Children of the K3 recipient may also qualify for the K4 visa. A child may qualify for a K4 visa if he/she is an unmarried minor child less than 21 years of age of a qualified K3 visa applicant.

The primary requirements to qualify for a marriage visa are:

• You are a spouse of a U.S. citizen
• An immediate relative petition, that is pending, must have been filed in the United States.
• A K3 petition must be completed and submitted by the US citizen and submitted to USCIS.

The first step in obtaining a marriage visa requires the petitioner, the U.S. Citizen, to file an immediate relative petition with the USCIS. After the applicant receives a receipt of the initial petition, he/she may file a K3 petition with the USCIS on behalf of the foreign national. There are numerous forms and documentation that must be submitted to the USCIS in order to prove that the petitioner and the foreign national spouse qualify for the K3 Visa. An error or omission in the documents or forms can cause your petition to be returned with a Request for Additional Evidence. The USCIS sends out thousands of these notices every year, thus creating a delay of months in the approval of your petition.

We have had clients who have hired us after attempting to go it alone or after hiring another attorney or visa processing service. We have helped clients who have relied on outdated and or misinformation that they have received from so called “visa experts.” It is not unusual for the USCIS and/or embassy that has jurisdiction over the petition to create new requirements and/or procedures for obtaining the marriage visa, oftentimes with little or no notice. The documents and forms must be done correctly. You can save yourself and your spouse considerable time, money and heartache by having your petition done correctly the first time. While a visa processing service can fill out forms, it is against the law for them to provide legal advice.

Once the petition has been reviewed and approved by the USCIS, the petition is forwarded to the Department of State’s National Visa Center. At this stage, a background check is initiated on both parties. Once this is completed, the petition is forwarded to the embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over the foreign national’s petition. The embassy will schedule an interview date and your spouse will undergo a medical exam. She will also present a number of new forms and supporting documentation at her interview (which will also be prepared by our office).

For many, the interview is the most nerve-racking part of the process, and for good reason. If the Embassy Consular interviewer finds any discrepancies in the spouse’s responses to the interviewers questions and the supporting documentation that she submits, they may return the petition to the USCIS for investigation. Needless to say, this will cause a delay of months. In addition to advising and counseling our clients in the early stages of the process and completing and submitting the petition to the USCIS, we take extraordinary steps to prepare your spouse for any questions and/or problems that may arise during the interview, and we make sure the documents and supporting documents she submits are complete.

Barring any problems during the interview and document review, the visa will be issued that day, or in some embassies the following week. The consular officer may deny the K3 visa if the officer determines that the beneficiary is inadmissible. Alternatively, the officer may deem that a waiver of inadmissibility is necessary. In this situation, the USCIS must approve an I-601 waiver, before the consular officer will issue a K3 visa. The K3 visa admits an applicant to the United States for two years.

The answer to “how do you get your spouse to the U.S.” is simple. But, the bureaucracies involved are large and often times inefficient and difficult to deal with. The documents, forms, and supporting documentation that are submitted to the USCIS and Embassy can be overwhelming and confusing. The procedures, forms, and documentation are also subject to frequent changes that you may never be aware of until it’s too late. As attorneys, we have contacts, skills and resources that a layman or visa processing service does not have. We continually stay abreast of changes in immigration law and in the procedures the embassies employ to process your spouse’s visa.

You can save yourself time, money, and heartache by having your petition completed correctly the first time by Hampton & Hampton Immigration Attorneys. We obtain K visas for foreign nationals all over the world and we are licensed to serve clients in all 50 states. Please contact our office for an estimate on how long your case will take to process.