The Immigration law of the United States allows U.S. citizens to apply for US fiancé visa, commonly known as the K1 visa, in favor of their loved one abroad. This visa is issued in order to permit the Thai fiancé to enter the country for the celebration of the marriage.
Who may apply?
Only U.S. citizens are allowed to file a Petition for Alien Fiancé in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. In addition, the couple needs to comply with the following preconditions:
- Both parties are free to marry. If either were previously married, the past marriage should have been legally terminated and proof like decree of divorce or death certificate is available.
- The intended marriage vows must be performed within 90 days from entry in the United States.
- The couple ought to have personally met at least once within the last two years from the filing date of the petition. This requirement may only be waived if the meeting will be extremely burdensome to the petitioner or when such meeting will violate a long-established custom of either party.
- The petitioner also needs to meet the minimum income requirement which is ordinarily at least 100% of the poverty level for his state of residence.
- The beneficiary must pass the medical examination conducted by the U.S. embassy’s authorized medical facility.
- The beneficiary should also not have any criminal record.
Both parties have to comply with any additional requirement the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and respective embassy will request.
The entire application process takes about 6-8 months. The first half will be spent on the processing of the Petition for Alien fiancé in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the other half on the K1 visa application proper with the US Embassy in Thailand.
To start your K1 visa application, please follow this link.