A Thorough List of K1 Visa Requirements that cover everything from A-Z.
K1 Visa Requirements USA – PART 1
K1 Visa Requirements USA – PART 2
Page Jump Menu:
- Meeting In-Person Rule
- Both must be Free to Marry
- Sponsor must be a US citizen
- Criminal Conviction Records
- How the Couples found each other
- Alien Fiancee needs passport
- Couples with large age differences
- Sponsors income requirements
- The 90-day rule
- Able to demonstrate that the relationship is genuine and sincere
- The alien fiancee must complete a physical exam
- Couples often ask if they need an engagement ring at the interview?
- Would you like a free K1 visa evaluation in 24 to 48 hours?
- Are you and your fiancee looking for an affordable K1 Visa assistance?
My personal Step-By-Step list that can bring Success to all K1 couples WHO ARE SERIOUS about meeting all of the K1 Fiance Visa Requirements!
Just so you know, I have been counseling with hundreds of couples each year since 2003 and offering them with these key Ingredients that have pushed 99.8% of them through on getting their K1 fiancee visa. A tiny percentage of the couples turned out to not be serious.
So let’s say that you’re a couple who is Brand New and doing some research on the K1 Fiance Visa Requirements?
What are the very first things you both should know before committing to the K1 Visa process? “This isn’t the normal K1 Visa Requirements list that you read online everywhere else” this is an “Exclusive A-Z List”.
K1 Visa Requirements Proof of Meeting
1. Meeting In-Person Rule
The Meeting Rule: Before deciding if you want to file an application at USCIS to get the K1 Fiance visa you must be aware that there is a rule that says you both must meet in person, face to face chatting online does not fulfill that requirement.
Planning: This means that one of you must go visit the other in their country for a vacation and get to know each other. For so many, this is a huge step. A step that is going to require time and planning. Getting a passport and saving money which oftentimes doesn’t come easy.
The good news is, USCIS doesn’t have a specified time on how long the couple must be together? So if your planning to make a trip but your employers only give you one week vacation time, then that’s fine one week is enough. Even if you only had a few days.
What can happen: OK so meeting each other in person face to face physically on the same soil as one another is exactly what the USCIS requirement is referring too. Meeting in person does one of two things, it helps you determine if the love is real or it isn’t?
This is a costly step: To me, many couples need to know about the meeting rule first since it’s such a big step that can be costly! Later on, we’ll get more into what to do while meeting but let’s take a look at some other important rules?
Are you, a couple that has what it takes to meet the K1 Fiance Visa Requirements?
Do you as a couple have any negatives or are you going in this clean? Every year since 2003, I get couples that want to file the K1 Visa application at USCIS but after consulting them, they realize that they’re not yet ready or they are ready?
K1 Visa Requirements Proof of Singleness
2. Free to Marry Rule
USCIS says that only couples who are FREE to Marry and have met face to face in person can file the application for the K1 Visa.
It’s not uncommon at all for couples to find each other online and build a relationship while one or both are still married?
Sometimes the American guys have been separated from their wives for months or years or they are still processing a divorce which makes them not free to marry yet.
The same with the women in other countries for example in the Philippines divorce is illegal and the only way to get out of a marriage there is to get an annulment. often times such women are separated some for many years and an annulment is the only way to get out but cost inhibits them.
So this is very high on the list of important! Be free to marry which if you’ve been married before then you have to provide divorce decrees, annulments, or death certificates and even if you been married six times a divorce decree or death certificate has to be provided from each marriage.
How to get divorce records in America? If you don’t have your divorce decree records and are not sure how to get those you may have some success at vitalrec.com [Learn More…]
K1 Visa Requirements Proof of Citizenship
3. Sponsor Must be a U.S. Citizen
If you are a U.S. Citizen but not born in the United States? Evidence of your claim to U.S. citizenship should include your parents’ birth certificates, marriage certificates, and naturalization certificates.
You will also need your birth certificate, marriage certificate, or divorce decree to prove what your name is and to document any changes to your name. If you have a U.S. Passport then photocopies of all pages cove to cover are also good proof.
Green Card Holder: The K1 Fiancee Visa can not be obtained if you are a green card holder? However, you are able to petition a spouse with either the CR1 or IR1 Spouse visas? K1 Visas are for naturalized or born U.S.Citizens only.
For U.S.Citizens born in the United States, your Birth Certificate and the biographic page of your U.S. Passport are enough proof. However, if the U.S.Citizen is unable to provide a U.S. Birth Certificate then you will be required to make photocopies of every page of your U.S. Passport.
