees, you will have six months to enter the USA and then 90 days to marry your boyfriend. If the marriage isn't certified and registered in US state of territory within those 90 days... back you go! Once you are married you will have limited legal status to remain in the USA.

The rules are complex. The US Department of State's website goes into visas in agonizing detail. You and your boyfriend must read the rules carefully. In the meantime, without your having legal status in the USA, you gain nothing from marrying your boyfriend. In fact, doing so will only add an additional layer of complication to your K-1 visa application. Good luck.

[TrueConfection]

This right here. It takes a long time.

[Iron_Man]

Once you get married you don’t have to go anywhere you can live right with your New husband in the USA But I hope this is a serious relationship

[Asker]

Thank you very much for your response. considering I will be on a visa, who do I go to visit, to declare the marriage? Would I still be considered on a visa? I am sorry for the questions, I know nothing about visas. But we are very serious.

[Iron_Man]

Your boyfriend should have this organized already for you talk to immigrations find out the laws get yourself an immigration attorney in America he will explain every detail for you

[TrueConfection]

@MTC29 described the process. Your other option is to walk across the Mexico border and pretend you can't speak English (you don't even have to speak Spanish).