Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pangaea]

Has anyone gone through the process of getting a fiance visa for the US with your intended spouse? I've checked into the requirements and it looks really complicated. Getting married here, then getting a spouse visa looks more straightforward and seems to involve less paperwork, but I could be wrong. I am weighing the pros and cons of both options and trying to decide the best way to do things. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks.

[Drew10]

In my personal humble opinion, get married here and then go to the U.S. It gives you a bit more time to get things in order before you have to file for your spouse's greencard. With the fiancee visa you have 90 days to get married, and then after that you adjust status. With the spousal visa your spouse can live/work in the U.S for 2 years before you have to adjust status. Plenty of breathing room.

[Cedar]

Legally speaking if you've been married less than 2 years at the time of entry to the US (not the time of application for the visa) your wife will be given a temporary resident status requiring additional check up and documentation (not sure when or how). When my husband and I arrived in the US we'd been married for 2 years and 3 months, narrowly avoiding that hassle and allowing us to go directly to the 10 year valid green card... much easier. I say this only so that you keep in mind that only getting married before you go does not end the hassles, as long as it's a really recent marriage. There are, last I looked, specific info on this on the US gov't pages related to visas for spouses and fiance(e)s. I'd really read up on there, not on this board.

[Nick Adams]

I've been married to my Korean wife for four years. We got married in Korea. It was easy. It was cheap. Minimal paperwork. We've never been married in the States, mostly because we've never been there together more than a month.

We now live in a third country together where our Korean certificate of marriage is fully recognized by our host country and our employer, giving us married status and some good benefits not extended to single workers. We did have to get some documents translated and apostled, but not a huge deal or too much expense. I file U.S. taxes as married filing separately and it works out well.

I'd do it all the same way again if I had it to do over.

I have a buddy who has lived overseas for 10 years with his French wife. He is retiring and heading back to the States. He says the whole green card process is a pretty big hassle and only recommended it to me for when/if I'm sure we're moving there permanently. He says it took about a year from start to finish, with keeping on top of each step.

The American Embassy in Seoul does not keep a permanent record of Americans marrying Koreans. Paperwork does pass through their office, to be stamped or validated, but it seems to me, technically, in the United States, you are not married if you marry in Korea. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, as I do read conflicting reports here from time to time. I clearly remember the Embassy clerk handing us our original Korean marriage certificate and saying, "Don't lose that. It proves you are married. We can't prove you are married." In my case it is more my employer that has verified my married status.

[mmstyle]

Nick Adams is quite correct....the Embassy keeps no records. However, we were told that the Gu that you technically marry at does keep records, but of course, if you needed this for verification, it would be more of a hassle.

I don't know anything about bringing a spouse to the US, as we intend to live in his country someday. I am not looking forward to that hassle or expense.

[DaHu]

haha I'm pretty sure you're still married when you return to the States even if you didn't get married there. It's not like you're free as a bird. You can still file married taxes, etc.