K1 Visa Requirements Police and Court Records
4. Criminal Records
If either one of you has ever had certain types of criminal records such as (3) three or more arrests or convictions not from a single act, for crimes relating to a controlled substance or alcohol-related DWI/DUI or if you had any IMBRA offenses mentioned below?
| Domestic Violence | Homicide | Torture |
| Kidnapping | Sexual Assault | Murder |
| Trafficking | Abduction | Child Abuse |
| Manslaughter | Peonage | Rape |
| Holding Hostage | False Imprisonment | Dating Violence |
| Abusive Contact | Involuntary Elder Abuse | Sexual Exploitation |
| Servitude | Stalking | Incest |
| Slave Trade | Unlawful Restraint Child Neglect | Crimes relating to Controlled Substances or Alcohol |
Required supporting documents: If either one of you has any of the mentioned above you will be required to provide USCIS with police and court records. It’s a huge help if you had any certificate of completion to mandatory classes such as anger management, or alcohol support groups, drug rehab.
In addition, you should provide a certified character witness letter from friends, family members, co-workers, supervisors, church leaders, government officials people who hold high office positions to the public. In some cases, psychological evaluation certificates can help also.
There are no guarantees: If you have committed any of the above crimes and even if you provide the required supporting documents USCIS Adjudicator can still deny you for approval that allows you to move on to an embassy interview. [Learn More About IMBRA…]
If either one of you has any of the above convictions, it would be in your best interest to provide as many supporting documents as possible? There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to the DHS and IMBRA.
K1 Visa Requirements IMB Proof
5. How the Couple found each other
The couple will be required to provide proof of how they found each other?
USCIS / IMBRA requires the couple to provide how they found each other weather on a free social network, a dating site, introduced by a mutual friend or met while on vacation?
It is very important that you use “FREE” methods for finding each other. Free is facebook, free is dateinasia.com, free is met while on vacation, free is a mutual friend introduced us to each other. There are many more free methods such as smartphone apps, online websites, etc…
If you used a service that charged the American citizen a fee then that website is obligated to follow IMBRA – International Marriage Broker Regulation Act. This means that whether the website was a dating site, pen-pal program, matchmaking entity that introduces couples in a means that requires a payment it falls under IMBRA.
Anything that falls under IMBRA is required to provide a signed affidavit of support that you the member the U.S. Citizen has authorized the IMBRA site to collect your FBI record and shared it with their international members before you the U.S.Citizen was allowed to communicate with non-U.S. citizen members.
This is required even if the U.S.Citizen does not have a record. The problem with the IMBRA is that most if not all websites that charge Americans a fee to use their service do not collect your FBI records which means that if you do not have the affidavit then your petition could be denied.
The term “international marriage broker” means a corporation, partnership, business, individual, or other legal entity, whether or not organized under any law of the United States, that charges fees for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between
United States citizens or nationals or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States as permanent residents and foreign national clients by providing personal contact information or otherwise facilitating communication between individuals.
Bottom Line to all of this is? use a 100% FREE site! Don’t risk getting an RFE Request for Evidence by USCIS or even a denial because of using a dating site or some other matchmaking entity? Many couples find each other for free also because just going on a vacation or through a mutual friend.
Ok, so what must be done as part of the K1 Fiance Visa Requirement on how we found each other?
Free:
The sponsor must type out a one page or less letter explaining to USCIS that he and his fiancee found each other on Facebook, or met while on vacation, or met while both were working overseas, or a mutual friend introduced them to each other?
There are several 100% FREE dating sites and other Social Networks that couples used to find one another. At one time some found each other on Craigslist, OK Cupid, Jaderune, Penpal World, DateinAsia, Plenty of Fish, All these methods are totally 100% FREE to all users.
Paying:
What must the couple do if they used a dating site or some other matchmaking entity that charged the man a fee to use their services? Normally the service is supposed to abide by IMBRA however because many of them are not U.S. owned they ignore it.
You will need to go to their Terms of Service and print out the entire page then high-light section that claims they are not an IMB – International Marriage Broker site or pen-pal or other matchmaking entity. This is your only choice to prove it wasn’t an IMB.
K1 Visa Requirements Passport
6. Alien Fiancee needs passport
It’s normally not a problem and I have yet to known any of my client couples to ever have trouble getting the passport from their country however in certain countries if a citizen owes taxes or child support or has certain types of criminal convictions they may be denied getting a passport?
I would make sure first before beginning the K1 Visa process that your foreign bride and children too if they have any who will be part of the process can get a passport? It’s never too early also to apply for this several months in advance is the best.
K1 Visa Requirements Age Differences
7. Couples with large age differences
The K1 Fiance Visa Requirements age of the applicants and age differences are seldom talked about. Pretty much in the United States, the minimum marrying age is eighteen (18) even though in other countries the legal marrying age can be much younger.
I want to share a true story about a couple many years earlier that I assisted in getting a K1 Fiancee Visa. A couple met online and both had profiles made on a popular dating site called dateinasia.com. This particular site had no real way of knowing the true age of members.
