How much red tape should we expect?

July 15, 2007 7:29 AM

In about 10 days, my fiancée will be entering the US on a K1 visa. Some questions inside.

• I've only ever entered the US as a US citizen traveling alone. What are we going to have to fill out for customs and entry requirements? POE is Chicago O'Hare.


• My fiancée will be unable to legally work for at least 6-8 weeks and, as such, I will be her sole means of support during this time. Does she meet the threshold for a dependent or do we have to wait until we're actually married before I can claim her for tax purposes?

posted by nathan_teske to law & government (7 comments total)

You'll fill out Customs declarations, Form 6059B and present your passports -- and she her K1-Visa paperwork. You will go through the U.S. Citizens line and she the Foreign Visitors line.

She does not meet the threshold of a dependent until she is your "spouse." The Definition of Dependent [PDF] requires an individual to be either a “qualifying child” or a “qualifying relative.”
posted by ericb at 7:40 AM on July 15, 2007

BTW -- I believe the two of you can go through the Non-Citizen/Foreign line together, but not through the U.S. Citizen line together.
posted by ericb at 7:44 AM on July 15, 2007

Any questions you have are ably answered through www.visajourney.com. Saved my sanity more than a few times during the K1 visa process!
posted by merocet at 8:30 AM on July 15, 2007

That 6-8 weeks thing seems really ambitious, especially since the volume of various applications to USCIS right now is extremely high as people try to dodge the new fees. I know you said 'at least' so hopefully you know all that. Anyway, congrats. My husband came through Chicago POE when he entered on his K1. I wasn't with him. He filled out the regular I-94 and customs declaration form on the plane. The immigration officer was apparently pretty friendly, but he looked through every page of the K1 paperwork and asked my then fiance questions about the photos and stuff. It took a while but was relatively painless. Ymmv!

Congrats, and if you haven't been to VisaJourney yet, check it out.
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:32 AM on July 15, 2007

Thanks everyone who's replied so far --- I'm well aware of VisaJourney and thought about posting my question there, but I'm more worried about general POE stuff rather than anything visa specific.
posted by nathan_teske at 5:27 PM on July 15, 2007

Just to be (perhaps) redundant, Visajourney does post POE reviews, so recent Chicago experiences should/would be posted there.

Re: tax stuffs -- if I'm remembering correctly, even if you got married at 11:59 PM on December 31, you could claim her as a dependent for the whole of 2007. But you'll be getting married a lot sooner than that! ;)

(I'm speaking as a person flying to accompany my fiance for his K-1 interview on July 31.)
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 6:38 PM on July 15, 2007

Congratulations. The important thing to remember is that while going through the AOS process is also a real pain in the ass, with even more and worse forms to fill out and even more waiting, once she's here she's mostly okay. Even if the process takes a few years to work out, she can live here and work and all that during almost all of that time, though some forms you'll have to re-file every year.

The dependent thing doesn't affect you. You gots to marry her within 90* days of her entry with the K1, so you'll be married by the end of the year, and if you're married on 12/31/07, you were married for the whole year as far as the IRS cares.

Are you both flying back from the Phillippines together? If so, just tell the border agent what's going on when you get to your agent, and tell your beloved to make sure that her border agent knows that she's entering on a K1. While this is big and important to you, it's boring everyday shit to them and they'll send you to the right place. The right place for her is secondary inspection; it can't hurt nothin' to ask to go with her, but ISTR hearing of people sent ahead to wait on the other side of secondary inspection.

Employment: She almost certainly won't be able to work until you marry, get the marriage certificate, file AOS + EAD + AP, and she gets the EAD. Expect this to take at least 3 months after marriage. While K1s are theoretically work authorized, it's apparently nearly impossible to get enough documentation to convince an employer of legitimate authorization unless you enter at JFK, who will apply a "WORK AUTHORIZED UNTIL ____" stamp to the K1.

Useful hints: after you file AOS, she still has a lawful status. Apparently that status is "pending adjustment."

The day she finally gets her 10-year green card is a good day. Unless, as biscotti's did, it lists her nationality incorrectly.

*Do I remember this correctly? It's 180 days to use the visa, and then 90 to marry, right?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:52 PM on July 15, 2007