A CR marriage visa is the correct visa if you are already married or will soon marry a foreign fiance who resides abroad. Please read Already In the U.S. if your foreign spouse is present in the United States currently. 

A CR marriage visa is an immigrant visa. It allows your foreign spouse to relocate permanently to the United States and obtain a green card. By comparison, many visas are non-immigrant visas. For example, a B2 visitor visa is for visiting only, then departing the U.S. at the end of the visit. An immigrant marriage visa is for the specific purpose of residing in the U.S. as the foreign spouse of a U.S. citizen or green card holder. There is no need to depart the U.S. after entering on a CR visa.  Be careful about misusing a designated visa such as the B2 visitor visa.  Each visa has a particular purpose. The visitor visa is for visiting only while the marriage visa is for moving to the U.S. based on marriage. See marriage visa requirements and marriage visa process.

What about the K3 Visa?

K3 marriage visas are not currently approved or issued even though they are authorized by law.  Immigration agencies don’t always play fair. The USCIS and State Department have collaborated to force K3 visas closed. We believe K3 visa closures violate law. There are definite advantages and some drawbacks to pursuing a K3 spousal visa. However, any such discussion is purely academic, until a law suit is filed to force them open again. I would be glad to assist if you have an interest in filing suit.

Children of Foreign Spouses

An unmarried child of the foreign spouse may immigrate to the U.S. provided the marriage to the parent occurs before the child turns 18 years of age.  You may immigrate the child together with the foreign parent or separately up until the age of 21 years, provided the case is properly monitored.  Long delays in case processing for the child can cause complications. So, it’s best to call us before marrying to ensure all family members can process to the U.S.

If you have a foreign child who is between the age of 18 and 21 years at the time of marriage, it is necessary to process on a fiancee visa rather than a marriage / CR visa if you want the child to immigrate to the U.S. Please call to discuss if you have an interest in working together with us on case processing.

Parents of Foreign Spouses

A parent of the foreign spouse may apply to immigrate to the U.S. once the spouse obtains U.S. citizenship.  It takes several years in most cases for the foreign spouse to obtain U.S. citizenship.

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Call for Assistance — Our law firm is among perhaps only a handful of immigration attorneys with extensive knowledge of marriage based immigration. Consider our credentials. In particular, Allan S. Lolly, Esq. is a contributing lecturer with AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) on consular processing.