An American started communicating with a very young woman back in 2004 that put on her profile she was age nineteen (19). A relationship had been building for almost one year, based on believing she was really nineteen years old?
All this was taking place before IMBRA came along. The man visited the supposed nineteen-year-old woman in the Philippines and had a good meeting which also included the woman’s parents. He never questioned her age as she really looked to be nineteen years old.
When the couple decided that they wanted to get married in the U.S.A. using the K1 Visa it was discovered through her birth certificate that she was really only age seventeen (17). At this point, the man realized two things?
He realized that he could have gone to jail for being with an underage woman and that if he had filed a petition to USCIS on her behalf they would have been denied due to the fact that she was still a minor. I urge couples to be honest about their age?
I also urge men to please take a close look at your lover’s birth certificate and possibly any other identification to make sure you protect yourself from any serious mishap? This can be very serious and ruin a man for the rest of his life!
The man and young woman that encountered this never broke up however they continued their relationship and waited until she was really age nineteen before filing government paperwork for the K1 Visa. They were instructed to only mention finding each other when she turned age eighteen.
Many of you are asking how old was the guy during this time? He was 48 years of age. He had no criminal convictions and only good intentions. Eventually, they got married using the K1 Visa however had this happened after IMBRA started things could have been much different for them?
Between IMBRA, DHS, and some other countries that have tightened down on age differences, this couple most likely would have been denied. It is still possible for a woman age 22 and a man, age 62 to be able to get a K1 Visa.
However, couples that have huge age differences will face more possibility of denial or scrutiny at an embassy interview than couples that are closer to the same age. Still, it is possible as I have successfully assisted hundreds of couples in this situation.
But a case like this is handled much differently.
We will mention more about how couples with larger age gaps can be more successful in getting approved at their embassy interview by implementing more into their K1 Fiance visa requirements mentioned later in the section about proof of an ongoing relationship.
K1 Visa Requirements Sponsors Income
8. Sponsors income requirements
Who is responsible for meeting the income requirements? The U.S. sponsor most of the time it refers to the man. Be absolutely sure that you earn enough either from your self employed business, your employers, retirement, or rental properties, whichever the case might be?
Remember this! The sponsor’s income is not looked at until the foreign fiancee is attending their U.S. Embassy interview. This means nothing that pertains to income or taxes will be used at the beginning of the K1 Visa process.
But! the importance of knowing if you earn enough and how the financial process works before filing is a very important part of the K1 Fiance Visa requirements. So let’s see if the sponsor is meeting the USCIS poverty guidelines and if not what can be done about it?
For the 48 Contiguous States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands:
| Sponsor’s Household Size | 100% of HHS Poverty Guidelines* | 125% of HHS Poverty Guidelines* |
|---|---|---|
| For sponsors on active duty in the U.S. armed forces who are petitioning for their spouse or child | For all other sponsors | |
| 2 | $17,240 | $21,550 |
| 3 | $21,720 | $27,150 |
| 4 | $26,200 | $32,750 |
| 5 | $30,680 | $38,350 |
| 6 | $35,160 | $43,950 |
| 7 | $39,640 | $49,550 |
| 8 | $44,120 | $55,150 |
| Add $4,480 for each additional person | Add $5,600 for each additional person |
For Alaska Residence:
| Sponsor’s Household Size | 100% of HHS Poverty Guidelines* | 125% of HHS Poverty Guidelines* |
|---|---|---|
| For sponsors on active duty in the U.S. armed forces who are petitioning for their spouse or child | For all other sponsors | |
| 2 | $21,550 | $26,937 |
| 3 | $27,150 | $33,937 |
| 4 | $32,750 | $40,937 |
| 5 | $38,350 | $47,937 |
| 6 | $43,950 | $54,937 |
| 7 | $49,550 | $61,937 |
| 8 | $55,150 | $68,937 |
| Add $5,600 for each additional person | Add $7,000 for each additional person |
For Hawaii Residence:
| Sponsor’s Household Size | 100% of HHS Poverty Guidelines* | 125% of HHS Poverty Guidelines* |
|---|---|---|
| For sponsors on active duty in the U.S. armed forces who are petitioning for their spouse or child | For all other sponsors | |
| 2 | $19,830 | $24,787 |
| 3 | $24,980 | $31,225 |
| 4 | $30,130 | $37,662 |
| 5 | $35,280 | $44,100 |
| 6 | $40,430 | $50,537 |
| 7 | $45,580 | $56,975 |
| 8 | $50,730 | $63,412 |
| Add $5,150 for each additional person | Add $6,437 for each additional person |
Options If You Don’t Meet the Poverty Guidelines Requirement
Assets
You can use 1/3 of the dollar value of certain assets, such as real estate, stocks, and bonds.
