top of page
Writer's pictureUSAIH

Immigration Visas to the United States - K Type Visas

Updated: Aug 4, 2023



In General

A citizen of a foreign country who seeks to enter the United States generally must first obtain a U.S. visa, which is placed in the traveler’s passport, a travel document issued by the traveler’s country of citizenship.

Certain international travelers may be eligible to travel to the United States without a visa if they meet the requirements for visa-free travel. The Visa section of this website is all about U.S. visas for foreign citizens to travel to the United States.

​

A visa is the name given to the permission that the United States issues a person, under certain conditions, to enter the United States. Visas can be characterized or differentiated according to the requirements that need to be met, the limitations the visa bears, the permissions the visa allows, non-immigrant visas vs immigrant visas, and the length of the visa.


Advertisement




Look and feel your best with Optimum Kinetics Apparel, a family and veteran owned sport-elegant clothing brand. Optimum Kinetics Apparel offers hundreds of clothing and accessories items that you can shop from and buy.





Visas and immigration to the United States can be divided into three main categories:

  1. Tourism related visas

  2. Work related visas

  3. A Permanent Resident Visa (also known as a "Green Card")

​

K Visas

Is a non-immigrant type of visa known as a "fiancé and spouse" visa. K visas are further divided into K-1, K-2, and K-3 visas. K visas are for foreign-citizen fiancé of a United States (U.S.) citizen. The K-1 visa permits the foreign-citizen fiancé to travel to the United States and marry his or her U.S. citizen sponsor within 90 days of arrival. The foreign-citizen will then apply for adjustment of status to a permanent resident (LPR) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The fiancé must meet some of the requirements of an immigrant visa. Eligible children of K-1 visa applicants receive K-2 visas.

Under U.S. immigration law, a foreign-citizen fiancé of a U.S. citizen is the recipient of an approved Petition for Alien Fiancé Form and has been issued a nonimmigrant K-1 visa for travel to the United States in order to marry his or her U.S. citizen fiancé. Both the U.S. citizen and the K-1 visa applicant must have been legally free to marry at the time the petition was filed and must have remained so thereafter. The marriage must be legally possible according to laws of the U.S. state in which the marriage will take place.

The foreign-citizen fiancé and U.S. citizen sponsor must have met in person within the past two years. USCIS may grant an exception to this requirement, based on extreme hardship for the U.S. citizen sponsor to personally meet the foreign-citizen fiancé, or, for example, if it is contrary in the U.S. citizen sponsor’s or foreign-citizen fiancé’s culture for a man and woman to meet before marriage.

The K-3 nonimmigrant visa is for the foreign-citizen spouse of a United States (U.S.) citizen. This visa category is intended to shorten the physical separation between the foreign-citizen and U.S. citizen spouses by having the option to obtain a nonimmigrant K-3 visa overseas and enter the United States to await approval of the immigrant visa petition.

K-3 visa recipients subsequently apply to adjust status to a permanent resident (LPR) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) upon approval of the petition. Because the spouse of a U.S. citizen applying for a nonimmigrant K-3 visa must have a immigrant visa petition filed on his or her behalf by his or her U.S. citizen spouse and pending approval, a K-3 applicant must meet some of the requirements of an immigrant visa. It should be noted that under U.S. immigration law, a foreign citizen who marries a U.S. citizen outside the U.S. must apply for the K-3 visa in the country where the marriage took place.


Advertisement

Visionary Academics is dedicated to providing excellent services to individuals, companies, and academic institutions, related to the academic world and its diverse aspects. Curricula, program accreditation, talent acquisition, workshops and lectures, and personal mentoring are the main fields of service we offer. For more detailed information, and prices, please visit our Services page.







Comentarios


bottom of page