K1 fiancee visa only for US citizens

[chip_designer]

Hi there,

 

the headline looks like a very "nice" visa that ONLY US Citizens can have this benefit.

 

i think it is a joke.

 

here in silicon valley, I see all the time H1-B indian colleagues going back to India for their marriages, and their wives coming back on the same plane with them.

 

I already had an unofficial engagement in China, and I am still waiting for her to get here.

 

 

[AZwolfman]

[chinadave2001]

I am sure that non-citizens cannot get a K1 visa but those who get working visas can bring their families.

dave

[owenkrout]

Yes, H1-B foreign workers can apply to have their families granted temporary status in the US. My wife's brother teaches at California State University and they have helped him to get the temporary status for his family. It is not automatic, but usually is granted. His wife and daughter recieved a six month visa, but she was told that it could be renewed as long as her husband continued to employed under legal H1-B status.

 

I am not sure of the process, but he has told me that the University has indicated that they will help him to adjust to a permanent resident immigrant status.

[Eric&Yuhui]

I am sure that non-citizens cannot get a K1 visa but those who get working visas can bring their families.

dave

Not quite true. Lawful permanent residents ( non-citizens ) can petition for family-based visas.. Maybe not the fastest visa type, such as K's ( would be subject to quotas) but same end result when successful

[owenkrout]

Correct Eric, my wife intends to file for her daughter to immigrate to the US. This will not be a K visa and involves a long waiting period, but it will lead to granting permanent resident status.

[jasonzzzz]

In theory, a permanent resident can petition a visa for spouse. In practice, currently, doing so would need to wait for more than 5 years for quota before doing anything, according to official DOS bulletin. That is, a permanent resident would be better off in waiting for citizenship before doing any visa petition for spouse.

 

A F1 student or H1 worker can bring theirs spouses here immediately. Many of my friends brought their wives here, then got green cards for couples together.

[owenkrout]

An F1 student may be able to bring his spouse and family to the US.

 

My brother-in-law applied four times for his wife and daughter to join him when he was a grad student. Four denials. They reasoned that with his family with him, they were not likely to return to China. Unfortunately, it is to some extent, up to which officer you get and how good the spouse is at interviewing. Fortunately, when he converted to H1-B status he talked to a sympathetic consular officer who waved the prohibition on remaining in the US immediately after graduation and his wife got an officer on the fifth try that was very cooperative.

[shi2tou5]

I have numerous Indian friends who are on H1 (6 year temporary) work permits. Yes, they can definitely go back to India, get married, and bring back their new wife immediately!

 

I assume that the US government view is since they are only temporarily here that their wife will only be here temporarily too where as US Citizens immigrant spouses will become permanent. I assume that most of them will eventually become US citizens (though there are some that do want to go back to India). Most start families right away after getting married.

 

Actually almost all of my Indian friends knew that they had to get married before they get their Green Card. Often the bachelors would go back to India a few months before getting their Green Card and get married. One of them didn’t get married before getting his Green Card and he had to pay the price of waiting a year to bring back his fiancée (wife to be).

 

I guess you could look at it on the sarcastically positive side that the about year long wait we must painfully endure is a “Special Privilege” of being a US Citizen. In the military we were told everything was a privilege

 

In India often marriages are semi arranged (not totally like most people will think). That is the parents of the son will find for their sons one or more (often more) suitable spouses (girlfriend/fiancée really I don’t know what English word you would use). The sons will meet (and/or talk via phone/internet) with the possible suitable spouses and then I think the male gets to pick which one he wants. I think the female then has the right to say yes or no that they will agree to marry them (so the female does have a choice).

 

I know this is different than in US but it is the way they do things (different doesn’t always mean wrong). It actually seems to work for them because of their culture and upbringing. Most of them seem very happy together after marrying (though I do know 1 or 2 who didn’t seem to get along as husband and wife as good as the others).

 

Indians are actually quite a lot similar to Chinese. They are fun loving people (especially when together with their own people), very respectful of their parents, very family orientated, rarely divorce, born barterers, like singing, rice is their main food source, etc.

 

The differenced between Indians and Chinese are skin color, religion (mostly Hindu), language (India has numerous dialects where as China mainly have two Mandarin and Cantonese) and they don’t use Chop Sticks (actually use their hands), etc..

[vince]

indians are no way similiar to Chinese.

most of them smell and use hands to eat.

[tonado]

indians are no way similiar to Chinese.

most of them smell and use hands to eat.

Indians and Chinese are quite different but we shouldn't say they smell. We shouldn't generalized.

[vince]

it is a genelization. but it's one based on facts. Many, many indians do smell. has to do with their diets.

[jasonzzzz]

Vince, I agree with you about your comment of Indian people. However, we need to be cautious when we say anything negative about another culture or race. America is a good country in a sense that different people from various background can work together in harmony. It works only when people from one culture hides his negative opinions about another culture.

[owenkrout]

it is a genelization. but it's one based on facts. Many, many indians do smell. has to do with their diets.

I am sorry to tell you, Vince, but most people think that people from another culture smell. That includes a common opinion about Chinese and about Americans from other cultures. One of the big factors is the differences in diet. The Indians generally use different and more spices in their cooking, which means they smell different to you.

 

I had a Vietnamese friend that I worked with for a long time who often confused me and the other inspector in the machine shop where we worked. I constantly corrected him and in frustration one night he said, "How am I supposed to tell? All Americans look alike!" Struck me as really funny since it is something that Americans commonly think about Asian people. He had been in the South Vietnamese Army and had made it out of the country on one of the last US helicopters out. He mentioned one night during lunch that you could always smell the American patrols in th jungle before you could see them. I asked him what they smelled like and he said, "Hamburgers!". Probably true.