Joint Sponsor
If you have someone willing to co-sponsor, such as a family member or friend, you can use their income.
K1 Visa requirements I-134 Affidavit of Support
When does a sponsor’s financial records come into play?
I mentioned earlier that the K1 Sponsor’s financial records did not have to be any part of the K1 application process until the alien fiancee attends their U.S. Embassy interview. The list below may or may not be required by the sponsor depending on your situation?
• You will need to complete the I-134 Affidavit of Support Application.
• The most current IRS Tax records 1040.
• W-2 Statement for the most recent tax year.
• Checking Account Statements preferably the most previous 12 months.
• If applicable your employee pay-stubs preferably the last 12 months.
• If possible a letter from your supervisor on the companies letterhead.
• If tax exempt due to collecting Social Security or Social Security Disability provide records.
• If your using assets you will have to prove each one with supporting documents.
• If you use a joint sponsor they need I-864A application and all of the same mention supporting documents.
K1 Visa Requirements 90-Day Rule
9. The 90-day rule
Both the sponsor and alien fiancee are required to provide a signed fiance/fiancee letter of intent to marry within 90 days. The intent letters are presented with any dissolutions of previous marriages if any.
If the sponsor and the alien fiancee do not marry within the first 90-days then the alien fiancee and K2 children of the alien fiancee must return back to their country immediately. If you continue to exceed the 90-days, you will be banned from entering the United States for a period.
The K1 Visa was specially created for US citizens who were able to prove to the US government that they could substantially provide adequate needs to a prospective alien fiancee? The K1 Fiancee Visa program took off on April 7, 1970.
Congress passed Public Law 91-225, which amended the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and created the K visa category. Today, U.S. law allows several ways for an American citizen to petition for a foreign loved one to immigrate to the United States. Article by Wikipedia [Read More…]
K1 Visa Requirements Relationship Proof
10. Able to demonstrate that the relationship is genuine and sincere
The U.S. Embassy is always on the lookout for fraudulent intent to gain access to the United States. It is a known fact that prearranged marriages to gain access to the United States has been something that many have tried with some succeeding.
During a U.S. Embassy interview, K1 applicants are expected to demonstrate that both the U.S. sponsor and alien fiancee have a genuine sincere relationship? Interviewers are highly trained for spotting fakes.
There will be questions asked by the interviewer and often times a need to show supporting documents to prove that both sponsor and alien fiancee have a genuine and sincere relationship? Interviewers are more suspicious of couples who have a large age difference.
K1 Visa Requirements Medical Exam
11. Alien Fiancee must complete a Physical Exam
Regardless of the country, you are a citizen of all K1 Visa applicants including children of the K1 Visa applicant who will get a K2 Visa must attend a US Accredited medical facility for an exam.
It is highly advised that the K1 applicant attend the medical exam one to two weeks prior to their US Embassy interview.
The K1 applicant will not be able to attend the medical exam until they have a scheduled US Embassy interview. As a K1 Visa Requirement, you will need to pass your examination as part of the K1 visa processing. If you cannot pass the exam you will be asked to cancel your interview appointment.
I’m asked this one question many times per year:
Is an ENGAGEMENT RING a “must-have” in meeting the K1 fiance visa requirements? Actually an engagement ring is the least things the K1 Visa couple needs while there are numerous other things that are going to be way more important during the K1 Visa process.
However, I tell couples that if you are wearing an engagement ring during the U.S. Embassy interview it may not be asked for but at any time the interviewer could visually see it? I would say if you have one on then it is extra icing on the cake.
Back in the days of INS – Immigration and Naturalization Services before USCIS came along in 2003, the embassy interviewers were primarily more interested in other ways to prove the relationship of K1 Visa couples was genuine and sincere.
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Wikipedia
Founded: 10 June 1933
Ceased operations: 1 March 2003
Headquarters location: Washington, D.C., United States Jurisdiction: United States
Dissolved: March 1, 2003
Parent agency: United States Department of Justice
It’s not oftentimes asked for now but during INS days engagement rings were more required.
When it came to additional proof that the relationship of the couple was sincere the interviewers at that time were mostly interested in seeing lots of postal letters, pictures of the couple in a scrapbook, pictures of gifts with receipts and an “Engagement Ring” on your finger.
My fiancee was asked by her interviewer if the ring on her left hand was an engagement ring that I have given her which she said yes. Her interviewer asked her if he could have a closer look at it and at that moment he told her wow your fiance must really love you and then he approved her.
Since March 1, 2003, many things have changed when USCIS – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services took over. One of the major changes was to enhance security and improve efficiency. And to integrate ICE, CBP, and DHS. [USCIS History…]
Meaning of ICE – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Meaning of CBP – U.S. Customs and Border Patrol
Meaning of DHS – U.S. Department of Homeland Security