Failure to Marry in 90 Days – K1 Visa


One of the requirements of the K1 fiancé visa is that you marry your fiancé upon entry to the United States with your K1 visa within 90 days. But what happens if you don’t get married in 90 days?

Immigration is very strict. It has to be 90 days, not 91 or 92. There’s no flexibility. It’s very rigid. If you don’t get married within 90 days, you are in violation of the terms of your non-immigrant status. You are in violation of the terms of your fiancé visa.

More importantly, you are actually in the United States unlawfully and without documents. You have fallen out of status. That is not a position that anybody wants to be in.

There is still a way if you married outside of the 90-day window. If you’re still in a relationship and you still plan on having a future here with your spouse, then you can still file a different kind of application. There’s a whole other petition and a different path you’d have to take that’s a little more involved. But there still is a way to save your case.

If you are here in the United States though and you find out that this relationship isn’t going to work and you actually do not want to get married anymore, you have to depart the United States for legal reasons. There isn’t a way to change your status.

“What if I fall in love with someone else? Can I still complete the fiancé visa process? Can I still receive my green card?”

The law says if you marry another person, you could theoretically complete an immigration process. But fiancé visas are very strict and you have to marry that person that you came with the intention of marrying.

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